The 20th Century

1. The 20 Century
th
The Twentieth Century
01/09/13 1

2. The Twentieth Century--
Overview
 Pace of everything, including stylistic changes in music,
increased dramatically in this century.
 Audiences had greater access to varied styles of music.
 Composers created new and novel approaches to musical
sounds, forms, and other elements.
 Inclusion of musical elements from the past merged with
new ways of combining them.
 Influence of African American and Latin music was seen
in all realms of music.
 Audiences didn’t always know how to respond to these
changes--a pattern of shock and then acceptance became
common.
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By Mark Evan Bonds ©2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
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3. The Twentieth Century--
Overview
 Audio technology exploded.
 Listeners could hear music when and where they chose.
 Cylinder disk--1877
 78 RPM records (vinyl)--1897
 Radio stations--1920’s
 Audiotape--1940’s (reel-to-reel)
 Later--film, television, 8-track tapes, cassette tapes, CD’s, internet,
MP3 players
 Technology changed the way music was produced and distributed.
 Sounds could be manipulated in the studio without live
musicians.
 Electronic sounds and recording techniques gave complete
quality control to composers/performers.
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4. The Twentieth Century--
Overview
 Diversity in cultures, music, and other aspects of life became
appreciated and celebrated.
 Segregation yielded to integration in multiple aspects of
life in the United States.
 Idea of social melting pot gave way --> society is a
mosaic of different cultures and traditions, each
contributing something important to a bigger whole.
 The world became smaller; globalization became the norm.
 Transportation made the world more accessible.
 Music became a global phenomenon.
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5. Pablo Picasso’s Violin and
Grapes
 An example of
“cubism” in Modern
Art
 Perspective is very
distorted.
 Viewer can see
aspects of violins and
of grapes throughout
the painting.
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6. Music & the Musician in Society
 More 20th century music presented by orchestras
in 1950s
 Modern compositions commissioned by ballet &
opera companies
 More women active in composing-Amy Beach,
Nadia Boulanger
 Many foreign composers came to America due
to political unrest in Europe
 American colleges, universities train & employ
leading musicians, today’s patrons
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7. Impressionism
 First, an artistic movement advanced by French
painters like Claude Monet, Pierre Renoir, and Edgar
Degas, in late 1860’s
 Used short, visible brush strokes to produce
sensations, rather than representations of objects
 Impressionist music: blurring of harmonies, rhythms,
forms; avoiding clear cadences ad rhythmic patterns
 Orchestral Colors: delicate sounds preferred: flutes,
oboes, clarinets, muted strings, harp, muted brasses,
antique cymbals and triangles, gentle percussion
sounds
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8. Impressionism in Music
 Scales: nontraditional scales: tendency to
avoid key center
 Debussy exposed to these at Paris
Expositions of 1878 and 1889
 Pentatonic: 5 notes to octave
 Whole tone: all intervals equal: 7 tones to
octave
 Chromatic: using half steps; 12 tones in
the octave
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9. Impressionism in Music
 Rhythms
 Asymmetrical and vague beats with complex
subdivisions (7, 11, 13)
 Harmony: extended chords stacked in 3rds:
the 13th chord has all notes of diatonic scale;,
Chords move in parallel motion (forbidden in
traditional harmony
 Melody: wandering, relaxed, unstressed
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10. Claude Debussy
(1862 - 1918)
 Born just outside of Paris during the U.S. Civil War and died
just before the end of WWI--life straddled 2 centuries.
 Studied piano and composition at the Paris Conservatory.
 Won Prix de Rome and studied there for a while, but returned
to Paris.
 Rejected many of the conventions of composition and sought
to create new sounds.
 A master of orchestration
 Expanded the limits of harmony.
 Didn’t like the term “Impressionism.”
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11. Prelude to the Afternoon
of a Faun, 1894
 “Free illustration of
the beautiful poem by
Stephane Mallarme”
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12. Claude Debussy in 1911
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13. A Caricature of Stravinsky
at the Keyboard
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14. Igor Stravinsky
The Rite of Spring Part One
 A ballet--premiered in 1913 in Paris and caused
a riot
 Commissioned for the Ballets Russes (The
Russian Ballet in Paris).
 The scenario (story): young girl dances herself
to death while sage elders look on.
 Divided into 2 parts:
 The Adoration of the Earth
 The Sacrifice
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15. The Rite of Spring
 First performed in 1913 in Paris at the Theatre of
the Champs-Elysées by prestigious company,
Ballet Russes.
 Audience was unaccustomed to dissonant sounds,
shocked by Nijinsky’s avant-garde choreography
and pagan rituals.
 First laughing, then heckling and protesting, finally
breaking into a riot that spilled out into streets of
Paris.
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16. Igor Stravinsky The Rite of
Spring Part One
 Harmony--polytonal--2 tonalities going on at the
same time
 Difficult to hear either tonal center.
 Each harmony sounds good alone, but put them
together and they are dissonant.
 Melody--many are pentatonic
 Captures a folk-like sound
 From Russian folk songs
 Brief and full of repetitions--small fragments
repeated and varied many times
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17. Igor Stravinsky The Rite of
Spring Part One
 Rhythm--very irregular at times
 Frequent meter changes
 Offset by frequent ostinato figures--a single
rhythmic or rhythmic-melodic figure is repeated
over and over again.
 Timbre--the Mega-Orchestra
 A huge ensemble with large woodwind, brass, and
percussion sections, as well as a string section
