MUSIC
○ The simultaneous presence of two
20th Century Musical Style
➢ Music during the 20th century was enormous and
every diverse. The musical styles of the period
clearly reflect the lifestyle of people who lived
with the technology of the era
➢ Society was very receptive during the period.
Personal preferences were respected and
deviant innovations in art and music were
tolerated.
➢ Composers found new wats of musical
expression. They had privilege to experiment
and realize the music they fancy and envisioned.
Key Changes in Music
(Composer Perception)
● Atonality
○ Weakened the traditional major and minor
tonalities in music. the absence of
functional harmony as a primary structural
element.
● Bitonality
○ The quality of two musical keys being
played simultaneously.
different keys or tonalities
● Polytonality
○ The simultaneous occurrence of two or
more different tonalities or keys (the
interrelated sets of notes and chords used
in a composition). If only two keys are
employed, the term bitonality is
sometimes used.
● Polychord
○ In music and music theory, a polychord
consists of two or more chords, one on
top of the other. In shorthand they are
written with the top chord above a line and
the bottom chord below, for example F
upon C: F/C. The use of polychords may
suggest bitonality or polytonality.
Harmonic parallelism may suggest
bichords.
Different meters and rhythmic combinations
Polymeter Polyrhythm
Where two sequences The simultaneous
are played using different combination of
meters, but with the same contrasting rhythms in a
tempo. musical composition.
Rhythmic conflicts, or

