Editing Der Ring des Nibelungen (section)

===Tonality===
Much of the ''Ring'', especially from ''Siegfried'' act 3 onwards, cannot be said to be in traditional, clearly defined [[key (music)|keys]] for long stretches, but rather in 'key regions', each of which flows smoothly into the following. This fluidity avoided the musical equivalent of clearly defined musical paragraphs and assisted Wagner in building the work's huge structures. Tonal indeterminacy was heightened by the increased freedom with which he used [[Consonance and dissonance|dissonance]] and [[chromaticism]]. Chromatically altered [[Chord (music)|chords]] are used very liberally in the ''Ring'' and this feature, which is also prominent in ''[[Tristan und Isolde]]'', is often cited as a milestone on the way to [[Arnold Schoenberg]]'s revolutionary break with the traditional concept of key and his dissolution of consonance as the basis of an organising principle in music.{{citation needed|date=March 2025}}