V.

NINETEENTH CENTURY
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770-1827)
Was born in Bonn (actual Germany). He restates what we think of artist in society. A big fan
of puns, he was a representation of “larger than life” figure. Studies with Haydn in Vienna
(with baron Volschstein), organ with Neefe, and counterpoint with Albreschtsberger (studied
J.S. Bach’s The Well-Tempered Klavier, and he will become fascinated by counterpoint).

Akademie(n): concerts for one’s own benefit (public concert, organized by composers).
WoO= werk öhne Opuszahl (Beethoven, unlike previous composers, did write opus numbers
on his pieces).

Overview of the three periods of Beethoven’s life:

• Early period (1802-03): Was very tied to 18th-century traditional genres and form.
Representative works:
o Symphonies 1 & 2
o Piano Concertos 1-3
o Piano Trios, Op. 1
o String Quartets, Op. 18
o Piano Sonata in C minor (“Pathétique”)
o Ballet “The Creatures of Prometheus”

• Middle period “Heroic period” (1803-1815): Here appeared most of the works that
became him famous. Vastly explode of traditional forms: longer with more
development.
o Symphonies 3 to 8
o Piano Concertos 4 & 5
o Fidelio
o String Quartets Op. 59
o Piano Sonata, Op. 53 (“Waldstein”)
o Piano Sonata, Op. 57 (“Appassionata”)

In 1790 he was in Vienna as a composer & pianist. Later, in 1797: (year Schubert was
born): he started to become deaf, and in 1802 doctors suggested him to retire to rest
his ears.
Heiligenstadt Testament: a letter to his brother (as if he were speaking to mankind);
he’s considering ending his life at this point. This year was a big turning point in his
life.
5th symphony: first time trombone was used.

• Late period (1815 onward): He then starts the conversation books (“half
conversations” he wrote when he was speaking with other people). Musical concept
more abstract, personal. Less traditional.
 o 9th symphony (“Choral“)
o Missa solemnis
o Song cycle “An die ferne Geliebte”
o Piano small pieces collection (bagatelles)
o Last 6 piano sonatas
o Last 6 String quartets (His string quartet op. 131 was very exotic).
o Diabelli variations

In 1801, he wrote a counter-dances, that he will reuse in Creatures of Prometheus (about the
hero who stole fire (representing wisdom) from the gods), premiered in March at the
Burgtheater. When Prometheus is put to death in the ballet, his resurrection (means bringing
the wisdom back) is celebrated using this piece. He will then use it again in the Variations &
Fugue for Piano, Op. 35 as a bass line.

Symphony No. 3 in E-flat “Eroica”, Op. 55 (1803)

The symphony was then considered as a unified structure: 4-movement tradition. This
symphony was originally dedicated to Napoleon, but the address was scratched when he lost
faith in him for self-proclaiming himself emperor.
• 4th movement starts with a fanfare and develops some VARIATIONS of the bass line.
• 3rd movement is a Scherzo (joke). Beethoven replaces Minuet by Scherzo and Trio.
• Same theme structure gives us 1st movement theme and transposed the 2nd
movement theme. 1st movement (Sonata form) is around 15 minutes long, and the
entire symphony around 50-55 minutes long. Beethoven expands the form in
transitions and developments.

In the 18th century, symphonies were just played once and that’s it; now symphonies were a
musical canon, things are repeated and heard a thousand times. Mahler wrote 10
symphonies, Brahms 4, etc. more and more extravagant. Beethoven started to connect things
thematically; Brahms took 20 years to write his symphony of this novelty Beethoven created.

What’s new in the Eroica?

• Scherzo + trio instead of minuet.
• Proportions: 1st movement is 700 bars long!
• Small ideas ultra-developed.

A. ROMANTICISM
This epoch was characterized by avid expression of feelings and passionate states of mind.
Music in this time often personifies complicated ideas and strong emotions, also
individualistic, and programmatic to express their feelings that were present in literature,
painting and philosophy.
FRANZ SCHUBERT (1797-1828)
He was born a generation after Beethoven and died a year after him. He developed all genres
but is most known for lied(er) (German song or work for solo singer & piano accompaniment).

Also, wrote a huge amount of character pieces (brief compositions that quickly establish a
definite mood or atmosphere) and song cycles (songs groups that belong together in poetry
and music). He wrote about 600 songs in his life.

There are different ways to write a lied:

• Strophic: same music for each stanza of text
• Modified strophic: similar music for each stanza (some variations)
• Through composed: new music for each stanza.

♫Schubert: “Erlkönig” (1815)

Text is from a Ballade (long poem tending to be dramatic, with different characters) with
supernatural elements (magic and darkness) by Goethe. Erlking (mistranslation of Elfking,
from the Danish).

The meaning of the text is brought by tessiture (child: high, each time higher, father: low
register, erlking: major key). Another 1792 version exists by another composer, Schröter, but
in strophic form.

FELIX MENDELSSOHN (1809-1847)

Born in Leipzig (conservative music center in this time). Was a pianist, organist, and
composer. He wrote music in mixed style (putting together the 18th-century elements (close
to Mozart and Beethoven) but adding thoroughly modern concepts). A Midsummer Night’s
Dream, Italian Symphony, The Hebrides (overture), Violin Concerto, and Songs Without Words
(solo piano) are part of his best-known works.

ROBERT SCHUMANN (1810-1856)

Was a talented piano player, moved to F. Wieck’s house (1785-1873), where Wieck’s 12-year-
old daughter Clara (1819-1896) lived. Clara & Robert’s love was of course not approved, but
in 1840 they got married (she now was 21, in age to do whatever she wanted).

