5.23 The Late Twentieth Century

Musique concrète

Post-WWII technique of incorporating normal life sounds into compositions, similar to modern sampling

Synthesizers

Technology which appeared in the 1960s, revolutionizing creation of new sound w/ patch cords

Chance Music

A variety of unconventional music, which can be very extreme or more tame

Minimalism

Famous mid-60s style with simple and very repetitive melodies, motives, and harmonies

Partita

In the early 1600s- a section in a set of variations (usually for keyboard)
In the 1700s, it was a dance suite for 1 instrument
In the 1700s, it was a dance suite for 1 instrument.

Edgard Varèse (1883–1965)

Relatively old and very radical composer who "found his voice” after moving to America

György Ligeti (1923–2006)

Budapest Academy of Music student and teacher (as a young adult), who later moved West due to Communism in Hungary; New sonorities, sometimes no clear pitches/chords, and no discernible meter/distinct rhythm in compositions

John Cage (1912-1992)

Californian "father of chance music" who studied w/ Schoenberg, questioned music foundations, and sometimes wrote statement music

Steve Reich (b. 1936)

Keyboardist and "acknowledged master" of minimalism who "explored issues of rhythm and timing" in early music

Tania León (b. 1943)

Composer with wide global heritage who studied at the National Conservatory of Havana, worked w/ ballets, uses more dissonant/atonal harmonies, uses very dynamic rhythm, and now teaches at Brooklyn College

John Adams (b. 1947)

"True American original" raised in New England who was influenced by minimalism and has written several operas

Caroline Shaw (b. 1982)

2013 Pulitzer Prize winner