10
MUSIC
Quarter 1 – Module 1a
20th Century Musical
Styles
20th Century Musical styles:
Impressionism, Expressionism, Primitivism, Neo- Classicism, Avant-
Garde, Modern Nationalism, and
Good day!
Welcome to the world of music.
In this module, you will learn about the 20 th century styles of Impressionism,
Expressionism, Primitivism and Neo-classicism that provided composers with the
opportunity to express their thoughts based on the outside impressions as well as
ideas and expressions based on their inner convictions.
Aside from what is mentioned, other innovative musical styles arose within the
th
20 century, such as Avant-garde and Modern Nationalism. The musical styles that
evolved in the modern era were varied. Some of these were short-lived, being
experimental and too radical in nature, while others found an active blend between
the old and the new.
In this module, you will also learn about new inventions and discoveries of
science and technology that lead to the continuing development in the field of music.
These devices were used for creating and recording music to add or replace
acoustical sounds.
Are you prepared for it? Then, be ready to learn and discover the beauty of
music.
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At the end of the module, you should be able to:
Identify the different compositions of the 20th Century Music:
Impressionism and Expressionism, Primitivism and Neo-Classicism, Avant-
garde and Modern Nationalism and Electronic Music
Differentiate the musical elements used in the 20th century music
Show appreciation for the historical and cultural background of
other musical styles of the 20th century music
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 modern
nationalism.
IMPRESSIONISM
Based on the art movement started by 19 th century Paris-based visual artist,
specifically Claude Monet through his painting “Impression Sunrise”, what are the
characteristics of Impressionism in music?
Decorative and fragile beauty, elegance refinement, sensuous tone and subdued
atmosphere. The rhythm of impressionism music is irregular in terms of phrases.
Other features include the lack of a tonic-dominant relationship which normally gives
the feeling of finality to a piece, moods and textures, harmonic vagueness about the
structure of certain chords, and use of the whole-tone scale. Most of the
impressionist’s works centered on nature and its beauty, lightness, and brilliance.
Who are the notable 20th century composers that belong to impressionism?
CLAUDE DEBUSSY (1862–1918)
Born in France on August 22, 1862.
One of the most important and influential of the
20th century composers was Claude Debussy.
He was the primary exponent of the
impressionist movement and the focal point for
other impressionist composers. His role as the
“Father of the Modern School of Composition”
made its mark in the styles of the later 20th
century composers like Igor Stravinsky, Edgar
Varese, and Olivier Messiaen. He died in Paris
on March 25, 1918 of cancer at the height of
the First World War.
Debussy’s mature creative period was represented by the following works:
Fetes (Festival)- about the mysterious parade in a nocturnal carnival
Prelude to the Afternoon of a Fawn (Half man and half goat)
Nuages (Clouds) (slow moving clouds in the sky) sirens how mermaids
hire sad fisherman into the bottomless of the sea.
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 compositions.
Claire de Lune (Moonlight) one of his lightly textured piece containing his
signature work.
MAURICE RAVEL (1875–1937)
Was born on March 7, 1875 in Ciboure, France to a
Basque mother and a Swiss father. He entered the
Paris Conservatory at the age of 14 where he
studied with the eminent French composer Gabriel
Faure.
Ravel’s works include the following:
Bolero – a piece for orchestra without music
Daphnis et Chloe, Rhapsodie Espagnole
and Pictures at an exhibition are evidences
of his being an orchestration master
Pavane for a Dead Princess (1899), a slow but lyrical requiem
Sonatine for Piano (c.1904)
Miroirs (Mirrors), 1905, a work for piano known for its harmonic evolution
and imagination,
Le Tombeau de Couperin (c.1917),
ARNOLD SCHOENBERG (1874–1951)
Schoenberg was born in a working-class suburb of Vienna, Austria on September
13, 1874. He taught himself music theory, but took lessons in counterpoint.
