HIST 2 FINAL EXAM

atonal- music that does not adhere to any system of key or mode

decadence- a term introduced by critics in the mid-1880s to criticize the fin de siècle culture of rarefied, artificial, esoteric, exacting taste and an acceptance of perversity; subsequently a favorite term of totalitarian authorities for uncooperative artists.

Expressionism- an aesthetic movement of the early twentieth century, akin to similar literary and artistic movements; musical Expressionism concerned itself with the ruthless depiction of disturbing or distasteful emotions, often with a stylistic violence that could involve pushing ideas to their extremes or treating the subject matter with incisive parody; an outgrowth of late Romanticism, it was fully realized in the Modernist atonality of Arnold Schoenberg.

Grundgestalt- German for “basic shape”; Arnold Schoen-berg’s term for a motivic complex presented at the beginning of a work that serves as a source for everything that follows, whether melodic, harmonic, or contrapuntal in nature; theoretically, their interrelationships could be discovered through analysis.

Klangfarbenmelodie- German for “tone-color melody”; Arnold Schoenberg’s term for a compositional technique in which a musical line or melody is distributed among several instruments, emphasizing its timbral and textural components; when applied to a single note, the potential for a com-positional structure results.

Maximalism- a philosophical term applied to early twentieth-century music making, implying a radical intensification of means toward expressive ends; Gustav Mahler’s symphonies, with their plurality of styles and extended dimensions, were the culmination of late Romantic aesthetics.

Modernism- a commitment by artists of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries to find ways of reflecting the historical present and momentum toward the future; a revolt against late Romanticism and musical naturalism, initially characterized by the move toward atonality and the music of the Futurists, later by the stylistic distortion of Neoclassicism.

monodrama- theatrical or operatic piece performed by a single actor or singer, using music and speech to portray one character; although examples date back to the Classical period, Arnold Schoenberg’s Erwartung (1909) help reestablish the genre as Modernist.

pantonal- a single transcendent, all-encompassing tonality; the term preferred by Arnold Schoenberg to describe his music, rather than the term “atonal,” which he consider pejorative; characterized by the elimination of the tonal hierarchy of the scale, replaced by composition “with twelve tones [the chromatic scale] which are related only with one another.”

Second Viennese School- the circle of composers who studied with Arnold Schoenberg, notably Anton Webern and Alban Berg; the group paralleled the stylistic developments of their teacher in early twentieth-century Vienna, first characterized by late-Romantic expanded tonality, later, a totally chromatic atonal Expressionism and eventually Schoen-berg’s serial twelve-tone technique.

Sprechstimme- German for “speech voice”; referring to an Expressionist vocal technique between singing and speaking because it does not settle on a particular pitch (compare parlando); used by Arnold Schoenberg, his Modernist contemporaries, and later composers

tone poem- a musical form in which a poem or program provides a narrative or illustrative basis

ballet d’action- French for “pantomime”; a costumed ballet using gesture, dance, and instrumental music to tell a story without song or spoken text; while gesture functioned as recitative, set dances expressed emotional content as would an operatic aria.

Ballets Russes- a dance company directed by Sergey Diaghilev, based in Paris (1909–1929); many of its dancers and contributors came from the Imperial Ballet of St. Petersburg and, after the Russian Revolution of 1917, from among the community of exiles.

Impressionism- named after an influential school of late nineteenth-century French painters, a term first applied to the post-Wagnerian experiments of Claude Debussy in the 1890s; musical Impressionism encompassed calculated effects of spontaneity, fascination with subtle gradations in color and texture, and a greater interest in sensuousness than in psychology or strongly declared emotion

mélodie- the French art song, lighter than a chanson, analogous to the German Lied

octatonic- any eight-note musical scale, the most famous of which alternates half steps and whole steps.

primitivism- a fascination by that which is least mediated by modern society; an exoticism based on notions of “savagery” and raw emotion; reflected in early twentieth-century music through the influence of African and Latin American percussion music mixed with unbridled rhythmic drive.

Symbolism- a literary movement of late nineteenth-century France, pursuing a way of seeing past the appearances of the lived world into the higher reality of the audelà, the world “beyond” the senses; in music, the possible connection between musical elements and extramusical phenomena (words of a poem, a natural object, a person, an emotional state); Claude Debussy, who disliked the term Impression-ism, preferred an association with the Symbolist poetry of Stéphane Mallarmé (1842–98)

synesthesia- the equivalence and interchangeability of the five primary sense experiences; in music, primarily the relationship between pitch and color, explored in Alexander Scriabin’s color organ concept.

whole-tone scale- a scale that excludes half-steps; there are only two complementary whole-tone hexatonic scales; their lack of leading tones eliminates all scalar functions.

inversion- the turning upside-down of a melody; in twelve-tone or serial music, the inversion of a row or series of notes

serialism- a compositional technique in which the basic material is an ordered arrangement—row, set, or series—of pitches, intervals, durations, and, if desired, other musical elements; developed by Arnold Schoenberg

