20th Century Music: Impressionism

20th Century Music Overview

• Impressionism emphasizes suggestion and atmosphere over detailed descriptions.
• Originated from art, inspired by Claude Monet's "Impression, Sunrise."

Impressionism in Music

• Timbre is the most prominent element, focusing on sound quality through harmonization, texture, and orchestration.
• Harmony features unique chord combinations; melody often lacks distinct major or minor tonality.
• Titles are evocative, designed to evoke strong imagery; rhythms are vague and free.
• Notable works include Debussy's "La Mer" and "Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun," along with Ravel's "Bolero."

Whole Tone Scale

• Invented by Claude Debussy, consisting entirely of whole steps to stimulate imagination.

Key Composers

• Claude Debussy: A leading figure in Impressionism; favored distinctive, modern, and sensual compositions.

  • Born: August 22, 1862; began piano at age 7 and attended Paris Conservatory.
  • Won the Prix de Rome at age 22; died March 25, 1918.

• Maurice Ravel: Inspired by Liszt and Chopin, incorporated jazz elements; renowned for lavish orchestration.

  • Born: March 7, 1875; uniquely innovative while attending the Paris Conservatory.
  • Notable works include "Bolero" and "Daphnis et Chloe"; suffered from health issues later in life.

Expressionism

• Originated in Germany, this movement focused on the horrors of war and poverty as social protest.
• Art used striking colors and distorted shapes to express intense emotions like anxiety and isolation.

Characteristics of Expressionist Music

• Emotional, exaggerated, and dissonant; often atonal with fragmented, episodic structures.
• Emphasis on polytonality, utilizing multiple keys simultaneously.

Arnold Schoenberg

• Born in Vienna; self-taught musician who advocated for Expressionism and developed the Twelve-tone scale.
• Pioneered Serialism, where a series of notes guides musical composition using all 12 chromatic notes.

Electronic and Chance Music

• Evolving through innovation, electronic music employs technology and electronic instruments.
• Musiques Concrète: An avant-garde movement using recorded environmental sounds played through amplifiers.

Electronic Music Technologies

• Synthesizers and computers are essential for creating electronic music, imitating traditional instruments or crafting new sounds.
• Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI): Developed to standardize communication between instruments and computers.

Theremin

• Invented in 1920 by Russian physicist Leon Theremin; an electronic instrument that produces sound through oscillations.

Edgar Varese

• French-born composer known for coining "organized sound" and advocating for musique concrète.

Chance Music

• Also known as aleatory music, this concept allows elements of music composition to be determined by chance, reflecting unpredictability.