1 1ST GRADING PERIOD

Week 1
Goals Describe distinctive musical elements of given pieces in 20th
century styles

Explains the performance practice (setting, composition, role of

composers/performers, and audience) of 20th century music

Relates 20th Century music to other art form and media during
the same time period

EXPLORE

Impressionism
Just like other art and music influences, Impressionism is a movement in
painting that started in France in the 1860s. It is characterized by visual
impression of the moment in terms of the shifting effect of color and light.
Impressionist artists paint with many colors, and their usual subjects are the
outdoors; for example, nature’s landscape. They want to capture images without
subtle details, but through the use of bold colors. Thus, their paintings can be
very bright and vibrant.
It was at this time that musicians moved away from the conventions of
earlier classical music. These new styles were: impressionism, expressionism,
neo-classicism, avant garde music and modern nationalism.

What is the history and background of Impressionism?

Impressionism is an art movement that started in the mid-19 th century and
became popular in the last quarter of the century. It was inspired by different
factors that include anti-establishmentism, foreign or Asian influences, and a
desire to paint modern life instead of academic subjects of mythology and
history.

What is Impressionism in music?

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It has been said that Impressionism in music was adapted from Art
Impressionism. In music, Impressionism is a style of music that makes use of
the sound to let the listener feel the moods that focus on the structure of music.
Impressionism in music also started and developed in France.
One of the earlier but concrete forms declaring the entry of 20th century
music was known as impressionism. It is a French movement in the late 19th and
early 20th century. The sentimental melodies and dramatic emotionalism of the
preceding Romantic Period (their themes and melody are easy to recognize and
enjoy) were being replaced in favor of moods and impressions. There is an
extensive use of colors and effects, vague melodies, and innovative chords and
progressions leading to mild dissonances. Sublime moods and melodic
suggestions replaced highly expressive and program music, or music that
contained visual imagery. With this trend came new combinations of extended
chords, harmonies, whole tone, chromatic scales, and pentatonic scales.
Impressionism was an attempt not to depict reality, but merely to suggest it. 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.
In impressionism, the 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. Other features include the lack of a tonic-
dominant relationship which normally gives the feeling of finality to a piece,
moods and textures, harmonic vagueness about the structure of certain chords,
and use of the whole-tone scale. Most of the impressionist works centered on
nature and its beauty, lightness, and brilliance. A number of outstanding
impressionists created works on this subject.
The impressionistic movement in music had its foremost proponents in the
French composers Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel. Both had developed a
particular style of composing adopted by many 20th century composers. Among
the most famous luminaries in other countries were Ottorino Respighi (Italy),
Manuel de Falla and Isaac Albeniz (Spain), and Ralph Vaughan Williams
(England).

What are the characteristics of Impressionism in music?

1. The rhythm of Impressionism music is irregular in terms of phrases.
2. It avoids the traditional harmonic progression.
3. It has unresolved dissonance.
4. It uses the whole-tone scale, uses the 9th chord, and also frequently uses
modality and exotic scales.
Achilles-Claude Debussy was born in France on the 22 nd of August 1862.
His parents were Manuel-Achlle Debussy and Victorine Manoury. Debussy’s
mother was a very independent woman who kept him and the two of his siblings
farmed out to her sister-in-law, Claude was the favorite among the siblings and
was sent to his first formal school at the Paris Conservatoire at the age of 10.
Debussy’s first documented musical experience dates back from 1870-
1871, during the visit of his aunt Clementine in Cannes. Debussy entered the

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Paris Conservatoire in 1872. On the 25th of October 1872, Debussy attended his
first Conservatoire piano class under Jean-Francois Marmontel, who was a
highly regarded piano professor during that period from 1848. All in all, the early
years of Dubussy’s stay in the Conservatoire were remarkably successful. The
evidence of his success was in 1874, when he won third place for solfeggio and
a second certificate of merit in the piano exam, playing Chopin’s F minor piano
concerto. In 1875, he won second place for the solfeggio and a first certificate in
playing Chopin’s Second Ballad; and in 1876, he finally gained the first place in
solfeggio. A winner of the 1884 Prix de Rome with his composition, L’enfant
prodigue, Debussy received a scholarship to the Academie de Beaux-Arts, which
included a four-year residence at the Villa Medici, The French Army in rome, to
further his studies (1885-1887).
All of Debussy’s musical pieces were instrumental in the development of
this classical music until this age. The Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun was
his orchestral height. Other famous orchestral parts include La Mer, Nocturne
and Images. His string quartets are pleasing and their practical difficult is
astounding. His only opera, which is also famous, is Pelleas et Melisande.
Debussy died on the 25th of March 1918 due to rectal cancer, but he died
with his great compositions like the Engulfed Cathedral and Claire De Lune.

