20 CENTURY MUSIC

th
 20th Century music

 The start of the 20th century saw the rise of

distinct musical styles that reflected a move
away from conventions of earlier Western
classical music
 20th Century music

 The new musical styles were:

 NEO-ROMANTICISM
 IMPRESSIONISM
 EXPRESSIONISM
 NEO- CLASSICALISM
NEO-ROMANTICISM

This style is still closely related to the Romantic Period

music where subjectivity and asymmetry characterized its
overall sound.
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS:
 Heavy emotionalism
 Enormous orchestra
 Great symphonic lenght
NEO-ROMANTICISM

Composers:
 Gustav Mahler (1860-1911)
 Anton Bruckner (1824-1896)
 Richard Strauss (1864-1949)
 Jean Sibelius (1865-1957)
Gustav Mahler

 Gustav Mahler was born into an Austrian

Jewish family on July 7, 1860 in Kaliste,
Czech Republic.
 When he was 15 years old, Mahler entered
the Vienna Conservatory.
 During his years at the school, he began
composing a piece where he felt he was
able to truly develop his voice, Das
klagende Lied.
Anton Bruckner

 Josef Anton Bruckner was an Austrian composer,

organist, and music theorist best known for his
symphonies, masses, Te Deum and motets.
 The first are considered emblematic of the final
stage of Austro-German Romanticism because of
their rich harmonic language, strongly polyphonic
character, and considerable length
 Born: 4 September 1824, Ansfelden, Austria
 Died: 11 October 1896, Vienna, Austria
Richard Strauss

 Richard Georg Strauss was a German composer,

conductor, pianist, and violinist.
 Considered a leading composer of the late Romantic
and early modern eras, he has been described as a
successor of Richard Wagner and Franz Liszt
 Born: 11 June 1864, Munich, Germany
 Died: 8 September 1949, Garmisch-Partenkirchen,
Germany
Richard Strauss

“ The human voice is the most beautiful

instrument of all, but it is the most
difficult to play,”
Jean Sibelius

 Jean Sibelius was a Finnish composer and

violinist of the late Romantic and early-modern
periods.
 He is widely recognized as his country's greatest
composer, and his music is often credited with
having helped Finland develop a national identity
during its struggle for independence from Russia.
 Born: 8 December 1865, Hämeenlinna, Finland
 Died: 20 September 1957, Ainola, Järvenpää,
Finland
Listening:

 Choral work: Ave Maria by Anton Bruckner

 Symphony: Symphony No. 3 Part 2 Mov. 5 (choir and solo
contralto). What the Angels Tells Me by Gustav Mahler
 Orchestral work: Also Sprach Zarathustra Op. 30 by Richard
Strauss
 Orchestral work: Finland Op. 26 by Jean Sibelius
IMPRESSIONISM

 Based on the art movement started by 19 th century Paris-

based visual artist, specifically Claude Monet through his
painting “Impression Sunrise”
 Therewas an extensive use of different timbre and effects,
vague melodies and innovative chords.
 Resultingin a non-traditional harmonic order and
resolution.
IMPRESSIONISM

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS:
 Refinement
 Delicacy
 Vagueness
 Over-all “luminous fog”
“Impression Sunrise” by Claude
Monet
Composers:
Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel
Claude Debussy (1862-1918)

 Oneof the most important and influential 20th century

composer.
 Hewas the primary exponent of the impressionist
movement
 He changed the course of musical development by
evolving traditional rules and conventions into a new
language of possibilities in harmony, rhythm, form,
texture and color.
Claude Debussy (1862-1918)

 He was born in St. Germain-en-laye, France

 On August 22, 1862
 His early musical talents were channeled into piano lessons
 He entered Paris conservatory in 1873
 He added other system of musical composition
 In1884, he won the top prize at the Prix de Rome with his
composition L’Enfant
Claude Debussy (1862-1918)

 His Musical composition total more or less 227 which

include orchestral music, chamber music, piano music,
operas, ballets, songs and other vocal music
 Debussy highly admired the music of Franz Liszt,
Frederick Chopin, Johann Sebastian Bach Guiseppe
Verdi, and Richard Wagner
 He was fascinated by the Javanese Gamelan that he heard
at the 1889 Paris Exposition which later used in his works
Claude Debussy (1862-1918)

 Hewas named “The Father of the Modern School of

Composition”
 One of his famous composition are: Claire de Luna. and
La Mer
 He spent the remaining years of his life as a critic,
composer, and performer.
 He died of cancer in Paris on March 25, 1918
Claude Debussy (1862-1918)

“Music is the silence between

the notes. “
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)

 He was born in Ciboure, France

 Entered the Paris Conservatory at the age of 14
 During his stint the school where he stayed until his
early 20s, he composed a number of masterpieces
 His composition style is mainly characterized by its
unique innovation but not atonal sty;e of harmonic
treatment.
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)

