MUSIC IN THE 20TH

CENTURY
Quarter 1
20th century saw the rise of
distinct musical styles that
reflected a move away from
the conventions of earlier
classical music.
 IMPRESSIONISM

• precedes Romantic Period

• dramatic emotionalism of
Romantic Period were
replaced in favor of moods
and impressions
• Most impressionists work
centered on nature and
its beauty, lightness and
brilliance.
•Impressionism was an attempt not
to depict reality, but merely to
suggest it.
•was meant to create an emotional
mood rather than a specific picture.
•In terms of imagery,
impressionistic forms were
translucent and hazy, as if
trying to see through a rain-
drenched window.
 MUSIC COMPOSITIONAL
CHARACTERISTICS

•use of extended chords,

harmonies, whole tone,
chromatic scales and
pentatonic scales.
• Sounds of different chords
overlapped lightly with
each other to produce
new subtle musical colors.
• Chords did not have a
definite order and a
sense of clear
resolution.
• lack of tonic-dominant
relationship which normally
gives the feeling of finality to
a piece, moods and
textures,
•harmonic vagueness about
the structure of certain
chords
•use of the whole-tone
scale
 FOREMOST PROPONENTS

•French composers:
Claude Debussy
Maurice Ravel
•Ottorino Respighi (Italy)
•Manuel de Falla (Spain)
•Isaac Albeniz (Spain)
•Ralph Vaughan Williams
(England)
CLAUDE DEBUSSY (1862-1918)
• Primary exponent of the
impressionist movement
and the focal point for
other impressionist
composers.
• Changed the course of musical
development by dissolving
traditional rules and conventions
into a new language of
possibilities in harmony, rhythm,
form, texture, and color.
Debussy_ Suite bergamasque - 3. Clair de l
une (1890-1905)
Debussy_ Children's Corner - 6. Golliwog's
cake-walk (1906-1908)
SADDLE Bench 30s (Richard Gomez)
SCULLER Bench (Richard Gomez)
MAURICE RAVEL
1875-1937
 COMPOSITIONAL STYLE

• Uniquely innovative but not

atonal style of harmonic
treatment.
• Intricate and sometimes modal
melodies and extended chordal
components
• demands considerable technical
virtuosity from the performer
which is the character, ability, or
skill of a virtuoso – a person who
excels in musical technique or
execution.
• Harmonic progressions and
modulations are not only
musically satisfying but also
pleasantly dissonant and
elegantly sophisticated.
• His refined delicacy and
color, contrasts and effects
add to the difficulty in the
proper execution of the
musical passages.
• Work is programmatic in nature,
visual imagery is either suggested
or portrayed.
• Works deal with water in it flowing
or stormy moods as well as with
human characterizations.
 SAMPLE WORKS

• - Maurice Ravel BOLERO - Wiener Philhar

monic
• Rapsodie espagnole, M. 54: II. Malagueña
• Martha Argerich,Ravel Jeux d'eau
ARNOLD
SCHOENBERG
(1874-1951)
 COMPOSITIONAL STYLE

• dissonant to atonal, as he
explored the use of chromatic
harmonies
• Although full melodic and lyrical
interest, his music is also
extremely complex, creating
heavy demands on the listener.
Western Diatonic Scale
The Chromatic Scale
 Atonality

• Music that is not in any key.

• Applies when there is no tonal
centre and all 12 notes of the
chromatic scale are of equal
importance, each of which
functions independently.
• Debussy’s music
foreshadowed atonality but it
was Schoenberg who wrote
atonal music and further
developed it into the “12-note”
system.
• The traditional concept
of consonances and
dissonances do not
apply in atonal works.
• Glenn Gould-Schoenberg-Pierrot Lunaire
opus 21 (HD)
• Arnold Schoenberg - Transfigured Night fo
r String Sextet, Op. 4
 OTHER MUSICAL STYLES

• PRIMITIVISM
- Music is tonal through the asserting of
one note as more important than the
others. New sounds are synthesized
from old ones by juxtaposing two
simple events to create a more
complex new event.
Primitivism has links to Exoticism
through the use of materials from
other cultures. Nationalism through
the use of materials indigenous to
specific countries, and Ethnicism
through the use of materials from
European ethnic groups.
• Eventually evolved in Neo-classicism
-Neoclassicism in music was a twentieth-
century trend, particularly current in the
period between the two World Wars, in
which composers sought to return to
aesthetic precepts associated with the
broadly defined concept of "classicism",
namely order, balance, clarity, economy,
and emotional restraint
IGOR STRAVINSKY
(1882-1971)
 Compositional Style

• Music reflected the influence of

his teacher, the Russian
composer Nikolai Rimsky-
Korsakov
• asymmetrical rhythm.
• nationalistic musical style
• Despite its “shocking”
modernity, his music is also
very structured, precise,
controlled, full of artifice, and
theatricality.
• Stravinsky_ Le sacre du printemps _ The
Rite of Spring - Jaap van Zweden - Full H
D.mp4
• Pétrouchka (1947); First Part - Danse Rus
se by Igor Stravinsky __ Animation by Vict
or Craven.mp4
• Stravinsky Petrushka - Yuja Wang.mp4
• Stravinsky_ The Firebird _ Gergiev · Vien
na Philarmonic · Salzburg Festival 2000.
mp4
BELA BARTOK
(1881-1945)
 Compositional Style

