Music of the

20th Century
Rock Music
Hip-hop Music
Pop Music
Twentieth century music brought
new freedom, wide experimentation
and development of advance
technology with new musical styles
and forms that changed the
accepted rules of music of earlier
periods.
Impressionism
Impressionism
● French movement in the late 19th and early 20th
centuries (1890-1920)
● One of the earliest musical forms
● Artist and musician were drawn to convey mood
with their music instead of actually depicting
reality
● Ambient music (background music)
● Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel
Characteristic of Impressionism
● Color - timbre or the quality of tone which
make it unique. (Achieved through orchestration)
● Atmosphere - mood and atmosphere. Have
the feeling of being transported to another
place
● Chords - use of unusual scale. They used
whole tone scale
Color
Characteristic of Impressionism
● Color - timbre or the quality of tone which
make it unique
● Atmosphere - mood and atmosphere. Have
the feeling of being transported to another
place
● Chords - use of unusual scale. They used
whole tone scale
Atmosphere
Characteristic of Impressionism
● Color - timbre or the quality of tone which
make it unique
● Atmosphere - mood and atmosphere. Have
the feeling of being transported to another
place
● Chords - use of unusual scale. They used
whole tone scale
Chords
 Composer under this movement
Claude Debussy
● Born on August 22, 1862 in
France
● Father of Modern School of
Composition
● Principal exponent of
impressionism movement
 Composer under this movement
Claude Debussy
● reformed the course of musical
development by eradicating
traditional rules and conventions
into a new language of possibilities
in harmony, rhythm, form, texture,
and color.
 Composer under this movement
Claude Debussy
● Following work:
○ String Quartet
○ La Mer (1905)-a highly
imaginative and atmospheric
musical work for orchestra
about the sea
 Composer under this movement
Claude Debussy
● Following work:
○ Première Arabesque
○ Claire de Lune (Moonlight)-The
third and most famous
movement of Suite
bergamasque.
 Composer under this movement
Maurice Ravel
● Born in Ciboure, France
● Ravel is mainly characterized by its
distinctively innovative but not
atonal style of harmonic treatment.
 Composer under this movement
Maurice Ravel
● Demands considerable technical
virtuosity from the performer
● Perfectionist
● Strong advocate of Russian music
 Composer under this movement
Maurice Ravel
● Following works
○ Pavane for a Dead Princess (1899)
○ String Quartet (1903)
○ Sonatine for Piano (c.1904)
○ Rhapsodie Espagnole
○ Bolero
Expressionism
Expressionism
Subject in expressionism often includes:
➢ Fantasy
➢ Violence
➢ Anxiety
➢ Loss of authenticity and spirituality
Expressionism
● Originally used in visual and literary arts
● It was probably first applied to music in 1918
● It is considered a reaction to impressionism
● Artist created vivid pictures, distorting colors and
shape to make unrealistic images that suggest
strong emotions. (arts)
Expressionism
● Expressionist composers poured intense emotional
expression into their music and explore their
subconscious mind.
● Expressionist artist sought to express
psychological experiences and feelings rather than
physical facts
Expressionism
● Feeling of anger, rage, sorrow, and depression has
been reflected to the musical works of
expressionist composers
● Described as “movement of young people”
Features of expressionism
● High degree of dissonance- writing music whose
key characteristics involves dissonant harmonies
○ Atonality - key characteristic to remember
expressionist music
● Extreme contrast of dynamics (from pianissimo to
fortissimo)
● Constant changing of textures (overall quality of
sound in a piece)
Features of expressionism
● "distorted" melodies and harmonies
 Composer under this movement
ARNOLD SCHOENBERG
● Born on September 13, 1874 in
Vienna, Austria
● He taught himself music theory
but took lessons in counterpoint
● His style to music changes from
time to time
 Composer under this movement
ARNOLD SCHOENBERG
● From tonal to dissonance and
attonal through the use of
chromatic harmony
● He was responsible for the
establishment of the twelve-tone
system
 Composer under this movement
ARNOLD SCHOENBERG
● From tonal to dissonance and
attonal through the use of
chromatic harmony
● He was responsible for the
establishment of the twelve-tone
system
 Composer under this movement
ARNOLD SCHOENBERG
● Following works:
○ Verklarte Nacht
○ Three Pieces for Piano, op. 11
○ Pierrot Lunaire
○ Violin Concerto
○ Skandalkonzert, a concert of the
Wiener Konzertverein.
