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Twentieth-Century Developments

Twentieth-Century Developments. Extremes in violence and progress 1 st half of century World Wars I & II Dictatorships Global Depression 2 nd half of century Breakup of colonial empires Cold War between USA and Soviet Union (USSR) Armed conflicts Rapid economic growth

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Twentieth-Century Developments

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  1. Twentieth-Century Developments • Extremes in violence and progress • 1st half of century • World Wars I & II • Dictatorships • Global Depression • 2nd half of century • Breakup of colonial empires • Cold War between USA and Soviet Union (USSR) • Armed conflicts • Rapid economic growth • Equal rights movements

  2. Twentieth-Century Developments • Technology and science • First flight / Walk on the moon • Communications • Albert Einstein – theory of relativity • Sigmund Freud – understanding the unconscious • Structure of DNA • Arts • Shock as a goal • Modern dance • Picasso’s and Kandinsky’s artwork • Emphasis on pluralism and diversity • Contradictions coexist / alternations between contradictions

  3. Twentieth-Century Developments • Summary of arts developments • USA – powerful force in culture, entertainment, politics, economics • Nonwestern cultures/thought affect the arts • New technologies affect artists • Human sexuality explored • Minority representation • Reactions to wars and massacres • “Postmodern” approach less serious / blur lines between elite and pop culture

  4. Musical Styles: 1900-1945 • More fundamental changes in language of music than 1650-1900 • New approaches • Pitch and rhythm organization • New vocabulary of sound • Originally met with hostility • Now: commonly heard in jazz, rock, TV, Movies • No single system governs pitch organization for all music • Relies less on pre-established relationships and expectations

  5. 1900-1945: An Age of Musical Diversity • Great diversity of musical styles • Different musical languages vs. dialects • Reflects diversity of life • Agency – freedom to choose • Global communication and travel • Wider range of music available • Unconventional rhythms, sounds, melodic patterns • Influence of non-European music • American jazz – Improvisation, syncopations, unique tone colors • Inspiration from wider historical range, including forms

  6. Characteristics of Twentieth-Century Music • Tone Color • More important – Variety – Continuity – Mood • Noiselike / percussive sounds • Uncommon playing techniques • Glissando • Col legno • Flutter-tongue • More percussion instruments • Harmony • Consonance and dissonance • Emancipation of dissonance • New chord structures • Polychords • Quartal chords

  7. Characteristics of Twentieth-Century Music • Alternatives to the Traditional Tonal System • Less gravity to tonic key; maj/min • Tonal center around a chord or tone • Use of church modes • Polytonality / bitonality • Atonality • Twelve-tone system • Rhythm • Emphasis on irregularity and unpredictability • New structures – “free and varied” • Irregular phrases / meters • Rapid changes • Polyrhythm • Ostinato

  8. Characteristics of Twentieth-Century Music • Melody • No longer tied to chords, harmony or tonality • Lack of tonal center • Wide leaps • Series of irregular phrases

  9. Music and Musicians in Society • Living Room becomes the new “concert hall” • Technology – radio, recordings, TV • Larger audience • Larger repertoire • Radio broadcasts • 1920s – reach large audience • 1930s – radio networks form orchestras • NBC Symphony Orchestra • Regular broadcasts of Saturday matinee performances of the Metropolitan Opera • Television broadcasts • 1951 – Amahl and the Night Visitors • First opera created for television • New York Philharmonic / Bernstein • Public television • Live from Lincoln Center / Live from the Met

  10. Music and Musicians in Society • Repertoire dominated by music of earlier periods during the first half of 20th century • Contemporary works neglected / “difficult” • Formation of “new music” groups • International Society for Contemporary Music • 1950s – More contemporary music performed • In concert by major orchestras and opera companies • Recordings • Musicians more accustomed & proficient

  11. Music and Musicians in Society • Many modern compositions commissioned • Tied with developments in dance • Film scores • Philanthropic foundations • Few composers lived on commissions alone • Earned living by teaching, conducting, performing • “composers in residence” • Latin American composers • Hieter Villa-Lobos, Silvestre Revueltas, Carlos Chávez, Alberto Ginastera, Astor Piazzolla • Women composers • Amy Beach, Ruth Crawford-Seeger, Miriam Gideon, Vivian Fine, Ellen Taaffe Zwilich

  12. Music and Musicians in Society • African American composers and performers • William Grant Still, Howard Swanson, Ulysses Kay, Olly Wilson, Tania Léon, George Walker • Admitted to music schools / banned from opera companies and orchestras • 1945 – Todd Duncan, baritone, performs at the NYC Opera Company • 1955 – Marian Anderson, contralto, performs at the Metropolitan Opera

