The Twentieth Century and Beyond - Notes

The Twentieth Century and Beyond

Introduction

  • The 20th century brought a new logic of music that was previously unthinkable, opening up new possibilities.

Abolishment of Tradition and Pursuit of Novelty

  • General Characteristics:
    • Abolishment of tradition and a pursuit of novelty became a hallmark of the era.
    • Abstract art challenged conventions with its focus on color and forms.
    • Architects favored smooth, clean lines, eliminating ornamentation.
    • Novelists adopted the “stream of consciousness” style, often lacking a clear storyline.
    • Music prioritized tone-color over form, embracing all sounds.

Important Events (1900-1945)

  • 1900: Freud publishes Interpretation of Dreams.
  • 1903: The Wright brothers achieve the first powered flight.
  • 1905: Einstein introduces the special theory of relativity.
  • 1914-1918: World War I takes place.
  • 1917: The Russian Revolution begins.
  • 1929: The Great Depression starts.
  • 1929-1953: Stalin is the dictator of the Soviet Union.
  • 1933: Franklin D. Roosevelt is inaugurated as President.
  • 1933: Hitler is appointed Chancellor of Germany.
  • 1939-1945: World War II occurs.
  • 1945: The atomic bomb destroys Hiroshima.

Important Events (1946-2020)

  • 1950-1953: The Korean War is fought.
  • 1953: Crick and Watson discover the structure of DNA.
  • 1955-1975: The Vietnam War occurs.
  • 1959: Fidel Castro becomes premier of Cuba.
  • 1963: President Kennedy is assassinated.
  • 1969: American astronauts land on the moon.
  • 1974: President Nixon resigns.
  • 1981: Ronald Reagan is inaugurated as President.
  • 1990: Germany is reunified.
  • 1991: The Soviet Union is dissolved.
  • 1994: Mandela is elected president of South Africa.
  • 2001: Terrorist attacks occur in the United States on September 11.
  • 2003: The War in Iraq begins.
  • 2004: A tsunami occurs in Asia.
  • 2005: New Orleans is flooded.
  • 2007: A worldwide recession occurs.
  • 2020: The Coronavirus outbreak spreads worldwide.

Important Works

  • Visual Arts:
    • MONET: 1889
    • Van Gogh - The Starry Night (1889)
    • Munch - The Scream (1893)
    • Picasso - Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (1907)
    • Henri Matisse - Dance (1910)
    • Kirchner - Street, Berlin (1913)
    • Kandinsky - Panels for Edward R. Campbell (1914)
    • Picasso - Girl before a Mirror (1932)
    • Pollock - One (1950)
    • Warhol - Campbell’s Soup Cans (1962)
    • Riley - Hesitate (1964)
    • Frankenthaler - Flood (1967)
    • Hockney - Thrusting Rocks (1990)
    • Kiefer - The Sky Palace (2002)
    • Gehry - Walt Disney Concert Hall (2003)
    • Richter - 4900 Colors (2007)
    • Ai Weiwei’s - Bicycle Chandelier (2015)
  • Literature:
    • Kafka - The Metamorphosis (1915)
    • Eliot - The Waste Land (1922)
    • Joyce - Ulysses (1922)
    • Faulkner - The Sound and the Fury (1929)
    • Lawrence - The Migration Series (1940-1941)
    • Camus - The Stranger (1942)
    • Sartre - Existentialism and Humanism (1946)
    • Mailer - The Naked and the Dead (1948)
    • Salinger - Catcher in the Rye (1951)
    • Baldwin - Notes of a Native Son (1955)
    • Solzhenitsyn - The Gulag Archipelago (1974)
    • Morrison - Beloved (1988)
    • Larson - Rent (1996)
    • Parks - Topdog/Underdog (2002)
    • Rowling - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2005)
    • Morrison - Home (2012)
    • Bob Dylan awarded Nobel prize in literature (2016)

Music and Society

  • The 20th century was a time of revolt, with fundamental changes in music language that exceeded any previous period.
  • The diverse musical styles reflected the vast diversity of life during this time.
  • The United States became an important force in music.
  • Women and people of color began to play major roles in professional music.
  • American colleges and universities became important patrons of music.
  • Ragtime, Jazz, Rock, and Hip Hop became part of mainstream American culture.

Technology

  • 1877: Thomas Edison invented the cylinder disk.
  • 1897: 78 rpm (revolutions per minute) was established.
  • 1920: Radio stations first appeared.
  • 1940: Audiotape allowed composers to splice and re-record.
  • Listeners could hear music without the physical presence of musicians through radio, CDs, MP3s, and live streaming.
  • Sound Recordings, Film, Television, Radio, Computers, Satellites, and the Internet caused a revolution in communication.
  • New modes emerged for hearing music, bringing it to larger audiences and increasing its availability.

