Introduction to Music: Musical Eras Instructor: Anthony Johnson Course: Music 100

20th Century Period: The bridge to the Contemporary period was formed during the last quarter of the nineteenth century through a new painting movement called Impressionism. About 1870 a group of French painters ( Monet, Renoir, Degas etc.) rejected the accepted Romanticism in favour of a new style that sought to portray art as the artist’s impression of a subject.   Composers like Debussy (1862-1918) and Ravel (1875-1937) portrayed musically these innovations in art and poetry being made by the likes of Mallarme and Verlaine. The bridge to the Contemporary period was formed during the last quarter of the nineteenth century through the new painting movement known as ‘others’. New sonorities in orchestration and piano music developed which often incorporated extra musical material from art and literature, sometimes containing non-Western melodies and rhythms, introduced new scales (whole- tone, modes) and chord uses. They used unresolved dissonances to portray a veiled illusionary effect.

20th Century Period Cont.   Twentieth century music reflects the influences of art and literature in a mechanistic, atomic age. The emergence of pleasant sounding, pastel-coloured Impressionistic music led to experiments with twelve-tone music. (Schoenberg) This produced cerebral, atonal, often angular and disjointed musical effects. Other twentieth century musical experiments are with electronic music. Influences such as electronically amplified instruments and jazz, rock, and popular elements such as electronic music produces from computers and sound effects are associated with this period.   Within this “modern” era, there are great style variations from Post-Romanticism (Mahler, Rachmaninoff) to Impressionism, to new concepts of melodic tonality-rhythm expressed in the music of Bartok, Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Copland, Shostakovich, Barber and Gorecki.

20th Century Music Characteristics: (Contemporary compositions vary widely, so this is not a complete list; and not all these characteristics are present in every composition.) 1. Fewer lyrical melodies than the music of former periods.   2. Dissonant harmonies. 3. Complex rhythms. 4. Percussiveness. 5. Greater use of woodwind, brass and percussion instruments than in music of earlier periods. 6. The use of synthetic and electronic sounds.

Further Reading: During the Twentieth Century, tone color became more important than ever before. Many techniques that were considered uncommon before were being used during this time. Many composers used noise like and percussive instruments. The glissando, a rapid slide up or down the scales, was used more. The percussion instruments became a major part of twentieth century music. They helped give variety of rhythm and tone colors. The music did not blend as well as it did during the Romantic times because the composer often wrote for each different section of the orchestra to have a different tone color. Prior to 1900, chords in music were either considered consonant of dissonant. Dissonant chords were becoming just as common as consonant chords. The composer was no longer tied down to using traditional chords; what they did was up to them and what sound they wanted to achieve. Another key element of the Twentieth Century was the sway from the traditional tonal system. From the 1600’s up to the 1900’s, songs had a central tone, and were based on a major or minor scale. Many composers now were getting away from the major and minor scales, and would sometimes have more than one central tone. Just as composers were expanding their tonal abilities, they expanded their rhythmic patterns. Many emphasized irregularity and unpredictability. The different rhythmic patterns were drawn from all over the world. The time signature would often change in the middle of piece. Accents and other rhythmic irregularities would come unexpectedly. Composers also wrote polyrhythmic music, where more than one rhythm would be played at the same time by different sections. With all the different tone colors, tonal systems, and varied rhythms, melodies of the twentieth century became unpredictable.  

Further Reading Cont: Music in Society Music has become an even greater part of society now, because of recordings, radio broadcasts, and the ability to mass print copies of music for anyone to play in the convenience of their home. At the beginning of the twentieth century, though, many people did not accept these outrageous new styles of music, so the composers mostly performed their less dramatic pieces in concerts. Women became more active in the music world as composers, virtuoso soloists, and educators. During the wars, women joined the orchestras as players and conductors. During Hitler’s reign in Europe, many composers moved to the U.S. to look for work. The United States became a powerful force for twentieth century music. Jazz, country, and other popular music swept the world. American colleges and universities have expanded music throughout the nation, educating countless numbers of students. These colleges and universities now are what the churches and nobility were in the past.

Questions & Discussion 1-Composers of the 20th century period used this technique to portray veiled illusionary effects? Unresolved dissonances 2-. True or False: Twentieth century music reflects the influences of art and literature in a mechanistic, atomic age. True 3-True or False: . Influences such as acoustic instruments and blues, rock, and popular elements are associated with this period. False 4-With all the different tone colors, tonal systems, and varied rhythms this aspect of 20th century was unpredictable? melodies 5-What are six characteristics of 20th century music? Fewer lyrical melodies, Dissonant harmonies, Complex rhythms, Percussiveness, Greater use of woodwind, brass and percussion instruments, The use of synthetic and electronic sounds.