What made Claude Debussy’s work known to the world are the
following:
1. According to Rudolph Reti, Debussy established a new concept in
tonality in European music.
2. He used glittering passages and webs of figurations, which distract
from occasional absence of tonality.
3. His frequent uses of parallel chords, which are “in essence not harmonies at
all”, but rather “choral melodies, enriched unisons”, some writers describe
these as non-functional harmonies.
4. The use of bitonality, or at least bitonal chords.
5. Use of the whole-tone and pentatonic scales. Whole-tone is a scale in which
each note is separated from its neighbors by the interval of a whole step;
there are only two complimentary whole-tone scales.
6. Unprepared modulations, “without any harmonic bridge”
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 atmospheric symphonic work
for orchestra about the sea
 Images, Suite Bergamasque, and Estampes—his most popular piano
compositions; a set of lightly textured pieces containing his signature work
 Claire de Lune (Moonlight)

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His musical compositions total more or less 227 which include orchestral
music, chamber music, piano music, operas, ballets, songs, and other vocal
music.

Joseph-Maurice Ravel was born at 10:00 p.m. on March 7,

1875 to Marie Delourat and Joseph Ravel in the town of
Ciboure, France. He was baptized in a Catholic ceremony in
the local parish church of Saint Vincent, and then after three
moths his family moved to Paris.
Maurice Ravel’s deepest emotional tie of his entire life was
his attachment to his mother. His earliest memories of music
with his mother were in the Spanish folk melodies she sung to
him, and through her, he inherited a love of the Basque Country, its people, and
its folklore, as well as a deep sympathy for the music of Spain.
In 1882, shortly after his 7th birthday, Maurice took his first piano lesson
under Henry Ghys, who observed his young pupil to be “intelligent” and gave the
youngster his first lesson in harmony, counterpoint, and composition. Among his
earliest essays were several pieces of the piano: variations on a chorale by
Schumann, the movement of a sonata, and variations on a theme from Grieg’s
Peer Gynt. On June 2, 1889, he performed an excerpt from Moscheles’s Third
Concerto, and it was his first public performance.
His career in the Paris Conservatoire began on November 4, 1889 when
six of the faculty members of the Conservatoire made a unanimous decision to
accept Ravel in the preparatory piano division; his audition piece was an excerpt
from the Chopin Concerto. Although he was not outstanding in terms of
technique and interpretation, he showed promise and so he was enrolled to
Eugene Antiome.
In the piano competition held on July 10, 1890, Maurice Ravel was
awarded 2nd place, making his initial year at the Conseatoire rather successful.
The following year, Maurice’s performance of Schummann’s Sonata resulted to
grand prize in July of 1891.
He died on December 28, at the age of 62, in Paris.

Ravel’s works include the following:

 Pavane for a Dead Princess (1899), a slow but lyrical requiem
 Jeux d’Eau or Water Fountains (1901)
 String Quartet (1903)
 Sonatine for Piano (c.1904)
 Miroirs (Mirrors), 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.
 These were followed by a number of his other significant works, including

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 Valses Nobles et Sentimentales (1911)

 Le Tombeau de Couperin (c.1917), a commemoration of the musical
advocacies of the early 18th century French composer Francois Couperin,
 Rhapsodie Espagnole
 Bolero
 Daphnis et Chloe (1912), a ballet commissioned by master choreographer
 Sergei Diaghilev that contained rhythmic diversity, evocation of nature,
and choral ensemble
 La Valse (1920), a waltz with a frightening undertone that had been
composed for ballet and arranged as well as for solo and duo piano.
 The two piano concerti composed in 1929 as well as the violin virtuosic
piece Tzigane (1922) total the relatively meager compositional output of
 Ravel, approximating 60 pieces for piano, chamber music, song cycles,
ballet, and opera.

