EXPRESSIONISM

 Expressionism presents atonality and

the twelve-tone scale revealing
composer’s mind, expressing strong
emotions, anxiety, rage, and alienation.
It expresses the meaning of emotional
experience rather than physical reality.
One of the proponents of expressionism
is Arnold Schoenberg.
ARNOLD SCHOENBERG (1874-1951

 Arnold Schoenberg was an Austrian composer born

last September 13, 1874, in a working-class of Suburb of
Vienna, Austria. He was famous as the exponent of the
twelve-tone system with twelve tones related only to
one another also known as the serial technique. He
was influenced by Richard Wagner, a German
composer.
His contribution to music includes atonality, meaning
the absence of key evolved from an emphasis on
chromatic harmony in the liberal use of the twelve
tones in a chromatic scale. Apart from it, he also
includes serialism and Sprechstimmre which is a
manner of performing a song with half-sung and half-
spoken. In 1908, he began to write approximately 213
musical compositions include concerte, orchestral
music, piano music, opera, choral music, songs, and
other instrumental music
His works include the following:
Verklarte Nacht, Three Pieces for Piano, op. 1
Pierrot Lunaire,
Gurreleider
Verklarte Nacht (Transfigured Night, 1899)

He died last July 13, 195, in Los Angeles, California,

USA where he had settled since 1934.
NEOCLASSICISM

 Neo-classicism music is different from the two

movements. This is light, entertaining, cool, and
independent of its emotional content. The composition
style used by the composer was the seven-note diatonic
scale. This period combines tonal harmonies applying
with slight dissonance which has a three- movement
format like shifting time signatures, complex but
exciting rhythmic patterns, as well as harmonic
dissonance that produce harsh chords. The composers
of this time in neo-classicism are Francis Poulenc, Igor
Stravinsky, Paul Hindemith, and Sergei Prokofeiff.
IGOR STRAVINSKY 1882-1971
  Igor Stravinsky was a Russian born composer and conductor who
became both and American and a French citizen, he was born last
June 17, 1882, in Oraniaenbaum (now Lomonosov) Russia.  His style
of music is neoclassical which uses scale, cords, and tone color in a
clear and traditional way with frequent changes in meter signature,
offbeat syncopation, and displacing regular accent as he utilize. He
adopted the forms of 18th century music with his contemporary style
of writing, very structured, precise, controlled, full of artifice, and
theatricality despite its shocking modernity. In 1939, he went to USA
and venture another style of music to experience his passion and
wanted to integrate his knowledge in Russian music. However, he
opted and slowly turned back into his nationalistic style of Russian
music and cultivate his neoclassical style in which Stravinsky’s work.
Stravinsky was able to produce a musical output of approximately 127
works, including concerti, orchestral music, instrumental music,
operas, and ballets, solo vocal, and choral music. On April 6, 1971 he
died in New York City. The following are the works of Stravinsky:
 Firebird (1910), Petrushka (1911), The Rite of Spring (1913), The
wedding (1923), AND Agon (1957), orchestral music like Symphonies
of wind instruments (1920), concerto for pianos and winds (1924),
Dumbarton Oaks Concerto (1938), Symphony in C (1940),
Symphony in 3 movements (1945), and Ebon concerto (1945); choral
music like Symphony of Psalms (1930), Canticum Sacrum (1955),
Threni (1958), and Requiem Canticles (1966); and operas like The
Rake’s Progress (1951), opera oratorio Oedipus Rex (1927), and other
dramatic works like the Soldier’s Hale (1918).
SERGEI PROKOFIEFF 1891-1953
 He was born last 1891 in Ukraine. He combined the movements of music like
Neoclassicism, Nationalism, and Avant-Garde composition. With his
progressive technique, pulsating rhythms, melodic directness, and a resolving
dissonance he was uniquely recognized. In writing symphonies, chamber
music, concerte, and solo instrumental music, he became a productive and
prolific composer. He worked and linked with other composers, combined
styles of Haydn and Mozart as classicist and Igor Stravinsky as Neo-Classicist
also inspired by Beethoven with two highly regarded violin concerte and two
string quartets.
With his desire to write music for the ballet and opera, he was given a chance
to contact with Diaghilev and Stravinsky for Romeo and Juliet for ballet,
and War and Peace for opera. He intendedly wrote a light-hearted orchestral
work for children to pacify the continuing government restrictions and
disciplinary actions at the time of Avant-Garde composers entitled Peter and
the Wolf. He died in Moscow on March 15, 1953.
BELA BARTOK (1881-1945)

 Bela Bartok was born last March 25, 1881 in Nagyszentmiklos, Hungary
(Romania).  Began lessons with his mother and made folk songs
transcription. He opened the way to new modal kinds of harmony and
irregular meter. He was a Hungarian composer and pianist, created a
distinctive musical style using folk music.  He excelled in instrumental
music writing many works for solo piano pieces, six string quartets and
other chamber music, three concertos for piano, one for violin and
several compositions for orchestras, the reinterpreted, traditional-
musical forms like the rondo, fugue, and sonata. He utilized changing
meters and strong syncopations in his music style.
 The six string quartet is the greatest achievement of his creative life that
lasted for full 30 years for their completion. He combined difficult and
dissonant music with mysterious sounds as description of the
composition.
Approximately 700 musical compositions include concerti,
orchestral music, piano music, instrumental music, dramatic
music, choral music, and songs. The concerto for orchestra in 1943,
is a five-movement work featuring the exceptional talents of each
various soloist in an intricately constructive piece. On the other
hand, Allegro Barbaro (1911) drew percussive sounds with swirling
rhythms where a solo piano is punctuated.
Meanwhile, Mikrokosmos contains a collection of six books as a
legacy in music introducing and familiarizing contemporary
harmony and rhythm to the piano students technically and
progressively. In 1940, he left Hungary for the United States. On
September 26, 1945, he died of leukemia in New York City Hospital.