UNIT I: MUSIC OF THE 20TH

CENTURY
 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. The
distinct musical styles of the 20th century would not
have developed if not for the musical genius of
individual composers such as Claude Debussy, Maurice
Ravel, Arnold Schoenberg, Bela Bartok, Igor Stravinsky,
Sergei Prokofieff, and George Gershwin stand out as the
moving forces behind the innovative and experimental
styles mentioned above. Coming from different nations
—France, Austria, Hungary, Russia,and the United States
— these composers clearly reflected the growing
globalization of musical styles in the 20th century.
IMPRESSIONISM
- One of the earlier but concrete forms declaring the entry
of 20th century music was known as impressionism. It is a
French movement in the late 19th and early 20th century.
- The sentimental melodies and dramatic emotionalism of
the preceding Romantic Period (their themes and melody
are easy to recognize and enjoy) were being replaced in
favor of moods and impressions.
- There is an extensive use of colors and effects, vague
melodies, and innovative chords and progressions leading
to mild dissonances.
- Sublime moods and melodic suggestions replaced highly
expressive and program music, or music that contained
visual imagery.
- The sounds of different chords overlapped lightly with
each other to produce new subtle musical colors.
- 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.
- The impressionistic movement in music had its
foremost proponents in the French composers Claude
Debussy and Maurice Ravel. Both had developed a
particular style of composing adopted by many 20th
century composers. Among the most famous luminaries
in other countries were Ottorino Respighi (Italy),
Manuel de Falla and Isaac Albeniz (Spain), and Ralph
Vaughan Williams (England).
A. CLAUDE DEBUSSY (1862–1918)

Personal Background
 He was born in St. Germain-en-
Layein France on August 22, 1862.
His early musical talents were
channeled into piano lessons.
 He entered the Paris Conservatory
in 1873.
 One of the most important and
influential of the 20th century
composers.
 He died in Paris on March 25, 1918
of cancer at the height of the First
World War.
Musical Background
- The primary exponent of the impressionist movement and the focal
point for other impressionist composers.
- He changed the course of musical development by dissolving
traditional rules and conventions into a new language of possibilities in
harmony, rhythm, form, texture, and color.
- He gained a reputation as an erratic pianist and a rebel in theory and
harmony.
- In 1884, he won the top prize at the Prix de Rome competition with
his composition L’ Enfant Prodigue (The Prodigal Son)
Musical Works of Claude Debussy
- Ariettes Oubliees
- Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun
- String Quartet
- 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
Images, Suite Bergamasque, and Estampes—his most
popular piano compositions; a set of lightly textured pieces
containing his signature work Claire de Lune (Moonlight)
Note: His musical compositions total more or less 227
which include orchestral music, chamber music, piano
music, operas, ballets, songs, and other vocal music.
Musical Style of Claude Debussy
The creative style of Debussy was characterized by his
unique approach to the various musical elements.
Debussy’s compositions deviated from the Romantic
Period and is clearly seen by the way he avoided metric
pulses and preferred free form and developed his
themes. Debussy’s western influences came from
composers Franz Liszt and Giuseppe Verdi. From the
East, he was fascinated by the Javanese gamelan that he
had heard at the 1889 Paris Exposition. The gamelan is
an ensemble with bells, gongs, xylophone, and occasional
vocal parts which he later used in his works to achieve a
new sound.
B. MAURICE RAVEL (1875–1937)
Personal Background
 He was born 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.
 During his stint with the school where he
stayed until his early 20’s, he had
composed a number of masterpieces.
 He died in Paris in 1937.

