20th century musical trends

Rhythmic complexity

Unbalanced difficult melodies

Richer Harmony - polychords &

polyharmony

More Chamber groups

Tightly organized forms

20th century European styles

Post Romanticism

Impressionism

Expressionism

Neo Classical

Post Romanticism

Associated with Germany, Italy, and

Austria

Continued to write in Classical/Romantic

genres

Lyrical melodies, deeply passionate

More exoticism and interest in fresh ideas

COMPOSERS: Strauss, Puccini, Mahler

Impressionism

Began in Paris, France (late 19th c.)

Artists: Monet, Renoir

Symbolist Poets: Maillarmé, Verlaine

MUSIC: Opposition to “German” Romanticism

Abstract Qualities

COMPOSERS: Debussy Ravel

ImpressionismResponse to cultural awakening of the Paris World Exhibition of 1889

Inventive orchestration with new timbres

“Transparent” melodies

Embraced dissonance in harmony

Avoided tonal centers

Rhythm and meter are obscurred

Short “lyric” forms

Evocative titles

VideoDebussy’s “Prelude to the Afternoon

of a Faun”

ExpressionismGerman Response to French Impressionism

Deeply emotional

Expanded harmony, melody, and instrumental registers

Heavily reliant on form

Associated with 2nd Viennese School

COMPOSERS: Schoenberg, Berg, Webern

VideoSchoenberg’s 12 tone method

Arnold Schoenberg(1874-1951)

1910 - wrote Theory of Harmony early composer to atonal music - music that lacks a tonal center, or key Leader of the Second Viennese School (with pupils and fellow composers Berg and Webern)

totally chromatic expressionism serial twelve-tone music

His Pierrot Lunaire - features: a melodic technique he called Klangfarbenmelodie (tone-color melody) where each note of melody is played by a different instrument. A vocal melody called Sprechstimme (spoken voice) where the text sounds spoken with approximate shifts in pitch rather than exact pitches and rhythms.

Neo Classical ART (18th-19th c.) MUSICAL (late 19th-20th c.) renewed interest in the music of Bach, Handel, and Vivaldi (BAROQUE) Absolute music preferred Focus on craftsmanship and balance COMPOSERS:

Eric Satie (French) Paul Hindemith (German) Sergei Prokofiev (Russian)

Igor Stravinsky(1882-1971)

born in Russia, later was naturalized in both France (1934) and America (1945).First achieved fame with 3 ballets commissioned by Serge Diagilev and performed by his Ballets Russes (Russian Ballets)

The Firebird (1910)Petrushka (1911)The Rite of Spring (1913)

Musical style evolved:Nationalism (Firebird)Primitivism (Rite of Spring)ExoticismNeoclassic works in 1920sSerialism in 1950s

Stravinsky’s innovations

Use of polyrhythms, polytonality Experiments with atonality and serial procedures Unique and innovative use of dissonance Complex rhythmic structures odd time signatures, meters that change frequently Imaginative orchestration - sometimes expanded orchestra to be larger Use of extremes in instrumental register