  13. Music and Musicians in Society • Political, economic, social upheavals • Russian Revolution (1917) • Rachmaninoff and others leave Russia • Musicians’ lives and careers strictly controlled • 1930’s – Communist Party demands that Soviet composers: • Reject modernism • Write music that praise the regime • Hitler in Germany (1933) • Avant-garde, socialist, and Jewish musicians lose jobs • Onset of WWII – largest migration of artists in history • Stravinsky, Bartók, Schoenberg, Hindemith leave Europe for USA

  14. Music and Musicians in Society • USA influence on music • Jazz and American popular music sweep the world • Post-1920 – Large group of composers / wide spectrum of contemporary styles • Most first-rank symphony orchestras • American colleges and universities • Train and employ leading composers, performers, scholars • Expand course offerings • Sponsor 20th century music specialty groups • Electronic music studios

  15. Impressionism and Symbolism • French Impressionist Painting • 1874 – Exhibition by French painters • Monet, Renoir, Pissaro and others • Critic comments negatively on Monet’s Impression: Sunrise • Critic mocks show as “exhibition of impressionists” • Term impressionist sticks • Loses negative implication • Impressionist paintings • Appreciated today • In 1870’s – seen as formless collections of tiny colored patches (viewed too closely) • Painters concerned with light, color, atmosphere (impermanence, change, fluidity) • Outdoor scenes from contemporary life • Obsessed with water

  16. Impressionism and Symbolism • French Symbolist Poetry • Emphasized fluidity, suggestion, and the purely musical, or sonorous, effects of words • Mallarmé, Verlaine, Rimbaud – symbolist poets • Debussy (composer) was a friend of many symbolist poets • The Afternoon of a Faun by Mallarmé inspires Debussy’s most famous orchestral work

  17. Claude Debussy (1862-1918) • Impressionist composer / links Romantic era with 20th Century • Age 10-22 – studies at Paris Conservatory • Regarded as talented rebel by teachers • 1884 – wins Prix de Rome • 3 years of study in Rome subsidized • Leaves after 2 years / lacking musical inspiration away from Paris • Musical influences – • Russian music / visits to Russia • Worked with Nadezhda von Meck • Asian music – Paris International Exposition (1889) • Wagner’s music / both attracted and repelled

  18. Claude Debussy • Earns small income teaching piano • Attended literary gatherings regularly • Little known to musical public • 1902 – Pelléas and Mélisande (opera) • Critics sharply divided • Soon catches on / most important living French composer • Financial and emotional crises • Constantly borrowing money • Love affairs • Concert tours to pay for luxuries • Not a gifted conductor / hated appearing in public • 1918 - Dies in Paris

  19. Debussy’s Music • Descriptive titles • Fleeting moods / misty atmosphere • Inspired by literary and pictorial ideas • Impressionism in music • Sounds free and spontaneous • Stress on tone color and fluidity • Treatment of harmony • Chords used more for their tone color and sonority than in a progression • Lack of traditional resolutions • Parallel chords / planing • Adds 5-note chords to harmonic vocabulary

  20. Debussy’s Music • Tonality • Pentatonic / whole-tone scales • Rhythmic flexibility • Debussy’s Output • One opera • Art Songs • Piano Works • Works for Orchestra and Chamber Ensembles

  21. Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun (1894) • “free illustration” of Mallarmé’s poem • Dreams and fantasies of a faun • “long solo” on his flute • Tries to recall whether he carried off two beautiful nymphs or not • Falls asleep, exhausted by the effort • “successive scenes through which pass the dreams and desires of the faun in the heat of the afternoon” • Woodwind solos, muted horn calls, harp glissandos

  22. Neoclassicism (1920-1950) • Emotional restraint, balance, clarity • Use of earlier techniques to organize 20th century harmonies and rhythms • Slogan: “Back to Bach” • Preferred absolute music for chamber groups over program music and gigantic orchestras • Post WWI economy affects this • Fugues, concerti grossi, baroque suites • Most use maj/min scales • Some use 12-tone system • Sounds modern / • Neoclassicism in other arts

  23. Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) • Legendary figure / friends with T.S. Eliot and Picasso / Honored by JFK • Born near St. Petersburg, Russia • Studied with Rimsky-Korsakov • 1909 – heard by Diaghilev, director of Russian ballet • Asked for orchestration of Chopin pieces • 1910 – commissions The Firebird • 1911 – Petrushka • 1913 – The Rite of Spring • Riot erupts • Later recognized as masterpiece • Influences composers around the world

  24. Igor Stravinsky • WWI – flees to Switzerland • After armistice – moves to France • WWII – comes to USA • 1920’s-30’s – constantly tours Europe and USA • Compositions less inspired by Russian folk music • 1950’s – adopts 12-tone system • Got well-paying commissions • Loved order and discipline • Kept “banking hours”

