Notes on 20th Century Music Styles

PRIMITIVE MUSIC

• Definition: term for all music produced in preliterate cultures; also known as early music.

CLASSICISM

• Describes the arts and culture of ancient Greece and Rome.

AVANT-GARDE

• Music at the forefront of innovation; also known as experimental music.

PRIMITIVISM

• Tonal approach stressing one note as more important; in its purest form, combines two simple ideas to create something new.

NEO-CLASSICISM

• Moderating factor between Romantic excesses and the expressionist impulses; aims for clarity and form.

MODERN NATIONALISM

• Looser 20th-century form focusing on nationalist composers who blend modern techniques with folk materials.

BÉLA BARTÓK

• Born in Nagyszentmiklos, Hungary on $March h 25, 1881$.
• Started piano lessons with his mother; entered Budapest Royal Academy of Music in $1899$.
• Famous for his $Six String Quartets (1908-1938)$.

HIS WORKS

• SIX STRING QUARTET ($1908-1938$)
• CONCERTO FOR ORCHESTRA ($1943$)
• ALLEGRO BARBARO ($1911$)

SERGEI PROKOFIEFF

• Born in the Ukraine in $1891$.
• Regarded as a combination of neo-classicist, nationalist, and avant-garde; style features progressive technique, melodic directness, and resolving dissonance.

HIS WORKS

• Romeo and Juliet
• War and Peace
• Peter and the Wolf
• Symphony No. 1

FRANCIS JEAN MARCEL POULENC

• Born in Paris, France on $January h 17, 1899$.
• Member of the group of young French composers known as “Les Six.”
• His music is coolly elegant modernity tempered by classical sense of proportion.

HIS WORKS

• Concert Champêtre ($1928$)
• Les Mamelles de Tiresias ($1944$)
• Stabat Mater ($1950$)
• Litanies à la Vierge Noire ($1936$)

GEORGE GERSHWIN

• Born in New York to Russian Jewish immigrants; fixture on Broadway; fascinated with classical music; known as a crossover artist.

HIS WORKS

• Rhapsody in Blue ($1924$)
• An American in Paris ($1928$)
• La La Lucille ($1919$)
• Porgy and Bess ($1934$)

LEONARD BERNSTEIN

• Born in Massachusetts, USA on $August h 25, 1918$.
• Charismatic conductor, pianist, composer, lecturer; influential educator.

HIS WORKS

• West Side Story, an American adaptation of Romeo and Juliet ($1957$)
• Candide ($1956$)
• Mass ($1971$)
• On the Waterfront ($1954$)

PHILIP GLASS

• Born in New York, USA on $January h 31, 1937$.
• One of the most commercially successful minimalist composers; explored ballet, opera, theater, film, and jingle work.

HIS WORKS

• Music in Similar Motion ($1976$)
• Music in Changing Parts ($1970$)
• Satyagraha ($1980$)
• Akhnaten ($1984$)

MODERN NATIONALISM

• A looser form of 20th-century development focusing on nationalist composers who blend modern techniques with folk materials.

NIKOLAI RIMSKY-KORSAKOV

• Born in $1844$; prominent Russian composer and key nationalist figure; member of "The Five" aimed at creating a distinctly Russian musical identity.

HIS WORKS

• The Tale of Tsar Saltan, Op. $57$ (opera; features the Flight of the Bumblebee)
• The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh (opera)