He hurt his finger, couldn’t realize the performing career he was meant to have (which Clara
will do), and then became a music a critique for the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik (New journal
of Music, est. 1834). He had some personality issues, writing with different names (Florestan,
the passionate, Eusebius, the dreamer, among others). He also wrote a bunch of music as
well.
 The Year of Song (1840) (60 or some songs). Among these was the Dichterlieber (Poet’s Love,
16 songs, originally 20, and based on poet Heinrich Heine (1797-1856) text: Buch der Lieder.

The Dichterlieber was one of his cycles (a collection of songs based on a same theme, poet or
whatever the composer decides to call a unit). In Heine, there was a lot of Romantic irony (all
seems well, but the end is not).
A lot of these pieces have postludes, sometimes longer than the first verse.

♫Schumann: Dichterlieber, Song 1: “Im wunderschönen Monat Mai”

(In the lovely month of May). Romantic irony. Anxiety and tension. Strophic: 2 verses. F#
minor key. Unrest sensation (never resolves to tonic). Piano part is anticipating the conflict in
the poetry.

♫Schumann: Dichterlieber, Song 12: “Am leuchtenden Sommermorgen”

(In the bright summer morning). Bar 17 changes the tempo and the key to catch out attention.
Why? The text. Extended postlude. In 9 of 16 song cycles, piano postlude is longer than
previous stands of text. Descending line in the postlude.

♫Schumann: Dichterlieber, Song 16: “Die alten bösen Lieder”

(The old evil songs). Text expresses scenarios that exist in nowadays like Heidelberg (looks
similar to Disney Castle), Big Wine Barrel, Roman Bridge at Mainz and the Cologne’s
Cathedral.

HECTOR BERLIOZ (1803-1869)

Was born in France. Self-taught in music. Got The Prix the Rome in 1830. Aside his composer
activities, he wrote musical criticism. He wrote shorter works that he called “overtures” for
concert purposes rather than as preludes to any vast composition, large choral music (La
damnation de Faust, Requiem Mass, and L’enfance du Christ), and songs. Also, wrote 4
symphonies (there used voices), the most known is the first one, “Symphonie Fantastique.”

Programmatic symphony: instrumental composition with extramusical meaning.

Idée Fixe: Obsesive melody that is present in all movements and varies throughout the piece.
Cyclicism: taking music from earlier movement & putting back in a new movement.

B. HISTORY OF THE PIANO

Main instrument in the 19th century, both for amateurs & professionals. Seen in concert hall
and homes as well. Equal partner with voice. Big transformation of the instrument through
new technologies.
Cristofori, Bartolomeo (1720) is considered the inventor of the pianoforte (piano: soft; forte:
loud). One of the distinctions between piano and harpsichord, can play soft or loud because
of the hammer. Early piano looks like a “big old coffin”: narrow keyboard, thin strings. It
allows composers to create more colors.
Broadwood (1796) English Piano built. Has separated pedal that provides different effects.
Erard (1840) Becomes part of the furniture (decorated) and more elaborated.
Square Piano (1853) Is a non-standardized shape on all of them.
1853: creation of Steinway & Sons.
End of century: three pedals.

19th CENTURY PIANO INNOVATIONS

• Iron (and later steel) frame. Gives to the instrument more strength (beside Cristofori’s
wooden box).
• More pressure in strings/better tuning/more stable and resistant
• Action: the Cristofori action was not good for fast passages and repeated notes. In
1820-30, Erard made the Double escapement action, which allows faster playing with
a mechanism that returns the key to the original positions sooner. The change of
action will revolutionize the way piano is played. This will allow composers to do new
things.

• Five-Octave Viennese Piano (18th-c.): Has a few “knee pedals.” Was one of the
innovations in this century.
• 7 1/3 octaves (1820’s) - more octaves mean more opportunities for composers.
• Felt hammers (1820s): Warmth, uniformity, and louder sound. The instrument can
play with big orchestras, a big start for pianists!
• Cross stringing (1820s): The way strings are laid out into the instrument.
• Sostenuto pedal (1840s): (middle pedal), which can hold only the last chord played.
Chopin and Debussy used it.

Video clips about the piano history: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uCCw_hmILA

FRANZ LISZT (1811-1886)

Hungarian pianist-conductor-composer. Goes to Paris as a child, the place to go for virtuosos.
There, it became a social affair (great tool for “husband hunting.”). Thanks to the piano music
interest, Liszt was a “star” with his recital (play a concert entirely alone or with a few more
performers) conception. His “Hungarian Rhapsodies” (a fantastic-epic element is implicit in
the music) show national or folk-like themes. Also, is well-known for his symphonic poems
(describes a non-musical content like poetry, painting, or novel through the orchestral music).

♫Liszt: “Hungarian Rhapsody” No. 15 (Rákóczy March) (1853)

Lots of octaves and fast notes, that are quite impossible in Mozart/Beethoven pianos.
Composer demands new compositions to inspire builders to create improved pianos.
 Sonata form. Very virtuosic concept, like a “Rock Star”.

FRÉDÉRIC CHOPIN (1810-1849)

Polish-born, but spent most of his time in Paris, especially in saloons/private performer for
rich people; just one public concert a year. Wrote a lot of character pieces, usually for solo
piano like concert études (or studies, that stem from his piano teaching but achieve at the
same time a great artistry) and 21 nocturnes.