  25. Stravinsky’s Music • Three early ballets • Large orchestra / Russian folklore and folk tunes • WWI – wrote for chamber groups • Unconventional instrument combinations • Incorporates ragtime rhythms / popular dances • 1920-1951 – his “neoclassic” period • Inspired by 18th-century music • 1950’s – shift to 12-tone music • Inspired by Anton Webern • “Stravinsky sound” • Strong beat / dry, clear tone colors • Changing & irregular meters / abrupt rhythmic shifts • Ostinatos • Drew on wide range of styles / used existing music at times

  26. Le Sacre du printemps (The Rite of Spring) • 1910 – “fleeting vision” • Primitivism – the deliberate evocation of primitive power through insistent rhythms and percussive sounds • 2 parts subdivided into sections / without pause / each has slow introduction and final frenzied climactic dance • Part I: • Introduction • Omens of Spring – Dances of the Youths and Maidens • Ritual of Abduction

  27. Expressionism 1905-1925 • artistic movement that stressed intense, subjective emotion • centers in Germany and Austria • explore inner feelings rather than depicting outward appearance • deliberate distortions used to assault and shock the audience • reaction against French impressionism • Expressionist art • reject conventional prettiness • social protest • poor and oppressed • opposition to WWI

  28. Expressionism in Music • grows out of emotional turbulence from late Romantic composers • ex. Wagner and Mahler • Characteristics • harsh dissonance • fragmentation • extreme registers • unusual instrumental effects • many avoid tonality and traditional chord progressions

  29. Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951) • born in Vienna, Austria • almost entirely self-taught musician • studies scores • plays in amateur chamber groups • attends concerts • age 21 – loses job as bank clerk • earns poor living • conducts choir of industrial workers • orchestrates popular operettas

  30. Arnold Schoenberg • Early works met with hostility • 1904 – teaches music theory and composition • loyal students – Alban Berg, Anton Webern • 1908 – abandons traditional tonality • 1908-1915 – incredible productivity (“I have a mission…”) • 1915-1923 – publishes nothing; searching for way to organize his musical discoveries • 1921 – announcement of discovery • 1923-25 – begins using twelve-tone system • appointed to position at Prussian Academy of Arts in Berlin

  31. Arnold Schoenberg • Nazis seize power in Germany • 1933 – dismissed from Academy (Jewish) • moves to USA • joins music faculty at UCLA • Feels neglected in USA • music rarely performed • financially unsuccessful • After death – • twelve-tone system used increasingly throughout the world • remains an important influence today

  32. Schoenberg’s Music • “new music … destined to become tradition” • evolves from the past • early works show features of late Romantic style • large orchestras • dissonances • angular melodies • modulate through remote keys • 1903-1907 • farther from Romanticism • whole-tone scales • quartal chords

  33. Schoenberg’s Music • atonality – the absence of key • evolves from use of chromatic harmonies and scales • all 12 tones used without regard to traditional relationships • “emancipated dissonances” • jagged melodies • novel instrumental effects • extreme contrasts in dynamics / register • irregular phrases • Sprechstimme – halfway between speaking and singing • early works lack musical system of organization • longer works only possible with longer text

  34. Schoenberg’s Music • Twelve-tone system • “method of composing with twelve tones” • tone row, set, or series • the ordering or unifying idea • serial technique • no pitch occurs more than once in a tone row • number of possibilities – 479,001,600 • original form, retrograde, inversion, retrograde inversion • 12-tone matrix calculator • example of 12-tone music

  35. Pierrot lunaire, Op. 21 (1912) • cycle of 21 songs for female voice and 5-member instrumental ensemble that play 8 instruments • based on weird poems by Belgian poet Giraud, translated in to German by Hartleben • Pierrot – tragic clown puppet derived from commedia dell’arte • represents isolated modern artist • 3 groups of 7 songs • songs 1-7: Pierrot, a poet, drunk in moonlight, deranged • songs 8-14: nightmare filled with death, martyrdoms • songs 15-21: refuge from nightmare through clowning, sentimentality, and nostalgia • No.1 Mondestrunken • voice, piano, flute, violin, cello

  36. A Survivor from Warsaw, Op.46 • cantata for narrator, male chorus, and orchestra • about a single episode in the Holocaust • based partly on a direct report by a survivor from a Warsaw ghetto • over 400,000 Jews from this ghetto died in extermination camps or of starvation • many others died during 1943 revolt against the Nazis • English, German, and Hebrew – 3 languages in Schoenberg’s life • 12-tone composition written in 1947

  37. Anton Webern (1883-1945) • born in Vienna • studied piano, cello, music theory • earned doctorate of music from University of Vienna • studied privately with Schoenberg • modest income from conducting • rare performances of own music met with ridicule • shy / devoted to family / Christian / loved to commune with nature • mistakenly shot and killed by American soldier near end of WWII

