The World of Music 7 th edition Part 4 Listening to Western Classical Music Chapter 13: Music of the Twentieth Century

Modern Classical Music Diverse, Complex, Experimentation –Conventional Instruments Traditional Techniques AND Unconventional Techniques –Thumbtacks on Piano hammers –Buzzing mouthpieces –Humming, singing whistling through the instrument –Unconventional Instruments Anvil/Automobile Brake Drums Garden Hoses with mouthpieces attached Fire engine sirens Tape players (predecessor to the CD/DAT) Often Complex –Blurred tonality or lack of tonality Increased Chromaticism over the Romantic period Tone Clusters Polytonality Different scales –Whole tone –Pentatonic –Longer Melodies that are more angular or disjunct (skips around) Typically not singable because of this disjunct-ness –Difficult, Puzzling Forms and forms that are hard to understand/find Can be free of bar lines & phrases and measured in time (seconds) Silence is extremely important

Modern Classical Music continued Timbre and Rhythm over Melody and Harmony Avant-Garde : Cutting edge, the newest of the new… New musical language or notation –This notation expressed the musical result in a picture more than a rhythm and pitch indication. –Traditional notation is still used Multicultural influences (native folk musics) New music and musicians are influenced by: –World events (WW1 and WW2!) –World Economy (great depression - US) –Shifts in patronage –Political problems or situations

Impressionism in Art and Music Style from French Painting Philosophy called Impressionism –Dibs and dabs of colors when viewed up close do not convey the true impression desired by the artist. But when viewed in totality, makes a vivid portrait by the artist –Monet –Renoir Reaction against Intellectual German Music –Brahms –Wagner –Mahler Favored Delicate Instruments –Flute –Harp –Strings –Light or no brass and percussion scoring in the music Claude Debussy

Claude Debussy (1862 – 1918) French Rejected Traditional Practices –Great example of the transition from Romantic ideas to the 20 th ce Influences –Painters –Poets –Gamelan Music (of Indonesia) Excelled at Works for Piano and Orchestra Piano Preludes Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun (The mythological character, not Bambi) Orch. La Mer (The Sea) Orch. Syrinx (For solo Flute – no accompanying Piano)

Experimental Music Avant-Garde Composers in Every Generation –Experimental Works –Varying Degrees of Success Two Types of Composer –One Who Uses Proven Techniques –One Who Wants to Develop Original Techniques Igor Stravinsky

Igor Stravinsky (1882 – 1971) Russian, emigrated to USA in 1939, became citizen (Naturalized) in 1946 Style Contributions –Rhythmic complexity, irregular rhythms, and shifting beat emphasis –Innovative Orchestration Extreme ranges of the instruments Unusual combinations of instruments –Original Uses of Tonality –Reinvention of Old Material with new uses Baroque and Classical Forms Jazz Russian Folk Melodies Ragtime Representative Works –Ballets (The Suites from these works are popular Orchestral Music) The Firebird Petrushka The Rite of Spring –First performance caused a riot in the audience –Opera, The Rake’s Progress –Chamber Work, The Soldier’s Tale –Opera-Oratorio Oedipus Rex Symphony of Psalms

Atonal Music and Serialism Atonality –Literally Means, “No Tonality” –Alternative to Major and Minor Keys Serialism or 12 tone –Uses the 12 Tones in a Fixed Row or “tone row” No Traditional Scales No Traditional Chords –Row May be Altered Reversed Upside Down Transposed Combinations of the Above (i.e. Reversed and Transposed) Changes in Instrumentation, Rhythm, Dynamics, etc. but not order Too cerebral? No emotion? Arnold Schoenberg

Arnold Schoenberg (1874 – 1951) Austrian Jew, left due to WW2 and Hitler (duh) Emigrated to America, worked at USC and UCLA, among other places Early works Post-Romantic Late works Atonal and Serial Style –Disjunct Melodies –Small Ensembles –Irregular Phrases –Complex and Fragmentary Sound –Controversial Representative Works –Verklärte Nacht –Five Pieces for Orchestra –Pierrot Lunaire Use of Sprechstimme –A new combination of singing and speech recitation –Variations for Orchestra –Opera, Moses and Aaron

Electronic Music Began in 1950’s –Invention of Magnetic Tape Recording –Musique Concrète Altered Speed of Tape Reversed Tape Splicing of Tape Synthesizers Computer-Generated Music –MIDI Was this the elimination of the Musician? Edgard Varèse

