Republic of the Philippines

Department of Education
Region VI – Western Visayas
Division of lloilo
BANATE NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL
Banate, lloilo
NAME: _____________________________________________ YEAR and SECTION:__________________

MAPEH IV l First Grading l MUSIC: Music of the 20th Century

Introduction Lesson 2: Arnold Schoenberg and
Expressionism
In this history of music and arts, every period has its own characteristic
style which is associated with the society from which it originated. The Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951)
period of the 19th and 20th century perceived the two world wars, and had
been a period of many changes: advancement in technology, a period of
Austrian composer, Schoenberg’s
many inventions such as the telephone, television, electronic light,
development of the twelve-tone method of
computers, cassette tapes, synthesizers, CD players, and many others.
composition was a turning point in the
Because of these inventions, experimentations were made in the field of
20th century music. He was a self taught
music and arts.
musician.

Lesson 1: Debussy and Impressionism

Claude Debussy (1862-1918)
He studied with Guiraud and others at the
Paris Conservatoire and as prizewinner
went to Rome, though more important
Impressions came from his visits to
Bayreuth and from hearing Javaneese
music in Paris.
Another philosophy of art which affected
the music of the 20th century is
expressionism. It is a style which seeks to
express emotion with exaggerations
rather than represent the physical world. The followers of the movement
believe that this world is full of tension, and people are irrational, rebellious
and scared to be alone.
Expressionism
Many of the 20th music reflects an artistic movement called
expressionism, which stress intense and subjective emotion. Painters,
writers, and composers explored inner feelings rather than depicting
outward appearances. The expressionists rejected conventional prettiness.

Arnold Schoenberg was known for the radical sound of his music. In this
song cycle, “Pierrot Lunaire”, he made use of different style of singing
which is called Sprechstimme. Pierrot Lunaire calls for unusual style of
Debussy and Impressionism vocal performance halfway between speaking and singing.

The Impressionist style of painting developed in the late 19th century in

France. Although the Impressionist movement did not exclusively consist
of French artists, it did start in France and the French painters are among Sprechstimme- literally it means speech voice. It is a manner of
the most well-known. Several earlier artistic movements, such as performing a song which sounds half-sung and half-spoken.
Classicism and Realism, influenced the Impressionist painters. In 1855, a
World Fair was held in Paris, and art was given significant attention. This
contributed to Paris’ reputation as the center of the art world and the place
to be for aspiring painters, such as the group that would come to be known
as the Impressionists. Lesson 3: The Music of Stravinsky

Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971)

Impressionism is a style borrowed from painting which creates an
illusion of light and atmosphere by using colors side by side instead A Russian composer, later of French (1934)
of blending them. The artist avoids realism in favor of conveying and American nationality. Stravinsky was
impressions. regarded as the world’s greatest composer.
His once revolutionary works were modern
classics.

Nocturnes
Like Debussy and Schoenberg, Stravinsky a
Achille-Claude Debussy, 1862-1918, Nocturnes. Completed December 15,
composer from Russia, was also one of the
1899 (at 3 a.m., according to an inscription on the manuscript), first
20th century composers who established new
performance October 27, 1901, in Paris. Scored for 3 flutes, 2 oboes,
trends in music, instead of just using the new
English horn, 2 clarinets, 3 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones,
trends in his music, he combined the
tuba, cymbals, snare drums, tympani, 2 harps, female chorus, and strings.
traditional and modern trends.

Three Shorts Composition of NOCTURNES

Multimeter - is identified, by the time signature, a fractional symbol in
1. Nuages- (Clouds) Debussy pictures the sky with slow and melancholy
which the numerator specifies the number of beats per bar, and the
passages of clouds. The warmth of Nuages recalls a summer love affair.
denominator specifies the relative note value assigned to one beat.

2. Fetes- (Festivals) is a restrained yet joyous celebration, the sort that

Syncopation (Accent) - the suppression of an expected rhythmic accent
generates lifelong memories without ever disturbing the neighbors.
by the continuation of an accented tone that begins just before it.

