20th century

composers
Debussy
 the impressionist
Styles:
 Uses neomodality
 open 5ths and octaves
 whole-tone scale
 extensive use of 9th chords
 vagueness of form
 Free rhythm-less regularity of bar line
 wide spacing and use of extreme registers of
the piano
Notable works
 piano music
 orchestral works ( La Mer, Nocturnes,
Iberia, Prelude a L’Apres-midi d’un Faun
 Opera ( Pelleas et Melisande and La
Damoiselle elue
Maurice Ravel
 combined impressionism and individual styles
reflecting neoclassical simplification of
materials and form
STYLES:
 less use of whole-tone scale
 more use of 11th chord harmony than
Debussy
 brilliant and colorful orchestration
 extensive use of Spanish rhythms, harmony
and melody
Notable works
 mostly for orchestra and piano
 Gaspards de la Nuit
 Jeux d’Eau
 Tombeau de Couperin
 Sonatine
 Rhapsodie Espagnole, Bolero, La Valse
Erik Satie
 among the first to use quartal harmony,
parallelism, polytonality etc.
 He wrote humorous titles of piano music (
The American Cash-box, Three Pieces in
the Form of a Pear to name a few)
 leader of “Les Six”- a group of 6 French
composers came into prominence in
1920’s as champions of modern French
music opposed to impressionism
Les Six
 Milhaud
 Honegger
 Poulenc
 Auric
 Durey
 Tailleferre