Nocturne: (example of character piece) Chopin was not the inventor of the genre.
• First developed by John Field in Ireland between 1812 and 1836.
• Cantilena-style (long-lyrical style melody, like Bellini’s Norma) melodies plus chordal
or arpeggiated accompaniments.
• Often ABA forms
• Tempo Rubato: push or pull the tempo for the artistic expression sake. Flexible tempo.
Keep the left hand steady and take some time in the right one.

♫Chopin: Nocturne in D-flat Major, Op. 27, No. 2 (1835)

A piece proposing night, habitually quiet and meditative in character (but not all time).
Pedal, articulation, dynamics, crescendo, and decrescendo markings. Composers noted its
creations very carefully due to was published for crowds (frequently non-professionals). Use
of polyrhythms and chromaticism.
Long lyrical melodic line in Chopin comes from operatic tradition.

C. THE WORLD OF ITALIAN OPERA: BEL CANTO

Bel canto means “beautiful singing,” referring to florid style of the second quarter of the 19th
century, most closely associated to Rossini, Bellini & Donizetti (lots of fioritture). Was one of
the premiere forms of entertainment at that day. Between 1842 and 1857 were created at
least 641 new operas.

Conventions in Italian Opera

• Composers were hired by impresarios (in this way, composers do not receive respect).
• Composer have not copyright for his works.
• Frequently at singer (star) grace (they changed the composer’s version)
• Composer gave up artistic control (Suitcase Aria: signature tune that was brought by
singers in every place they visited).
• Free transfer of music from one opera to another

Italian Opera Characteristics

• Plots and characters are involved in realistic situations
• Highly emotional plots: violence, intrigue
 • Singers are more important than orchestra
• Chorus provide more dramatic details (important role)
• Ensembles and larger units/scenarios
Number opera: individual numbers can be extracted, literally, numbers are in the score.
In the 19th century, larger & larger structural units will appear.

GIOACHINO ROSSINI (1792-1868)

• Born in Pesaro, Italy on February 29! Wildly successful
• He retired early because he could live on his money. Composed rapid!
• Early hits: Tancredi & L’italiana in Algieri (1813) -à Wagner’s born
• He re-used his overtures over and over.
• Long sense of lyricism (very characteristic).
• Barber of Seville* (1816) put him on a map and was written in 13 days! In Vienna in
the 1820’s, Rossini was more played than Haydn, Mozart of Beethoven!
*The Barber is a prequel of Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro. Also based
on the Beaumarchais play (play in three parts: first is the Rossini,
middle part is the Mozart). The Barber is an opera buffa.
The characters are: Count Almaviva, Rosina (the Countess in Le
nozze, because she will have married the Count), Figaro (the
Barber).

Conventions in Rossini’s Operas

• Ensemble finales: The main character is singing together in large numbers at the end
of some acts (Ensemble: principals are named vs. chorus: unnamed block of people)
• Two & Three-part Arias
o Cavatina: entrance aria. Slow section, cantabile, lyrical.
o Tempo di mezzo (optional): often in “parlando” style (spoken recitative).
o Cabaletta: lively tempo, coloratura.
• Rossini crescendo: Orchestra progressively more excited towards the climax.

♫Rossini: Barber of Seville, “Largo al factotum” (Figaro’s aria) (1816)

Is a patter aria: Comic aria where singers sing faster for creating a comic environment.

♫Rossini: Barber of Seville, “Una voce poco fa” (Rossina’s aria) (1816)
Cavatina (until measure 53) & Cabaletta (Two-part aria). No tempo de mezzo here. “Bel
canto” style singing. Add improvisation and ornamentation throughout the piece.

GIUSEPPE VERDI (1813-1901)

Born the same year as Wagner, but very different views on opera. He was refused in the
conservatory because of his age and lack of advanced piano skills. Before 1842, he was on the
 verge of depression (probably wife died, some kids maybe too). His first great success was
Nabucco (1842).
From 1839 to 1893 he composed 26 operas. Some of them are:
• Rigoletto (1851)
• Il trovatore (1853)
• La traviata (1853)
• La forza del destino (1862)
• Aida (1873) Suez’s canal opening
• Otello (1884-86; performed in 1887) (Libretto by Arrigo Boito)
• Falstaff (1851) Last opera (Libretto by Arrigo Boito)

Risorgimento: “resurging”; Italian nationalist movement to unite Italy under a single ruler
that wanted Vittorio Emanuel, Re d’Italia (V.E.R.d.I.). On the walls were written signs saying
“Vive VERDI!” showing the political implication of the time. Verdi himself was involved in this
movement (he later would participate in the parliament).
“Va, pensiero” is a famous Nabucco chorus, done twice even in the MET (tradition of this
nationalistic reinforcement).

Verdi was a model of what the Italian opera would be in the 2nd half of the 19th century.

Rigoletto (1851): based on Victor Hugo’s play “Le roi s’amuse”.

Characters:
• Duke of Mantua
• Rigoletto (hunchback, basically the king’s jester)
• Gilda (Rigoletto’s daughter)
• Sparafucile: assassin wandering by
• Maddalena: a flirtatious woman.

Quartet: Duke, Maddalena the flirtatious, Rigoletto “pissed”, and Gilda: woeful and mournful.

♫Verdi: Rigoletto, “La donna è mobile” (woman is fickle) (1851)

A two-verse strophic aria. In this aria, the orchestra is very light, so as to avoid street organ
grinder to “pick the theme” from heard rehearsals and play it in the street before the
performance.

