MUSIC OF THE 20TH

CENTURY
IMPRESSIONISM, EXPRESSIONISM AND AVANT GARDE
IMPRESSIONISM
• It is a French movement in the late 19th and 20th century
• Immediate or impression of an object
• Illusion of light
• Sound of different chords overlapped lightly with each
other to produce new musical color
MUSICIANS OF IMPRESSIONISM

• CLAUDY DE BUSSY
• MAURICE RAVEL
• ARNOLD SCHOENBERG
CLAUDE DE BUSSY (1862-1918)

• Primary exponent of the impressionist movement

• Best works are La Mer, String Quartet and
Prelude to the Afternoon
• Great pianist, and vocal music composer
MAURICE RAVEL (1875-1937)

• Atonal style of harmonic treatment

• Person who excels in musical as well
with human characterization
• Best works includes Bolero,Rhapsodie and
Pavane for a Dead Princess
ARNOLD SCHOENBERG (1874-1951)

• He taught himself music theory at the age of 8

• His style was constantly complex from
dissonant to atonal
• Best works are Three Pieces of Piano and Lunaire
EXPRESSIONISM

• –it means reaction

• Expressing true emotions with exaggeration
• Period of free atonal composition
MUSICIANS OF EXPRESSIONISM

• ARNOLD SCHOENBERG
• IGOR STRAVINSKY
ARNOLD SCHOENBERG
• Austrian composer and painter, associated with
the expressionist movement in German poetry and art,
and leader of the Second Viennese School.
• an important music theorist, and an influential teacher of
composition
• proponent of twelve-tone period
IGOR STRAVINSKY

• Adapted the forms of the 18th century music

• His music was very structured, precise and
controlled
• Best work: Petrouchka
AVANT GARDE
• avant-garde (from French, "advance guard" or "vanguard", literally
"fore-guard"[1]) are people or works that are experimental or
innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics.
• Avant-garde in music can refer to any form of music working
within traditional structures while seeking to breach boundaries in
some manner