Music 10

Q1 M1
Musical Style of the 20th
Century Music
 Impressionism

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.
 Impressionism Composer
Maurice Ravel
Claude Debussy
 Expressionism
Expressionism revealed the composer’s mind,
instead of presenting an impression of the
environment.
It served as a medium for expressing strong
emotions, such as anxiety, rage, and
alienation.
 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.
 Neo Classicism Composer
Igor Stravinsky Bela Bartok
 Avant Garde Music

Closely associated with electronic

music, the avant garde movement
dealt with the parameters or the
dimensions of sound in space.
Avant Garde Music Composers
George Gershwin Leonard Bernstein
John Cage Philip Glass
Activity
Q1 M1
POSTTEST
Q1 M2
Musical Composers of the 20th
Century
Claude Debussy (1862–1918)

 One of the most important and

influential of the 20th century
composers was Claude Debussy.
 Debussy was born in St. Germain-
en-Laye in France on August 22,
1862.
 He entered the Paris Conservatory
in 1873.
 He gained a reputation as an
erratic pianist and a rebel in
theory and harmony.
 His musical compositions total more or less 227
which include orchestral music, chamber music,
piano music, operas, ballets, songs, and other
vocal music.
 His role as the “Father of the Modern School of
Composition” made its mark in the styles of the
later 20th century composers like Igor
Stravinsky, Edgar Varese, and Olivier Messiaen.
Debussy spent the remaining years of
his life as a critic, composer, and
performer. He died in Paris on March
25, 1918 of cancer at the height of
the First World War.
 He was the primary exponent of the impressionist
movement and the focal point for other impressionist
composers.
 He 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’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)
Maurice Ravel (1875–1937)
 was born in Ciboure, France to a Basque
mother and a Swiss father.
 He entered the Paris Conservatory at the age
of 14 where he studied with the eminent
French composer Gabriel Faure.
 s. The compositional style of Ravel is mainly
characterized by its uniquely innovative but
not atonal style of harmonic treatment.
 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 was a perfectionist and every bit a
musical craftsman. He strongly adhered to
the classical form, specifically its ternary
structure. A strong advocate of Russian
music, he also admired the music of Chopin,
Liszt, Schubert, and Mendelssohn. He died
in Paris in 1937.
Comparative Styles of Debussy and Ravel As the two major
exponents of French Impressionism in music, Debussy and Ravel
had crossed paths during their lifetime although Debussy was thirteen
years older than Ravel. While their musical works sound quite similar
in terms of their harmonic and textural characteristics, Debussy
was more spontaneous and liberal in form, Ravel was very
attentive to the classical norms of musical structure and the
compositional craftsmanship. Whereas Debussy was more casual
in his portrayal of visual imagery, Ravel was more formal and
exacting in the development of his motive ideas.
Ravel’s works
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
 These were followed by a number of his other
significant works, including 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 
Arnold Schoenberg (1874–
1951)
 was born in a working-class suburb of Vienna, Austria on
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,
Op 5 (1903), a counterpoint of Debussy’s opera of the
same title.
 His musical compositions total more or less 213
which include concerti, orchestral music, piano
music, operas, choral music, songs, and other
instrumental music.
 Schoenberg died on July 13, 1951 in Los Angeles,
California, USA where he had settled since 1934
 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 also extremely complex, creating heavy
demands on the listener. His works were met with extreme
reactions, either strong hostility from the general public or
enthusiastic acclaim from his supporters.
 Schoenberg is credited with the establishment of the
twelve-tone system.
 His works include the
following:
 Verklarte Nacht, Three Pieces for Piano, op. 11