• Neo-classicist, primitivist, and

nationalist – used Hungarian
folk themes and rhythms
• Used changing meters and
syncopation
• Compositions were
successful because of
their rich melodies and
lively rhythms.
• Béla Bartók, No. 88, Duet for Pipes.mp4
 NEO-CLASSICISM

• a twentieth-century trend, particularly

current in the period between the two
World Wars, in which composers
sought to return to aesthetic precepts
associated with the broadly defined
concept of "classicism", namely order,
balance, clarity, economy, and
emotional restraint
• Moderating factor between
the emotional excesses of
the Romantic period and the
violent impulses of the soul
in expressionism.
• A partial return to earlier style
of writing, particularly the
tightly-knit form of the
Classical period, while
combining tonal harmonies
with slight dissonances.
SERGEI PROKOFIEFF
(1891-1953)
 COMPOSITIONAL STYLE

• regarded today as a combination

of neo-classicist, nationalist and
avant-garde
• progressive technique, pulsating
rhythms, melodic directness,
resolving dissonance
• Yuja Wang - Prokofiev_ Piano Concerto
No. 3 in C major, Op. 26 (Claudio Abbado,
LUCERNE FESTIVAL).mp4
• Yuja Wang plays Prokofiev _ Piano
Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Opus 16.mp4
FRANCIS POULENC
(1899-1963)
• A member of young
French composers
known as “Les Six”.
 COMPOSITIONAL STYLE

• rejected the heavy romanticism of

Wagner and the so-called
imprecision of Debussy and Ravel
• coolly elegant modernity,
tempered by a classical sense of
proportion
 OTHER MEMBERS OF
“LES SIX”

• George Auric (1899-1983)

• Louis Durey (1888-1979)
• Arthur Honegger (1882-1955)
• Darius Milhaud (1892-1974)
• Germaine Tailleferre (1892-1983)
• Poulenc - Mouvements Perpetuels No 1 -
Zakarij Laux.mp4
• Gloria (Francis Poulenc).mp4
• Francis Poulenc - Suite Pour Piano.mp4
 AVANT-GARDE MUSIC

• closely associated with

electronic music
• deals with the parameters or
the dimensions of sound in
space
• Exhibited a new attitude toward
musical mobility, whereby the
order or note groups could be
varied so that musical
continuity could be altered.
• Improvisation was a
necessity in this style, for
the musical scores were not
necessarily followed as
written.
• For example, one could
expect a piece to be
read by a performer from
left to right or vice versa.
• Or the performer might turn
the score over, and go on
dabbling indefinitely in
whatever order before
returning to the starting
point.
 Avant-garde composers

United States of America

•George Gershwin
•John Cage
•Leonard Bernstein
•Philip Glass
• The unconventional method of
sound and form, as well as the
absence of traditional rules
governing harmony, melody and
rhythm, make the whole concept
of avant-garde music still strange
to ears accustomed to traditional
compositions.
 Composers who used this style:
•Oliver Messian
•John Cage
•Philip Glass
•Leonard Bernstein
•George Gershwin
•Pierre Boulez
GEORGE GERSHWIN
(1898-1937)
 Musical style
• incorporated jazz rhythms with
classical forms
• His “mixture of the primitive and
the sophisticated” gave his music
an appeal that has lasted long
after his death.
• His melodic gift was
considered phenomenal,
as evidenced by his
numerous songs of wide
appeal.
• A true “cross-over artist” in the
sense that his compositions
remain highly popular in the
classical repertoire, as his
stage and film songs continue
to be jazz and vocal standards.
• considered the “Father
of American Jazz”
• MUSIC 10 videos\George Gershwin - The
Man I Love.mp4
• Norah Jones - Summertime.mp4
• Porgy & Bess _Summertime_.mp4
• Someone to Watch Over Me - Julie
Andrews.mp4
• G. Gershwin - Rhapsody in Blue,
FORTISSIMO FEST 2010.mp4
LEONARD BERNSTEIN (1918-1990)
• endeared himself to his
many followers as a
charismatic conductor,
pianist, composer and
lecturer
• His philosophy was that the
universal language of music is
basically rooted in tonality. This
came under fire from the radical
young musicians who espoused
the serialist principles of that time.
• Achieved pre-eminence in
two fields: conducting and
composing for Broadway
musicals, dance shows and
concert music.
• Best known for his
compositions for the stage:
West Side Story (1957)
Romeo and Juliet
(American version)
• West Side Story-Tonight (Ensemble).mp4
• West Side Story-Tonight.mp4
• West Side Story-Somewhere.mp4
• Glee - America.mp4
PHILIP GLASS
(1937- )
• one of the most commercially
successful minimalist
composer
• explored the territories of
ballet, opera, theatre, film, and
even television jingles
 Musical style
• distinctive style involves cell-like
phrases emanating from bright
electronic sounds from the
keyboard that progressed very
slowly from one pattern to the
next in a very repetitious fashion.
• Aided by soothing vocal effects
and horn sounds, his music is
often criticized as uneventful
and shallow, yet startlingly
effective for its hypnotic charm.
• Knee Play 5 (live) - Philip Glass, _Einstein
on the Beach_.mp4
• Philip Glass _Music in Fifths_ by Nicolas
Horvath.mp4
 MODERN NATIONALISM