What is a Whole-tone scale?

A whole-tone scale is the arrangement of pitches in the scale which are
separated by a whole step in contradiction to the chromatic scale, which consists
of half steps (also known as semitones) and the various diatonic scales, such as
the major and minor scales, which are different arrangements of whole and half
steps.
Whole-tone Scale on C Whole-tone Scale on B

Expressionism is a modernist movement that started in Germany at the

beginning of the 20th century and was initially an expression in painting and
poetry. This evokes moods and ideas for which the artist seeks to express
meaning or emotional experience rather than the physical reality.
In Germany, Expressionism became identical with the denunciation of the
Western principles of Naturalism, and it started to symbolize the idea of modern
and radical art.
Expressionism signifies the artist’s character and inner insight enforced on
the graphical reality of the objects represented. The subjects in Expressionist
paintings are always distorted; painted in intense colors; and with strong, bold
lines. Expressionism includes other styles like Symbolism, Abstraction, Cubism,
and Surrealism. Its origins can be seen in both medieval art and African art.
Expressionism also includes the ancient German tradition of wood cutting as its
own form of expression.
In relation to music, Expressionism conveys true emotions in exaggeration
through the application of atonality and dissonance of the lack of agreement and
consistency in music. One of the famous composers who applied this technique
in composition was Arnold Schoenberg.

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Arnold Schoenberg was a great American composer

born in Austria on September 13, 1874 and died in Los
Angles, California, USA on July 13, 1951. As a composer, his
method of organizing his music was the use of 12 different
tones, which was greatly influenced by the modern technique
and development in composition during that era.
He studied in Vienna’s Realschule and learned to play the
cello and the violin. When his father died, he sought a job and became a bank
clerk and used his earnings to continue his passion in arranging song and opera
scores. The Three Piano Pieces are among his first original composition in 1894.
He also studied counterpoint under Alexander von Zemlinsky.
Arnold Schoenberg was also known for his radical sound of music. He
also completely abandoned tonality. One of his most popular Expressionist
composition is the Pierrot Lunaire, in which he applied the style that we call
sprechstimme—half-sang, half-spoken. He also introduced the use of 12-
semitone scale.

Below are the 12 chromatic tones in an upward and downward series.

IGOR STRAVINSKY (1882–1971)

Igor Stravinsky stands alongside fellow-composer Schoenberg, painter
Pablo Picasso, and literary figure James Joyce as one of the great trendsetters
of the 20th century. He was born in Oranienbaum (now Lomonosov), Russia on
June 17, 1882. Stravinsky’s early music reflected the influence of his teacher, the
Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. But in his first successful
masterpiece, The Firebird Suite (1910), composed for Diaghilev’s Russian Ballet,
his skillful handling of material and rhythmic inventiveness went beyond anything
composed by his Russian predecessors. He added a new ingredient to his
nationalistic musical style. The Rite of Spring (1913) was another outstanding
work.Anew level of dissonance was reached and the sense of tonality was
practically abandoned. Asymmetrical rhythms successfully portrayed the
character of a solemn pagan rite. 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. 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. Other

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outstanding works include the ballet 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. Stravinsky’s musical output approximates 127 works, including concerti,
orchestral music, instrumental music, operas, ballets, solo vocal, and choral
music. He died in New York City on April 6, 1971.

OTHER MUSICAL STYLES

Primitivism
Primitivistic 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. Two well-
known proponents of this style were Stravinsky and Bela Bartok. It eventually
evolved into Neo-classicism.
Neo-Classicism
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. It also
adopted a modern, freer use of the seven-note diatonic scale.
Examples of neo-classicism are Bela Bartok’s Song of the Bagpipe and Piano
Sonata. In this latter piece, the classical three-movement format is combined with
ever-shifting time signatures, complex but exciting rhythmic patterns, as well as
harmonic dissonances that produce harsh chords. The neo-classicist style was
also used by composers such as Francis Poulenc, Bela Bartok, Igor Stravinsky,
Paul Hindemith, and Sergei Prokofieff.

SERGEI PROKOFIEFF (1891–1953)

Sergei Prokofieff 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 a resolving
dissonance.

