Music: Music of the 20th Century

MUSIC OF THE 20TH CENTURY

  • January 1, 1901 - December 31, 2000

  • Spanish flue

  • WWI and WWII

  • Technology is advancing

  • Changes have been fast and dramatic in all areas of culture: social,political, scientific, technology, economics.

  • Distinct musical style

    • That reflected the move away from the conventions of earlier Western classical music.

MUSICAL STYLES

  • Impressionism

  • Expressionism

  • Neo-classicism

  • Modern Nationalism

  • Avant-garde

  • Primitivism

IMPRESSIONISM

  • how you interpret things

  • earliest form

  • based on and art movement

  • Replaced by favor of moods and impressions, extensive use of different timbres

  • effects vague melodies or not being clear

  • translucent and hazy

  • defuse

  • Whole tone- a scale consisting entirely of intervals of atone, with no semitones

  • can lead to dissonance

  • extended chord s and harmonies

  • the use of whole town

  • chromatic scale pentatonic scale

CLAUDE MONET

  • 19th century artist in paris

  • Impression Sunrise

    • A painting of sunrise

COMPOSERS

  • Achille Claude Debussy

  • Joseph Maurice Ravel

  • Ottorino Respighi - Italy

  • Manuel de Falla and Isaac Albeniz - Spain

  • Ralph Vaughan Williams - England

ACHILLE CLAUDE DEBUSSY

  • primary exponent

  • erratic pianist

  • rebel in theory and harmony

  • evolving traditional rules and conventions into a new language

  • avoided metric pulses and preferred free form

  • gamelan (Javanese) and bronze percussion instruments of Indonesia

  • unpredictable music

DEBUSSY’S MATURE CREATIVE PERIOD WORKS:

  • Ariettes Oubliees

  • Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun

  • String Quartet

  • Pelleas et Melisande (1895) - his famous operatic work that drew mixed extreme reactions for its innovative harmonies and textural treatments

  • La mer (1905)- a highly imaginative and atmosphericsymphonic work for orchestra about the sea

  • Images, Suite Bergamasque and Estampes – his most popular piano compositions; a set of lightly textured pieces containing his signature work for Claire de Lune ( Moonlight)

JOSEPH MAURICE RAVEL

  • virtuoso

  • innovative but not atonal style of harmonic treatment

  • defined with intricate and sometimes modal melodies and extended chordal components.

  • considerable technical virtuosity

  • His works are not just musically satisfying but also pleasantly dissonant and elegantly sophisticated.

  • water in its flowing

  • stormy moods

  • human characterization

RAVEL’S WORKS

  • Pavane for a Dead Princess (1899)

    • a slow but lyrical requiem

    • for a dead person

    • a majestic proffessional dance

  • Jeux d’ Eau or Water Fountains (1901)

  • Sonatine for Piano (c.1904)

  • Miroirs (Mirrors) (1905)

    • a work for piano known for its harmonic evolution and imagination

  • Gaspard de la Nuit (1908)

    • a set of demonic- inspired pieces based on the poems of Aloysius Bertrand which is arguably the most difficult piece in the piano repertoire

  • Valses Nobles et Sentimentales (1911)

  • Le tombeau de Couperin (c. 1917)

    • a commemoration of the musical advocacies of the early 18th century French composer Francois Couperin

  • Rhapsodie Espagnole (1907-1908)

  • Bolero (1875-1937)

    • famous work

    • jacket

    • fandango

  • Daphnis et Chloe (1912)

    • a ballet commissioned by master choreographer Sergei Diaghilev that contained rhythmic diversity, evocation of nature, and a choral ensemble

  • La Valse (1920)

    • a waltz with a frightening undertone that had been composed for ballet and arranged as well for solo and duo piano

  • Tzigane (1922)

    • a violin virtuosic piece

  • Two Piano Concerti (1929)

EXPRESSIONISM

  • visual arts and then moved into literature and music

  • an opposed to impressionism which looked outward

    • expressionism looked inward and sought to express inward emotions

    • OUTWARD - physical appearance

    • INWARD - emotions / inner

  • Originated in germany

  • Arnold Schoenberg, Alban Berg, Anton Webern

ARNOLD SCHOENBERG

  • Pelleas und Melisande, Op 5 (1903)

    • influenced by Richard Wagner

    • Opearas

  • Schoenberg’s style was constantly undergoing development.

  • dissonant and atonal

  • use of chromatic harmonies

  • credited for 12 tone system

  • his music are complex, creating heavy demands on the listener

ARNOLD SCHOENBERG WORKS

  • Verklarte Nacht, Three Pieces for Piano, op. 11

  • Pierrot Lunaire

  • Gurreleider

  • Verklarte Nacht (Transfigured Night,1899)- one of hisearliest successful pieces, which blends the lyricism,instrumentation, and melodic beauty of Brahms withthe chromaticism and construction of Wagner.

IGOR STRANVINSKY

  • Influenced by his teacher : Nikolai Rimsky Korsakov

  • The Firebird Suite (1910)

    • composed for Diaghilev’s Russian ballet (skillful handling of material and rhythmic inventiveness)

  • Adapted the forms of the 18th century with his contemporary style of writing.

  • Despite its “shocking modernity, his music is also very structured, precise , controlled ,full of artifice and theatricality.

  • Petrouchka (1911)

    • featuring shifting rhythms and polytonality, a signature device of the composer.

  • The Rite of Spring (1913)

    • a new level of dissonance was reached and the sense of tonality was practically abandoned.

  • Asymmetrical rhythms successfully portrayed the character of a solemn pagan rite (national musical style)

  • The Rake’s Progress (1951)

    • a full length opera, alludes heavily to the Baroque and Classical styles of Bach and Mozart through the use of harpsichord, small orchestra, solo and ensemble.