Neoclassicism- the conscious use of techniques, gestures, styles, forms, or media from an earlier period; a significant twentieth-century trend, particularly during the period between the two World Wars, in which composers sought to return to aesthetic precepts associated with the broadly defined concept of “classicism” (order, balance, clarity, economy, emotional restraint), but not limited to the Classical style; a reaction to both the giganticism of late Romanticism and the extreme emotional palette of Expressionist Modern-ism; ironically, two of its best-known exponents had composed in the very styles they were reacting to: Igor Stravinsky and Paul Hindemith.

prime- form of a tone row; there is the basic or “prime” form of the row, an ordering that determines other related rows in different ways: it can be in inversion (with the intervals between each successive note inverted), retrograde (reverse), and the inversion of the retrograde

retrograde- the ordering backward of a row, especially in twelve-tone or serial music

Society for Private Musical Performances- a concert series founded by Arnold Schoenberg in Vienna in 1918, to make carefully rehearsed Modern music available to general audiences; it was subsidized by subscriptions, by member contributions, and by occasional donations from wealthy patrons; its offerings were not advertised in the papers; critics were barred from attending; subscribers were not informed of the programs in advance to ensure regular attendance, and applause was forbidden. By 1921, the organization folded, having given 353 performances of 154 works in a total of 117 concerts

tone row- developed by Arnold Schoenberg, this term describes an ordering of all twelve chromatic pitches from which motivic and harmonic content will be derived; a major component of serialism.

twelve-tone technique- the earliest form of serialism, in which all twelve chromatic scale notes have equal importance, leading to “pantonal” or “atonal” composition, as championed by Arnold Schoenberg.

communism- a left-wing sociopolitical movement that dominated much of Eastern Europe and Asia in the twentieth century; although Communist nations had much in common with governments based on fascist principles, its cultural impact led to ongoing battles between the notions of a unified, nonelitist state and individual artistic expression.

fascism- an authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization. Although it shared many aspects of the contemporaneous twentieth-century Communist movement (emphasis on a totalitarian single-party state, mass mobilization through indoctrination, physical education, and family policy), fascism’s approach to musical censorship was based primarily on the principles of racial hatred.

mass song- a choral song with lyrics designed to promote the Communist ideology, first in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (from the 1920s), later in Communist parties throughout the world.

Socialist Realism- the official arts doctrine of the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics (in fact, a considerable departure from Marxist theory) in place from the 1930s on; this pre-scribed “a creative method based on the truthful, historically concrete artistic reflection of reality in its revolutionary development.” Musical art was to derive from folklore or at least non-specialist styles familiar and meaningful to all; its texts were to show loyalty to the Communist Party and to conform with official doctrine; its application to music proved unpredictable and consequently threatened the lives and art of Russian composers.

totalitarianism- any government that concentrates political power in the hands of a ruling elite or even a single person; its goals are the application of an all-encompassing worldview, achievement of a completely controlled social and economic order, and the total mobilization of the population to further the interests of the state, excluding all civil rights and freedoms; the role of extreme censorship serves to re-strict all artistic expression, repressing all contradiction and disagreement

neo-tonalism- a stylistic umbrella embracing musical composition in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries that is eclectic and unbound by “rules”; may incorporate atonality and tonality in the same score.

neo-Romanticism- a return, especially during the post–World War II era, to the emotional expression associated with nineteenth-century tonal musical style

New Complexity- a concept dating from the 1980s, principally applied to English composers whose work was often atonal, highly abstract, and dissonant in sound, its technical demands requiring complex musical notation; it has been interpreted both as a reaction to neo-Romanticism and minimalism and as a continuation of the highly abstract European avant-garde from the 1950s, notably the work of Karlheinz Stockhausen and Pierre Boulez.

IRCAM (Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique)- an acronym for Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique (Institute for Research and Coordi-nation of Acoustics and Music), opened by the French gov-ernment in 1977 under Pierre Boulez’s direction to provide opportunities to work with the latest electronic technology; the institute is now focused on computer music production and research.

MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface)- an acronym for Musical Instrument Digital Interface; a set of technical specifications or “protocols” allowing for free interaction between computers and synthesizers from the early 1980s on; a primary means of processing voices and instruments electronically

sampler- a device that stores recorded sounds of any kind for the purposes of imitation or transformation into new forms.

sequencer- a device that puts digitally stored sounds (or information about those sounds) into a programmed order, controlling any number of units within various parameters.

performance art- an umbrella for post–World War II actions that have been framed as works of art; such actions may be scripted or unscripted, random or carefully orchestrated, spontaneous or carefully planned, with or without audience participation; performance art may take place in any venue or setting, for any length of time, and involve an individual or a group; often but not necessarily multidisciplinary in nature