Notes on 20th Century Music: Impressionism to Electronic Music

Impressionism

  • A movement in Western classical music focused on mood and atmosphere; aims to convey moods and emotions aroused by the subject rather than a detailed tone-picture.

Features of Impressionism

  • Timbre (color) through orchestration, texture, and harmonic usage.
  • New chords and scales: extended harmonies, whole-tone, chromatic, pentatonic.
  • Purpose: suggest rather than depict reality.

Claude Debussy

  • Lifespan: 1862−19181862-1918; born in St. Germain-en-Laye, France.
  • Known as the "Father of the Modern School of Composition"; ~227227 masterworks across orchestral, chamber, piano, opera, ballet, songs.

Works of Claude Debussy

  • Clair de Lune (Moonlight) is the third movement of Suite Bergamasque (1890); inspired by the poem of Paul Verlaine (1869); Debussy also made two settings for voice and piano.

Maurice Ravel

  • Lifespan: 1875−19371875-1937; born in Ciboure, France; entered Paris Conservatory at age 1414.
  • Distinctive harmonic treatment with intricate melodies and extended chords.

Works of Maurice Ravel

  • Pavane for a Dead Princess (1899) 18991899.
    • Pavane: slow processional dance popular in European courts.
  • Sonatine for Piano (1904) 19041904.
  • Rapsodie Espagnole (1907-1908) 1907−19081907-1908.
  • Boléro (1928) 19281928; originally a ballet.

Expressionism

  • Origin in visual and literary arts; in music, first applied around 19181918.
  • Aims to express emotional experience rather than impressions of the external world.

Features of Expressionism

  • High dissonance and unstable sound quality.
  • Extreme dynamic contrasts (pp to ff).
  • Constant texture changes.
  • Distorted melodies and harmonies.
  • Angular melodies with wide leaps.

Famous Expressionist: Arnold Schoenberg

  • Lifespan: 1874−19511874-1951; Vienna-based composer, theorist, teacher, and painter.
  • Pioneer of the twelve-tone technique.

Twelve-Tone Technique

  • Ensures all 12 notes of the chromatic scale are sounded equally using tone rows (orderings of the 12 pitch classes).

Works of Arnold Schoenberg

  • Verklärte Nacht (1899): string sextet (six players: 2 violins, 2 violas, 2 cellos).
  • Three Pieces for Piano, Op. 11: early example of atonality.
  • Pierrot Lunaire (Three Times Seven Poems): voice (reciter) with small instrumental ensemble.
  • Violin Concerto: concerto for violin and orchestra.

Igor Stravinsky

  • Lifespan: 1882−19711882-1971; Russian composer, pianist, conductor; pivotal modernist figure.

Works of Igor Stravinsky

  • Petrouchka: ballet and orchestral work (1911) for Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes; choreography by Michel Fokine; designs by Alexandre Benois.
  • The Rake's Progress (1951): English-language opera; libretto based on Hogarth's paintings.
  • Duo Concertant (1932): for violin and piano; neo-classical influence.

Electronic Music

  • Definition: music that uses electronic instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based technology.
  • Emergence driven by machines like synthesizers, tape recorders, amplifiers, loudspeakers.

Concrete Music

  • A form of electronic music that uses tape-recorded sounds from the environment.
  • Process: record everyday sounds (traffic, wind, dogs, etc.) and manipulate them to create music beyond traditional instruments.

Famous Composer of Electronic Music: Edgard Varèse

  • Lifespan: 1883−19651883-1965; often called the Father of Electronic Music; renowned for introducing new instruments and electronic resources.
  • Also dubbed the "Stratospheric Colossus of Sound".

Works of Edgard Varèse

  • Ameriques for Large Orchestra: 1918-1921, revised 1927; large romantic orchestra with extra percussion and sirens.
  • Poeme Electronique (1958): early integration of electronic sounds with traditional timbres.

Famous Composer of Electronic Music: Karlheinz Stockhausen

  • Lifespan: 1928−20071928-2007; German composer; central figure in electronic music; developed total serialism.

Works of Karlheinz Stockhausen

  • Gruppen (1957): for three orchestras; explores time and spatial movement of sounds.
  • Studie II: serially organized electronic work; early published electronic music score.

Famous Composer: Mario Davidovsky

  • Lifespan: 1934−20171934-2017; Argentine-American composer; known for Synchronisms (series of pieces combining live instruments with pre-recorded tape).

Works of Mario Davidovsky

  • Electronic Study I (1960): masterful tape-based work exploring phrase articulation and sound counting.

Chance (Aleatoric) Music

  • Definition: music where some aspects are left to chance or performer choice; randomness in production.
  • Sounds can originate from surroundings, natural or man-made.
  • Examples include ambient, environmental sounds incorporated into performance.

John Cage

  • Lifespan: 1912−19921912-1992; American composer and theorist; pioneer of indeterminacy, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of instruments.
  • Challenged traditional notions of music through chance and altered performance practices.

Famous works of John Cage

  • 4'33" (1952): a silent piece; first performed 1952; controversial for focusing on ambient sounds absent intentional sound.
  • Water Walk: performance piece using a variety of unconventional "instruments" (bathtub, pitcher, ice, etc.) culminating in a playful, quasi-Rube Goldberg sequence.