3. Sirenes- (Sirens) builds on a simple two-note motives to seduce the

listeners into Debussy’s river, just as dangerously as the mythological
beauties who have lured innumerable sailors to their doom over the
centuries.
Lesson 4: The Music of Bela Bartok

Lesson 7: Antonio Molina and

Bela Bartok (1881-1945), a Impressionism
Hungarian, is considered a famous
progressive modern musical
Dr. Antonio Molina (1894-1980) was
composer, a great pianist, teacher
one of the 20th century composers who
and researcher. He was one of the
wrote art music. He was considered the
leaders of Hungarian nationalism
“Claude Debussy of the Philippines”
and made use of the Hungarian
because he was the first to introduce
folk tunes in his music. Just like
several important devices, technically
Stravinsky, he was one of the
characteristics of impressionism in
composers who belonged to the
music.
movement of Neo-Classicism: a
return to the simplicity of
Classicism and combining of One of Molina’s popularly known,
modern sound with classic form. compositions is “Hatinggabi”. Another
composition of Molina is “Dancing Fool”.
In this composition, he made use of the whole tone scale and used it as a
His style is characterized by
descriptive device.
rhythms which are percussive and
intricate because of the influence of the Hungarian dance patterns. He
used polyrhythm, which means using two or more different rhythms played
at the same time. In some of his compositions like “Six Dances in Lesson 8: Filipino Contemporary Composer
Bulgarian Rhythm, no.1”, you will notice the irregular grouping of beats.

Polytonality, which is the simultaneous combination of two or more

tonalities in a composition, can also be found in Bartok’s compositions.

Nicanor Abelardo (1893-1934)- Our foremost

Lesson 5: Electronic Music Kundiman composer also showed the
Music that requires knowledge or use of electronic devices to produce or elements of modernism in his music. This is
manipulate sounds during its composition and performances. heard in his “Cinderella Overture” and
“Sinfonietta for Strings”
Electronic music is produced by electronic devices recorded on magnetic
tape and played through amplifiers. This electronic devices are capable of
producing tones of any intensity desired that exceed the normal auditory
range of the human ear.

The tape may be played at half speed, double speed, forward, backward
or they even slice the tape and rearrange the sound. The term of this kind
of music that uses a tape recoder is “musique concrete”

John Cage – most experimental composers in the 20th century. His :Four
Minutes and Thirty-Three Seconds” was a very radical composition. Dr. Lucrecia Kasilag Neo-classicist.
Imagine a piece consisting of entire silence for 4 minutes and 33 The music of Kasilag is unique in
seconds. His reason for this kind of musical work is his belief that the which she was able to combine the
listener must supply the sense which exists in sound. music of the east and west. This is
shown in her Tocatta (1958) were
Edgar Varese (1883-1965) – a French composer who built his polyphony she made used of the piano, clarinet,
by adding one layer of sound to another. His unconventional rhythms and oboe kulintang and turiray. The
timbers made his music interesting to the young ones. Kuiliontang is very prominent in her “Concert
Divertisement”.
With the advancement in technology, many composers are experimenting
new sound sources such as electronic, environmental and other non-tonal
sound. Traditional instruments are used but in different way. Even
computers, cassette tape recorders, and synthesizers are used.

Concrete Music Dr. Jose Maceda is the pioneer

Music created by reworking natural sounds recorded on discs or tapes.
Lesson 6: Chance Music
Aleatoric music is sometimes referred to as “chance music”. A style
where in various sounds, musical and non musical where assembled,
fragmented, and then combined according to precise measurements and
combinations arrived at by chance operation. There are no rules to this
form of music, thus, any kind of music
can be created as a result.
John Cage 1912-1992
was an American composer, music
theorist, writer, and artist. A pioneer of
indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic
music, and non-standard use of
musical instruments, Cage was one of
the leading figures of the post-war
avant-garde. Critics have lauded him
as one of the most influential American
composers of the 20th century. He was
also instrumental in the development of
modern dance.
and exponent of avant-garde music in
our country. When he was in France, he
joined the Music Concrete movement.
An example of his work is
“Ugnayan”(1974). Most of Maceda’s
composition make use of a large number
of people and the environment.
Dr.Ramon Santos .Another way of combining
western and non-western materials and structures is
shown by Dr. Ramon Santos. He made use of Asian
material in his new way of composing. We will hear in
his composition new concept and system of
composing which he learned from his studies abroad.
At present there is a group of young composers who
are active in promoting this so called New Music. Some of them are Ryan
Cayabyab, Chino Toledo, Laverne Dela Pena, Arlene Chongson,and
Jonas Baes.
Prepared by:
Dorlenn P. Hiponia
Banate National High School
Grade 10 MAPEH Teacher