20th Century Music

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The most important artistic movt in western art in ē 19th cent. & ē 1st of the
modern movt.

à? 1st applied to a school of French painting: formless collections of tiny


colored patches, ē brush strokes blend & merge into recognizable
forms & shimmering colors.
à? ainters concerned ŵ effects of light, color & atmosphere-
impermanence, change & fluidity.
à? ôoes not seek to express feelings or tell a story but rather, to evoke a
mood or an atmosphere, ŵ ē help of suggestive titles &
reminiscences of natural sounds.
à? To suggest rather than describe, present a symbol rather than state a
thing.

Monet - Impression Sunrise (1874)


Impressionist Composer ʹ ô(1862-1918)

à? Master of evoking a fleeting mood & misty atmosphere.


à? Interested in ē effects of fluidity, intangibility & impermanence.
à? Seek sensuous & beautiful sound, never harsh.
à? ntire orchestra seldom plays together to produce massive sound.
à? oodwinds are esp prominent, use low register.
à? Strings & brasses always muted, seem to come fr far off.
à? orks ʹ Reflections in the ater
Clouds
Sounds & erfumes Swirl in the evening air
Footsteps in the Snow
The Snow is ôancing
Prelude to the afternoon of a Faun
à? 6 very free illustration of a poem by Stéphane Mallarmé.
à? vokes ē dream & erotic fantasies of a half man, half goat forest
creature.
à? •egins ŵ an unaccompanied flute melody, its vague pulse & tonality
make it dreamlike & improvisatory.
à? oodwind solos, muted horn, harp glissando ї rich variety of delicate
sounds.
à? pever use trumpet, trombone & timpani.

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à? 6 way of life & feeling rather than simply an artistic movt.


à? Term borrowed from painting (in 1910-11, after  I), where it
describes a style which aims at portraying ē inner experiences of ē
painters, depicting extreme states of mind ʹ madness, pain, despair,
anguish & even death.
à? ôistorted figures, shocking colors.
à? In music: extremely jagged & unmelodic lines, harsh orchestration &
violently dissonant harmonies, extreme contrast of dynamics &
register.

The Scream, 1893 ʹ dvard Munch


Composer ʹ SCHO p• RG (1874 ʹ 1951)
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 ͟ ʹ Schoenberg
6tonality: ē absence of key, evolved from his emphasis on chromatic
harmony.
Pierrot Lunaire, Op.21, 1912
à? 6 cycle of 21 songs for female voice and an ensemble of 5 musicians
m? Flute ʹ piccolo
m? iolin ʹ viola
m? iano
m? Cello
m? Clarinet ʹ b.clarinet
à? •ased on a weird poems(1884), deal with puppet ierrot, a tragic
clown character, ierrot represented the isolated modern artist
à? 3 groups :
m? ierrot(poet) drunk on moonlight, becomes increasingly
deranged
m? pightmare filled the images with death and martyrdom
m? ierrot seeks refuge from the nightmare through clowning,
sentimentality and nostalgia.
à? agged melodies, novel instrumental effects, extreme contrast of
dynamics and register(distorted figures, colors, shocking).
à? ¬nusual style of vocal performance half way between speaking &
singingї |  

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à? Reaction against over Romanticism & French Impressionism.


à? motional restraint, balance & clarity, turn away from program music
& gigantic orchestra.
à? ¬se earlier techniques (esp. 18th cent) to organize 20th cent
harmonies & rhythm.
à? Clarity, firm & clear musical language, devoid of all extraneous sound
painting.

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à? Student of Rimsky-Korsakov.
à? 1909, orchestrate piano pieces by Chopin as ballet music for Russian
•allet.
orks ʹ The Firebird, etrushka & The Rite of Spring.
Large orchestra, Russian folk tunes, harsh dissonances, incisive
rhythms, violent accents, brilliant orchestral colors.
à? 1914 ʹ orld ar I, refuge in Switzerland
à? peoclassical, inspired by 18th cent music, less romantic.
orks ʹ The Soldier͛s Tale, Symphony of salms ( sacred Latin text
from ulgate •ible)
à? 1945 ʹ orld ar II, settled in ¬S6
à? 6fter Schoenberg & ebern͛s death, shifted to 12-tone system.
à? ¬nconventional style: violin vs trumpet, piano vs trombone.
à? ast range of styles, from Russian folk songs to •aroque melodies,
Renaissance madrigals to tango rhythms.

| phon of Psals, 1930

à? peoclassical masterpiece, written for 50th anniversary of ē •oston


Symphony Orchestra.
à? 3 movements, scored for chorus & orchestra
à? Latin text was used to evoke feeling of an ancient & solemn ritual.
à? ¬se of tonality, polyphonic texture & evocation of ē past.
à? po vln, vla or clarinet ї sound 20th cent.

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