 Composer under this movement
IGOR STRAVINSKY
● Born on June 17, 1882 in
Lomonosov, Russia
● "The Firebird Suite (1910)," his
skillful handling of material and
rhythmic inventiveness went
beyond anything written by his
Russian predecessors
 Composer under this movement
IGOR STRAVINSKY
● The Rite of Spring (1913) was
another superb work showcasing
his new technique
 Composer under this movement
IGOR STRAVINSKY
● Following works:
○ Ballet Petrouchka (1911)
○ The Nightingale (1914)
○ Three Tales for Children (1917)
○ Pulcinella (1920)
○ Duo Concertant (1932)
○ The Rake's Progress (1951)
1. It is a movement that centered on nature and its
beauty, abandoning the romantic movement.
2. Music of this movement has a high level of
dissonance.
3. Composers of this movement poured intense
emotional expression into their music and explored
the subconscious mind.
4. Music of this movement had a mysterious
atmosphere.
5. The key characteristic feature of this movement is
ATONALITY or lack of central key.
20th Century
Musical Styles
Technology has been
a game-changer in
music
Electronic Music
The ability of electronic
machines such as
synthesizers,
amplifiers, tape
recorders, and
loudspeakers to
produce different
sounds.
Electronic Music
This was popularized by
20th century notable
composers like:
Edgard Varese and
Karlheinz Stockhausen
Electronic Music
Music that uses the
tape recorder is called
musique concrete, or
concrete music.
Electronic Music
The composer records
different sounds that are
heard in the environment
Electronic Music
In musique concrete, the
composer can experiment
with different sounds that
cannot be produced by
regular musical instruments
such as the piano or the
violin.
Electronic Music
The first electronic devices for
performing music were
developed at the end of the 19th
century, and shortly afterward,
Italian futurists explored sounds
that had not been considered
musical
 Prominent composers under
Electronic Music
Edgard Varese
● He was born on December 22, 1883,
Paris France
● considered an "innovative
French-born composer"
● He pioneered and created new
sounds that bordered between music
and noise and spent his life and
career mostly in the United States
 Prominent composers under
Electronic Music
Edgard Varese
His musical compositions are
characterized by:
● an emphasis on timbre and rhythm;
and
● "organized sound"
 Prominent composers under
Electronic Music
Edgard Varese
● He was considered as the "Father of
Electronic Music"
● He was also dubbed as the
"Stratospheric Colossus of Sound"
 Prominent composers under
Electronic Music
Karlheinz Stockhausen
● is a central figure in the realm of
electronic music.
● He was born in Cologne, Germany
 Prominent composers under
Electronic Music
Karlheinz Stockhausen
● 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.
 Prominent composers under
Electronic Music
Karlheinz Stockhausen
Some of his works include:
● Gruppen (1957)
● Kontakte (1960)
● Hymnen (1965) and
● Licht (Light)
Chance Music
Chance music, also known as Aleatoric
music, refers to a style in which the piece
always sounds differently 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
Composer under Chance Music
Most of the sounds emanating from the
surroundings, both natural and
man-made, such as honking cars, rustling
leaves, blowing wind, dripping water, or a
ringing phone
Chance Music
John Cage
● was known as one of the
20th-century composers
with the broadest array of
sounds in his works
● Born in Los Angeles,
California, USA, on
September 5, 1912
Chance Music
John Cage
● became one of the most
original composers in the
history of western music
● He challenged the very idea
of music by manipulating
musical instruments to
attain new sounds and
became the "chance music."
Chance Music
John Cage
● 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
 Chance Music
John Cage
● The new musical styles created by
20th century classical composers
were truly distinct and innovative.
● They experimented with the
elements of rhythm, melody,
harmony, tempo, and timbre in
daring ways that were never
attempted before
Chance Music
John Cage
● He became notable for his
work The Four Minutes and
33 Seconds (4'33")
BONIFACIO A. LEGASPI JR. LPT
MAPEH Teacher