Music of the 20th Century

Impressionism, Expressionism, Chance, and Jazz Music

Impressionism

• based on an art movement started on late 19th century, Paris-based visual artists
• Claude Monet, Impression Sunrise (art)
• One of the earliest forms that paved way to this modern era
• The sentimental melodies and dramatic emotionalism of the preceding Romantic period
were being replaced in favor of moods and impressions

Features of Impressionism

• moved away from the romantic movement

• the use of "color", or in musical terms "timbre", which can be achieved through
orchestration, harmonic usage, texture
• new combinations of extended chords, harmonies, whole tone, chromatic scaled, and
pentatonic scale emerged
• an attempt not to depict reality, but merely suggest it from the 20th century. the
innovative and experimental style of the 20th century music are the influences of the
genius composers
• centered on nature and its beauty, lightness, and brilliance
• prominent mediums: piano & orchestra
• feel the moods of the music rather than focus on the structure

Impressionism Composers

Claude Debussy (1862-1918)

• principal exponent of the impressionist movement and the inspiration of other

impressionist composers
• composed a total of more or less 227 masterpieces, which include orchestral, chamber,
piano, music, opera, ballets, songs, and other vocal music
• Father of the Modern School of Composition
• Claire De Lune

Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)

• Mainly characterized by its distinctively innovative but not atonal style of harmonic
treatment
• Works defined with intricate and sometimes modal melodies and extended chordal
components
• Perfectionist and every bit a musical craftsman. He strongly adhered to the classical form,
specifically its ternary structure
• ”Bolero” premiered in 1928
Expressionism

• Originally used in visual and literary arts

• Probably first applied in 1918

Features of Expressionism

• High Degree of Dissonance

- Dissonance: quality of sound that seems unstable
• Extreme Contrast of Dynamics
- Pianissimo to Fortissimo
• Constant changing of texture
• “Distorted” melodies and harmonies
• Angular melodies with wide leaps

Expressionism Composers

Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951)

• Taught himself music theory but took lessons in counterpoint

• Started making music when he was 12 years old
• Tonal preference gradually revolved to something dissonant and atonal
• Explored the use of chromatic harmonies
• “TWELVE TONE SYSTEM”

Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971)

• Nationalistic yet contemporary style

• First notable composition, “The Firebird Suite” in 1910 which was composed for
Diaghilev’s Russian Ballet
• Skillful handling of material and rhythmic inventiveness event went beyond anything
written by his Russian predecessors
• In 1939, he went to America to learn
• He was able to produce a musical output of approximately 127 works

Concerti or Concerto

• A musical composition for a solo instruments or instruments, accompanied by an

orchestra, especially one conceived on a relatively large scale
20th Century Musical Styles

Electronic Music

• New inventions and discoveries of science and technology led to continuing

developments in the field of music
• Tape, CD, mp3 player, karaoke, phones, keyboards
• Developed at the end of the 19th century
• Whose reproduction involved the use of loudspeakers
• Composers record different sounds that are heard in the environment and arrange in
different ways

Musique concrete or Concrete music

• Music that uses tape recorder

Composers of Electronic Music

Edgard Varese

• Invented organized sound

• December 22, 1883 – November 6, 1965
• Paris, France
• ”Innovative French-born composer”
• Characterized by an emphasis on timbre and rhythm
• Invented the term “organized sound”
• Father of Electronic Music
• Poeme Electronique

Karlheinz Stockhausen

• August 22, 1928 – December 5, 2007

• Cologne, Germany
• Had the opportunity to work with Messiaen, Schoenberg, and Webern, the principal
innovators at the time
• Developed his style of total Serialism
• His music was initially met with resistance due to its heavily atonal content with
practically no clear melodic or rhythmic sense
• Helicopter String Quartet

Serialism

• Method of composition using series of pitches, rhythms, dynamics, timbres or other

musical elements
Chance Music

• Aleatory music
• Latin word “Alea” – dice
• A style in which the piece sounds differently at every performance because of the random
techniques of production
• Most of the sounds emanate from the surroundings, both natural and manmade

Chance Music Composer

John Cage (1912-1992)

• Los Angeles, California, USA

• September 5, 1912
• One of the most original composers in the history of western music
• He challenged the very idea of music by manipulating musical instruments
• “Four Minutes and 33 Seconds” Most notable work
• Water Walk