MUSIC OF THE 20 TH

CENTURY
-

The start of the 20th century saw the rise of distinct musical styles that
reflected a move away from the conventions of earlier classical music.
-

These new styles were, Impressionism, Expressionism, Neo-classicism,

Avant Garde Music, and Modern Nationalism.
-

- With so many technical and stylistic choices open to today’s

composers, it seems there is no obstacle to their creativity and to
the limits of their imagination.
- The early half of the 20th century also gave
rise to new musical styles, which were not
quite as extreme as the electronic, chance, and
minimalist styles that arose later.
MUSICAL STYLES OF 20 TH
Century
Music
 Impressionism
made use of the whole-tone scale. It also applied
suggested, rather than depicted, reality. It created a mood
rather than a definite picture.
 
 IMPRESSIONISM
- one of the earlier but concrete forms declaring the entry of
20th century music.
- The sentimental melodies and dramatic emotionalism of the
preceding Romantic Period (their themes and melody are easy to
recognize and enjoy)
 Expressionism
- revealed the composer’s mind, instead of presenting an
impression of the environment.
- It used atonality and the twelve-tone scale, lacking stable
and conventional harmonies. It served as a medium for
expressing strong emotions, such as anxiety, rage, and
alienation
 Neo-classicism
- was a partial return to a classical form of writing
music with carefully modulated dissonances. It
made use of a freer seven-note diatonic scale
 Avant Garde
- style was associated with electronic music and dealt with the
parameters or dimensions of sound in space.

- It made use of variations of self-contained note groups to

change musical continuity, and improvisation, with an absence
of traditional rules on harmony, melody, and rhythm.
 Modern nationalism
- is a looser form of 20th century music development focused on
nationalist composers and musical innovators who sought to
combine modern techniques with folk materials.
- A number of outstanding composers of the 20th century each
made their own distinctive mark on the contemporary classical
music styles that developed.
 IMPRESSIONISM
CLAUDE DE BUSSY
 CLAUDE DEBUSSY (1862–1918)
• one of the most important and influential of the 20th century
composers.
• He was the primary exponent of the impressionist movement and the
focal point for other impressionist composers. He changed the course of
musical development by dissolving traditional rules and conventions
into a new language of possibilities in harmony, rhythm, form, texture,
and color.
• His early musical talents were channeled into piano lessons.
• His musical compositions total more or less 227 which include
orchestral music, chamber music, piano music, operas, ballets, songs,
and other vocal music.
 CLAUDE DEBUSSY (1862–1918)
• Debussy’s mature creative period was represented by the following works:

*Ariettes Oubliees
*Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun
*String Quartet
*Pelleas et Melisande (1895)-his famous operatic work that drew mixed extreme
reactions for its innovative harmonies and textural treatments.
*La Mer (1905)—a highly imaginative and atmospheric symphonic work for
orchestra about the sea
*Images, Suite Bergamasque, and Estampes—his most popular piano compositions; a set
of lightly textured pieces containing his signature work
*Claire de Lune (Moonlight)
MAURICE RAVEL (1875–1937)
Joseph Maurice Ravel
 MAURICE RAVEL (1875–1937)
Joseph Maurice Ravel

• He entered the Paris Conservatory at the age of 14 where he

studied with the eminent French composer.
• The compositional style of Ravel is mainly characterized by its
uniquely innovative but not atonal style of harmonic treatment.
• Many of his work deal with water in its flowing or stormy
moods, as well as with human characterizations.
• Ravel was a perfectionist and every bit musical craftsman. He
admired the music of Chopin, Liszt, Shubert and Mendelssohn.
 MAURICE RAVEL (1875–1937)
Joseph Maurice Ravel
Ravel’s works include the following:
*Pavane for a Dead Princess (1899), a slow but lyrical requiem
*Jeux d’Eau or Water Fountains (1901)
*String Quartet (1903)
*Sonatine for Piano (c.1904)
*Miroirs (Mirrors), 1905, a work for piano known for its harmonic
evolution and imagination,
*Gaspard de la Nuit (1908), a set of demonic-inspired pieces based on
the poems of Aloysius Bertrand which is arguably the most difficult
piece in the piano repertoire.
 MAURICE RAVEL (1875–1937)
Joseph Maurice Ravel
Ravel’s works include the following:
*Le Tombeau de Couperin (c.1917), a commemoration of the musical advocacies
of the early 18th century French composer Francois Couperin,
*Rhapsodie Espagnole
*Bolero
*Daphnis et Chloe (1912), a ballet commissioned by master choreographer Sergei
Diaghilev that contained rhythmic diversity, evocation of nature,and choral
ensemble
*La Valse (1920), a waltz with a frightening undertone that had been composed
for ballet and arranged as well as for solo and duo piano.
ARNOLD SCHOENBERG (1874–1951)
 ARNOLD SCHOENBERG (1874–1951)

• Taught himself music theory, but took lessons in

counterpoint.
• His style was constantly undergoing development.
• His music is also extremely complex, creating heavy
demands on the listener. Thus, his works were met with
extreme reactions- either strong hostility from the general
public or enthusiastic acclaim from his supporters.
 ARNOLD SCHOENBERG (1874–1951)

Famous works includes:

*Verklarte Nacht, Three Pieces for Piano, op. 11

*Pierrot Lunaire,
*Gurreleider
*Verklarte Nacht (Transfigured Night, 1899) - one of his earliest
successful pieces, blends the lyricism, instrumentation, and
melodic beauty of Brahms with the chromaticism and
construction of Wagner.
  
