LECTURE NOTES IN MAPEH 10

UNIT 1
MUSIC
Quarter I: MUSIC OF THE 20TH CENTURY

IMPRESSIONISM

CLAUDE DEBUSSY (1862–1918)

One of the most important and influential of the 20th century
composers was Claude Debussy. 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 was born in St. Germain-en-Laye in France on August 22, 1862.

 His early musical talents were channeled into piano lessons.
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)
 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.
 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.

MAURICE RAVEL (1875–1937)

 born in Ciboure,Franceto
 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.
The compositional style of Ravel is mainly characterized by its uniquely
innovative but not style of harmonic treatment. It is defined intricate and
sometimes modal melodies extended chordal components. It demands
considerable technical virtuosity from the performer which is the character,
ability, or skill of a virtuoso—a person who excels in musical technique or
execution.
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 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.

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.

EXPRESSIONISM

ARNOLD SCHOENBERG (1874–1951)

 Born in a working-class suburb of Vienna, Austria on September 13,
1874.
 He taught himself music theory, but took lessons in counterpoint.
 Schoenberg’s style was constantly undergoing development. From
the early influences of Wagner, his tonal preference gradually turned
to the dissonant and atonal, as he explored the use of chromatic
harmonies.
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.
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.

IGOR STRAVINSKY (1882–1971)

 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.
 The Rite of Spring (1913) was another outstanding work. A new level of
dissonance was reached and the sense of tonality was practically abandoned.
 Other outstanding works include the ballet Petrouchka (1911), featuring
shifting rhythms and polytonality, a signature device of the composer.
 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
BELA BARTOK (1881–1945)

 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 a concert pianist as he travelled exploring the music of Hungarian peasants.
 In 1906, with his fellow composer Kodaly, Bartok published his first collection of 20
Hungarian folk songs.
 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.
 The Concerto for Orchestra (1943), a five-movement work composed late in Bartok’s
life, features the exceptional talents of its various soloists in an intricately
constructed piece.
 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.

NEO-CLASSICISM
SERGEI PROKOFIEFF (1891–1953)

 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.
 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.

FRANCIS POULENC (1899–1963)

 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 was also fond of the witty approach of Satie, as well as the early
neo-classical works of Stravinsky.
 Poulenc was a successful composer for piano, voice, and choral music.
 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.
 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.
 AVANT GARDE MUSIC

GEORGE GERSHWIN (1898–1937)

 Born in New York to Russian Jewish immigrants.
 His older brother Ira was his artistic collaborator who wrote the lyrics of his songs.
 His 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.
 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. He died in Hollywood, California, U.S.A. on July 11, 1937.

DLEONARD BERNSETEIN (19D18–1990)

 Born in Massachussetts, 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..
 Bernstein’s philosophy was that the universal language of music is
basically rooted in tonality.
 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. Other outputs include another Broadway hit Candide (1956) and the much-celebrated
Mass (1971), which he wrote for the opening of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in
Washington, D.C.
His musical compositions total around 90. He died in New York City, USA on October 14, 1990.

PHILIP GLASS (1937)

 One of the most commercially successful minimalist composer is Philip Glass
who is also an avant garde composer.
 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.
 Born in New York, USA of Jewish parentage, Glass became an accomplished
violinist and flutist at the age of 15.
 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.
 His musical compositions total around 170. Today, Glass lives alternately in
Nova Scotia, Canada and New York, USA
MODERN NATIONALISM
Nikolai Rimsky Korsakov

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.

SUMMARY

Impressionism made use of the whole-tone scale. It also applied suggested, rather than
depicted, reality. It created a mood rather than a definite picture. It had a translucent and hazy texture;
lacking a dominant-tonic relationship. It made use of overlapping chords, with 4th, 5th, octaves, and 9th
intervals, resulting in a non-traditional harmonic order and resolution.

Expressionism revealed the composer’s mind, instead of presenting an impression of the environment. It
used atonality and the twelve-tone scale, lacking stable and conventional harmonies. It served as a medium
for expressing strong emotions, such as anxiety, rage, and alienation.

Neo-classicism was a partial return to a classical form of writing music with carefully modulated
dissonances. It made use of a freer seven-note diatonic scale.

The avant garde style was associated with electronic music and dealt with the parameters or dimensions of
sound in space. It made use of variations of self-contained note groups to change musical continuity, and
improvisation, with an absence of traditional rules on harmony, melody, and rhythm.

Modern nationalism is a looser form of 20th century music development focused on nationalist composers
and musical innovators who sought to combine modern techniques with folk materials.

20TH CENTURY MUSICAL STYLES: ELECTRONIC and CHANCE 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)

 Edgard (also spelled Edgar) Varèse was born on December 22, 1883. 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.” His musical compositions total around 50, with his
advances in tape-based sound proving revolutionary during his time. He died on November 6, 1965.

KARLHEINZ STOCKHAUSEN (1928– )

 Karlheinz Stockhausen is a central figure in the realm of electronic music.

 Born in Cologne, Germany,
 He developed his style of total serialism. 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.
 Some of his works include Gruppen (1957), a piece for three orchestras that moved music through time
and space; Kontakte (1960), a work that pushed the tape machine to its limits; and the epic Hymnen
(1965), an ambitious two-hour work of 40 juxtaposed songs and anthems from around the world.
 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. It has led him to dream of concert halls in
which the sound attacks the listener from every direction. Stockhausen’s works total around 31. He
presently resides in Germany.

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.

An example is John Cage’s Four Minutes and Thirty-Three Seconds (4’33") where the pianist merely opens
the piano lid and keeps silent for the duration of the piece. The audience hears a variety of noises inside and
outside the concert hall amidst the seeming silence.
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 was born in Los Angeles, California, USA on
September 5, 1912 and became one of the most original composers in the history
of western music. 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. The prepared piano style found its
way into Cage’s Sonatas and Interludes (1946–1948), a cycle of pieces containing a wide range of sounds,
rhythmic themes, and a hypnotic quality. His involvement with Zen Buddhism inspired him to compose
Music of Changes (1951), written for conventional piano, that employed chance compositional processes.

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.

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. Cage died in New
York City on August 12, 1992.
Music of the 20th Century

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.