D. GERMAN OPERA
CARL MARIA VON WEBER (1786-1826)
Was a composer and opera director during Classical-Romantic transition. established the
German opera, also known as Singspiel. Weber expanded the elder Singspiel for creating a
new drama emphasis. It is seen in Der Freischütz. Orchestral treatment was more detailed
with expression marks and musical symbols.
RICHARD WAGNER (1813-1883)
• Was the master of the German Opera. Profound influence on music around him
(nobody in the 19th century could really escape his influence, did they like him or not)
• Colossal figure in music philosophy & visual art.
• Nietzsche was a great devotee to Wagner, until his writing of Persiphal in 1882, that
was too ‘Christian’ for Nietzsche
• Dalí has a fascination for Wagner (especially “Tristan und Isölde”). He made busts of
Wagner’s head in sculpture.
• French newspaper “L’éclipse” showed that some hated him.
• Considered himself as a “theater man” instead musician. Also, was a great writer
• His works stereotypes were very present: Ladies with slow metabolism, big mouth,
magic helmet.

Wagner’s Mature Operas

He had many positions around central Germany in opera houses. While there, he studied and
learned the scores of contemporary operas (especially Beethoven). Searching for his one
voice, he wrote the following pieces (not really played anymore):
• Die Feen (1st opera, in Singspiel tradition)
• Das liebes Verbot (2nd opera – overture sounds Italian in tradition)
• Rienzi (French grand opera, 5 acts with ballet in the middle – Meyerbeer wrote the
libretto This was a way for Wagner to go to Paris halls).

Operas are still done regularly now:

• The flying Dutchman (1841) Elements of French opera, but Wagner was here trying to
find a new style.
• Tannhäuser (1845) He wrote five different versions (2nd in 1860, rewriting in 1861 for
performing in Paris. In 1875 created other version for a performance in Vienna. 6
weeks before die he was not satisfied with the piece).
• Lohengrin (1848) Story of swan knight needed to save a lady.

Arrested for revolutionary minor participation, he could travel to Paris before settling in
Zürich. He then wrote his “Artwork of the future” (1849) and “Opera & Drama” (1851). Those
are long essays assessing the state of the opera: Italian opera being defined as a collection of
“jubilated folk tunes” and French opera as “an excuse for ballet”. The true direction for him
was therefore the German Opera.

The Three pillars of the Artwork of the future were:

1. Poetry: Written text of the opera (libretto). Deeply interest in mythology and
character development (Wagner wrote his own libretti).
2. Tone: Greek chorus (action on the stage, and chorus comments on the drama). All
musical aspects on the opera: Orchestration, tempos (Wagner orchestra was relevant
 to his music). Use of leitmotivs (short tunes representing some aspect of the drama).
He even wrote an essay on the tone voice: very much concerned with dramatization.
3. Dance: Gesamtkunstwerk idea. Total work of art (unifying poetry, tune, dance, etc.).
That is not just about pretty tune in dance, but drama all together.

Der Ring des Nibelugen (Libretti)

• 1st libretto: The death of Siegfried (The hero fall’s story)
• 2nd libretto: The young Siegfried (Tell here the hero comes from)
• 3rd libretto: Die Walküre (Battle Maidens, Wotan’s daughters)
• 4th libretto: The Rhine Gold

He will then compose them in the order of the story (the last libretto being the first opera
then):
• Das Rheingold (1854)
• Die Walküre (1856)
• Siegfried (1857) (Act III will only be written in 1871, because he had to write small
operas in-between so as to earn money).
• Götterdämmerung (1874) (Twilight of the gods).

He will later on publish the librettos as dramatic texts so as to make more money. In the
preface, he would ask for a metaphorical “prince” to support him, prince which will later
appear to be the “Mad King Ludwig II of Bavaria”, from the Order of the Swan Knight, who
sees some kind of connection between himself and the Lohengrin story. He will then agree
to give money in order for Wagner to finish writing his operas. This mad king was living in
Neuschwanstein (the one model for Disney’s magic kingdom castle!)

Inside the castle murals of Wagner could be seen (symbolism all over the place). This king was
a bit loony and would have servants cook for his “imaginary friends”. In Bayreuth, he built a
house for Wagner: the Wahnfried. Bayreuth Festspielhaus (theater) Here the Ring has its
first performance during the 1st Wagnerian Festival in 1876. One hour between each act; not
much to do else than enjoying the opera (close to ‘Art for art’s sake’ views).

The structure of the opera would cover the singer thanks to the “hide” it provides (which was
actually an architectural accident).

♫Wagner: Das Rheingold (1854)

• Alberich, a little nibelung (sort of dwarf/ugly troll)
• Wotan, head of the gods, up there in Valhalla (who also will have to pay for his castle
and will basically “sell” his wife’s Frika (goddess of marriage) to the giants)
• Loge: god of fire.
• Donner: God of Thunder (Thor)
• Froh: God of Spring
 • Erda: Goddess of the Earth & Wisdom

We can hear different themes for each: Alberich’s theme, Ring’s theme, the Valhalla motiv
trio, the curse of the ring’s motiv, and more.

Some specifics:
Thematic transformation: reinventing a theme so there is a change of character (think of idée
fixe & Berlioz’ symphonie fantastique)
Unending melody: continuous music without break between dialogues.

End of 19th century:

Weakening of the tonal system
Increase of chromaticism, attraction to tonic weakens (Wagner’s “Tristan” chord resolving to
a dominant – no “back-home” tonic anymore).
Composers are seeking new resources.

VI. TWENTIETH CENTURY

A. IMPRESSIONISM
This term is principally introduced in the visual arts by Monet, Manet, Degas, Renoir. This
movement is concern with light, color, atmospheric conditions (instead naturalism) that
obscure sharply drawn contours. Here the color comes to be more significant than line.

