1880-present

WEEK SIX

This section of music history contains extreme ideas and music.

It is a time of revolt and change. Tone color takes on a new importance. Computer electronics are being used to

compose and perform music. The Process of writing the music can be

the Form of the music. Dissonance is everywhere.

Mainly in France, impressionism is most commonly known as a painting movement by Monet, Renoir and Degas.

Imagine writing music that’s aim is to sound like those picture look.

Impressionist composers Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel sought to write colors instead of melodies. They wanted their music to sound like a certain mood or feeling. They were not concerned about the traditional scale or other musical rules.

Harp and flute are common instruments used because of their light and floating quality.

Music that is influenced by the Far East or exotic countries.

At this time Debussy and Ravel thought Spain was exotic.

Use of non-Western scales and non-Western instruments were some ways composers used exoticism in their music.

Composers wrote music purely for shock value. They rejected the Romantic idea that music

should be expressive and beautiful. Composers such as Stravinsky and Schoenberg

completely rejected past ideals. These same trends can be seen in the visual art

at this time as well. Picasso is a great example.

Melodies are angular and very chromatic. The Traditional scale is not used traditionally or not used

at all. Rhythm and meter are very irregular and unpredictable. Experimenting with tone color was very common.

Composers wrote music that pushed the limits of the instruments. They were always in search of something new and different and shocking.

Cutting edge does not begin to describe Stravinsky. He wrote many ballets, probably his most famous being

The Rite of Spring. At the premiere of The Rite of Spring in 1914 people

rioted and threw things at the stage. The choreographer had to yell the counts to the dancers because they could not hear the music. Stravinsky ran out the back of the theater before the performance was over.

Created atonal music ~ which is music without tonality. In other words it does not use a traditional scale.

He used Sprechstimme in his works as well. This is a speech-song where the performer doesn’t really sing, but also doesn’t really just speak. There are pitches associated with each word.

He composed using Twelve-tone composition. All twelve notes of the chromatic scale are equally important. Schoenberg would create a tone row using some or all of the twelve notes in a specific order (whatever order he determined was best!). He would then write his music using the tone row as his scale.

Prokofiev Russian He wrote many ballets and orchestral works, namely Romeo and

Juliet. Shostakovich

Russian He wrote many symphonies and string quartets.

Bartok Hungarian He actively researched and used folk music of Eastern Europe in

his pieces. Ives

American Very experimental in regards to all aspects of his music.

Copland American He was nationalistic (like the others) and as a result was not very

experimental because the folk songs in America were very conservative.

His music is very tonal, clear, and beautiful.

All art is art. There is no hierarchy of good art or bad art. All art is good no matter what it is or what it depicts.

Types of music and overall Characteristics Computer music

Computers are used to create and perform music. Chance music

Music composed by chance: i.e. Rolling a die to determine the length of a musical pitch.

John Cage was a great composer of chance music. Minimalism

Very much like Pop Music. The process of the music can be heard, and it is very

repetitive. Steve Reich, John Adams, and Philip Glass are all

Minimalist composers. Classical forms are of no use or value to these

composers. Music is often made in the moment rather than

thoroughly planned.