20th Century Music Concepts

Tone Color

• Enhances variety, continuity, and mood in music.

Rhythm of 20th Century Music

• Characterized by irregular and unpredictable patterns.

Polyrhythm

• Utilizes two or more different rhythms played simultaneously.

Ostinato

• A repeated musical phrase throughout a composition.

Polychord

• A combination of two or more different chords.

Consonant Chords

• Produce a pleasing sound, providing a sense of resolution.

Dissonant Chords

• Create tension and anxiety, needing resolution to consonant chords.

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

• Russian composer, part of "The Five," known for intricate orchestrations in tone poems.

Gustav Mahler

• A late Romantic composer, professional conductor; his works gained recognition in the 1950s through Leonard Bernstein.

Dimitri Shostakovich

• Soviet composer known for Neo-Classical work, faced censorship and attempted blacklisting by Stalin.

Impressionism

• French artistic movement marked by exotic scales, unresolved dissonances, rich orchestral tone colors, and free rhythms.

Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel

• Key composers of Impressionism, pivotal in transitioning music from Romanticism to Atonality through exotic scales and dissonance.

George Gershwin

• Notable American composer, known for blending Jazz and Classical music styles.

Expressionism

• Artistic movement focused on the artist's inner vision and intense emotions, often exploring themes of madness and death.

Atonality

• Characterized by the absence of a specific key or tonal center.

Arnold Schoenberg

• A prominent German composer of the 20th century, credited with developing the 12-tone system.

12-Tone System

• Compositional method derived from a specific ordering of the 12 chromatic tones, established by Schoenberg in the early 1920s.

Possible Tone Rows

• There are 479,001,600 arrangements for a 12-tone row; each can be transformed in 48 different ways within a composition.

Sprechstimme

• A vocal technique that merges speaking and singing, often used by Schoenberg.

Neo-Classicism

• A movement aiming to revive the musical forms and aesthetics of the Baroque and Classical periods, featuring emotional restraint and balance.

Back to Bach

• Slogan representing the Neo-Classical movement, which reacted against Romanticism and Impressionism.

Igor Stravinsky

• Russian Neo-Classical composer, celebrated for influential ballets like The Rite of Spring; known for changing, irregular meters.

Bay Psalm Book (1640)

• The first book of songs published in America.

19th Century American Instrumental Organizations

• Brass and military bands were the preferred instrumental groups.

American Cities with Symphony Orchestras

• New York, Cincinnati, Boston, and Chicago were early adopters of symphony orchestras.

Nationalism in American Music

• Prominent figures include Gottschalk and Dvořák, who influenced the movement.

Amy Beach

• The first notable female composer in American music history.

Charles Ives

• American composer known for dissonant, atonal works influenced by hymns and folk music, independent of Schoenberg's impact.

William Grant Still

• Recognized as the first major African American classical composer.

Aaron Copland

• Leading American composer, renowned for creating cowboy-themed ballets such as "Billy the Kid" and "Rodeo."

Explore the essential concepts of 20th century music, including late Romanticism, Impressionism, Expressionism, and more. This quiz will help you understand important terms such as tone color, rhythm, polyrhythm, and ostinato. Enhance your knowledge of American music and its distinctive characteristics.