German
composer Richard Wagner influenced his work as
evidenced by his symphonic poem Pelleas et
Melisande, Op 5 (1903). Schoenberg is credited
with the establishment of the twelve-tone system.
His works include the following:
Pierrot Lunaire,
Gurreleider
Verklarte Nacht
Three Pieces for Piano, op. 11, (Transfigured
Night, 1899), one of his earliest successful
pieces, blends the lyricism, instrumentation,
and melodic beauty of Brahms with the
chromaticism and construction of Wagner.
IGOR STRAVINSKY (1882–1971)
He was born in Oranienbaum (now Lomonosov),
Russia on June 17, 1882. Stravinsky’s early music
reflected the influence of his teacher, the Russian
composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. But in his first
successful masterpiece, The Firebird Suite (1910),
composed for Diaghilev’s Russian Ballet, his skillful
handling of material and rhythmic inventiveness went
beyond anything composed by his Russian
predecessors. He added a new ingredient to his
nationalistic musical style. The Rite of Spring
(1913) was another outstanding work. Despite its “shocking” modernity, his music
is also very structured, precise, controlled, full of artifice, and theatricality. Other
outstanding works include the ballet Petrouchka (1911), featuring shifting rhythms
and polytonality, a signature device of the composer. The Rake’s Progress
(1951), a full-length opera, alludes heavily to the Baroque and Classical styles of
Bach and Mozart through the use of the harpsichord, small orchestra, solo and
ensemble numbers with recitatives stringing together the different songs.
PRIMITIVISM
Primitivism is a word that describes the condition or quality that belongs to
something crude and unrefined. When this word primitivism is applied to the arts,
such as the visual arts or music, it can be described as simple ideas juxtaposed
with each other forming new ideas, new images, and new sounds. In music,
primitivism was a reaction to the rich complexity of Romanticism and later on,
Impressionism.
Primitivism has links to Exoticism through the use of materials from other cultures,
Nationalism through the use of materials indigenous to specific countries, and
Ethnicism through the use of materials from European ethnic groups. Two well-
known proponents of this style were Stravinsky and Bela Bartok. It eventually
evolved into Neo-classicism.
Who are the notable 20th century composers that belong to Primitivism?
BELA BARTOK (1881–1945)
www.allmusic.com
Born in Hungary (now Romania) on March
25, 1881 to musical parents. He started music
lessons with his mother and later entered Budapest
Royal Academy of Music in 1899. His first
nationalistic poem was Kossuth in 1903.
In 1906, he published his first collection of 20
Hungarian folk songs.
His compositions were successful because of their rich melodies and lively
rhythms. He is famous for his Six String Quartets. This represent the greatest
achievement of his creative life, spanning a full 30 years for their completion.
The Concerto for Orchestra (1943), a five-movement work composed late in
Bartok’s life, features the exceptional talents of its various soloists in an intricately
constructed piece. The short and popular Allegro Barbaro (1911) for solo piano is
punctuated with swirling rhythms and percussive chords, while Mikrokosmos
(1926– 1939), a set of six books containing progressive technical piano pieces,
introduced and familiarized the piano student with contemporary harmony and
rhythm.
Neo- Classicism
Neo-classicism was a moderating factor between the emotional excesses of the
Romantic period and the violent impulses of the soul in expressionism. It was, in
essence, a partial return to an earlier style of writing, particularly the tightly-knit
form of the Classical period, while combining tonal harmonies with slight
dissonances. It also adopted a modern, freer use of the seven-note diatonic
scale.
Who are the notable neo-classicist composers?
SERGEI
PROKOFIEFF (1891–1953)
Regarded today as a combination of a neo-classicist,
nationalist and avant-garde composer. Born in Ukraine
in 1891, he set out for the St. Petersburg Conservatory.
His contact with Stravinsky gave him the chance to write
music for the ballet and opera notably the ballet “Romeo
and Juliet” and “War and Peace”
He also wrote “Peter and the Wolf” a light-
hearted orchestral work intended for children.
