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This paper aims to study how tradition has exerted its Influence on the development of Schoenberg's musical thought. Just like life, Schoenberg believed musical thought involves a process of evolution that is governed by certain universal principles. The evolution of the classic tradition he believed was governed by dissonance. The growth of dissonance which developed along equal temperament in the seventeenth century, the devlopment of modulations which made possible the historical rise to functional tonality in the eighteenth cent ury, the chromatics' which foresaw the
chromatic modulations of the nineteenth century, all led I he way toward the 'emancipation of dissonance' and the development of the Twelve Tone Technique in t1e twentieth century.
"_he paper divides Schoenberg's compositional output into three periods: Wagnerian, Pan tonal and Dod ecaphonic. By reviewing Schoenberg's own writings, analyzing his works, and taking into account his, own compositions, the paper discusses the influence of previous compositional techniques and thoughts on the evolution of his style and the development of the Twelve tone Technique. The paper suggests that Schoenberg's basic concern was with the intellectual integrity of the classical tradition and proves how the Twelve Tone Technique devloped as a result of Schoenberg's search for a unified and continuous system within the framework of atonality.