20th Century France

→ in the early 20^th century, Paris became home to an extraordinary concentration of musicians

→ composers flocked to Paris including Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Copland, Villa-Lobos, and more

Gabriel Faure (1845-1924)

→ French composer that bridged the old Romantic style to more ground-breaking modernist French styles

→ Director of the Paris Conservatoire

Language/Storyline of 20^th Century?

→ language — whole tone scale (ie, debussy; no leading tone = floating feeling), pentatonic scale, dissonance

→ storyline — suspended resolution (journey to resolution)

Erik Satie (1866-1925)

→ French composer who was a pianist in a cafe early in his career

→ member of the Mystical Order of the Rose and Cross of the Temple and Grail, an occultist cult

→ later formed his own cult

→ he was against the “Germanic” style & thought it was too complicated

→ he wrote what he called “furniture music” which is background music

→ minimalist

Three Gymnopedies (1888)

→ the antithesis of the Romantic Era

→ his three Gymnopedies challenged teh Romantic notions of expressivity and individuality

→ instead of offering variety, as ex[ected in a set of pieces, they are all similar and plain

→ same slow tempo, same accompaniment pattern, same melodic rhythm, and similar harmonies

Vexations (1893)

→ “in order to play the theme 840 in succession, it would be advisable to prepare oneself beforehand, and in the deepest silence, through serious immobility”

→ no measures or meter

→ lots of tritone

Dadaism

→ art movement that was inspired by anti-establishment and anti-war during WW1

→ artists sought to shock, confuse, and offend

→ rebellion against traditional art values

Parade (1917)

→ written for Serge Diaghilev’s ballet company Ballets Russes (same that premiered Prelude of the Faun)

→ sets and costumes designed by Pablo Picasso, music by Satie

→ Satie wanted the work to be a cross between a variety show and traveling circus

→ percussion section contains a typewriter, pistol shots, and a roulette wheel

→ the premiere offended almost everyone in the audience

→ canon in the music - juxtaposition between modern cubism & traditional canon

Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)

→ impressionist composer from a Basque town in France

→ kicked out of the Paris Conservatorie twice

→ studied composition under Gabriel Faure

Pavane pour une infante défunte (1899)

→ solo piano work that is his first to be widely known

→ published an orchestral transcription fo the piece in 1910

→ Ravel wanted to evoke an old fashioned courtly dance that a princess might have danced to

Jeux Deau (1901)

→ Ravel said it is based on a classical sonata form without a classical tonal plan

→ adds tension to tonic by adding M7

Ravel the orchestrator

→ ravel was a master orchestrator

→ he would often orchestrate his piano works

→ most famous orchestral transcription of a work not by him is Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition

Les Apaches

→ a group of like-minded artists who wanted to change the norms of musical rules

→ met weekly to compose music and perform for each other

→ they looked up to Debussy

Daphnis et Chloe (1912)

→ Ravel’s largest scale orchestral work up until that point

→ commissioned by Sergei Diaghilev for the Ballets Russes

→ inspired by Wagner with its use of leitmotifs throughout

Ravel in WWI

→ Ravel wanted to join the French army as an aviator, but he was rejected because he was small & had a heart condition

→ he eventually was accepted to join as a driver

→ Stravinsky said “at his age and with his name he could have had an easier place, or done nothing”

→ when he returned, Satie and Les Six turned against him and disliked his music

Le Tombeau de Couperin (1917)

→ written during the war with each movement dedicated to a friend who died in combat

Bolero (1928)

→ Ravel’s most famous piece

→ a dancer asked Ravel to transcribe an Isaac Albeniz piano piece for orchestra

→ however, the work was already transcribed by another person and copyright law prevents other transcriptions

→ therefore, Ravel decided to compose a new piece in a Spanish dance form

Ravel visits the US in 1928

→ Ravel made his only US trip in 1928 for a North American tour

→ During his visit, he met George Gershwin and befriended him

→ Gershwin influenced Ravel to incorporate more jazz into his music