Musical Background
 The compositional style of Ravel is mainly characterized by its
uniquely innovative but not atonal style of harmonic treatment.
 It is defined with intricate and sometimes modal melodies and
extended chordal components.
 The harmonic progressions and modulations are not only
musically satisfying but also pleasantly dissonant and elegantly
sophisticated.
 His refined delicacy and color, contrasts and effects add to the
difficulty in the proper execution of the musical passages.
 These are extensively used in his works of a programmatic
nature, wherein visual imagery is either suggested or
portrayed.
 Many of his works deal with water in its flowing or stormy
moods as well as with human characterizations.
 Ravel was a perfectionist and every bit a musical craftsman. He
strongly adhered to the classical form, specifically its ternary
structure.
 A strong advocate of Russian music, he also admired the music
of Chopin, Liszt, Schubert, and Mendelssohn.
Musical Works of Maurice Ravel
 Pavane for a Dead Princess (1899), a slow but lyrical requiem
 Jeux d’Eau or Water Fountains (1901)
 String Quartet (1903)  Sonatine for Piano (c.1904)
 Miroirs (Mirrors), 1905, a work for piano known for its harmonic evolution and
imagination,
 Gaspard de la Nuit (1908), a set of demonic-inspired pieces based on the poems
of Aloysius Bertrand which is arguably the most difficult piece in the piano
repertoire.
 These were followed by a number of his other significant works, including Valses
Nobles et Sentimentales (1911)
 Le Tombeau de Couperin (c.1917), a commemoration of the musical advocacies
of the early 18th century French composer Francois Couperin,
 Rhapsodie Espagnole
 Bolero
 Daphnis et Chloe (1912), a ballet commissioned by master choreographer Sergei
Diaghilev that contained rhythmic diversity, evocation of nature, and choral
ensemble
 La Valse (1920), a waltz with a frightening undertone that had been composed for
ballet and arranged as well as for solo and duo piano.
 The two piano concerti composed in 1929 as well as the violin virtuosic piece
Tzigane (1922) total the relatively meager compositional output of Ravel,
approximating 60 pieces for piano, chamber music, song cycles, ballet, and opera.
Comparative Styles of Debussy and Ravel

As the two major exponents of French Impressionism in

music, Debussy and Ravel had crossed paths during their
lifetime although Debussy was thirteen years older than
Ravel. While their musical works sound quite similar in
terms of their harmonic and textural characteristics, the
two differed greatly in their personalities and approach
to music. Whereas Debussy was more spontaneous and
liberal in form, Ravel was very attentive to the classical
norms of musical structure and the compositional
craftsmanship. Whereas Debussy was more casual in his
portrayal of visual imagery, Ravel was more formal and
exacting in the development of his motive ideas.
C. ARNOLD SCHOENBERG (1874–1951)
Personal Background
 Arnold Schoenberg was born in a working-
class suburb of Vienna, Austria on
September 13, 1874.
Musical Background
 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), a counterpoint of Debussy’s
opera of the same title
 Schoenberg’s style was constantly
undergoing development. From the early
influences of Wagner, his tonal preference
gradually turned to the dissonant and
atonal, as he explored the use of chromatic
harmonies.
 Although full of melodic and lyrical interest, his music is also
extremely complex, creating heavy demands on the listener.
 His works were met with extreme reactions, either strong hostility
from the general public or enthusiastic acclaim from his supporters.
Musical Works of Schoenberg

