MUSIC OF THE 20 TH

CENTURY
Music of the 20th Century
 Thestart of the 20th century saw the rise of distinct
musical styles that reflected a move away from the
conventions of earlier Western classical music.
 The 20th century was the first century of
recorded music . Swing jazz in the 1920s and 30s
aimed for making people move. The music was
rhythmic, repetitive and danceable. Over time,
however, different sub-categories of jazz evolved
into less danceable music, such as bebop, cool jazz,
and free jazz.
 20th century musical style
•Music during the twentieth century was
enormous and very diverse. The musical styles
of the period clearly reflect the lifestyle of
people who live 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 ways of
musical expression. They had the privilege to
experiment and realize the music they fancy
and envision.
 Composers began to write music with frequent key changes. This
weakend the traditional major and minor tonalities in music, which led
to atonality, the absence of tonality in a piece. Bitonality, the
simultaneous presence of two different keys or tonalities in a piece and
polytonality, the simultaneous use of two or more different tonalities
were introduced by composers of the period. In search of new
harmonies composer combined two chords simultaneously played also
known as polychord. Composers freely use dissonant and consonant
chords according to their liking.
 Rhythms were grouped irregularly and pitches were organize to
intentionally make unusual and unforeseeable melodies. Different
meters and rhythms are stuck-up together, creating what is called
polymeter and polyrhythm.
Music of the 20th Century The new
styles were:

Impressionism
Expressionism
Neo-Classicism
Avant-Grade Music
Modern Nationalism
IMPRESSIONISM
 It is a movement established by French painters in the late
nineteenth century. The aim of the impressionist art was to
imply rather than to clearly paint objects. In literature,
writings are symbolic rather than descriptive. This also applies
to music in which composers write pieces with obscured
harmony and tinted tone colors rather than relying on the
common usage of musical forms.
 Melodic lines of the impressionist composers are often built
on chromaticism, whole-tone scale, pentatonic scale, other
none-western scales, and modal scales. Rhythmic elements of
impressionistic music can be best described as buoyant, with
concealed beats, and the absence of clear mytrical patterns.
Prominent Composers of
Impressionist Music
Claude Debussy- One of the most important and influential
20th century composer. He was the primary exponent of the impressionist
movement. He changed the course of musical development by evolving
traditional rules and conventions into a new language of possibilities in
harmony, rhythm, form, texture and color.
 His musical composition total more or less 227 which include
orchestral music, chamber music, piano music, operas, ballets, songs
and other vocal music.
 He was named “The Father of the Modern School of Composition”.
One of his famous composition are: Claire de Lune, and La Mer. He
spent the remaining years of his life as a critic, composer, and
performer.
The Sound and Style
Of Debussy’s Legacy
 EXPRESSIONISM:
 Expressionist music is “super-
romantic”: It took the goal of
expressing personal feelings to the
extreme by stretching the rules of
harmony and form.
 Itused unprecedented levels of
dissonance and almost no classical
forms to achieve visceral emotional
reactions in listeners.
 Often the depiction of fear and
nightmarish conditions was at the center
of expressionist songs.
The Scream by Edvard Munch
Composers Associated with
Expressionist Music
 Arnold Schoenberg:
-A Jewish-Austrian composer and painter.
Early in his career he wrote expressionistic
music that stretched and broke classical
harmonic rules.
Later, he wrote atonal music (music that
doesn’t follow harmonic rules at all),and
finally he came up with a new system to
organize pitches in a song called 12-Tone or
Serialism.
NEOCLASSICISM :
 Neoclassicism is characterized by order, balance,
and emotional restraint. This musical trend is
somewhat a counteraction of the music on the
Romantic movement that precedes the era.
 Neoclassicism comprised a return to the classical
models, literary styles, and values of ancient Greek
and Roman authors. Neoclassicism refers to a broad
tendency in literature and art enduring from the early
seventeenth century until around 1750.
Composers Associated with Neoclassical
Music:
 Igor Stravinsky, Paul Hindemith, Sergei Prokofiev,
and Béla Bartók are usually listed as the most
important composers in this mode, but also the
prolific Darius Milhaud and his contemporary Francis
Poulenc.
 Among composers associated with neoclassical
music, Igor Stravinsky was known for his ballets,
one of which, Pulcinella, was based on the themes
attributed to the 18th century composer Giovanni
Battista Pergolesi. Stravinsky’s famous ballets were
The Firebird, Petrushka, and The Rite of Spring. The
Rite of Spring was controversial.
Answer the following:
1. It is the absence of tonality in a piece?
2. It is the simultaneous presence of two different keys or tonalities in a piece?
3. It is the simultaneous use of two or more different tonalities?
4-5. Different meters and rhythms are stuck up together, creating what is called _______
and ________.
6-10. Give the music of the 20th century The New Styles.
11. He was named the “ Father of the Modern School Composition.
12. Name this photo.
13. Who is the artist of the painting The Scream?
14. A Jewish-Austrian composer and painter?
15. It is characterized by order, balance, and emotional restraint?

1. At_ _l _ _y 11. Cl_u_e De_ _ u s_y

2. Bi_o_al_t_ 12.
3.-4. P_ l_ to _ _ l_ ty & P_l _m _t_r 13. E _ _ ar_ M_ n_h
5. Po _ y r_ y t _ _ m 14. Ar_ _ ld Sc_o_nbe_g
6.- 10. I_pre_s_ _n_ sm , 15. Ne_c_ _ss_c_s_
Ex_ _ es _ i_ni_m
N_o- cl_ss_c_sm
A_ _ nt- G_ad_ M_ _ic
Thank you for your cooperation!
Namaste!!!