Chapter 22 - LaGrange Collegehome.lagrange.edu/mturner/musichistory/Chapter_22.pdf-Stravinsky’s Octet for Winds (1923)-Kurt Weill’s Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny (1928-29)

Chapter 22The Tonal Tradition

Thursday, February 7, 13

Neoclassicism and the “New Objectivity”

• Neoclassicism- the deliberate imitation of an earlier style within a contemporary context, reached its height in the 1920s and 1930s

1. return to tonal idiom

2. return to conventional genres and forms

3. return to ideal of absolute music

4. transparent textures, lighter orchestration, smaller ensembles

5. conciseness of expression



• Neoclassic composers and music:- Sergei Prokofiev’s Classical Symphony (1917)- Igor Stravinsky’s ballet Pulcinella (1920) and Symphony in C

(1940)

• related to Neoclassicism is outlook known as “new objectivity”

- music that is detached; unsentimental- Stravinsky’s Octet for Winds (1923)- Kurt Weill’s Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny (1928-29)



• Sergei Prokofiev Classical Symphony (1917)- example of Neoclassical style- Gavotta mvmt. uses the rhythm and form of the

traditional gavotte but he melody and harmony are 20th century



• Kurt Weill Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny (1928-29)

- title: The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny- written with the actor/playwright Bertolt Brecht- satire on capitalism; the only crime is to be poor;

everything is legal as long as you can pay for it


Orchestral Music• symphony retained its character as large scale work in

multiple movements and proved an important vehicle for nationalism

• with pluralism, composers of instrumental music were no longer expected to prove abilities and accomplishments by writing a symphony

• symphonic poem appealed to composers whose style remained within tonal idiom

• other composers wrote large scale works that avoided programmatic and generic associations


Orchestral Music

• Bartók Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta (1936)- large orchestral work with no programmatic elements (i.e., it is

not a symphonic poem)

- 4 movements but instrumentation does not place it into the symphony genre

- complex rhythm (typical of Bartók)- chromatic but tonal melody- 3rd movement uses palindrome (see opening xylophone part)- arch form (see Bonds p. 568 for chart)


Film Music

• new genre in the 20th century• challenge of writing for film was to write music fitting a

scene already shot and whose timing was thus fixed

• film music also provided basis for a number of larger, independent works

• by the 1960s, there emerged a perceived need for a “hit” song with the marketing departments of film producers

• introduction of electronic syntheses seen as an expense saving method of score creation


Film Music• Prokofiev Alexander Nevsky (1938-39)

- film by Sergei Eisenstein made in 1938- in 1939 Prokofiev turned the film music into a cantata- music fits the “socialist realism” aesthetic

• must have an optimistic tone; evokes the music of the people; readily accessible

- film is anti-German (recall Nazi’s are building up to WWII)- film removed from circulation after the signing of the Non-

Aggression Pact (1939)

- film rushed back into theaters in 1941 when Nazis break the Non-Aggression Pact


Ballet

• enjoyed two “golden ages” in 20th century- first came in Paris before World War I through the

work of Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes and American Isadora Duncan

- second took place in middle of century in New York City through work of choreographers George Balanchine, Martha Graham, Agnes de Mille, Merce Cunningham, Jerome Robbins and composers Aaron Copland, John Cage, Leonard Bernstein


Ballet

• Copland “Hoe-down” from Rodeo - ballet which uses American themes and tunes- Copland heard the folk song he borrowed from the

recordings made by Alan and John Lomax


Chamber Music

• string quartet maintained its traditional status as most prestigious of all chamber genres

- composers: Schoenberg, Webern, Berg, Bartók, Shostakovich

• less conventional groupings of instruments- Olivier Messiaen Quatuor pour la fin du temps (Quartet

for the End of Time) using clarinet, violin, cello, piano


Chamber Music

• Olivier Messiaen Quatror pour la fin du temps - title: Quartet for the End of Time- unusual instrumentation- written while in a Nazi prisoner-of-war camp- inspired by the Book of Revelation- 1st movement:

• each instrument has its own rhythm which are layered

• often uses “nonretrogradable” rhythm


Chamber Music

• Shostakovich String Quartet No. 8 - written in memory of the victims of fascism and war- has many autobiographical elements

• D Eb C H is his musical signature (Eb is Es and H is B-natural)

- he quotes his own operas, symphonies, etc.- the third movement is a Scherzo and functions as a

kind of macabre dance


Opera and Musical Theater

• group of composers produced new English-language works that attracted wide followings

• revival of earlier repertories, particularly operas of Monteverdi and Handel, offered other resources


Opera andMusical Theater

• Broadway musical was most vital form of musical drama throughout 20th century

• Broadway musical is direct descendant of singspiel and operetta (a play with songs)



• early musicals were framework for a revue - performances with potpourri of acts followed in quick

succession

- songs and dance were dominant components

• at turn of century, African Americans produced musical comedies on Broadway that drew white audiences

• many musicals combined entertainment with social commentary



• Fats Waller Ain’t Misbehavin’- music from a “revue”

• originally a Harlem Nightclub Revue

• later part of a Broadway Revue of Waller songs

- this version features Louis Armstrong- form is AABA song form

(sometimes called 32-bar pop song form)



• Bernstein West Side Story (1957)- Broadway musical- uses the Romeo and Juliet type of story which is set in

New York City

• Sharks (Puerto Ricans) vs. Jets (whites)


Oratorio

• remained largest of all vocal genres outside of opera

• traditionally scored for vocal soloists, chorus and orchestra

• composers:- Schoenberg, Debussy, Stravinsky

• English composers:- Edward Elgar, William Walton, Michael Tippett, Benjamin Britten


Oratorio

• Britten War Requiem (premiered 1962)- oratorio- Britten the greatest English vocal composer since

Purcell

- Latin Requiem mass text is interlaced with poems by Wilfred Owen (soldier who died in WWI)

- scored for three groups; separated spatially


Documents

Chapter 22 - LaGrange Collegehome.lagrange.edu/mturner/musichistory/Chapter_22.pdf-Stravinsky’s Octet for Winds (1923)-Kurt Weill’s Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny (1928-29)