 Verklarte Nacht, Three Pieces for Piano, op. 11

 Pierrot Lunaire,
 Gurreleider
 Verklarte Nacht (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
 His musical compositions total more or less 213 which include
concerti, orchestral music, piano music, operas, choral music, songs,
and other instrumental music. Schoenberg died on July 13, 1951 in
Los Angeles, California, USA where he had settled since 1934.
D. IGOR STRAVINSKY (1882–1971)
Personal Background
 He was born in Oranienbaum (now Lomonosov),
Russia onJune 17, 1882.
 He died in New York City on April 6, 1971.
Musical Background
 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. A new level of
dissonance was reached and the sense of tonality
was practically abandoned.
 A symmetrical rhythms successfully portrayed the character of a
solemn pagan rite. When he left the country for the United States in
1939, Stravinsky slowly turned his back on Russian nationalism and
cultivated his neo-classical style.
 Stravinsky adapted the forms of the 18th centurywith his
contemporary style of writing. 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.
 Stravinsky’s musicaloutputapproximates127 works, including
concerti, orchestral music, instrumental music, operas, ballets, solo
vocal, and choral music.
PRIMITIVISM
 Primitivistic music is tonal through the asserting of one note as
more important than the others. New sounds are synthesized
from old ones by juxtaposing two simple events to create a more
complex new event.
 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.
A. BELA BARTOK (1881–1945)
Personal Background
 He was born in Nagyszentmiklos, Hungary
(now Romania) on March 25, 1881, to
musical parents.
 He started piano lessons with his mother
and later entered Budapest Royal AcademY
of Music in1899.
Musical Background
 He was inspired by the performance of
Richard Strauss’s Also Sprach Zarathustra
to write his first nationalistic poem,
Kossuth in 1903.
 He was a concert pianist as he travelled
exploring the music of Hungarian
peasants.
 In 1906, with his fellow composer Kodaly, Bartok published his first
collection of 20 Hungarian folk songs. For the next decade,
although his music was being badly received in his country, he
continued to explore Magyar folk songs. Later, he resumed his career
as a concert pianist, while composing several works for his own use.
 As a neo-classicist, primitivist, and nationalist composer, Bartok
used Hungarian folk themes and rhythms.
 He also utilized changing meters and strong syncopations. His
compositions were successful because of their rich melodies and
lively rhythms. He admired the musical styles of Liszt, Strauss,
Debussy, and Stravinsky.
 He eventually shed their influences in favor of Hungarian folk and
peasant themes.
 These later became a major source of the themes of his works. Bartok
is most famous for his Six String Quartets (1908–1938). It
represents the greatest achievement of his creative life, spanning a
full 30 years for their completion. The six works combine difficult
and dissonant music with mysterious sounds.
 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.
 His musical compositions total more or less 695 which include
concerti, orchestral music, piano music, instrumental music, dramatic
music, choral music, and songs. In 1940, the political developments in
Hungary led Bartok to migrate to the United States, where he died on
September 26, 1945 in New York City, USA.
 
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.
 Examples of neo-classicism are Bela Bartok’s Song of the Bagpipe
and Piano Sonata. In this latter piece, the classical three-
movement format is combined with ever-shifting time signatures,
complex but exciting rhythmic patterns, as well as harmonic
dissonances that produce harsh chords.
 The neo-classicist style was also used by composers such as Francis
Poulenc, Bela Bartok, Igor Stravinsky, Paul Hindemith, and Sergei
Prokofieff.
A. SERGEI PROKOFIEFF (1891–1953)

Personal Background
 Born in the Ukraine in 1891, Prokofieff set out for
the St. Petersburg Conservatory equipped with his
great talent as a composer and pianist.
 His early compositions were branded as avant
garde and were not approved of by his elders, he
continued to followhis stylistic path as he fled to
other places for hopefully better acceptance of his
creativity
 Sergei Prokofieff is regarded today as a
combination of neo-classicist, nationalist, and
avant garde composer. His style is uniquely
recognizable for its progressive technique,
pulsating rhythms, melodic directness, and a
resolving dissonance.
 He died in Moscow on March 15, 1953
Musical Background
 His contacts with Diaghilev and Stravinsky gave him the chance
to write music for the ballet and opera, notably the ballet
Romeo and Juliet and the opera War and Peace.
 Much of Prokofieff’s opera was left unfinished, due in part to
resistance by the performers themselves to the seemingly
offensive musical content.
 He became prolific in writing symphonies, chamber music,
concerti, and solo instrumental music.
 He also wrote Peter and the Wolf, a lighthearted orchestral
work intended for children, to appease the continuing
government crackdown on avant garde composers at the time.
 He was highlysuccessful in his piano music, as evidenced bythe
wide acceptance of his piano concerti and sonatas, featuring
toccata- like rhythms and biting harmonic dissonance with in a
classical form and structure.
B. FRANCIS POULENC (1899–1963)
Personal Background
 One of the relatively few composers born into
wealth and a privileged social position.
 the neo-classicist Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc was
a member of the group of young French composers
known as “Les Six.”
 He died in Paris on January 30, 1963.