CLAUDE DEBUSSY (1862-1918)

Was a very influential impressionist composer. Won the “Prix de Rome” in 1884. He wrote
mainly for piano (2 preludes and 1 études books) and for orchestra as well. First time that
harmony was more important than melody. Debussy became fascinated by creating patterns
not based on the traditional scales after listening to an Indonesian “Gamelan” ensemble in
the World’s fair: 1889 in Paris.

Musical Impressionism
The term is borrowed from the visual arts and makes mention of the 20 years period between
1890 and 1910.
• Emphasis on timbre (detailed score markings)
• Coloristic and non-functional harmonies (often planning parallel fourths and fifths or
7th and 9th chords)
• Static, non-climatic melodies (frequently around a single pitch). Melodies a
consequence of harmony.
• New scales were introduced (pentatonic, whole-tone, octatonic)
• No major/minor concept (half-steps and leading tones avoided)
• Indistinct rhythms that appear unmetrical, absence of rhythmic energy, improvisatory
sounding (Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun’s flute intro).
 • Exotic influences: Gamelan ensemble (2 scales: a 5- and a 7-note scale).
• Programmatic or extramusical connotations (The Sunken Cathedral, Footsteps in the
snow).

♫Debussy: Images I, “Reflets dans l’eau” (1905)

Planing: repetition of same chord pattern on every degree of the scale (4ths and 5ths are very
present). Lots of accents marked & improvisation-like rhythms.

GABRIEL FAURÉ (1845-1924)

Different to Debussy, Fauré was more a romantic traditionalist without leaving
chord/functional progressions with long and intense sweet-sounding melodies, and
arpeggios with enriched harmonies. He played Organ and one of his most known works is his
Requiem.

LILI BOULANGER (1893-1918)

Following Debussy’s tradition, her work was closer to his ideals: triads, seventh and ninth
chords; pentatonic, octatonic and diatonic scales; No functional harmony progressions and
tonic triads after the beginning are ornamented with non-harmonic tones.

B. EXPRESSIONISM
Mostly in Germany around WWI and developed mainly with painting and poetry,
expressionism was trying to capture the raw aspect of mankind, deliberately terrifying.

Edvard Munch (1863-1944) (Bold colors, heavy brush strokes)

• The scream (Visual reaction: WWI time, great anxiety. Ideas drawn from Freud’s “Id
(little devil on the shoulder), Ego (person at the conscious level), and Superego (angel
on the shoulder/moral drive).
• Madonna (creepy and sensual).
• Puberty (disturbing and deeply weird, vulnerable, freak).

C. ATONALISM
ARNOLD SCHOENBERG (1874-1951)
One of the most celebrated composition teachers in 20th-century, also an amateur painter
(Self-portrait, Red Gaze, and Gaze). Was quite self-taught and learnt from German
predecessors like Bach, Brahms, Schumann, Mahler, R. Strauss.

He had three style periods:

• Post-romantic (up to 1908): Conveys the German predecessors’ traditions.
 Works: “Gurre-Lieder” (massive oratorio with more than 50 voices) and the string
sextet “Verklächte Nacht,” both in 1899.

• Atonal expressionism (1908-1921): Influenced by Symbolism (French literary

movement) and Expressionist art. Non-reliance on fundamental tone. Schoenberg
preferred the term “Pantonal” (idea that all notes are created equal). Emancipation
of dissonance: Dissonant chords could appear freely and be figured out and enjoyed
as triads had been in early music.
Works:
o Pierrot Lunaire (borrow forms from before)
o Three Piano Pieces, op.11
o Six Little Piano Pieces, op. 19
o Five Pieces for Orchestra
o Erwartung (One-act opera; monodrama)

• Serialism (1921-1951): dodecaphony (12-tone composition). Fashion a tone row,

make it backwards (retrograde), upside down (inversion) or both (retrograde
inversion). Webern, later on, will literally serialize everything (up to dynamics).

Society for Private Music Performances

Founded in Vienna in 1918 (after WWI) to promote new music. Show all pieces you want, no
claps and booing allowed. Only access by invitation.

♫Schoenberg: Pierrot Lunaire, “Nacht” (1912)

Song cycle (21 songs divided in 3 groups of 7. text by Albert Giraud) for reciters* & chamber
ensemble. Pierrot/Pagliacci/Petrushka = same. Insanity associated with the moon.

*Reciters rather than singers. Sprechstimme, or ‘speech voice’: singers

approximate pitches, “but on purpose.” It is notated as on the picture. à

Schoenberg uses a lot of extended techniques (on the bridge for strings, flutter tonguing in
clarinet). We have a passacaglia (work based on continuous repetitions of a short thematic
figure) with a repeated bass line (E-G-Eb).

♫Schoenberg: Pierrot Lunaire, “Mondfleck” (1912)

o Fugue (non-strict imitative polyphony) in top 2 voices
o Canon (strict imitative polyphony) in Geige (violin) & cello.
o Palindrome in woodwinds parts before | after measure 10.
o Piano: through-composed.
 o Not serialism, “just” atonal (but with a Bach-like conception).

Schoenberg participates in the Second Viennese School, from which Berg & Webern will be
students.

After WWI: Neo-classicism (1920’s, 30’s, 40’s)

§ Looks back to 18th-century tradition
§ “New objectivity” (not about Wagnerian passions & all)
§ Come back to sonata form, rondeau => 18th-century tonality.
§ Composers like Prokofiev (cf. Classical symphony), Ravel (cf. Tombeau de
Couperin), and Stravinsky will engage with the past to re-invent themselves.

