Behind the

20th century
music Success
The 20th century is described as the “age of
musical diversity” because composers had more creative
freedom. Composers were more willing to experiment
with new music forms or reinvent music forms of the past.
This was a time when composers began trying to
experiment with the usage of the musical language. The
focus of many composers was on 'liberation of sound', the George Gershwin –His
right to make music with any sounds, whether pleasurable Francis Jean Marcel
first song was written in
Poulenc – a neo-classicist
or not. As the romantic composers emphasized the composer and a member
1916 and his first
composer's emotions and individuality, the 20th century of the group of young
Broadway musical La La
Lucille in 1919. And
composers found new ways using music to represent French composers known
inspite of his commercial
things such Emotions, events, places. as “Le Six.” He is a
success, Gershwin wa
successful composer for
Leonard Bernstein – more fascinated with
piano, voice and choral
Endeared himself to his classical music.
music
many followers as a
charismatic conductor, In the twentieth century, many composers continued
pianist composer and to work in forms that derived from the nineteenth century,
lecturer. Bernstein’s
including Rachmaninoff and Edward Elgar.
philosophy was that the
universal language of However, modernism in music became increasingly
music is basically rooted prominent and important; among the first modernists
in tonality. were Bartók, Stravinsky, and Ives. Schoenberg and other
Philip Glass – One of the
twelve-tone composers such as Alban Berg and Anton von
most commercially Webern carried this trend to its most extreme form by
successful minimalist abandoning tonality altogether, along with its traditional
composers. He was the conception of melody and harmony. The Impressionists,
composer of the
including Debussy and Ravel, sought new textures and
Avantgarde. He explored
the territories of turned their back on traditional forms, while often retaining
ballet,opera ,theater, film more traditional harmonic progressions. Others such
and even television jingles. as Francis Poulenc and the group of composers known as
Les Six wrote music in opposition to the Impressionistic and
Sergei Prokofieff – His Romantic ideas of the time. Composers such
style uniquely as Milhaud and Gershwin combined classical and jazz
recognizable for its idioms. Others, such as Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Hindemith,
progressive
Boulez, and Villa-Lobos expanded the classical palette to
technique,pulsating
rhythms , melodic
include more dissonant elements without going to the
directness , and a extremes of the twelve-tone and serial composers.
resolving dissonance.