COMMONWEALTH HIGH SCHOOL

Ecols St., Commonwealth

2nd District, Quezon City, Metro Manila

Learning Materials
In
MUSIC 10
First Quarter
 UNIT I : MUSIC
Lesson 1 – Week 1
QUARTER I: MUSIC OF THE 2OTH CENTURY
➢ The start of the 20th century saw the rise of distinct musical styles that a reflected a move away
from the conventions of earlier classical music.

➢ The new styles are Impressionism, Expressionism, Neo-Classism, Avant Garde Music, and
Modern Nationalism.

❖ IMPRESSIONISM
❖ EXPRESSINISM
❖ NEO-CLASSISM
❖ AVANT GARDE MUSIC
❖ MODERN NATIONALISM
IMPRESSIONISM – a style of composition (associated especially with Debussy) in which clarity of
structure and theme is subordinate to harmonic effects, characteristically using the whole-tone scale.

CLAUDE DEBUSSY (1862-1918)

Born in St. Germain-en-Laye in France
August 22, 1862

❖ His early musical talents were channeled into piano lessons.

❖ He entered the Paris Conservatory in 1873.
❖ He gained a reputation as an erratic pianist and a rebel in theory and harmony.
❖ He added other systems of musical composition because of his musical training.
❖ In 1884, he won the top prize at the Prix de Rome competition with his composition “L Enfant
Prodigue” (The Prodigal Son).
❖ This enabled him to study for 2 years in Rome, where he got exposed to the music of Richard
Wagner.
❖ One of the most important and influential of the 20th century composers
❖ He was primary exponent of the impressionist movement and the focal point for another
impressionist composers.
He changed the cause of musical development by dissolving traditional rules and
conventions into new language of possibilities in harmony, rhythm, form, texture, and color.
✓ Debussy’s mature creative period was represented by the following 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 athmospheric symphonic work for
orchestra about the sea
• Images, Suite Bermasque, and Estampes – his most popular piano compositions; a
set of slightly textured pieces containing his signature work “Claire de Lune”
(Moonlight)
• His compositions total more or less 227 w/c include Orchestral music, Chamber
music, Piano music, Operas, Ballets, Songs, and other vocal music.

MAURICE RAVEL (1875-1937)

Born in Ciboure, France
March 7, 1875

❖ He entered the Paris Conservatory at the age of 14 where he studied with eminent French
composer Gabriel Faure.
❖ The compositional style of Ravel is mainly characterized by its uniquely innovative but not
atonal style of harmonic treatment.
❖ It is defined with intricate and sometimes modal melodies and extended chordal components.
❖ His refined delicacy and color, contrasts and effects add to the difficulty in the proper execution
of the musical passages.
❖ Many of his works deal with water in its flowing or stormy moods as well as with human
characterizations.
❖
✓ Ravel’s works include the following:
• Pavane for Dead Princess (1899), a slow but lyrical requiem.
• Jeux d’ Eau or Water Fountains (1901)
• String Quartet (1903), Sonatine for Piano (1904)
• Sonatine for Piano (1904)
• Miroirs (Mirror), 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, a commemoration of the musical advocacies of the early 18th
century French composer
• Rhapsodie Espagnole, Bolero
 •
ARNOLD SCHOENBERG (1874-1951)
Vienna, Austria
September 13, 1874

❖ He taught himself music theory but took lessons in counterpoint.

❖ German composer Richard Wagner influenced his work as evidenced by his symphonic poem ‘Pelleas et
Melisande” (1903), a counterpoint of Debussy’s opera of the same title.
❖ Schoenberg’s style was constantly undergoing development.
❖ From the early influences of Wagner, his tonal preference gradually turned to the dissonant and atonal, as he
explored the use of chromatic harmonies.
❖ His music is extremely complex, creating heavy demands on the listener.
❖ His works were met with extreme reactions, either strong hostility from general public or enthusiastic acclaim
from his supporters.
❖ Schoenberg is credited with the establishment of the twelve-tone system
❖ His musical compositions total more or less 213 w/c include concerti, orchestral music, piano music, operas,
choral music, songs, and other instrumental music
❖ He died on July 13, 1951 in Los Angeles, California, USA

✓ Schoenberg works include the following:

• Verklarte Nacht, Three Pieces for Piano
• Pierrot Lunaire
• Gurreleider
• Verklarte Nacht, one of his earliest successful pieces, blends the lyricism, instrumentation, and melodic
beauty of Brahms with the chromaticism and construction of Wagner

IGOR STRAVINSKY
Lomonosov, Russia
June 17, 1882

❖ Stravinsky 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
❖ Stravinsky musical output approximates 127 works, including concerti, orchestral music, instrumental music,
operas, ballet, solo vocal, and choral music. Stravinsky’s early music reflected the influence of his teacher, the
Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
❖ His first successful masterpiece, “The Firebird Suite (1910)”, composed for Diaghilev’s Russian Ballet.
❖ He added a new ingredient to his nationalistic musical style.
❖ The Rite of Spring (1913) was another outstanding work.
 ❖ When he left the country for the United States in 1939, Stravinsky slowly turned his back on Russian
nationalism and cultivated his
Neo-classical style.
❖
❖ He died in New York City on April 6, 1971

✓ Other outstanding works of Stravinsky includes the following:

• Petrouchka (1911), featuring shifting rhythms and polytonality, a signature device of the composer.
• 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 the harpsichord, small orchestra, solo and ensemble numbers with
recitatives stringing together the different songs.

