Zachary Allen Catindig

10 – Einstein Music

PRIMITVISM
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.
choral music.
BELA BARTOK (1881–1945)
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. These later became a major
source of the themes of his works. 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.
Zachary Allen Catindig
10 – Einstein Music

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.
SERGEI PROKOFIEFF (1891–1953)
His style is uniquely recognizable for its progressive technique, pulsating rhythms, melodic directness,
and a resolving dissonance. 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. Prokofieff’s musical
compositions include concerti, chamber music, film scores, operas, ballets, and official pieces for state
occasions.
FRANCIS POULENC (1899–1963)
One of the relatively few composers born into wealth and a privileged social position, the neo-classicist
Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc 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 imprecision of Debussy and Ravel. His
compositions had a coolly elegant modernity, tempered by a classical sense of proportion. Poulenc’s choral
works tended to be more somber and solemn, as portrayed by Litanies a la vierge noire (Litanies of the Black
Madonna, 1936), with its monophony, simple harmony, and startling dissonance; and Stabat Mater (1950),
which carried a Baroque solemnity with a prevailing style of unison singing and repetition. Poulenc’s musical
compositions total around 185 which include solo piano works, as well as vocal solos, known as melodies,
which highlighted many aspects of his temperament in his avant garde style. He died in Paris on January 30,
1963.
Other members of “Les Six”
Georges Auric (1899–1983) wrote music for the movies and rhythmic music with lots of energy. Louis
Durey (1888–1979) used traditional ways of composing and wrote in his own, personal way, not wanting to
follow form. Arthur Honegger (1882–1955) liked chamber music and the symphony. Darius Milhaud (1892–
1974) was a very talented composer who wrote in several different styles. Germaine Tailleferre (1892–1983)
was the only female in the group. She liked to use dance rhythms. She loved children and animals and wrote
many works about them.
Zachary Allen Catindig
10 – Einstein Music

AVANT GARDE MUSIC

Closely associated with electronic music, the avant garde movement dealt with the parameters or the
dimensions of sound in space. The avant garde style exhibited a new attitude toward musical mobility, whereby
the order of note groups could be varied so that musical continuity could be altered. Improvisation was a
necessity in this style, for the musical scores were not necessarily followed as written.
George Gershwin (1898 – 1937)
Gershwin’s melodic gift was considered phenomenal, as evidenced by his numerous songs of wide
appeal. He is a true “crossover artist,” in the sense that his serious compositions remain highly popular in the
classical repertoire, as his stage and film songs continue to be jazz and vocal standards. 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.
LEONARD BERNSTEIN (1918–1990)
Bernstein’s philosophy was that the universal language of music is basically rooted in tonality. This
came under fire from the radical young musicians who espoused the serialist principles of that time. Although
he never relinquished his musical values as a composer, he later turned to conducting and lecturing in order to
safeguard his principles as to what he believed was best in music. He achieved pre-eminence in two fields:
conducting and composing for Broadway musicals, dance shows, and concert music.
Bernstein is best known for his compositions for the stage. Foremost among these is the musical West Side
Story (1957), an American version of Romeo and Juliet, which displays a tuneful, off-beat, and highly atonal
approach to the songs.
PHILIP GLASS (1937– Present)
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. Aided by soothing vocal effects and horn
sounds, his music is often criticized as uneventful and shallow, yet startlingly effective for its hypnotic charm.
In Paris, he became inspired by the music of the renowned Indian sitarist Ravi Shankar. He assisted Shankar in
the soundtrack recording for Conrad Rooks’ film Chappaqua. He formed the Philip Glass Ensemble and
produced works such as Music in Similar Motion (1969) and Music in Changing Parts (1970), which combined
rock type grooves with perpetual patterns played at extreme volumes.
Zachary Allen Catindig
10 – Einstein Music

MODERN NATIONALISM
A looser form of 20th century music development focused on nationalist composers and musical
innovators who sought to combine modern techniques with folk materials. However, this common ground
stopped there, for the different breeds of nationalists formed their own styles of writing.
In Eastern Europe, prominent figures included the Hungarian Bela Bartok and the Russian Sergei Prokofieff,
who were neo-classicists to a certain extent. Bartok infused Classical techniques into his own brand of cross
rhythms and shifting meters to demonstrate many barbaric and primitive themes that were Hungarian
particularly gypsy in origin. Prokofieff used striking dissonances and Russian themes, and his music was
generally witty, bold, and at times colored with humor. Together with Bartok, Prokofieff made extensive use of
polytonality, a kind of atonality that uses two or more tonal centers simultaneously. An example of this style is
Prokofieff’s Visions Fugitive.
In Russia, a highly gifted generation of creative individuals known as the “Russian Five” —Modest
Mussorgsky, Mili Balakirev, Alexander Borodin, Cesar Cui, and Nikolai Rimsky Korsakov—infused chromatic
harmony and incorporated Russian folk music and liturgical chant in their thematic materials.
Music scholars predict that the innovative and experimental developments of 20th century classical music will
continue to influence the music of the 21st century. With so many technical and stylistic choices open to today’s
composers, it seems there is no obstacle to their creativity and to the limits of their imagination. And yet, this
same freedom that has allowed such varied musical experimentation in recent years has also caused
contemporary classical music or music utilizing the classical techniques of composition to lose touch with its
audience and to lose its clear role in today’s society. Presently, modern technology and gadgets put a great
impact on all types of music. However, what still remains to be seen is when this trend will shift, and what the
distinct qualities of emerging classical works will be.
Zachary Allen Catindig
10 – Einstein Music

