History of Music
 
 
Contemporary Period
1900-Present
Why do musical styles change? The "evolution" of music is at least partly
shaped by the influence one composer has on another. These influences
are not always positive, however. Sometimes composers react against
the music of their recent past (even though they might admire it) and move
in what seems to be the opposite direction. For example, the simplified
style of the early Classical period was almost certainly a reaction to the
extreme intricacies of the late Baroque.
The late Romantic period featured its own extremes: sprawling
symphonies and tone-poems overflowing with music that seemed to
stretch harmony and melody to their limits. It is certainly possible to view
some early 20th century music as an extension of the late Romantic style,
but a great deal of it can also be interpreted as a reaction against that
style.
20th century music is a series of "isms" and "neo-isms." The primal energy
of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring has been called neo-Primitivism. The
intensely emotional tone of Schönberg's early music has been labeled
Expressionism. The return to clearly structured forms and textures has
been dubbed neo-Classicism. These terms have been employed in an
attempt to organize the diversity of styles running through the 20th
century.
Nationalism continued to be a strong musical influence in the first half of
the century. The study of folk songs enriched the music of numerous
composers, such as Ralph Vaughan Williams (England), Bela Bartok
(Hungary), Heitor Villa Lobos (Brazil) and Aaron Copland (USA). Jazz
and popular musical styles have also been tremendously influential on
"classical" composers from both the United States and Europe.
Technology has played a increasingly important role in the development of
20th century music. Composers have used recording tape as a
compositional tool (such as Steve Reich's Violin Phase). Electronically
generated sounds have been used both on their own and in combination
with traditional instruments. More recently, computer technology has been
used in a variety of ways, including manipulating the performance of
instruments in real time.

 

Sound
-totally experimental
-now there’s electronic instruments all over

Texture
-Bigger extremes than Romantic -Really thick or Really thin

Harmony
-sometimes there are totally new harmonic systems
-lots of chromaticism
-there are polytriads- 2 different triads stacked on top of each other
-polytonality- different instruments are in different keys at the same time
-atonal- no tonal center

Melody
-A lot of it has no melody
-if there is a melody, the intervals are insanely large
-the phrases are either really short, or really long
-disjumped- off center or fragmented

Rhythm
-becomes extremely complex
-very irregular
-usually, there are old numbered meters
-Additive Rhythms- lack of meter
-Sometimes, no bar lines

Form
-very complex
-distorted
-sometimes new forms
-12 Tone Technique
             -start with a row
             -48 possibilities
             -Retrograde, Inversion, Transposition, Retrograde Inversion

Composers
David Ott
Ottorino Respighi
Berese
Anton Bruckner
Barter
John Williams
Leos Janácek (1854-1928)
Claude Debussy
    Romance - Debussy
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Richard Strauss
    Voices of Spring
        Waltz op. 410 (7 '32)
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    Morgen - R. Strauss
    (with Kaaren Erickson, soprano)
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 Carl Nielsen (1865-1931)
Jan Sibelius (1865-1957)
Arnold Schoenberg
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)
    La Vallee des Cloches - Ravel
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Béla Bartók (1881-1945)
Igor Stravinsky
Anton von Webern (1883-1945)
Alban Berg (1885-1945)
Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953)
Paul Hindemith (1895-1963)
George Gershwin (1898-1937)
Kurt Weill (1900-1950)
Aaron Copland (1900-1990)
Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975)
Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992)
John Cage (1912-1992)
Benjamin Britten (1913-1976)
Pierre Boulez
Luciano Berio (b. 1925)
Philip Glass (b. 1937)