cross-rhythms, may occur
within a single metre or
may be reinforced by
simultaneous
combinations of
conflicting metres.
20th Century Musical Style:
Impressionism
As the world entered the 20th century, a new era in
music was introduced, and impressionism was one of the
earliest musical forms that paved the way to this modern
era. Impressionism is a French movement in the late 19th
and early 20th centuries. The sentimental melodies and
dramatic emotionalism of the preceding Romantic Period,
whose themes and melody are easy to recognize and
enjoy, were being replaced in favor of moods and
impressions.
Claude Debussy
➢ 1862 – 1918
➢ Claude Debussy was one of the most influential
and leading composers of the 20th century.
➢ He was the principal exponent of the impressionist
movement and the inspiration for other
impressionist composers.
➢ He reformed the course of musical development
by eradicating traditional rules and conventions
into a new language of possibilities in harmony,
rhythm, form, texture, and color
➢ He composed a total of more or less 227
masterpieces, which include orchestral music,
chamber music, piano music, operas, ballets,
songs, and other vocal music
➢ He was known as the "Father of the Modern
School of Composition" and made his impact on
the styles of the later 20th-century composer like
Igor Stravinsky. Debussy's mature creative period
was exemplified by the following works:
○ String Quartet - a group of four
instruments with strings that play together:
A string quartet consists of two violins, a
viola, and a cello.
○ La Mer (1905) - a highly imaginative and
atmospheric musical work for orchestra
about the sea
○ Premiere Arabesque - is one of pair of
arabesques Claude Debussy composed
when he was still in his twenties, between
the years 1888 and 1891.
○ Claire de Lune (Moonlight) - Clair de lune’
takes its title from an atmospheric poem by
the French poet Paul Verlaine which
depicts the soul as somewhere full of music
‘in a minor key’ where birds are inspired to
 sing by the ‘sad and beautiful’ light of the
moon
➢ In the field of visual arts, Debussy was influenced
by Monet, Pissaro, Manet, Degas, and Renoir; and
from the literary arts by Mallarme, Verlaine, and
Rimbaud. Most of his close friends were painters
and poets who significantly influenced his works.
On March 25, 1918, he died of cancer at the
height of the First World War in Paris
Maurice Ravel
➢ Joseph Maurice Ravel was born in Ciboure,
France, to a Basque mother and a Swiss father. At
age 14, he entered the Paris Conservatory, where
he was musically nurtured by a prominent French
composer, Gabriel Faure
➢ The compositional style of Ravel is mainly
characterized by its distinctively innovative but not
atonal style (music that is written in a way that is
not based on any particular key) of harmonic
treatment.
➢ His works are defined with intricate and
sometimes modal melodies and extended chordal
components.
➢ It demands considerable technical virtuosity from
the performer, which is the character, ability, or
skill of a virtuoso—a person who is exemplary in
musical technique or execution
20th Century Musical Style:
○ Pavane for a Dead Princess (1899) - As the
composer would later explain, the piece “is not
a funeral lament for a dead child, but rather an
evocation of the pavane that might have been
danced by such a little princess as painted by
Velázquez.”
○ Sonatine for Piano (c.1904) - While “sonatina”
is sometimes understood to mean a short
sonata or an easy sonata for beginners, in
terms of form, sonatina form is sonata form
without the development section. Sonatina form
is sometimes encountered in the second, slow
movement of a larger work like a symphony, as
well as in overtures.
○ Rhapsodie Espagnole - is an orchestral
rhapsody written by Maurice Ravel. Composed
between 1907 and 1908, the Rapsodie is one of
Ravel's first major works for orchestra
○ Bolero - Bolero started out as a ballet score
commissioned by dancer Ida Rubenstein. Her
troupe danced the composition's first
performance at the Paris Opera in 1928. It was
an instant hit. It is a form of love song that
originated in Cuba in the 19th century. The
lyrics often reflect themes of bittersweet,
unrequited, betrayed, or eternal love.
 ➢ His famous works include:
Expressionism
Expressionism
The term "Expressionism" was originally used in visual
and literary arts. It was probably first applied to music in
1918, especially to Schoenberg because, like the
painter Wassily Kandinsky (1866–1944), he veered
away from "traditional forms of beauty" to convey
powerful feelings in his music.
Features of Expressionism
● a high degree of dissonance (dissonance is the
quality of sounds that seems unstable)
● extreme contrasts of dynamics (from pianissimo
to fortissimo, very soft to very loud) constant
changing of textures
● "distorted" melodies and harmonies
● angular melodies with wide leaps
Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951)
➢ Arnold Schoenberg was born on September 13,
1874 in a working-class suburb of Vienna,
Austria. He taught himself music theory but took
lessons in counterpoint. His works were greatly
influenced by the German composer Richard
Wagner as evident in his symphonic poem
Pelleas et Melisande, Op. 5 (1903), a
counterpoint of Debussy's opera of the same
title.
○ Verklarte Nacht - Verklärte Nacht, Op. 4,
is a string sextet in one movement
composed by Arnold Schoenberg in 1899.
Composed in just three weeks, it is
considered his earliest important work
○ Three Pieces for Piano, op. 11 - Drei
Klavierstücke ("Three Piano Pieces"), Op.
11, is a set of pieces for solo piano written
by the Austrian composer Arnold
Schoenberg in 1909. They represent an
early example of atonality in the
composer's work.
○ Pierrot Lunaire - Arnold Schönberg's
Pierrot lunaire is a milestone in modern
musical history. In this innovative,
expressionist melodrama, the text is
recited in a cross between song and
spoken word.
○ Violin Concerto - A violin concerto is a
concerto for solo violin (occasionally, two
or more violins) and instrumental
ensemble (customarily orchestra). Such
works have been written since the
Baroque period, when the solo concerto
form was first developed, up through the
present day.
○ Skandalkonzert - The concert was held
by the Vienna Concert Society in the
Great Hall of the Musikverein in Vienna.
The concert consisted of music by
composers of the Second Viennese
School.