ELECTRONIC MUSIC
The capacity of electronic machines such as synthesizers, amplifiers, tape recorders, and loudspeakers to
create different sounds was given importance by 20th century composers like Edgar Varese, Karlheinz
Stockhausen, and Mario Davidovsky.
Music that uses the tape recorder is called musique concrete, or concrete music. The composer records different
sounds that are heard in the environment such as the bustle of traffic, the sound of the wind, the barking of dogs,
the strumming of a guitar, or the cry of an infant. These sounds are arranged by the composer in different ways
like by playing the tape recorder in its fastest mode or in reverse. In musique concrete, the composer is able to
experiment with different sounds that cannot be produced by regular musical instruments such as the piano or
the violin.
EDGARD VARESE (1883–1965)
He was considered an “innovative French-born composer.” However, he spent the greater part of his life
and career in the United States, where he pioneered and created new sounds that bordered between music and
noise. The musical compositions of Varese are characterized by an emphasis on timbre and rhythm. He invented
the term “organized sound,” which means that certain timbres and rhythms can be grouped together in order to
capture a whole new definition of sound. Although his complete surviving works are scarce, he has been
recognized to have influenced several major composers of the late 20th century.
Varèse’s use of new instruments and electronic resources made him the “Father of Electronic Music” and he
was described as the “Stratospheric Colossus of Sound.”
KARLHEINZ STOCKHAUSEN (1928– Present)
Karlheinz Stockhausen is a central figure in the realm of electronic music. Born in Cologne, Germany,
he had the opportunity to meet Messiaen, Schoenberg, and Webern, the principal innovators at the time.
Stockhausen’s music was initially met with resistance due to its heavily atonal content with practically no clear
melodic or rhythmic sense. Still, he continued to experiment with musique concrete.
The climax of his compositional ambition came in 1977 when he announced the creation of Licht (Light), a
seven-part opera (one for each day of the week) for a gigantic ensemble of solo voices, solo instruments, solo
dancers, choirs, orchestras, mimes, and electronics. His recent Helicopter String Quartet, in which a string
quartet performs whilst airborne in four different helicopters, develops his long-standing fascination with music
which moves in space.
Zachary Allen Catindig
10 – Einstein Music

CHANCE MUSIC
Chance music refers to a style wherein the piece always sounds different at every performance because
of the random techniques of production, including the use of ring modulators or natural elements that become a
part of the music. Most of the sounds emanate from the surroundings, both natural and man-made, such as
honking cars, rustling leaves, blowing wind, dripping water, or a ringing phone. As such, the combination of
external sounds cannot be duplicated as each happens by chance.
JOHN CAGE (1912–1992)
John Cage was known as one of the 20th century composers with the widest array of sounds in his
works. He challenged the very idea of music by manipulating musical instruments in order to achieve new
sounds. He experimented with what came to be known as “chance music.” In one instance, Cage created a
“prepared” piano, where screws and pieces of wood or paper were inserted between the piano strings to produce
different percussive possibilities.
He became famous for his composition Four Minutes and 33 Seconds (4’33"), a chance musical work that
instructed the pianist to merely open the piano lid and remain silent for the length of time indicated by the title.
The work was intended to convey the impossibility of achieving total silence, since surrounding sounds can still
be heard amidst the silence of the piano performance. Cage also advocated bringing real-life experiences into
the concert hall. This reached its extreme when he composed a work that required him to fry mushrooms on
stage in order to derive the sounds from the cooking process.
More than any other modern composer, Cage influenced the development of modern music since the 1950s. He
was considered more of a musical philosopher than a composer. His conception of what music can and should
be has had a profound impact upon his contemporaries. He was active as a writer presenting his musical views
with both wit and intelligence. Cage was an important force in other artistic areas especially dance and musical
theater. His musical compositions total around 229.