  38. Webern’s Music • most works last only 2-3 minutes • mature output can be played in less than 3½ hours • Works - • half for solo voice or chorus • rest for chamber orchestra and small chamber groups • atonal and 12-tone • melodic lines “atomized” into 2-note or 3-note fragments • often used strict polyphonic imitation • works became a source of inspiration for composers after his death

  39. Five pieces for Orchestra, Op.10 • atonal / not 12-tone • “expressions of musical lyricism” • among the shortest pieces ever written for orchestra • 4th piece: 6 1/3 measures long / less than 30 seconds • unconventional instruments used • Third Piece: Very slow and extremely calm

  40. Béla Bartók (1881-1945) • born in Hungary • piano – important instrument in his career • mother taught him first lessons • attended Budapest Academy of Music • 1907-1934: teaches piano at the academy • gives recitals throughout Europe • influenced by Hungarian nationalist movement • spends free time recording peasant folk songs in small villages • becomes authority on peasant music

  41. Béla Bartók • importance recognized abroad during 1920s and 1930s • neglected in Hungary until premiere of ballet (The Wooden Prince - 1917) • 1940 – anti-Nazi / emigrates to USA • has little money / poor health / feels neglected • 1943 – receives commission for Concerto for Orchestra while in the hospital • receives other commissions • dies next year / becomes one of the most popular 20th century composers

  42. Bartók’s Music • “Hungarian influence is the strongest” • fused folk elements, classical forms, 20th century sounds • arranged many folk tunes • most works use original themes that have a folk flavor • Works: • many for solo piano • 6 string quartets and other chamber music • 3 piano concertos • 2 violin concertos • several pieces for orchestra

  43. Bartók’s Music • reinterpreted traditional forms • rondo, fugue, sonata, etc. • always used tonal center • used harsh dissonances, polychords, tone clusters • rhythm – powerful beat, unexpected changes, changing meters • Concerto for Orchestra • offered $1000 in hospital by Koussevitsky, conductor of Boston Symphony Orchestra • 2nd movement – Game of Pairs • Allegretto scherzando / ABA’ • different pairs of woodwind and brass instruments

  44. William Grant Still (1895-1978) • 1917-1935 – “Harlem Renaissance” • Afro-American Symphony – first composition by a black composer performed by a major American symphony orchestra • born in Woodville, Mississippi / grew up in Little Rock, Arkansas • studied violin • age 16 – Wilberforce University – premed student • devoted himself to musical activities • abandoned medicine for music • did not graduate / popular music arranger and performer

  45. William Grant Still • worked for W.C. Handy in Memphis • arranged Handy’s St. Louis Blues for military band (1916) • 1917 – Oberlin College Conservatory • left to serve in navy in WWI • briefly returned to Oberlin • moved to New York • popular musician / composer of concert works • wrote band arrangements / played in all-black shows • studied with two opposing composers • George Whitefield Chadwick • Edgard Varèse • writes in a uniquely African-American flavor • critically acclaimed in New York

  46. William Grant Still • 1931 – premiere of Afro-American Symphony by Rochester Philharmonic • performed by 38 orchestras in US and Europe over next 2 decades • 1934 – awarded Guggenheim Fellowship • moves to Los Angeles • writes film scores, concert works, operas • 1936 – conducts Los Angeles Philharmonic • first African American to conduct major symphony orchestra • Troubled Island – first opera by black composer performed • 1981 – (3 years after death) A Bayou Legend (1941) televised nationally

  47. Afro-American Symphony (1931) • shortly after onset of Great Depression • devises own blues theme / “blues… could be elevated to the highest musical level.” • unified by thematic transformation of blues theme throughout movements • uses tenor banjo • themes recall spirituals, jazz tunes • movements prefaced by lines from poem by Paul Laurence Dunbar • 3rd movement – “Humor” – Animato

  48. Aaron Copland (1900-1990) • born in Brooklyn to Russian-Jewish immigrants • age 15 – decided to be a composer on his own • was drawn to “modern” music, despite first teacher’s objections • 1921 – studied with Nadia Boulanger in France • Phases in Copland’s Music • “American in character” (i.e. jazz) – only lasted a few years • 1930s – serious, dissonant, sophisticated works • late 1930’s – American folklore, accessible to larger audience • also jazz, revival hymns, cowboy songs

  49. Copland’s Music • simple, yet highly professional • clear textures • slow-moving harmonies • strongly tonal • 20th century techniques • polychords • polyrhythms • changing meters • percussive orchestration • serial technique

  50. Appalachian Spring • ballet score for Martha Graham • took about a year to complete • doubtful that it would be a timely piece • wrote a suite for orchestra a year later • won important awards / Copland recognized by a large public • “pioneer celebration in spring around a newly-built farmhouse in the Pennsylvania hills”

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