ALEXANDER SCRIABIN (1872-1915)

He had also a first period for romantic music but moved to atonalism in 1908. Unlike
Schoenberg that avoids repetition in favor of a constant motives developing, Scriabin repeats
themes and motives. Also, Scriabin limits himself to use only two groups of notes: octatonic
scale and mystic chord (or “Prometheus chord”).

1. EXPRESSIONIST OPERA
Expressionism was coined in 1911. “The expressionist doesn’t paint an object but his own
subjective reaction to it.” Truth behind external appearance.

• Common themes:
• Emphasis on “downtrodden” (people that are not considered
• Man’s dark nature
• Man is responsible for his own worldly troubles (e.g., WWI)
• Immaturity, greed, crime, sex, poverty.
• Horror, impending doom
• Individual at odds with society (outcast)

ALBAN BERG (1885-1951)

One of the two most famous students of Schoenberg (with Webern) that formed the
Second Viennese School (First Viennese School: Haydn, Mozart & Beethoven). He was
involved into post-romantic and serialism.

♫Berg: Wozzeck (1922)

Based on Georg Büchner’s Woyzeck (1837). Based on a real case, first case to use insanity
as a defense in a criminal case. Anti-hero, symbol of poor & oppressed, basically a human
“guinea pig”.
Marie: Wozzeck’s mistress, not entirely faithful.
Wozzeck’s structure:
 o Ternary form (ABA)
o 3 acts, 5 self-contained scenes per act
o Orchestral interludes between acts
o Traditional forms: all these structures are coming from Bach himself
(different results because of the sound palette used)
The use of Sprechstimme makes the character a bit more “loony tunes.”

D. PRIMITIVISM
Rejection of the conventions of Western traditions and culture. Reaction against decadence.
Primitive people were untaught and unrefined, thus very pure (noble savages). All
exaggerated features, very different from realism – these paintings are not sophisticated, as
seen in paintings:
Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) Two women (flowered hair), African symbolism in Spirit of the
Dead Watching and The loss of virginity.
Henri Matisse (1869-1954) Blue Nude and The dance.
Henri Rousseau’s (1844-1910) Les fauves.
Pablo Picasso’s (1881-1973) Desmoselles d’Avignon
.
Van Gogh’s Champ de blé avec cyprès probable has inspired Nicholas Roerich’s designs for
The Rite of Spring (for which he was the set designer).

Fauvism: Crude drawings, bold colors. (Henri Rousseau’s The Hungry Lions Throws Itself on
the Antelope, Les Fauves (Wild beasts)).

Primitivism in Music
• More new scales, few triadic harmonies, less traditional voice-leading
• Rhythms increased!
• Lots of meter changes
• Short ostinatos mosaic: melody
• Polyrhythms and polychords

IGOR STRAVINSKY (1882-1971)

Is one of the most important composers in the 20th-century. Came from musical family: Piano
lessons at 9 – plus harmony and counterpoint lessons.

Russian period (1907-1919):

Studies with Rimsky-Korsakov (who led the “Mighty Five” in the 19th century). They shunned
the Conservatory tradition of Western-like & Tchaikovskyan music; they wanted something
more Russian than German or Western. In 1909 Stravinsky captured Sergei Diaghilev (“Les
Ballets Russes” (avant-garde in the beginning of 20th-century Paris) leader) attention for
creating new music.

His Ballets:
 • Firebird (1910)
• Petrushka (1911)
• Rite of spring (1913)

♫Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring (1913)

Part I: Adoration of the Earth
Part II: The sacrifice (where she dances until die)
• Figures of the Pagan Russia. Pre-Christian Russia’s ritual of fertility and giving the
welcome to springtime. Also, offering a human sacrifice.
• Nijinsky made the choreography for The Rite of Spring. The piece was not well
received. Strong PRIMITIVISM concept on it.
• The Rite chord – FbM vs. Eb7 together! = Polychord
A version by the Joffrey’s ballet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BryIQ9QpXwI

Neo-classicism period (c. 1920-1954)

Nonacceptance of late Romantic aesthetic. Instead of it, Stravinsky made objective, funny,
and abstract works, imitating characteristic Baroque and Classical period elements.
o Pulicinella (c. 1920) – commedia dell’arte
o Octet (Bach-style counterpoint)
o Concerto piano & winds (Bach’s concerto)
o Dumbarton Oaks (Brandenburg concerto)
o Mass (Machaut’s mass)
o Piano sonata
o Symphony in C
o Rack’s progress

Serialism (c. 1954-1968)

o Agon (ballet)
o In memoriam Dylan Thomas.

DARIUS MILHAUD (1892-1974)

He was part of “Les six” in France. In his work Saudades do Brazil, he shows a new harmonic
idea called polytonality (two or more keys or diatonic collections sounding at the same time
in different strata).

E. SERIALISM
ANTON WEBERN (1883-1945)
The third element of the Second Viennese School. He “do more effort” in serialism notion.
Aside from Berg, Webern wrote lots of tiny pieces (all of his work could fit into three CDs)
with very dense musical expression.
 Klangfarbenmelodie (tone-color melody): Constructing a melodic line where tune is broken
between several instruments, akin to pointillism (painting technique where small color dots
are applied in different order to get an image. Seurat and Signac were the bigger exponents
of this artistic moment).

