Harmonielehre

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Harmonielehre is a 40-minute orchestral work by American composer John Adams, written in 1985. It expresses Adams's belief in the power of tonality and combines late-Romantic chromatic harmony with minimalist rhythms and procedures. The title means "study of harmony" in German and nods to Arnold Schoenberg’s theory book of the same name (along with other theory texts that bear the title). Adams has explained that the piece was sparked by a dream in which he was driving across the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge and saw an oil tanker upright and taking off like a rocket; the experience also ended his 18-month writer's block. The work has three movements: the first is built on powerful, repetitive chords in E minor and uses harmonic "gates" to move between areas, featuring an emotionally expressive central theme; the second is darker and more expansive, drawing on the Fisher King legend and building to two climaxes of stark dissonance, the second echoing Mahler’s unfinished Tenth Symphony; the third movement is inspired by a dream about Adams's infant daughter nicknamed "Quackie."

Beyond concerts, Harmonielehre has appeared in pop culture, such as the TV series True Detective, the Civilization IV game soundtrack, and the I Am Love soundtrack. It was also listed by The Guardian as one of the "50 Greatest Symphonies." The opening of the first movement was sampled by the electronic duo Nero on their 2011 album Welcome Reality.