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By Mark Evan Bonds ©2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
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18. Igor Stravinsky The Rite of
Spring Part One
 A musical choreographic work
 Represents pagan Russia.
 Unified by a single idea--the mystery and great
surge of creative power of Spring.
 Has no real plot.
 Form: Through-composed in two parts
 The Adoration of the Earth--many dancers
represent various spring rites and rituals.
 The Great Sacrifice--a young girl sacrifices herself
while the old men watch.
 Little repetition between sections of the work
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19. The Rite of Spring
Performed by the Kirov Ballet
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20. Igor Stravinsky (1882 - 1971)
 Stravinsky--constantly reinvented himself.
 Born in St. Petersburg, Russia.
 Father was a famous operatic bass singer.
 Studied composition with Rimsky-Korsakov
 Was a neoclassicist--a composer who retained musical elements
from the past while experimenting with new ones.
 Came to Los Angeles at beginning of WWII.
 Lectured at Harvard, moved to Los Angeles; citizenship in 1945.
 Later in life, he started writing 12-tone music--a break from his earlier
style.
 One of the century’s 2 greatest composers (Schoenberg)
 Connected well with audiences.
 Died in New York City; buried in Venice, his favorite city.
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21. Stravinsky Visits Debussy
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22. Expressionism
 Music, painting, poetry developed in Vienna in
early 20th century.
 Rejection of “Impressionism” with its focus on the
“outer” world; focus on “inner” world, described by
Sigmund Freud; desperate intensity of feeling.
 Three leading composers: Arnold Schoenberg,
Anton Webern, Alban Berg
 Three leading painters: Pablo Picasso, Wassily
Kandinsky, Paul Klee
 Three leading writers-Frederich Nietzsche,
Tennessee Williams, James Joyce
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23. Expressionism
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24. Expressionism: Musical
Characteristics
 Atonality--careful construction of melodies and
harmonies to avoid a tonal center, “absence of
key”
 The 12-tone system of composition
 Developed by Schoenberg circa 1923
 Also called serial or dodecaphonic method
 Involves creating a set of pitches in a certain
order (register--which octave pitch is in--
doesn’t matter)
 No pitch repeats until entire row has been heard
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25. Arnold Schoenberg
Pierrot lunaire “Columbine”
 “Columbine”--one of a set of 21 songs for
soprano and a small ensemble of
instruments--Pierrot lunaire
 A piece that represents expressionism--an
artistic movement in music, painting, and
literature--concerned with expression of inner
moods and thoughts, giving voice to the
unconscious, to humanity’s deepest and
darkest emotions.
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26. A Modern Pierrot
 Note the facial
expression depicting
longing and anxiety.
 Pierrot’s character
was subject to many
mood changes.
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27. Arnold Schoenberg
Pierrot lunaire “Columbine”
 Pierrot--a clown in an improvisational type of theater
that originated in the Renaissance in Italy but spread
throughout Europe--commedia dell’arte
 Other characters--Harlequin, Punch, and Judy
 Pierrot is the lovesick character who is always pining
away.
 Based on Albert Giraud’s Pierrot lunaire--a cycle of
poems.
 “Columbine”--another character--a sharp-witted
maidservant linked romantically to Harlequin. Pierrot
laments that she has rebuffed him.
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28. Arnold Schoenberg
Pierrot lunaire “Columbine”
 Timbre--soprano sings throughout in a manner
that is between speech and song--called
Sprechstimme (“Speech-voice”).
 Singer hits precise pitches but doesn’t hold them.
 Creates an eerie, disassociated sort of sound that
fits with the text of Pierrot lunaire.
 Different from earlier recitative--notes are
delivered slowly so sound of voice trails off at end
of each word--sounds like slow, exaggerated
talking.
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29. Arnold Schoenberg
Pierrot lunaire “Columbine”
 Harmony--completely atonal
 No sense of tonal center
 No sense of resolution or harmonic closure
 Word-Music Relationships--Pierrot is anguished
and expresses this through his song.
 He sings of “miraculous white roses” that he
wants to spread on Columbine’s hair.
 The music mimics petals dropping--flute and
clarinet play a repeated three-note figure.
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30. Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951)
 Grew up in Vienna; learned
violin.
 Worked in a bank to support
family after father passed away.
 Mostly self-taught as
composer, started as Neo-
Romantic, moved toward
Expressionism.
 Became music director at
Berlin cabaret.
 Returned to Vienna, but served
in Austrian army in WWI.
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31. Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951)
 Formulated 12-tone method between 1918
and 1923, used exclusively for all works.
 Appointed professor of composition at Berlin
Academy of Arts.
 Fled to U.S. from Germany when Hitler
seized power because he was Jewish.
 Lived in Southern California and became a
U.S. citizen.
 Taught at Univ. of Southern CA and UCLA.
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32. Arnold Schoenberg
(1874 - 1951)
 A tortured soul who never felt he fit anywhere
 He believed he was extending the work of Bach,
Beethoven, and Brahms, but he was not accepted.
 Born Jewish, converted to Christianity, and then went
back to Judaism.
 Searched for a new system of organizing music--
founded the twelve tone system.
 All 12 notes in octave played before any is repeated.
 All notes equally important.
 Appointed to faculty of California universities.
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33. Arnold Schoenberg
Other Compositions
 Variations for Orchestra--a series of
variations on a 12-tone theme
 A Survivor from Warsaw--a cantata for
narrator, male chorus, and orchestra