Igor Stranvinsky (1882-1971)
➢ Stravinsky was born in Lomonosov, Russia on
June 17, 1882. In his early music, he reflected
the influence of his teacher, the Russian
composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. But in his
first notable composition, "The Firebird Suite
(1910)," his skillful handling of material and
rhythmic inventiveness went beyond anything
written by his Russian predecessors.
➢ His musical style added a new flavor to his
nationalistic musical style. The Rite of Spring
(1913) was another superb work showcasing his
new technique.
○ Ballet Petrouchka (1911) - The story of
Petrushka is about a Charlatan (magician)
who brings to life three puppets at a street
fair. The three puppets are a Ballerina, a
Moor, and a clown named Petrushka.
Petrushka falls in love with the Ballerina, but
the Ballerina loves the Moor instead- creating
a love triangle with a fatal ending
○ The Nightingale - Hans Christian Andersen's
story of "The Nightingale" is the story of an
emperor who falls in love with a nightingale's
song. When the Emperor is gifted a
mechanical bird, his real bird goes back
home. However, the Emperor is eventually
saved from Death by the nightingale,
charming Death with his song
○ Pulcinella (1920) - The one-act ballet
features Pulcinella, his girlfriend Pimpinella,
his friends Furbo, Prudenza and Rosetta, and
Florindo and Cloviello. The story starts with
Florindo and Cloviello serenading Prudenza
and Rosetta. The two women are
unimpressed and reply by showering the
suitors with water. Prudenza's father, a
doctor, appears and chases them away.
○ The Rake's Progress (1951) - The series
shows the decline and fall of Tom Rakewell,
the spendthrift son and heir of a rich
merchant, who comes to London, wastes all
his money on luxurious living, prostitution and
gambling, and as a consequence is
imprisoned in the Fleet Prison and ultimately
Bethlem Hospital (Bedlam).
➢ Stravinsky wrote approximately 127 works,
including concerti, orchestral music, instrumental
music, operas, ballets, solo vocal, and choral
music. Concerti or concerto is a musical
composition for a solo instrument or instruments
accompanied by an orchestra, especially one
conceived on a relative large scale. He died in
New York City on April 6, 1971.
20th Century Musical Styles
Electronic Music
The ability of electronic machines such as synthesizers,
amplifiers, tape recorders, and loudspeakers to produce
different sounds was popularized by 20thcentury
notable composers.
Musique concrete, or concrete music is a music that
uses the tape recorder. Any sound that the composer
will hear in his surroundings will be recorded. These
sounds are arranged by the composer in different ways,
like playing the tape recorder in its fastest mode or
reverse. In musique concrete, the composer can
experiment with different sounds that cannot be
produced by regular musical instruments such as the
piano or the violin.
The first electronic devices for performing music were
developed at the end of the 19th century, and shortly
afterward, Italian futurists explored sounds that had not
been considered musical.
EDGARD VARÈSE
Varèse was considered an "innovative Frenchborn
composer." He pioneered and created new sounds that
bordered between music and noise and spent his life
and career mostly in the United States.
His musical compositions are characterized by:
- an emphasis on timbre and rhythm; and
- "organized sound" (certain timbres and rhythms
can be grouped together in order to capture a
whole new definition of sound).
Varèse's is considered as the "Father of Electronic
Music," and use of new instruments and electronic
resources. He was also dubbed as the "Stratospheric
Colossus of Sound." He died on November 6, 1965.
KARLHEINZ STOCKHAUSEN
Karlheinz Stockhausen is a central figure in the realm of
electronic music. He was born in Cologne, Germany.
He had the opportunity to work with Messiaen,
Schoenberg, and Webern.
Stockhausen's music was initially met with resistance
due to its heavily atonal content with practically no clear
melodic or rhythmic sense. Still, he continued to
experiment with musique concrete.
➔ Gruppen (1957) - A piece for three orchestras that
moved music through time and space; Probably the
first work of the post-war generation of composers in
which technique and imagination combine on the
highest level to produce an undisputable
masterpiece".
➔ Kontakte (1960) - Is an encounter between
electronic sounds and instrumental music, with
an emphasis on their similarities of timbre.
Performers produce an enormous variety of
sounds on a large gong with the aid of highly
amplified microphones and electronic filters.
➔ Licht (Light) - (The Seven Days of the Week), is
a cycle of seven operas composed by Karlheinz
Stockhausen between 1977 and 2003. The
composer described the work as an "eternal
spiral" because "there is neither end nor
beginning to the week." Licht consists of 29
hours of music.
Chance Music
Chance music, also known as Aleatoric music, refers to adventurous ways that were never did before.
a style in which the piece always sounds differently at Musicians even used electronic devices such as
every performance because of the random techniques synthesizers, tape recorders, amplifiers, and the like to
of production, including the use of ring modulators or introduce and enhance sounds created by traditional
natural elements that become a part of the music. Most instruments.
of the sounds emanating from the surroundings, both
natural and man-made, such as honking cars, rustling
leaves, blowing wind, dripping water, or a ringing
phone.

JOHN CAGE

John Cage was known as one of the 20th-century

composers with the broadest array of sounds in his
works. Cage was born in Los Angeles, California, USA,
on September 5, 1912 and became one of the most
original composers in the history of western music.

He challenged the very idea of music by manipulating

musical instruments to attain new sounds and became
the "chance music."

In one instance, Cage created a "prepared" piano,

where screws and pieces of wood or paper were
inserted between the piano strings to produce different
percussive possibilities.

The new musical styles created by 20th-century

classical composers were truly notable, experimental,
and innovative. They played with the elements of
rhythm, melody, harmony, tempo, and timbre in