Symphony no. 1 (also called Classical
Symphony), his most accessible orchestral work linked to the
combined styles of classicists Haydn and Mozart and neo-classicist
Stravinsky
Prokofieff was highly successful in his piano music, as evidenced by the wide
acceptance of his piano concerti and sonatas. His musical composition include
concerti, chamber music, film scores, operas and ballets. He died in Moscow on
March 15, 1953.
FRANCIS POULENC (1899–1963)
One of few composers born into wealth
and privileged social position. Member of the
group of young French composers known as
“Les Six”. He rejected the heavy romanticism of
Wagner and the so-called Imprecision of
Debussy and Ravel. His composition had a
coolly elegant modernity sense of proportion.
His compositions include “Concert
Champetre”, the “Concerto for Two
Pianos”, which combines the classical
touches of Mozart and Ravel.
His musical composition total around 185 which include solo piano works
as well as vocal solo.
His opera works included:
Les Mamelles de Tiresias (1944), which revealed his light-hearted character;
Dialogues des Carmelites (1956), which highlighted his conservative
writing style
La Voix Humane (1958) which reflected his own turbulent emotional life.
AVANT-GARDE
The avant-garde movement dealt with the parameters or the dimensions of
sound in space. The avant-garde style exhibited a new attitude toward
musical mobility, whereby the order of note groups could be varied so that
musical continuity could be altered. Improvisation was a necessity in this
style, for the musical scores were not necessarily followed as written. For
example, one could expect a piece to be read by a performer from left to
right or vice versa. Or the performer might turn the score over, and go on
dabbling indefinitely in whatever order before returning to the starting point.
The unconventional methods of sound and form, as well as the absence of
traditional rules governing harmony, melody, and rhythm, make the whole
concept of avant–garde music quite strange to ears accustomed to
traditional compositions.
Who are the notable 20th century composers that belong to avant-garde?
GEORGE GERSHWIN (1898-1937)
George Gershwin was born in New York to
Russian Jewish immigrants. His older brother
Ira was his artistic collaborator who wrote the
lyrics of his songs. His first song was written
in 1916 and his first Broadway musical, La La
lucille, in 1919.
He also composed Rhapsody in Blue (1924)
and An American in Paris (1928).
Gershwin’s melodic gift was considered
phenomenal, as evidenced by his numerous
songs of wide appeal. He is true “crossover artists” in the scene that his serious
compositions remain highly popular in the classical repertoire, as his stage and
film continue to be jazz and vocal standards. Considered the “Father of American
Jazz”. His “mixture of the primitive and the sophisticated” gave his music an
appeal that has lasted long after his death. Gershwin’s musical composition total
around 369 which include orchestral music, chamber music, musical theater, film
musicals, operas and songs. He died in Hollywood, California, USA on July
11.1937.
LEONARD BERNSTEIN (1918-1990)
He was born in Massachusetts,
USA, Leonard Bernstein endeared himself to
his many followers as a charismatic conductor,
pianist, composer, and lecturer. His big break
came when he was asked to substitute for the
ailing Bruno Walter in conducting Philharmonic
Orchestra in a concert on November 14, 1943.
The overnight success of this event started his
reputation as a great interpreter of the classics as
well as of the more complex works of Gustav
Mahler. Bernstein is best known for his
compositions for the stage. Foremost among
these is the musical West Side
Story (1957), an American adaptation of Romeo and Juliet. Other outputs include
Broadway hit Candide (1956), the much-celebrated Mass (1971), music for the
film On the Waterfront (1954). His total compositions total around 90. He died in
New York City, USA on October 14, 1990.