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34. A Survivor from Warsaw,
Op. 46 (1947)
 Cantata for narrator, male
chorus, orchestra
 Deals with single episode in
murder of 6 Jews by Nazis
 Schoenberg wrote text,
based on direct report by
one survivor
 Uses sprechstimme, twelve-
tone, 6 minutes
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35. 12-Tone Composition
 The most widely used and systematic means
for avoiding repetition to avoid tonality; also
called serial composition.
 The melody is called a tone row.
 Rows could be manipulated:
 Forward
 Backward (retrograde)
 Inverted (inversion)
 Backward and inverted (retrograde inversion)
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36. Matrix for Serial Composition
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37. Serial Music
 Serial Music is composed systematically--somewhat like
following a mathematical formula.
 Once the tone-row is established, the composer decides
how to transform it.
 Pieces tend to be short and concise.
 For example, Webern’s Symphony only lasts 10 minutes
(compare to Mahler’s Third (1 hr. 20 min.).
 Sounds fragmented and dissonant; difficult for audience to
follow.
 Klangfarbenmelodie-”Tone Color Melody”
 Instruments maintaining constant pitches drop in and out of an
orchestral texture, creating a melody of different tone colors
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38. Alban Berg (1885-1935)
 Born in Vienna; worked as a
government accountant.
 Studied composition with
Schoenberg at 19.
 Chronically ill, did not perform
or conduct
 Served in Austrian army
during WWI.
 Composed opera, Wozzeck,
to capture turmoil of common
people during wartime.
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39. Wozzeck
 Opera, libretto
adapted from Georg
Buchner play
 Three parts
 I. Exposition
 II. Development
 III. Recapitulation
 Different from
Sonata Form
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40. Wozzeck
 Each act contains five scenes organized
around specific musical form or
compositional technique(Ex. Act III-Theme &
Variations)
 Scene 1-on theme
 Scene 2-on single tone
 Scene 3-on rhythm pattern
 Scene 4-on chord
 Scene 5-continuous running note
Did not intend for audience to be aware of forms
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41. Wozzeck
 Plot
 Franz Wozzeck,
incompetent soldier,
persecuted by captain,
guinea pig for demented
doctor; Mistress Marie
cheats on him, he stabs
her then drowns trying to
wash away blood
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42. Neoclassicism: An
Approach to Composition
 A creative approach to producing new
music by using resources from former
musical style periods
 Idea = composer could incorporate any
aspect of music from any/several
previous style period(s) in a piece
 “Back to Bach” attitude; turning away from
program music & large orchestras
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43. Neoclassical Composers and
Compositions
 France
 Erik Satie
 Francis Poulenc
 Darius Milhaud
 United Kingdom
 Edward Elgar: Pomp and Circumstance
 Ralph Vaughan Williams
 Gustav Holst: The Planets
 Benjamin Britten: The Young Person’s Guide to the
Orchestra
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44. Important Neoclassical
Composers and Some
Compositions
 Germany
 Paul Hindemith
 Carl Orff: Carmina burana
 Central Europe
 Bela Bartók
 Latin America
 Heitor Villa-Lobos
 Carlos Chávez
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45. Bela Bartok(1881-1945)
 Hungary
 Studied piano & composition at
Budapest Royal Academy of
Music
 Concert pianist & teacher
 Collected folk songs with Zoltan
Kodaly
 Used fokd melodies in
nationalistic music
 Fled to US upon Nazi occupation
 Taught at Columbia University
 Died of leukemia
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46. Concerto for Orchestra(1943)
 $1000 commission from Boston Symphony Orchestra
 Called concerto because single instruments and sections
are treated in concerted way(Baroque style)
 Movements independent of each other, no themes
carried over
 Five movements
 I. based on interval of fourth
 II. “Games of Pairs”-instruments paired off at specific pitch intervals
 III. “lugubrious death-song”-folklike melody, oboe
 IV. “Interrupted Intermezzo”-opening melody, Hungarian folklike quality
pentatonic scale; 3rd theme adapted from Shostakovich 7th Symphony,
display revulsion of Nazis
 V. Large three part form, running notes, contrapuntal
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47. Charles Ives
The Unanswered Question
 Timbre--performed by 3 contrasting
groups of instruments.
 Strings--small string orchestra of violins,
violas, cellos, and double basses plays
throughout the piece.
 Solo trumpet--plays “The Unanswered
Question.”
 Wind quartet--(two flutes and two
clarinets) responds to question with a
different answer each time.
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48. Charles Ives
The Unanswered Question
 Texture--layered using contrasting
instruments
 Groups of instruments in dialogue with
one another (trumpet vs. winds) while
strings play on obliviously.
 Three blocks of sound result; each moves
independently of the others.
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49. Charles Ives
The Unanswered Question
 Harmony--conflict between 2 different harmonic
languages--tonal and atonal
 Tonal = having a tonal center
 Atonal = having no tonal center
 Notes sound “wrong”
 Sound is called dissonance, as opposed to notes
that sound “right” which are consonance.
 Strings play tonal music--like a very slow hymn.
 Solo trumpet plays 5-note figure that has no
harmonic center.
 Wind quartet plays atonally and is rhythmically
independent of the other sections.
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50. Charles Ives
(1874 - 1954)
 Grew up in Danbury, Connecticut; father was a
bandmaster.
 Exposed to many types of music.
 Had a “day job” as an insurance salesman,
where he contributed to development of actuarial
tables.
 Composed in his spare time; gave it up in 1918
when his health declined.
 By time of his death, recognized as a pioneer in
music.
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51. A Photo of Charles Ives
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52. Experimental and
Technological Music