 Ravel was a perfectionist and every bit a musical

craftsman.
 A strong advocate of Russian music, he also admired
the music of Chopin, Liszt and Schubert
 Totallingapproximately 60 pieces for piano, chamber
music, ballet and operas.
 One of his pieces is the “Bolero”
 Died in Paris in 1937
Listening:

 Piano work: Claire de Lune by Claude Debussy

 Symphonic Poem: Prélude à l'après-midi d'un
faune by Claude Debussy
 Orchestral work: Bolero by Maurice Ravel
 Orchestral work: Daphnis et Chloé by Maurice
Ravel
Expressionism

 The term “Expressionism was probably first applied

to music in 1918 especially to Arnorld Schoenberg.
 The emotions of the music are taken to extreme,
leading to disturbing, unsettling ad sometimes violent.
 Lacking stable and conventional harmonies
 Itserved as a medium for expressing strong emotions
such as anxiety and rage.
Expressionism

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS:
 Subjective
 Dissonant
 Atonal (non-tonality)
 Pantonality (all-tonality)
Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951)

“I never was very capable of expressing my

feelings or emotions in words. I don’t know
wether this is the cause why I did it in music and
also why I did it in painting. Or vice versa: That
I had this way as an outlet. I could renounce
expressing something in words.”
Arnold Schoenberg

 He was born in Vienna, Austria

 Hetaught himself music theory, he was influenced
by Richard Wagner.
 Hisworks include: pelleas und Melisande, Three
Pieces of Piano, Verklarte Natch
 Hecomposed approximately 213 musical
composition and other instrumental music.
 Alban Berg (1885-1935)
 Alban Maria Johannes Berg was an
Austrian composer of the Second
Viennese School. His compositional
style combined Romantic lyricism with
the twelve-tone technique. Wikipedia
 Born: 9 February 1885, Vienna, Austria
 Died:24 December 1935, Vienna,
Austria
Listening:

 Chamber work: Pierrot Lunaire, (Schoenberg,

Arnold)
 Chamber Orchestra: Verklarte Nacht (Tranfigured
Night),
 Opera: Wozzeck(1992)
NEO-CLASSICALISM

 It
was a partial return to a Classical form of writing
music with carefully modulated dissonances.
 Italso adopted a modern, freer use of the seven-
tone diatonic scale.
NEO-CLASSICALISM

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS
 Primitivism
 Anti-romantic
 Predominantly objective
 Interest in contrapuntal technique
PRIMITIVISM

 Itis a word that describes the condition or quality

that belongs to something crude and unrefined.
 Inits purest form, primitivism combines two
familiar or simple ideas together creating new
sounds.
Igor Starvinsky (1882-1971)
Igor Starvinky (1882-1971)

 One of the greatest trendsetter of the 20 th century

 He was born in Oranienbaum (Lomonosov), Russia
 He was influenced by his teacher, composer Nikolai Rimsky
Korsakov
 His first success masterpiece, The FireBird Suite (1910)
 Other outstanding works include the ballets Petrouchka,
featuring shifting rhythms and
Listening:

 Opera: The Nightingale by Igor Starvinsky

 Ballet: FireBird(1909-10) by Igor Staevinky
 Ochestral work: Scherzo Fantastique (1907-08)
20th CENTURY MUSICAL
STYLES
ELECTRONIC MUSIC

 Itis the capacity of electronic machines such as

synthesizers, amplifier, tape recorders and
loudspeakers to create different sounds
 Music that uses the tape recorder is called “
“musique concrete” or concrete music.
Theses sounds are arranged bu the composer in
different ways, for example, by playing the tape
recorder in its fastest mode or in reverse
 In “musique concrete”, the composer is able to
experiment with different sound that cannot be
produced by regular musical instruments such as
the piano or the violin
Edgard Varese (1883-1965)
Edgard Varese (1883-1965)

 Born in December 22, 1883

 He was considered an “innovative French-born composer”
 Pioneeredand created new sound that bordered between
music and noise
 He in vented the term “organized sound” which means
that certain timbers and rhythms can be grouped together
in order to capture a whole new definition of sound.
Edgard Varese (1883-1965)

 He earned the title “Father of Electronic Music”

 Total of 50 compositions, with his advances in
tape-based sound
Karlheinz Stockhausen (1928-2007)
Karlheinz Stockhausen (1928-2007)

 Born in Cologne, Germany

 He continued to experiment with Musique
concrete
CHANCE MUSIC

 Refersto a style in which the piece sound different

at very performance because of the random
techniques of production
John Cage (1912-1992)
John Cage (1912-1992)

 Born in Los Angeles, California, USA.

 One of the most original composers in the history of
Western music.
 Hechallenged the very idea of music by manipulating
musical instruments in order to achieved new sounds.
 He experimented with what came to be known as
Chance music
John Cage (1912-1992)

 Cage created a “prepared” piano where screws and

pieces of wood or paper ere inserted between the
piano strings to produce different percussion
possibilities.
THE END!