Edgard Var è se (1883 – 1965) French (Came to America in WW1) Promoted Experimental Music –Conducted –Wrote Articles –Participated in Classes and Seminars Lifelong Interest in Science and Technology –Any sound could be music Used a Theremin in Ecuatorial Representative Pieces –Hyperprism –Octandre –Intégrales –Ionization –Déserts –Poème Électronique –Ecuatorial

Chance Music Also called Indeterminate music Performer is allowed to create –Randomness –Chance Elements (Dice, etc.) –Improvisation Large-scale structure/form provided by Composer in the score Pieces never performed the same way twice John Cage

John Cage (1912 – 1992) Known for Original Ideas –Prepared Piano Items (Screws, Paper, Erasers, etc) Placed on Strings Inside a Piano Can Sound like a full Percussion Ensemble –Chance Music Less Control for the Composer Accept What you Get –Multiple Radios Simultaneously Playing on Stage –4’ 33” of “Silence” from Performer (Audience, Theater, and Surroundings Create the Music.)

Bela Bart ó k (1881 – 1945) Hungarian Nationalism style (from Humgary) Ethnomusicologist –Preserved Folk Songs of Hungary Field Recordings on early cylinder recorders Used These Melodies in his Compositions –Extended Interest to Other Parts of Europe/Africa Left Hungary in 1940 due to WW2 and his Anti-Nazi views Like most artists, became famous/popular after his death from Leukemia in 1945 –Wrote Concerto for Orchestra while hospitalized Representative Works –Mikrokosmos Piano text series –Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta –Concerto for Orchestra –6 String Quartets –3 Piano Concertos

American/Americanist Music Reflects a sense of wide, open spaces Incorporates vernacular musical concepts –Syncopation from Jazz –Folk styles included –Patriotic themes

Charles Ives (1874 – 1954) Great Innovator Highly Successful Businessman –Great Freedom to Compose –Substantial Resources Style –Quotations from American Life –Complex (for Performers and Audiences) Representative Pieces –4 Symphonies –200 Songs –Tone Poems Three Places in New England The Unanswered Question –2 Piano Sonatas

Aaron Copland (1900 – 1990) Merged Classical and Vernacular Styles Innovation, –But not at the expense of the past Organized New Music Concerts Sources –Cowboy Songs –Mexican Songs –Church Music –Jazz/Blues Representative Works –Ballets Billy the Kid –Winn Dixie’s Beef people commercial Rodeo Appalachian Spring –Patriotic Music Fanfare for the Common Man –Olympic Theme 1972 Lincoln Portrait –For Narrator and Ensemble –Movie Music Red Pony Our Town

American Women Composers Amy Cheney Beach ( ) –First American woman to have a Symphony published Ruth Crawford ( ) –First woman to be awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship Ellen Taaffe Zwilich (1939-)

African-American Composers Ullysses Kay ( ) –Earned a Fulbright Scholarship, Guggenheim Fellowship, and a Prix de Rome William Grant Still ( ) –One of the best-known African-American composers –Earned a Guggenheim Fellowship

Other American Composers George Gershwin ( ) –Tin Pan Alley composer –Known for writing Classical music with Jazz incorporated within Henry Cowell ( ) –Known for using the Tone Cluster as a compositional device Tone Cluster – several adjacent pitches played simultaneously

Neo-Classical Music Return to Structures/Aesthetics of the Past –Forms of Previous Periods –Using Modern Language Possible Traits –Control –Order –Emotional Restraint –Minimal Instrumentation –Transparent Texture Stravinsky

Minimalism Seeks Great Effect from Minimal Material Began in 1960’s –Philip Glass –Terry Riley Reaction Against Serialism (12 tone) Traits –Extensive Repetition –Slow, Subtle Changes Rhythm Chords Other Elements –Tonal Style –Other Similar Styles Jazz Rock Indian Music African Music

Neo-Romanticism A return to 19 th century Musical ideas –Program music –Absolute music –Singable melodies –Etc. but with the newer 20 th century practices and sounds Desired to write what audiences want to hear, instead of what the artist/composer wants to hear –Not wanting to alienate audiences –Audiences would then pay to come and hear the concerts Most of the time, the composer would not become famous until after their death, sometimes decades Igor Stravinsky Darius Milhaud (France)