53. New Compositional Techniques:
Composer Control
 Increased use of 12-tone system
 Serialism
 Total serialism-expanded further by Pierre Boulez,
Luciano Berio, Milton Babbitt, Karlheinz Stockhausen
 Musique Concrète: use of everyday sounds captured and
manipulated with tape recorders
 Electronic Music: sounds produced on electronic
oscillators; recorded, stored, and used in compositions
 Computer and Mixed Media: use of digital formats to
create, manipulate, and organize sounds into
compositions
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54. New Compositional
Techniques: Composer Control
 Electronic Music
 Pioneers-Edgard Varese & Karlheinz Stockhausen
 Varese-French, lived in US
 1st work, Ameriques, unusual combo of percussion
instruments; Poeme electronique, World Fair 1958
 Ionisation-37 different percussion instruments played by 13
musicians, Density 21.5(flute)
 Trained in engineering & mathematics
 Contact with Bell Telephone Co. to create machines to
synthesize musical sounds
 First to explore magnetic tape recorders’ potential for music
making
 Stockhausen- Gesang der Junglinge
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55. New Compositional
Techniques: Performer Control
 Aleatoric Music: many important performance decisions left to
performer, although specific instructions are given regarding
some aspects of music; interdeterminancy
 Chance Music: less precise notation than aleatoric music;
instructions very general
 Silence: forces audience to focus on other aspects of
experience
 Deck of Cards: shuffle deck, pull cards, numbers and suits
determine aspects of music
 Throw music on floor
 Based on “no such thins a progress”-existential philosophy &
Asian religions, things just “happen”
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56. Chapter 53: John Cage
4’33”
 Probably the most controversial
composition ever written
 Said to be 4’33” of silence, but not truly
silence
 Audience sounds, ambient noise, etc.
create the “piece.”
 Cage was attempting to get the audience
to listen carefully to sounds around them.
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57. John Cage
(1912 - 1992)
 Born in Los Angeles.
 Studied composition with Arnold
Schoenberg but moved on to composing
in a radically modern manner.
 Audiences were forced by his music to
rethink the nature of music and of the
world around them.
Listen to This PRENTICE HALL
6-57
By Mark Evan Bonds ©2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458

