Total Serialism

• Applying the rules of serialism to all possible elements

Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992) - French composer, educator and organist - Was caputerd and imprisoned by Nazis

- Composed Quartet for the End of Time (1940)

Pierre Boulez (b.1925) - Studied with Messiaen - Regarded music from a scientific viewpoint

- “Schoenberg is Dead” claimed Schoenberg didn’t go far enough with serialism

Electronics

• A time of extreme technological advances– This lead to extreme experimentation– Gave composers the ability to not only record

their music, but an opportunity to create art from manipulated sounds

– Eventually composers use new sounds and new means of generating them

– Lead to use of electronic instruments

Electronics

Edgard Varese (1883-1965) - Poeme Electronique (1957)

– recorded on 3 track tape, speakers surrounded the audience

Karlheinz Stockhausen (1928-2007) - Attended Messiaen’s summer class in Darmstadt - Mixed voice and electronics

- Gesang de Junglinge – recorded a boy reciting bible verses, and manipulated it

Minimalism

• Style: – Repetition of short figures– Simple harmonies– Slow moving harmonies– Usually regular pulsation

• Terry Riley – In C (1964)– A pianist plays constant eighth note C’s– 53 small figures

Minimalism

• Steve Reich (b. 1963) – Interest in jazz and

non-pitchedpercussion– Also an interest in

African drumming– Became fascinated with “phase shifting”