♫Webern: Symphonie, op. 21 (1927-28) II movement

• Form: Theme (clarinet, mm. 1-11& variation
• Total Serialism*: not just pitches, but multiple aspects of the work.
• Palindrome (mm. 1 to 6 and 6 to 10)
• Symmetrical serialism (pitches, rhythms, attacks, dynamics)

*this is a step towards achieving the will of composers to seek more and more systemized
control over all aspects of the piece.
Problem in execution: musicians are human; therefore, precision becomes harder.
The next step in the total control over music: get rid of the human parameter; magnetic tape
will become a medium of exploration (experiences led by Boulez, Stockhausen).

F. ELECTRONIC MUSIC
EDGARD VARÈSE (1883-1965)
French composer. “Anyone will be able to press a button to release the music exactly as the
composer wrote it – exactly like opening a book,” said Varèse about a “sound producing
machine” he dreamt in 1915.
He turned his music to magnetic tape music after WWII. No human element presents here.
Two main differences:
Musique concrete (sounds of the real world used, sampled and used/dumped on tape in any
way)
Electronic music: everything is purely computer-generated; nothing comes from the “real”
world.

♫Varèse: Poème èlectronique (1958)

Written in Brussels for the World Fair, in the Modern Pavilion designed by Le Corbusier &
Xenakis. Nothing happened by accident. Played as a loop as you walk through the building.

Very different from this was another set of composers who will refute the control of the
composer over music.

G. CHANCE OPERATIONS
JOHN CAGE (1912-1992)
Leader of the American avant-garde movement. Went in a different way that Webern and
Varèse did. He wrote “The future of music: Credo” (1937). For him, music is the “organization
 of sound” defined in its broadest sense. Harmony & melody are inadequate for the entirety
of sound.

Also, he was looking for new sound resource, Cage was attracted by Percussion ensembles:
• First construction (in Metal) (1939) uses brake drum, thunder sheet, and “string
piano” (sound produces by string direct manipulation).
• Imaginary landscape (several versions) uses electric devices (buzzer, oscillator,
generator whine)
• Living room music (1940) for percussion and Speech Quartet.

Indeterminacy of performance (freedom of interpretation): Composer gives some parameter

in which you can operate. Piece will not sound similar twice.
He wrote a series of sonatas for prepared piano (basically a “percussion ensemble in-a-box”),
that is an instrument setup with screws and other metal pieces for varying notes/string
vibration and sound.

♫Cage: Music of changes (1951)

Bunch of little squares put in a hat, then picked up and placed so as to make the music (some
were blank sheets too). Chance operations (aleatoric music).

Music becomes an instrument of philosophy – journey more important than the destination.
Absence of sound: 4’33’’ (1952)
His longest piece, for organ should be performed over 640 hundred years (As long as possible)

H. NATIONALISM
BELA BÁRTOK (1881-1945)
Accompanied by his friend Zoltán Kodaly (1882-1967), traveled to distant and rural regions
in Hungary to record folk songs from peasant people. Main of those tunes are pentatonic, so
Bártok created a masterpiece with academic elements unvarying the original tune: “Fekete
föd.”

WILLIAM BILLINGS (1746-1800)

Was the first America’s composer. Self-taught music, his works were mainly choral pieces for
church services,”. Fuguing tunes: simple imitation point next to the end. Also composed
longer multisectional pieces called by himself “anthems.” In “Chester,” (one of the most
known anthems), voice is in tenor and has homophonic structure.

EDWARD MACDOWELL (1860-1908)

He studied in Germany and adopted that composition style even when he came back to
America. In the “Song” from Sea Pieces (for piano), he adds poetic lines to the beginning of
the pieces. Each line is represented by a theme. The first imitates a sea shanty which the
composer met among sailors during his own sea travels.

CHARLES IVES (1874-1954)

Born in Connecticut and studied with Horatio Parker at Yale University. He wrote several vocal
(150 songs and chorus music) and instrumental (4 symphonies, tone poems, sonatas and
string quartets) works. His main detail is the use of tone clusters (dissonant groups of adjacent
tones). His music does no exhibit single style.

CHARLES SEEGER (1886-1979)

He taught composition by ma method called dissonant counterpoint. He requested to his
students to do counterpoint exercises but in reverse dissonance-consonance role.
(consonance just appear to connect two dissonances.

RUTH CRAWFORD SEEGER (1901-1953)

She developed in her own concept called counterpoint of dynamics created with a dense and
slowly chromatic chords. Her String Quartet, movement 3 is the best example for this
technique.

CONLON NANCARROW (1912-1997)

Born in Arkansas and composer jazz instrumental pieces after spent his time playing this
genre. His player-piano pieces are frequently jazz piece inspired and with strongly use of
polyrhythms.
Also, used the Boogie-woogie (or “honky tonk”) form that comes from blues. Piano-blues
style developed in the 1920’s by Meade “Lux” Lewis and other blues pianists; fast driving
tempo and a bass line that outlines the blues harmonies through a percussive ostinato.
Boogie-woogie language lived into rhythm-and-blues music in the 50’ and 60’, that originated
Rock ‘n’ Roll.

AMERICAN MUSIC (19th-century)

First Permanent Orchestra founded in NYC in 1842. Boston in 1881, Chicago in 1891,
Philadelphia in 1900, and the Metropolitan Opera in 1883. Piano and sheet music industry
rising. Pop music: Blues, Ragtime, Jazz (late 19th, early 20th-century).

Helpless Period in American Music (1900-1910)

in Copland’s terms (because he was trying to develop his own style):
• American art music is relatively new.
• The U.S.A. is not yet an international cultural “power”
• Best musical training in Europe
 • Few performance opportunities in the U.S.