58. John Cage Gathering
Wild Greens--1971
Listen to This PRENTICE HALL
6-58
By Mark Evan Bonds ©2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458

59. Other Experimentalists and
Compositions
 Pierre Boulez: athematic, atonal music that is
highly organized but dissonant
 Krysztof Penderecki: combines elements from
Polish music with mainstream and experimental
techniques: e.g., Threnody for the Victims of
Hiroshima for orchestra and narrator
 Steve Reich: A minimalist using musique
concrète techniques, but playing music “off track”;
Octet
Listen to This PRENTICE HALL
6-59
By Mark Evan Bonds ©2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458

60. Minimalism
 Minimalism-music intentionally limited to
complexity of rhythm, melody, harmony, and
media of performance
 Consists of cyclic & repetitive patterns of
hypnotic rhythms, constant harmonies,
repeated phrases, ostinatos
 Influenced by Javanese & Balinese music,
“canned” rhythms, melodic patterns of
synthesizers & rock music
Listen to This PRENTICE HALL
6-60
By Mark Evan Bonds ©2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458

61. Philip Glass
(b. 1937)
 Born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland.
 Studied flute at the Peabody Conservatory.
 Studied composition at the Juilliard School of
Music and worked in Paris with Nadia
Boulanger--a composer/teacher.
 Traveled in Asia studying music with the sitar
player, Ravi Shankar.
 Established the Philip Glass Ensemble--to
assist modern music in reaching out to bigger
audiences.
Listen to This PRENTICE HALL
6-61
By Mark Evan Bonds ©2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458

62. Philip Glass Composing at
the Piano
Listen to This PRENTICE HALL
6-62
By Mark Evan Bonds ©2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458

63. Philip Glass
Other Compositions
 Etudes--technical piano  Soundtracks for
studies movies
 Violin Concerto--for  The Illusionist
violin and orchestra  The Secret Garden
 A Descent into the  The Truman Show
Maelstrom--a dance
theater piece based on
 Candyman
Edgar Allen Poe’s short  The Hours
story  Notes on a Scandal
 10 operas  Kundun
 Akhnaten--set in
Egypt
Listen to This PRENTICE HALL
6-63
By Mark Evan Bonds ©2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458