Important Trends

  • Impressionism
  • Symbolism
  • Expressionism
  • Neoclassicism
  • Nationalism
  • Modernism
  • Serialism
  • Chance Music
  • Minimalism
  • Musical Quotation
  • Polystylism
  • Return to Tonality
  • Electronic Music
  • Liberation of Sound
  • Mixed Media

Twentieth Century & Beyond- Music

  • Tone color became a more important element of music.
  • Noise-like and percussive sounds were used more often.
  • Less emphasis was placed on blended sound, with individual tone colors highlighted.
  • Melodies were often no longer tied to traditional chords.
  • Traditional distinctions between consonance and dissonance were often abandoned.
  • New chord structures and alternatives to the traditional tonal system were explored.
  • Rhythm became one of the most striking elements, used to generate power, drive, and excitement.

Twentieth Century & Beyond- Music since 1945

  • The 12-tone system was expanded to include elements other than pitch, such as rhythm, timbre, and dynamics.
  • The element of chance was introduced to music composition and performance.
  • In the mid-1960s, minimalist music developed, characterized by a steady pulse, clear tonality, and insistent repetition of short melodic patterns.
  • In quotation music, composers deliberately made extensive use of quotations from earlier music.
  • Polystylism became an important trend with a greater use of different styles and techniques in composition.
  • Some composers have embraced tonal music and a return to tonality.
  • The introduction of tape studios, synthesizers, computers, and mixed media are notable developments.
  • The greatest expansion and experimentation have involved traditional and new, unusual percussion instruments.
  • Rhythm and form have undergone some of the most striking changes in music since 1945.

Twentieth Century - Genres & Styles

  • Vocal: Art Songs, Opera, Musicals
  • Instrumental: Character Pieces, Program Music, Chamber Music, Film Music, Ballet
  • New Styles: Ragtime, Blues, Swing, Jazz, Bebop, Gospel, R&B (Motown), Rock N Roll, Punk, Disco, Hip Hop- Rap, Funk, Reggae, Fusion and many more.

Twentieth Century - Composers & Works

  • Claude Debussy (1862-1918) - Prélude à l'Après-midi d'un faune
  • Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) - Une Barque sur l’Océan
  • Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) - The Rite of Spring - Part II: Sacrificial Dance
  • Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951) - Pierrot Lunaire, Op. 21 No. 1 (Moondrunk)
  • Béla Bartók (1881-1945) - Allegro Barbaro
  • George Gershwin (1898-1937) - Rhapsody in Blue; Porgy and Bess - Summertime
  • William Grant Still (1895-1978) - Afro-American Symphony III. Animato
  • Aaron Copland (1900-1990) - Hoedown from Rodeo
  • John Cage (1912 -1992) - Sonata II for prepared piano
  • John Adams (b. 1947) - Short Ride in a Fast Machine
  • Edgard Varèse (1883-1965) - Poème Electronique
  • Tania León (b. 1943) - Inura- Excerpts

Composers, Trends and Genres

Claude Debussy (1862-1918)
  • Prélude à l'Après-midi d'un faune (Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun)
  • Trend: Impressionism
  • Genre:
Maurice Ravel(1875-1937)
  • Une Barque sur l'Océan (A boat on the Ocean)
  • Trend: Impressionism
  • Genre:
Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971)
  • The Rite of Spring (Part II: Sacrificial Dance)
  • Trend: Modernism
  • Genre: Ballet
Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951)
  • Pierrot Lunaire, Op. 21 No. 1 (Mondestrunken)
  • Trend: Expressionism
  • Genre:
Béla Bartók (1881-1945)
  • Allegro Barbaro
  • Trend: Modernism (Primitivism)
  • Genre:
George Gershwin (1898-1937)
  • Summertime from Porgy and Bess
    • Trend: Nationalism (jazz version)
    • Genre: Aria from opera (song version)
  • Rhapsody in Blue
    • Trend:
    • Genre:
William Grant Still (1895-1978)
  • Afro-American Symphony, III. Animato
  • Trend: Nationalism
  • Genre: Symphony
Aaron Copland (1900-1990)
  • Hoedown from Rodeo
  • Trend: Nationalism
  • Genre: Ballet
John Cage (1912-1992)
  • Sonata II for prepared piano
  • Trend:
  • Genre:
John Adams (b. 1947)
  • Short Ride in a Fast Machine
  • Trend: Minimalism
  • Genre:
Edgard Varèse (1883-1965)
  • Poème Electronique
  • Trend: Electronic Music, Liberation of Sound
  • Genre:
Tania León (b. 1943)
  • Inura- (Excerpts)
  • Trend:
  • Genre: Ballet, suite