Twentieth-Century Music Vocabulary

Vocabulary flashcards summarizing the key terms, composers, and concepts from the lecture on Twentieth-Century Music.

Twentieth-Century Music (1901-2000)

A period marked by rapid stylistic changes, experimentation, and new approaches to harmony, rhythm, and timbre.

Impressionism (music)

Late-19th-century French style emphasizing atmosphere, mood, and tone color through vague forms, whole-tone scales, and subtle dynamics.

Expressionism (music)

Early-20th-century German/Austrian style employing atonality, sharp dissonance, and extreme dynamics to convey deep, often disturbing emotions.

Avant-Garde Music

Innovative, "ahead-of-its-time" music that fuses genres and challenges traditional boundaries.

Claude Debussy

French composer (1862-1918), ‘Father of Musical Impressionism,’ known for rich tone colors and works like “Clair de Lune.”

Maurice Ravel

French composer (1875-1937) noted for clarity and structural precision; best known for “Boléro.”

Arnold Schoenberg

Austrian composer (1874-1951), leader of the Second Viennese School, pioneer of atonality and the twelve-tone technique.

Atonality

Music without a fixed key center, avoiding traditional major-minor tonality.

Twelve-Tone Technique

Compositional method using all 12 chromatic notes in a fixed series (tone row) before any note repeats.

Tone Row

Ordered sequence of the 12 chromatic pitches serving as the basis for a twelve-tone composition.

Whole-Tone Scale

Six-note scale built entirely of whole steps, often used by Impressionist composers for a blurred, dreamlike effect.

Dissonance

Combination of tones creating tension or instability; widely used in Expressionism and later 20th-century styles.

Fragmented Melody

Melodic line broken into short, disjointed motives rather than long, flowing phrases.

Subtle Dynamics

Gentle shifts in loudness, characteristic of Impressionist orchestration.

Second Viennese School

Group of early-20th-century composers—Schoenberg, Berg, Webern—known for advancing atonality and serialism.

Electronic Music

Music that employs electronic instruments or technology; pioneered by composers such as Edgar Varèse and Karlheinz Stockhausen.

Edgar Varèse

French-born composer (1883-1965), called the ‘Father of Electronic Music,’ known for exploring new timbres and technologies.

Karlheinz Stockhausen

German composer (1928-2007) of pioneering electronic works like “Elektronische Studie” (1954).

Mario Davidovsky

Composer recognized for pairing live acoustic instruments with electronics in works such as his “Synchronisms” series.

Chance (Aleatory) Music

Music in which elements of composition or performance are left to random processes or performer choice.

John Cage

American composer (1912-1992) famed for chance music and the silent piece “4′33″.”

Futurism (music)

Early-20th-century movement embracing machine noises and rejecting past traditions, led by Luigi Russolo.

Luigi Russolo

Italian Futurist author of “The Art of Noises,” creator of experimental instruments called intonarumori.

Minimalism (music)

1960s style featuring repetition, simple melodies, and gradually shifting harmonies.

Terry Riley

Minimalist composer best known for “In C,” a seminal work of repetitive musical cells.

Steve Reich

American minimalist noted for phasing techniques in works like “Music for 18 Musicians.”

Philip Glass

Minimalist composer whose operas (e.g., “Einstein on the Beach”) use repetitive harmonic progressions and additive rhythms.

John Adams

Post-minimalist American composer of works such as “Short Ride in a Fast Machine” and the opera “Nixon in China.”

Boléro

Ravel’s 1928 orchestral piece built on a single repeating rhythm and growing orchestration.

Clair de Lune

Debussy’s famous piano piece exemplifying Impressionist emphasis on tone color and subtle mood.