MUSIC IN THE 20TH

CENTURY
Quarter 1

REVIEW
1. Who is known as the Poet of the
Piano in the Romantic Period?
a. F. Chopin
c. R. Schumann
b. L.V. Beethoven d. N. Paganini

2. How will you describe the music of the

Romantic period?
a.highly ornamented
b.simple and elegant
c.passionate and expressive
d.plain and sometimes imitative

3. The composer who reflected the

characteristics of Classical and Romantic
music in his compositions for he was able to
live in the middle of both era?
a.W. A. Mozart c. F. Chopin
b.J. S. Bach
d. L. V. Beethoven

4. A piano composition often of a

romantic character which is
associated with the night.
a.Nocturne
c. Scherzo
b.Ballade
d. Impromptu

5. He is known as the greatest piano

virtuoso of the Romantic era who made
significant contributions in piano pedagogy
and piano recitals?
a.R. Schumann
c. L.V. Beethoven
b.F. Liszt
d. N. Paganini

NAME THE COMPOSERS AND

TITLE OF THE COMPOSITION
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

1.

2.

20th century saw the rise of

distinct musical styles that
reflected a move away from
the conventions of earlier
classical music.

IMPRESSIONISM

preceeds Romantic Period

dramatic emotionalism of
Romantic Period were
replaced in favour of moods
and impressions

 Most impressionist works

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 raindrenched 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

lune (1890-1905).mp4
Debussy_ Children's Corner - 6. Golliwog's
cake-walk (1906-1908).mp4
SADDLE Bench 30s (Richard Gomez).mp4
SCULLER Bench (Richard Gomez).mp4

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 Philha
rmonic.mp4
Ravel - Rapsodie espagnole - Barenboim
.mp4
Martha Argerich,Ravel Jeux d'eau.mp4

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.

 Debussys 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.

 The Difference Between Tonal & Atonal Mu

sic _ Piano & Music Tips.mp4
Bernstein on Schoenberg.mp4
Bernstein on Schoenberg Part II.mp4
Glenn Gould-Schoenberg-Pierrot Lunaire
opus 21 (HD).mp4
Arnold Schoenberg - Transfigured Night fo
r String Sextet, Op. 4.mp4

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 twentiethcentury 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 RimskyKorsakov
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
HD.mp4
Ptrouchka (1947); First Part - Danse Rus
se by Igor Stravinsky __ Animation by Vic
tor Craven.mp4
Stravinsky Petrushka - Yuja Wang.mp4

 Stravinsky_ The Firebird _ Gergiev Vien

na Philarmonic Salzburg Festival 2000.m
p4

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.

 Bla Bartok, 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 dominanttonic 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 composers 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 selfcontained 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.

 Pome 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.