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 event.

BELA BARTOK
Born in Nagyszentmiklos, Hungary
March 25, 1881

❖ He started piano lessons with his mother and later entered Budapest Royal Academy of Music
in 1899.
❖ He was inspired by the performance of Richard Strauss’s also Sprach Zarathustra to write his
first nationalistic poem, “Kossuth (1903)
❖ He was a concert pianist as he travelled exploring the music of Hungarian peasants.
❖ In 1906, with his fellow composer Kodaly, Bartok published his first collection of 20 Hungarian
folk songs.
❖ Although his music was being badly received in his country, he continued to explore Magyar
folk songs
❖ He resumed his career as a concert pianist, while composing several works for his own use.
❖ As a Neo-classicist, Primitivist, and nationalist composer, Bartok used Hungarian folk themes
and rhythms.
❖ He also utilized changing meters and strong syncopations.
❖ His compositions were successful because of their rich melodies and lively rhythms.
❖ He admired the musical styles of Liszt, Strauss, Debussy, and Stravinsky.
❖ He eventually shed their influences in favor of Hungarian folk and peasant themes
❖ Bartok is most famous for his Six String Quartets (1908-1938).
 ❖ It represents the greatest achievement of his creative life, spanning a full 30 years for their
completion.
❖ His musical compositions total more or less 695 which include concerti, orchestral music, piano
music, instrumental music, dramatic music, choral music, and songs
❖ He died on September 26, 1945 in New York, USA

✓ Bela Bartok’s compositions includes the following:

• The Concerto for Orchestra (1943) – a five movement work composed late in Bartok’s
life.
• Allegro Barbaro (1911) – the short and popular for solo piano is punctuated with swirling
rhythms and percussive chords.
• Mikrokosmos (1926-1939) – a set of six books containing progressive technical piano
pieces, introduced and familiarized the piano student with contemporary harmony and
rhythm

NEO-CLASSICISM– was a moderating factor between the emotional excesses of the Romantic
Period and the violent impulses of the soul in expressionism. It was, in essence, a partial return to an
earlier style of writing, particularly the tightly knit form of the Classical Period, while combining tonal
harmonies with slight dissonances.

SERGEI PROKOFIEFF (1891-1953)

Born in Ukraine in 1891

❖ He is regarded today as a combination of neo-classicist, nationalist and Avant Garde composer.

❖ His style is uniquely recognizable for its progressive technique, pulsating rhythms, melodic
directness, and resolving dissonance.

❖His talent was equip in Petersburg Conservatory with his great talent as
composer and pianist.

❖ His early compositions were branded as Avant Garde and were not approved by his elders

❖ He continued to follow his stylistic path as he fled to other places for hopefully better
acceptance of his creativity.

❖ His contacts with Diaghilev and Stravinsky gave him the chance to write music for the ballet and
opera, notably the ballet “Romeo and Juliet and the opera War and Peace”
 ❖ He also wrote “Peter and the Wolf”- a lighthearted orchestral work intended for children.

❖ He was highly successful in his piano music, as evidence by the wide acceptance of his piano
concert and sonatas

❖ His musical compositions include concerti, chamber music, film scores, operas ballets, and
official pieces for state occasions

❖ He died in Moscow on March 15, 1953

✓ Other composition
• Symphony no. 1 (also called Classical Symphony) – his accessible orchestral work
linked to combined styles of classicists

FRANCIS JEAN MARCEL POULENC

(1899 – 1963)

❖He was a member of the group of young French composers known as “Les Six”
❖He rejected the heavy romanticism of Wagner and the so-called impression
of Debussy and Ravel
❖His composition had a coolly elegant modernity, tempered by a classical
sense of proportion
❖He was also fond of the witty approach of Erik Satie, as well as the early
neo-classical works of Stravinsky

 Poulenc’s works:
 Concert Champetre (1928), a harpsichord concerto
 Concerto for Two Pianos (1932) which combines the classical touches of
Mozart with a refreshing mixture of wit and exoticism in the style of
Ravel
 Concerto for Solo Piano (1949) written for the Boston Symphony
Orchestra
 Les Mamelles de Tiresias (1944), an opera which explain his light-hearted
character
 Dialogues des Carmelites (1956), which highlighted his conservative
writing style
 La Voix Humane (1958), which reflects his own turbulent emotional life