PHILIP GLASS (born 1937)
One of the most commercially
successful minimalist composers is Philip Glass
who is also an avant-garde composer. He
explored the territories of ballet, opera, theater,
film, and even
television jingles. His distinctive style involves
cell- like phrases emanating from bright electronic
sounds from the keyboard that progressed very
slowly from one pattern to the next in a very
repetitious fashion. Aided by soothing vocal effects
and horn sounds, his music is often criticized as
uneventful and shallow, yet startlingly effective for
its hypnotic charm. Glass collaborated with theater conceptualist Robert Wilson to
produce the four-hour opera Einstein on the Beach (1976), an instant sell-out at
the New York Metropolitan Opera House. It put minimalism in the mainstream of
20th century music. He completed the trilogy with the operas, Satyagraha (1980)
and Akhnaten (1984), based on the lives of Mahatma Gandhi, Leo Tolstoy, Martin
Luther King, and an Egyptian pharaoh. HIs musical compositions total around
170.
Modern Nationalism
A looser form of 20th century music development
focused on nationalist composers and musical
innovators who sought to combine modern
techniques with folk materials. However, this
common ground stopped there, for the different
breeds of nationalists formed their own styles of
writing. In Eastern Europe, prominent figures
included the Hungarian Bela Bartok and the
Russian Sergei Prokofieff who were neo -
classicists to a certain extent.
Prokofieff used sticking dissonances and Russian
themes, and his music was generally witty, bold, and
at times colored with humor. Together with Bartok,
Prokofieff made used of extensive use of
polytonality,
a kind of tonality that uses two or more tonal centers simultaneously. An example
of this style is Prokofieff’s Visions Fugitives.
ELECTRONIC MUSIC
The capacity of electronic machines such as
synthesizers, amplifiers, tape recorders, and
loudspeakers to create different sounds was given
importance by 20th century composers like Edgar
Varese, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and Mario
Davidovsky.
It is a kind of music in which sounds are
produced electronically.
Composers use electronic equipment to
produce sounds of the desired loudness, pitch, rhythm, duration, and tone
color. www.latimes.com
Many composers of electronic music use an equipment
called SYNTHESIZERS.
Music that uses the tape recorder is called musique concrete, or concrete music.
The composer records different sounds that are heard in the environment such as
the bustle of traffic, the sound of the wind, the barking of dogs, the strumming of a
guitar, or the cry of an infant. These sounds are arranged by the composer in
different ways like playing the tape recorder in its fastest mode or in reverse. In
musique concrete, the composer is able to experiment with different sounds that
cannot be produced by regular musical instruments such as the piano or the
violin.
Who are the notable 20th century composers that belong to Electronic
Music? EDGARD VARESE (1883–1965)
Edgard (also spelled Edgar) Varèse born in December 22,
1883. He was considered an “innovative French-born
composer”. Pioneered and created new sound that
bordered between music and noise.
He invented the term “organized sound” which
means that certain timbers and rhythms can be grouped together in order to
capture a whole new definition of sound.
He earned the title “Father of Electronic Music” and was described as the
“Stratospheric Colossus of Sound.”
His musical compositions total around 50, with his advances in tape-based sound
proving revolutionary during his time. He died on November 6, 1965.
KARLHEINZ STOCKHAUSEN (1928–)
He is a central figure in the realm of
electronic music. Born in Cologne, Germany,
together with Pierre Boulez. Stockhausen drew
inspiration from these composers as he
developed his style of total serialism. Some of his
works include Gruppen (1957), a piece for three
orchestras that moved music through time and
space;
Kontakte (1960), a work that pushed the
tape machine to its limits; and the epic
Hymnen (1965), an ambitious two-hour
work of 40 juxtaposed songs and anthems from
around the world.
The climax of his compositional ambition
came in 1977 when he announced the creation of Licht (Light), a seven-part
opera (one for each day of the week) for a gigantic ensemble of solo voices, solo
instruments, solo dancers, choirs, orchestras, mimes, and electronics. His recent
Helicopter String Quartet, in which a string quartet performs whilst airborne in four
different helicopters, develops his long-standing fascination with music which
moves in space. It has led him to dream of concert halls in which the sound
attacks the listener from every direction.