• A looser form of 20th century

music development focused on
nationalist composers and
musical innovators who sought
to combine modern technique
with folk materials.
 Composers of this genre

• Bela Bartok
• Sergei Prokofieff
 “Russian Five”
Modest Mussorgsky
Mili Balakirev
Alexander Borodin
Cesar Cui
Nikolai Rimsky Korsakov
 SUMMARY

• IMPRESSIONISM
- made use of whole-tone
scale
- applied suggested, rather
than depicted, reality
- created a mood rather than
a definite picture
- had a translucent and hazy
texture; lacking a dominant-
tonic relationship
- made use of overlapping
chords, with 4ths, 5ths,
octaves, and 9th intervals,
resulting in a non-traditional
harmonic order and resolution
• EXPRESSIONISM
- revealed the composer’s mind,
instead or presenting an
impression of the environment
- used atonality and the 12-tone
scale, lacking stable and
conventional harmonies
• It served as a medium for
expressing strong
emotions, such as
anxiety, rage and
alienation.
• NEO-CLASSICISM
- partial return to a classical form
or writing music with carefully
modulated dissonances. It
made use of a freer seven-note
diatonic scale.
• AVANT-GARDE
- Associated with electronic
music and dealt with the
parameters or dimensions of
sound in space.
• Made use of variations of self-
contained note groups to
change musical continuity, and
improvisation, with an absence
of traditional rules on harmony,
melody, and rhythm.
• MODERN NATIONALISM
- A looser form of 20th century
music development focused on
nationalist composers and
musical innovators who sought to
combine modern techniques with
folk materials.
 Impressionist composers

•Claude Debussy
•Maurice Ravel
 Expressionism

• Arnold Schoenberg
• Igor Stravinsky –
also neo-classicist,
primitivist
 neo-classical, modern
nationalist, primitivist

•Bela Bartok
•Sergei Prokofieff – also
avant-garde but not primitivist
 Neo-classic

• Francis Poulenc and

other members of
“Les Six”
 20 Century Musical Styles
th

• Electronic Music - music

being produced electronically
and recorded on tape. It may
refer to synthesized sounds
or everyday sounds.
• Musique concrete or
concrete music –
music that uses the
tape recorder
• Mario Davidovsky - Synchronisms No.
5.mp4
EDGARD VARESE
(1883-1965)
 Musical style

• emphasized on timbre and rhythm

• Invented the term “organized
sound”, which means that certain
timbres and rhythm can be
grouped together in order to
capture a whole definition of
sound.
• Use of instruments and
electronic resources made him
the “Father of Electronic Music”
and he was described as the
“Stratospheric Colossus of
Sound.”
• Poème Electronique.mp4
Karlheinz Stockhausen (1928- )
 Musical style

• total serialism( influenced by

Schoenberg, Messiaen,
Webern)
• heavily atonal content with
practically no clear melodic or
rhythmic sense.
• Stockhausen -- Hymnen.mp4
• Karlheinz Stockhausen _Helicopter String
Quartet_.mp4
• Stockhausen Studie II.mp4
 CHANCE MUSIC

• refers to a style wherein the piece

always sounds different at every
performance because of the
random techniques of production,
including the use of ring
modulators or natural elements
that become part of the music.
• Most of the sounds emanate from
the surroundings, both natural
and man-made, such as honking
cars, rustling leaves, blowing
wind, dripping water, or a ringing
phone.
• As such, the combination
of external sounds
cannot be duplicated as
each happens by
chance.
JOHN CAGE
(1912-1992)
• became one of the most original
composers in the history of
western music
• He challenged the very idea of
music by manipulating musical
instruments in order to achieve
new sounds.
• John Cage - 4'33_.mp4
• John Cage - Sonatas and Interludes for
prepared piano [1_5].mp4
• John Cage's Prepared Piano w_ Stephen
Drury.mp4
• John Cage playing amplified cacti and plant
materials with a feather.mp4
• Tim Ovens plays John Cage · Sonata X for
Prepared Piano.mp4
 SUMMARY

• New musical styles created by the

20th century classical composers
were truly unique and innovative.
• Experimented with the elements of
rhythm, melody, harmony, tempo
and timbre in daring way never
attempted before
• Among the resulting new musical
styles were electronic music and
chance music. These expanded the
concept of music far beyond the
conventions of earlier periods, and
challenged both the new composers
and the listening public.