IGOR STRAVINSKY (1882–1971)
  
IGOR STRAVINSKY (1882–1971)

- stands alongside fellow-composer Schoenberg, painter Pablo

Picasso, and literary figure James Joyce as one of the great
trendsetters of the 20th century.
- Stravinsky’s early music reflected the influence of his teacher,
the Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.
- Stravinsky adapted the forms of the 18 th century with his
contemporary style of writing. Despite its “shocking” modernity,
his music is also very structured, precise, controlled, full of
artifice and theatricality
• 
  
IGOR STRAVINSKY (1882–1971)

Famous works includes:

• The Firebird Suite (1910),
• Petrouchka
• The Rake’s Progress (1951),
Primitivism
-has links to Exoticism through the use of
materials from other cultures, Nationalism
through the use of materials indigenous to
specific countries, and Ethnicism through the use
of materials from European ethnic groups.
- Two well-known proponents of this style were
Stravinsky and Bela Bartok.
BELA BARTOK
 BELA BARTOK
• He started piano lessons with his mother and later entered
Budapest. He is neo-classicist, primitivist, and nationalist
composer.
• As a neo-classicists, primitivist and nationalist composer, he used
Hungarian folk themes and rhythms. His compositions were
successful because of their rich melodies and lively rhythms.
• He admired the musical styles of Franz Liszt, Richard Strauss,
Claude Debussy, and Igor Stravinsky. But eventually shed their
influences in favor of Hungarian folk and peasant themes.
 NEO-CLASSICISM
• Neo-classicism was a moderating factor between the
emotional excesses of the Romantic period and the violent
impulses of the soul in expressionism.
• Examples of neo-classicism are Bela Bartok’s Song of the
Bagpipe and Piano Sonata. In this latter piece, the classical
three-movement format is combined with ever-shifting time
signatures, complex but exciting rhythmic patterns, as well as
harmonic dissonances that produce harsh chords.
SERGEI PROKOFIEFF (1891–1953)
 SERGEI PROKOFIEFF (1891–1953)

• is regarded today as a combination of neo-classicist, nationalist, and avant garde

composer.
• His style is uniquely recognizable for its progressive technique, pulsating
rhythms, melodic directness, and a resolving dissonance.
• Much of Prokofieff’s opera was left unfinished, due in part to resistance by the
performers themselves to the seemingly offensive musical content.
• He was highly successful in his piano music, as evidenced by the wide acceptance
of his piano concerti and sonatas.
• He also wrote Peter and the Wolf, a lighthearted orchestral work intended for
children, to appease the continuing government crackdown on avant-garde
composers at the time.
 FRANCIS POULENC ( 1899-1963)
Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc

• was one of the relatively few composers born into wealth

and a privileged social position.
• his composition had a cooly elegant, modernity,
tempered by a classical sense of proportion.
• he rejected the heavy romanticism of Wagner nad the so-
called imprecision of Debussy and Ravel.
 AVANT- GARDE MUSIC
- From the United States, there were Avant garde composers
such as George Gershwin and John Cage with their truly
unconventional composition techniques; Leonard Bernstein
with his famed stage musicals and his music lectures for young
people; and Philip Glass with his minimalist compositions.
- Through their works, these composers truly extended the
boundaries of what music was thought to be in earlier periods.
GEORGE GERSHWIN (1898–1937)
 GEORGE GERSHWIN (1898–1937)

- was born in New York to Russian Jewish

immigrants.
- His older brother Ira was his artistic collaborator
who wrote the lyrics of his songs.
- His first song was written in 1916 and his first
Broadway musical La La Lucille in 1919.
LEONARD BERNSTEIN (1918–1990)
 LEONARD BERNSTEIN (1918–1990)

- Born in Massachussetts,USA,Leonard Bernstein

endeared himself to his many followers as a
charismatic conductor, pianist, composer, and
lecturer.
PHILIP GLASS (1937– )
 PHILIP GLASS (1937– )

- One of the most commercially successful minimalist

composer is Philip Glass who is also an avant garde
composer.
- He explored the territories of ballet, opera, theater,
film, and even television jingles
 20TH CENTURY MUSICAL STYLES

Electronic Music
- The capacity of electronic machines such as synthesizers,
amplifiers, tape recorders, and loudspeakers to create
different sounds was given importance by 20th century
composers like Edgar Varese, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and
Mario Davidovsky.
- Music that uses the tape recorder is called musique
concrete, or concrete music.
EDGARD VARESE (1883–1965)
EDGARD VARESE (1883–1965)

- Edgard (also spelled Edgar) Varèse

 
-He was considered an “innovative French-born
composer.”
 
KARLHEINZ STOCKHAUSEN (1928)
KARLHEINZ STOCKHAUSEN (1928)

- is a central figure in the realm of

electronic music.
 Chance Music
-Chance music refers to a style wherein the piece always
sounds different 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.
- Most of the sounds emanate from the surroundings, both
natural and man-made, such as honking cars, rustling
leaves, blowing wind, dripping water, or a ringing phone.
JOHN CAGE
 JOHN CAGE (1912–1992)

- Was known as one of the 20th century composers with the widest
array of sounds in his works.
- Cage was an important force in other artistic areas especially dance
and musical theater. His musical compositions total around 229.
- Cage influenced the development of modern music since the
1950’s.
- Considered more of a musical philosopher than a composer.
THE END!!!