20th Century Music PDF

 MUSIC OF THE 20TH CENTURY THE START OF THE 20TH CENTURY SAW THE RISE OF DISTINCT MUSICAL STYLES THAT REFLECTED A MOVE AWAY FROM THE CONVENTIONS OF EARLIER CLASSICAL MUSIC. THESE NEW STYLES WERE: IMPRESSIONISM, EXPRESSIONISM, NEO- CLASSICISM, AVANT GARD...

 MUSIC OF THE 20TH CENTURY THE START OF THE 20TH CENTURY SAW THE RISE OF DISTINCT MUSICAL STYLES THAT REFLECTED A MOVE AWAY FROM THE CONVENTIONS OF EARLIER CLASSICAL MUSIC. THESE NEW STYLES WERE: IMPRESSIONISM, EXPRESSIONISM, NEO- CLASSICISM, AVANT GARDE MUSIC, AND MODERNNATIONALISM.  Claude Debussy  Maurice Ravel  Arnold Schoenberg  Bela Bartok  Igor Stravinsky  Sergei Prokofieff, and  George Gershwin  IMPRESSIONISM - a French movement in the late 19th and early 20th century. - Favor on moods and impressions. - There is an extensive use of colors and effects, vague melodies, and innovative chords and progressions leading to mild dissonances. -music that contained visual imagery. -an attempt not to depict reality, but merely to suggest it. It was meant to create an emotional mood rather than a specific picture. - In terms of imagery, impressionistic forms were translucent and hazy, as if trying to see through a rain-drenched window. -- Most of the impressionist works centered on nature and its beauty, lightness, and brilliance. - An attempts to capture the feeling of a scene rather than specific details. CLAUDE DEBUSSY (1862–1918)  One of the most important and influential of the 20th century composers. - He was the primary exponent of the impressionist movement and the focal point for other impressionist composers. He changed the course of musical development by dissolving traditional rules and conventions into a new language of possibilities in harmony, rhythm, form, texture, and color.  Born in St. Germain –En –Laye France on August 22, 1862  Entered in Paris Conservatory on 1873  Won the top prize Prix de rome because of the composition Le Enfant prodigue.  Debussy’s mature creative period was represented by the following works: Ariettes Oubliees Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun String Quartet Pelleas et Melisande (1895)—his famous operatic work that drew mixed extreme reactions for its innovative harmonies and textural treatments.  La Mer (1905)—a highly imaginative and atmospheric symphonic work for orchestra about the sea Images, Suite Bergamasque, and Estampes— his most popular piano compositions; a set of lightly textured pieces containing his signature work Claire de Lune (Moonlight)  His musical compositions total more or less 227 which include orchestral music, chamber music, piano music, operas, ballets, songs, and other vocal music.  He died in Paris on March 25, 1918 of cancer at the height of the First World War.  Maurice Ravel  was born in Ciboure, France.  He entered the Paris Conservatory at the age of 14 where he studied with the eminent French composer Gabriel Faure.  During his stint with the school where he stayed until his early 20’s, he had composed a number of masterpieces.  The compositional style of Ravel is mainly characterized by its uniquely innovative but not atonal style of harmonic treatment.  It is defined with intricate and sometimes modal melodies and extended chordal components.  Daphnis et Chloe (1912), a ballet commissioned by Sergei Diaghilev that contained rhythmic diversity, evocation of nature, and choral ensemble  La Valse (1920), a waltz with a frightening undertone.  compositional output of Ravel, approximating 60 pieces for piano, chamber music, song cycles, ballet, and opera.  Most of his works deal with water in its flowing or stormy moods as well as human characterizations  Works:  Pavane for a Dead Princess (1899), a slow but lyrical requiem  Jeux d’Eau or Water Fountains (1901)  String Quartet (1903)  Sonatine for Piano (c.1904)  Miroirs (Mirrors), 1905, a work for piano known for its harmonic evolution and imagination,  Gaspard de la Nuit (1908), a set of demonic- inspired pieces based on the poems of Aloysius Bertrand which is arguably the most difficult piece in the piano repertoire.  These were followed by a number of his other significant works, including Valses Nobles et Sentimentales (1911)  Le Tombeau de Couperin (c.1917), a commemoration of the musical advocacies of the early 18th century French composer Francois Couperin,  Rhapsodie Espagnole  Bolero  Ravel was a perfectionist and every bit a musical craftsman. He strongly adhered to the classical form, specifically its ternary structure. A strong advocate of Russian music, he also admired the music of Chopin, Liszt, Schubert, and Mendelssohn. He died in Paris in1937.  Expressionism revealed the composer’s mind, instead of presenting an impression of the environment.  It used atonality and the twelve-tone scale, lacking stable and conventional harmonies.  It served as a medium for expressing strong emotions, such as anxiety, rage, and alienation. ARNOLD SCHOENBERG (1874–1951)  born in Vienna, Austria on September 13, 1874. - He taught himself music theory, but took lessons in counterpoint. - Style was constantly undergoing development  Used atonality - met with extreme reactions, either strong hostility from the general public or enthusiastic acclaim from his supporters.  Schoenberg is credited with the establishment of the twelve-tone system. His works:  Verklarte Nacht, Three Pieces for Piano, op. 11  Pierrot Lunaire,  Gurreleider  Verklarte Nacht (Transfigured Night, 1899), one of his earliest successful pieces.  His musical compositions total more or less 213 which include concerti, orchestral music, piano music, operas, choral music, songs, and other instrumental music. Schoenberg died on July 13, 1951 in Los Angeles, California, USA where he had settled since 1934.