Born in the Ukraine in 1891, Prokofieff set out for the St. Petersburg
Conservatory equipped with his great talent as a composer and pianist. His early
compositions were branded as avant garde and were not approved of 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

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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. Much of Prokofieff’s
opera was left unfinished, due in part to resistance by the performers themselves
to the seemingly offensive musical content. He became prolific in writing
symphonies, chamber music, concerti, and solo instrumental music. He also
wrote Peter and the Wolf, a lighthearted orchestral work intended for children, to
appease the continuing government crackdown on avant garde composers at the
time. He was highly successful in his piano music, as evidenced by the wide
acceptance of his piano concerti and sonatas, featuring toccata-like rhythms and
biting harmonic dissonance within a classical form and structure. Other
significant compositions include the Symphony no. 1 (also called Classical
Symphony), his most accessible orchestral work linked to the combined styles of
classicists Haydn and Mozart and neo-classicist Stravinsky. He also composed
violin sonatas, some of which are also performed on the flute, two highly
regarded violin concerti, and two string quartets inspired by Beethoven.

FIRM-UP

Activity 1
Do you have access to the internet? If yes, listen to the music composed by the
famous Impressionist composer, Claude Debussy, Prelude to the Afternoon of a
Faun, which made him popular. This is how Impressionism sounds like.
If you don’t have internet access, its fine, study the music scale below.

Answer the following questions below.

1. How do you find the flow of music?
I found it by listening and focusing my mind to connect the music to the
feeling I listened to the music the emotional is conveyed in its flow every
tune and sound connects to the flow of the music and that is what I found.

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2. Does it follow the regular pattern of beats like 1234, 1234, 1234 or 123,
123 or is it not present at all?
Yes it's follow the pattern of beat and this is presented this song only in
instrument no singer like other but it calculate the perfect and accurate
the beat is presented at all

3. How do you describe Impressionism based on what you heard or see?

Impressionism is an art movement and is adapted to music, it is used to
stimulate music because it is colorful and because of this it appeals to those who
see and hear.
4. If you are going to compose a song, would you consider adapting this
genre of music? Yes because this is important in music the genre is the
song composition and is a conventional category that identifies some
pieces of music as belonging to a shared tradition or set of
conventions.this the subcategory in music

DEEPEN

Activity 2
Match the statements in Column A with the words in Column B. Write the letter
of your answer on the blank.

COLUMN A COLUMN B
K 1. The school where Claude Debussy a. Jean-Francois Marmontel
studied music.
b. Pelleas et Melisande
F 2. Moonlight c. Schummann’s Sonata
H 3. Ravel’s ballet commissioned by master d. Henry Ghys
choreographer e. Basque Country
J 4. The town where Ravel came from. f. Claire de Lune
B 5. Debussy’s famous operatic work that g. Achilles-Claude Debussy
drew mixed h. Daphnis et Chloe
extreme reactions for its innovative i. Bolero
harmonies and textural treatments. j. Ciboure, France
O 6. Ravel’s slow but lyrical requiem k. Paris Conservatoire
E 7. A major source of Ravel’s music l. La Valse
G 8. A winner of the 1884 Prix de Rome with m. rectal cancer
his composition, L’enfant prodigue n. Gaspard de la Nuit
P 9. A _______is the arrangement of pitches o. Pavane for a Dead
in the scale which are separated by a Princess
whole step in contradiction to the p. whole-tone scale
chromatic scale

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C 10. Maurice Ravel was awarded grand price

for playing ___________ in July of 1891
I 11. a waltz with a frightening undertone
M 12. Cause of Debussy’s death
N 13. a set of demonic-inspired pieces based on
the poems of Aloysius Bertrand
D 14. Maurice Ravel’s first teacher.
A 15. The very first piano teacher of Claude
Debussy.

Activity 3

1. Describe in your own words the music of Schoenberg.

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2. How did Schoenberg exhibit the expressionistic style in his work?

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3. Differentiate expressionism from impressionism.
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TRANSFER

You are a historian who needs to introduce the 20 th Century music to a

group of grade 10 students on a field trip through a performance,the students
should be able to identify the styles used in your musical performance and
should satisfy the listeners in terms of tone, dynamics, technique, and rhythm.
You an use any musical instrument available or you can improvise using
household materials.

MUSIC: 20TH Century Music Teacher: Zienna Marie C. Balog