 Pierrot Lunaire,

 Gurreleider

 Verklarte Nacht (Transfigured Night, 1899), one of his

earliest successful pieces, blends the lyricism,
instrumentation, and melodic beauty of Brahms with
the chromaticism and construction of Wagner.
Igor Stravinsky (1882–1971)
 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.
 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.
 The Rite of Spring (1913) was another
outstanding work.
 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.
Bela Bartok (1881–1945)
 was born in Nagyszentmiklos, Hungary (now
Romania) on March 25, 1881, to musical parents.
 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 in 1903.
 He was a concert pianist as he travelled exploring
the music of Hungarian peasants.
 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.
 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. The six works combine difficult and
dissonant music with mysterious sounds.
His musical compositions total more or less 695
which include concerti, orchestral music, piano
music, instrumental music, dramatic music, choral
music, and songs.
In 1940, the political developments in Hungary led
Bartok to migrate to the United States, where he
died on September 26, 1945 in New York City,
USA.
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
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.
Prokofieff’s musical compositions
include concerti, chamber music, film
scores, operas, ballets, and official
pieces for state occasions.
He died in Moscow on March 15, 1953.
George Gershwin (1898–1937)
 George Gershwin was born in New
York to Russian Jewish immigrants.
 His older brother Ira was his artistic
collaborator who wrote the lyrics of
his songs.
 is first song was written in 1916
and his first Broadway musical La
La Lucille in 1919.
 He also composed Rhapsody in Blue (1924) and An
American in Paris (1928), which incorporated jazz
rhythms with classical forms.
 His opera Porgy and Bess (1934) remains to this
day the only American opera to be included in the
established repertory of this genre.
 In spite of his commercial success, Gershwin was
more fascinated with classical music.
He was influenced by Ravel, Stravinsky,
Berg, and Schoenberg, as well as the group
of contemporary French composers known
as “Les Six” that would shape the
character of his major works— half jazz
and half classical.
Gershwin’s melodic gift was considered
 Considered the “Father of American Jazz,” his
“mixture of the primitive and the sophisticated”
gave his music an appeal that has lasted long after
his death.
 His musical compositions total around 369 which
include orchestral music, chamber music, musical
theatre, film musicals, operas, and songs. He died
in Hollywood, California, U.S.A. on July 11, 1937.
Leonard Bernstein (1918–
1990)
 Born in Massachusetts, USA, Leonard
Bernstein endeared himself to his
many followers as a charismatic
conductor, pianist, composer, and
lecturer.
 His big break came when he was
asked to substitute for the ailing
Bruno Walter in conducting the New
York Philharmonic Orchestra in a
concert on November 14, 1943.
 The overnight success of this event started his
reputation as a great interpreter of the classics
as well as of the more complex works of Gustav
Mahler.
 He composed the music for the film On the
Waterfront (1954).
As a lecturer, Bernstein is fondly remembered for his
television series “Young People’s Concerts” (1958–
1973) that demonstrated the sounds of the various
orchestral instruments and explained basic music
principles to young audiences, as well as his
“Harvardian Lectures,” a six-volume set of his papers
on syntax, musical theories, and philosophical insights
delivered to his students at Harvard University.
His musical compositions total around
90.
He died in New York City, USA on
October 14, 1990.
Philip Glass (1937 – Present)
 Born in New York, USA of Jewish
parentage, Glass became an
accomplished violinist and flutist at
the age of 15.
 In Paris, he became inspired by the
music of the renowned Indian
sitarist Ravi Shankar.
 One of the most commercially successful
minimalist composers
 His musical compositions total
He explored the territories of ballet, opera,
theater, film, and even television jingles.
His 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
 his music is often criticized as uneventful and
shallow, yet startlingly effective for its hypnotic
charm.
 He formed the Philip Glass Ensemble and produced
works such as Music in Similar Motion (1969) and
Music in Changing Parts (1970), which combined
rocktype grooves with perpetual patterns played
at extreme volumes.
 Glass collaborated with theater conceptualist
Robert Wilson to produce the four hour opera
Einstein on the Beach (1976), an instant sell-out
at the New York Metropolitan Opera House.
 He completed the trilogy with the operas
Satyagraha (1980) and Akhnaten (1984), based
on the lives of Mahatma Gandhi, Leo Tolstoy,