Musical Background
 His compositions had a coolly elegant modernity,
tempered by a classical sense of proportion.
 He rejected the heavy romanticism of Wagner and
the so-called imprecision of Debussy and Ravel.
 Poulenc was also fond of the witty approach of
Satie, as well as the early neo-classical works of
Stravinsky.
 Poulenc was a successful composer for piano,
voice, and choral music.
Compositions of Poulenc
 Concert Champetre (1928)
 Concerto for Two Pianos (1932)- which combined the classical touches of
Mozart with a refreshing mixture of wit and exoticism in the styleof Ravel.
 Concerto for Solo Piano (1949) -written for the Boston Symphony
Orchestra.
Opera
 Les Mamelles de Tiresias (1944)- which revealed his light-hearted
character
 Dialogues des Carmelites (1956)- which highlighted his conservative
writing style.
 LaVoix Humane (1958), which reflected his own turbulent emotional life.
Choral- choral works tended to be more somber and solemn (in this period)
 Litanies a la vierge noire (Litanies of the Black Madonna, 1936), with its
monophony, simple harmony, and startling dissonance.
 Stabat Mater (1950), which carried a Baroque solemnity with a prevailing
style of unison singing and repetition.
 
Poulenc’s musical compositions total around 185 which include solo piano works,
as well as vocal solos, known as melodies, which highlighted many aspects of his
temperament in his avant garde style.
 
Avant Garde Music
Closely associated with electronic music, 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.
 
A. GEORGE GERSHWIN (1898–1937)

 Born in New York to Russian Jewish immigrants.

 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
 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.
 His musical compositions total around 369 which
include orchestral music, chamber music, musical
theatre, film musicals, operas, and songs
 He died in Hollywood, California, U.S.A. on July
11, 1937.
Composition of Gershwin

 La La Lucille in 1919.
 Rhapsody in Blue (1924)
 An American in Paris (1928)- which incorporated jazz
rhythms with classical forms
 Porgy and Bess (1934)- remains to this day the only
American opera to be included in the established
repertory of this genre
B. LEONARD BERNSTEIN (1918–1990)
 Born in Massachussetts, 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 the New York 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’s philosophy was that the
universal language of music is basically
rooted in tonality.
 He died in New York City, USA on October 14,
1990.
Compositions of Bernstein

 West Side Story (1957)

 Romeo and Juliet (American version), which displays a tuneful, off-
beat, and highly atonal approach to the songs
 Candide (1956)
 Mass (1971) which he wrote for the opening of the John F. Kennedy
Center for the PerformingArts in Washington, D.C.
 On the Waterfront (1954)- film
 “Young People’s Concerts” (1958–1973)- that demonstrated the
sounds of the various orchestral instruments and explained basic
music principles to young audiences.
 “Harvardian Lectures”- a six-volume set of his papers on syntax,
musical theories, and philosophical insights delivered to his students
at Harvard University.
 His musical compositions total around 90
 
C. PHILIP GLASS (1937– )
Personal Background
 Born in New York, USA of Jewish parentage.
 Became an accomplished violinist and flutist at
the age of 15.
 
Musical Background
 In Paris, he became inspired by the music of the
renowned Indian sitarist Ravi Shankar.
 One of the most commercially successful
minimalist composers 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.
 