AARON COPLAND (1900-1990)

Born in NYC, early training over there, but all “serious” composers would have to go to Europe
at this time. He studied with Nadia Boulanger (1887-1979) for four years.
Spent summers in Vienna & Berlin, and learned from modernists such as Webern, Hindemith
& Bartók. In 1924, he goes back to the USA with the goal of writing “American music”. After
WWI, the USA emerge as a cultural superpower (no longer intimidated by Europeans as a
cultural force).

Copland’s outline for creating American Art music

• The composer must be part of a nation that has a profile of its own
• The composer’s background must include pop or folk art
• The country must have a superstructure of organized musical activities.

In the 1920’s, we see then the development of Concert Societies for Modern Music as for
instance the Pan American Association of Composers (1928-34), League of Composers (1923-
54), and International Composer’s Guild (1921-27), modeled on the European Societies for
private music performances (unadvertised, on invitation only, and without reviews allowed.
Aim: listen to new compositions as objectively as possible).

According to Copland, the feature of American music is rhythm (highly charged rhythm, a lot
of jazz.). Scott Joplin concept (with the left hand that has to remain rhythmically steady while
the right hand is free, etc.). Works from the 1924-30’s are then jazz, blues-inspired.

Copland, in the 1930’s/40’s

Will look for new sources of American inspiration: folk tunes, cowboy melodies. Copland
wrote three ballets, which made him famous:
• Billy the kid (1938)
• Rodeo (1942)
• Appalachian spring* (1944)

Nothing ultra-progressive there (very tonal, not trying at all to be avant-garde), but this
populist style was also criticized!
After WWII, he will turn to serialism (Piano variations).

♫Copland: ballet from Appalachian Spring (1944; suite 1945)

Commissioned by Martha Graham (1894-1991). Scored (originally) for a 13-piece orchestra.
Simple gifts: a shaker melody (religious group that would shake during their prayers).
Listening: comparison of shaker’s authentic songs to the ballet of the Graham company.

SAMUEL BARBER (1910-1981)

 He stayed in a traditional romantic style of composing, although he tried some contemporary
composing techniques. His Adagio for Strings shows a Wagnerian language. Also, in his Hermit
songs he kept the conventional son composition values, even when the text is from Medieval
time.

I. MODERNISM
LUCIANO BERIO (1925-2003)
Berio was devoted to Modernism expanding his musical language and finding new
organization materials and principles. Through his Sequenzas he explored the capacity to
keep up an entire composition for singer or single instrumentalist.

GEORGE CRUMB (b. 1929)

West Virginia composer, who taught at Penn & received a lot of awards (Grammy, Pulitzer,
etc.). He takes a different way from Copland: Modernism, avant-garde.

Scores are symbolic

Makrokosmos (1972-79) piece Crucifixus (piece in shape of a cross).
The magic circle of infinity
Some pieces, such as Agnus dei (picture below), were politically charged.

♫Crumb: Black Angels: 13 Images from the Dark Land (1944; suite 1945)
• Piece for electric string quartet, amplified. Finished on Friday 13th, March 1970 “in
tempore belli” (in war time).
• Theme: god vs. devil.
• Black angel = fallen angel
• Extended techniques
o Unusual bowings
o Glissandi, sul ponticello, percussive pizz.
o Water-tuned goblets are played with a bow to sound like glass harmonica (an
instrument invented by B. Franklin and for which Mozart composed).

Indeterminacy of performance: references to plainchant (Dies irae), danse macabre

(Totentanz – everybody will die at some point) and referring to Dowland (Schubert’s “Death
and the Maiden”).
 ELLIOTT CARTER (1908-2012)
Each line has faster tempo switching and unstable metric organizations. That is why he does
a proportional change of tempo like a metric modulation (change of tempo produced when
a little beat division is reorganized as part of a new beat.

J. MINIMALISM
STEVE REICH (b. 1936)
His music is around having a minimum of materials and create by repetition varied by gradual
change. Is the same idea as “conceptual art” has. Clapping music provides a good
demonstration of this concept.

GYÖRGY LIGETI (1923-2006)

His main concept is called micropolyphony that is a texture created by a larger number of
lines that are not quite easy to distinguish and are incorporated into a big web-mass. His
Atmospheres is an excellent example of this.

JOHN ADAMS (b. 1947)

Was as a new music advisor to the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra in 1978 as an
alternative for the American composer to suggest his own vision about repertoire.
On his work he demonstrates the presence of gates, that are points at the collection of
pitches varies, akin to modulations in earlier music. This term comes from an electronic device
used by electronic composer to generate unexpected shifts in the electronical signal
amplitude.
In a same manner, his layers are present in his works: three stanzas that has an ostinato, but
identifiable by rhythmic motion and register.
These two are present in his works, specially “Nixon in China” (1987). His minimalistic concept
become more embellished, with relax and sonority that 1960’s concept has not.

JOAN TOWER (b. 1938)

She was involved in short orchestral character pieces that have a notorious demand for
American composer in the 1980’s. Her Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman (1986) is an
example of it. Different to Copland’s version, Tower dedicated her work “to women who take
risks and who are adventurous.” The beginning of this piece is similar as Copland “male”
version, but she adds quartal, diatonic, whole-tone, and chromatic concepts for creating
more complexity.

ARVO PÄRT (b. 1935)

Born in Estonia. Since 1980 he has composed for voices, using Latin text from the Roman
Catholic liturgy. Tintinnabuli is the concept he uses for constructing a polyphonic texture in
one or two pairs: One line is melodic and other is harmonic, but just restricted to use the
tonic notes. Also, it is functional music due to is able to use in worship or Catholic services.
His Credo from the Berlin Mass (1990) contains these details.

END of part III

End of music history review course.