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
21ST CENTURY MUSIC TRENDS
Music scholars predict that the innovative and
experimental developments of 20th century classical music
will continue to influence the music of the 21st century. With
so many technical and stylistic choices open to today’s
composers, it seems there is no obstacle to their creativity and
to the limits of their imagination. And yet, this same freedom
that has allowed such varied musical experimentation in
recent years has also caused contemporary classical music—or
music utilizing the classical techniques of composition—to
lose touch with its audience and to lose its clear role in today’s
society. Presently, modern technology and gadgets put a great
impact on all types of music. However, what still remains to
be seen is when this trend will shift, and what the distinct
qualities of emerging classical works will be.
20TH CENTURY MUSICAL STYLES: ELECTRONIC
and CHANCE MUSIC
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
New inventions and discoveries of science and
technology lead to continuing developments in the field of
music. Technology has produced electronic music devices
such as cassette tape recorders, compact discs and their
variants, the video compact disc (VCD) and the digital video
disc (DVD), MP3, MP4, ipod, iphone, karaoke players,
mobile phones and synthesizers. These devices are used for
creating and recording music to add to or to replace
acoustical sounds
NEW MUSICAL STYLES
 
Electronic Music
The capacity of electronic machines such as synthesizers, amplifiers, tape
recorders, and loudspeakers to create different sounds

Concrete Music (Musique Concrete) – music that uses tape

recorder

A. EDGARD VARESE (1883–1965)

 Edgard (also spelled Edgar) Varèse was born on December 22,
1883
 He was considered an “innovative French-born composer.”
 He invented the term “organized sound,” which means that
certain timbres and rhythms can be grouped together in order to
capture a whole new definition of sound.
B. KARLHEINZ STOCKHAUSEN (1928– )
 Karlheinz Stockhausen is a central figure in the realm of electronic
music.
 Born in Cologne, Germany, he had the opportunity to meet
Messiaen, Schoenberg, and Webern, the principal innovators at
the time.
 Stockhausen’s music was initially met with resistance due to its
heavily atonal content with practicallyno clear melodic or
rhythmic sense.
Chance Music
Chance music refers to a style wherein the piece
always sounds different at every performance because of
the random techniques of production, including the use
of ring modulators or natural elements that become a
part of the music. Most of the sounds emanate from the
surroundings, both natural and man-made, such as
honking cars, rustling leaves, blowing wind, dripping
water, or a ringing phone. As such, the combination of
external sounds cannot be duplicated as each happens by
chance.
A. JOHN CAGE (1912–1992)

 John Cage was known as one of the 20th century composers with
the widest array of sounds in his works.
 He 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 in order to achieve new sounds. He experimented with
what came to be known as “chance music.”
 SUMMARY
The early half of the 20th century also gave rise to new musical
styles, which were not quite as extreme as the electronic, chance, and
minimalist styles that arose later. These new styles were
impressionism, expressionism, neo-classicism, avant garde music,
and modern nationalism.

A. Impressionism made use of the whole-tone scale. It also applied

suggested, rather than depicted, reality. It created a mood rather than a
definite picture. It had a translucent and hazy texture; lacking a
dominant-tonic relationship. It made use of overlapping chords, with 4th,
5th, octaves, and 9th intervals, resulting in a non-traditional harmonic
order and resolution.
B. Expressionism revealed the composer’s mind, instead of presenting an
impression of the environment. It used atonality and the twelve-tone
scale, lacking stable and conventional harmonies. It served as a medium
for expressing strong emotions, such as anxiety, rage, and alienation.
C. Neo-classicism was a partial return to a classical form of writing
music with carefully modulated dissonances. It made use of a freer
seven-note diatonic scale.
D. The avant garde style was associated with electronic music and dealt
with the parameters or dimensions of sound in space. It made use of
variations of self-contained note groups to change musical continuity,
and improvisation, with an absence of traditional rules on harmony,
melody, and rhythm.
E. Modern nationalism is a looser form of 20th century music
development focused on nationalist composers and musical innovators
who sought to combine modern techniques with folk materials.