20th Century Flashcards
Aleatory
Music in which the composer employs elements of chance
“Chance music”
The indeterminate aspect may affect the act of composition the performance or both
(Throwing dice to determine pitch or rhythm)
John Cage is a notable example, Music of Changes a piano piece in 1951
Other composers: Stockhausen and Robert Moran
Anderson, Laurie
B 1947
One of the main “performance artists” of the later 20th century
Anderson wrote music designed to be performed by herself
Her work is influenced by popular genres and utilizes multi-media
Song cycle - United States
Anderson, Leroy
American 1908-1975 1935 freelance composer working for Boston Pops Jazz Pizzicato 1939 Sleigh Ride 1950 The Typewriter 1953
Atonal
Non-tonal music
Referees to Pre-twelve tone music of Schoenberg and his i followers
Schoenberg preferred the term “pan tonal” but it didn’t stick
Babbit, Milton
B. 1916
Composer, scholar of math and music and theoretician
Expounded the view of serialism as a musical system whose properties he has developed with the aid from terms derived from math (combinatoriality, set).
His works use serial methods used to determine pitches and rhythmic and formal shapes
4 string quartets, various other chamber pieces and piano works, songs and tape pieces and synthesizer pieces
Bachianas brasileiras
Nine works by Villa-Lobos that combine elements of Brazilian folk music with the spirit of JS Bach counterpoint
Each his a suite with two titles: one reflecting the Baroque the other referring to Brazilian popular form
Each is for a different kind of ensemble
Ballet russe
Formed in 1909 by Sergei Diaghilev
Dedicated to the concept of total unity of production
Hired some of the worlds finest artist to mount works for his company
Picasso was among his designers
Scores were commissioned by Stravinsky (Firebird, Petrushka, Rite of Spring), Debussy (Jeux), Falla, Milhaud, Satie (Parade), Ravel (Daphnis et Chloe)
Abstract ballet dancing with no narrative was introduced
Because of Diaghilev ballet came to be regarded as a serious art and as a leading force in modern aesthetics
The group disbanded into other groups when Diaghilev died in 1929
Bartok, Bela
1881-1945
Hungarian
The foremost 20th century representative of nationalism in music
Major contributions to the standard rep of the symphony, concerto, piano music, and string quartet
Provided inspiration for other nationalistic composers
Brought authentic folk elements into an unprecedented synthesis with techniques of traditional art music
Mikrokosmos, 3 concerto for piano, music for strings, percussion and celesta 1936, Concerto for orchestra, six string quartets
Berberian, Cathy
First wife of Luciano Berlio
Accomplished singer
Inspiration for some of Berlioz’s most impressive vocal works: Thema 1958, Circles 1960, Passaggio 1963
Berg, Alban
1885-1935
Austrian
Applied 12-tone method with freedom and still used traditional forms often, creating an individual style with a post-Romantic warmth of expression
Wozzeck 1921, Lulu 1935
Classical approach to form and frequent use of tone-centers
Berlio, Luciano
B 1925 Italian Leading contemporary Italian composer Draws inspiration from anthropology, electro-acoustic research, ethnomusicology, phonetics and experimental traditions of the theater Early works = neoclassical Electronic music
Boulanger, Nadia
1887-1979
French
Conductor and famous teacher in France
Studied at Paris Conservatory with Faure and others
Active in reviving Monteverdi
Training many distinguished composers: Elliott Carter, Copland, Roy Harris
Her sister Lili was the first woman to win the Prix de Rome, might have had more fame if she didn’t die so young at 25
Boulez, Pierre
B 1925
French composer, conductor
Studied at Paris conservatory with Messiaen
Early musical style like that of Schoenberg’s serialism and Stravinsky’s rhythmic methods: 2 piano sonatas, a cantata
First book of Structures for two pianos 1951/2 created a “total serial” style in which every musical aspect: Pitch, duration, loudness, and attack is organized according to serial rules
Later compositions included elements of chance and aleatory
Decrease in composition and rise in conducting
Brecht, Bertolt
German poet and philosopher who collaborated with Kurt Weil
three Penny Opera, Seven Deadly Sins, and Mahagony
Similar to Broadway musicals but incorporated an alienation effect for political commentary amidst the cabaret style
Britten, Benjamin
1913-1976
English composer, pianist and conductor
Brilliance as a pianist (accompanist) and interpreter of his own and other’s music
Peter Grimes 1945, first great English opera since Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas
Reached widest audience with War Requiem in 1962 - Large scale choral work combines the Latin mass with war poems by Owen
Brown, Earle
B 1926
American
Influenced by and associated with Cage, Jackson, Pollock, and Alexander Calder
Known for his unusual musical notation
Graphic scores December 1952 (1952) is a design of thin black rectangles on a white ground
When he came in contact with the European avant-garde he went back to traditional notation
Busoni, Ferruccio
1866-1924
Italian pianist and composer who settled in Berlin
Addict of Bach’s music (editor and transcriber of his music) at a time when Italian composers and pianists hardly knew it
Best known as a virtuoso with a special interest in Bach and Liszt
Great interpreter of Beethoven’s late period works
Cage, John
B 1912
American
Introduced chance procedures to music
Music of changes for Piano 1951 determined by coin tosses
4’3’’ 1952 is silent and the aspect of silence
Also produced aleatory and electronic music as well
Cardew, Cornelius
1936-1981
English composer
Treatise for unspecified forces
Assistant to Stockhousen
Carter, Elliott
B 1908
American
Studied in Paris with Nadia Boulanger and returned to America as a fluent Neoclassicist
Extended harmonic range, introduced new rhythmic fluidity, metric modulation, forms based on musical character and defined by their own harmonic nature
Casella, Alfredo
1882-1947
Italian
Studied with Faure at Paris conservatory
Pianist and conductor
Took up Stravisnky’s neoclassical approach after WWI
Chavez, Carlos
1899-1978
Mexican self taught composer
Did much to invigorate music of his home country and took Mexican music around the world as a conductor
Cocteau, Jean
French poet and author of the early 20th century
“Cock and Harlequin” 1918 - “Satie teaches what, in our age, is the greatest audacity = simplicity”
He warned against the influences of German music, and the impressionistic leanings of his own countrymen
He extolled the virtues of “everyday” music which would have the flavor of street, circus and jazz
He penned a ballet which Satie set to music (Parade) which featured jazz and acrobatics within and put on by the Ballet Russe
Collage
20th century compositional technique combining several incongruous and contrasting styles within a single composition
“Everything is good, so let’s have everything”
Ives, Satie, and Berio (Sinfonia)
Combinatoriality
A property of symmetry which may be displayed by a series or other set
For example, a 12-note series may be said to exhibit “Inversioal hexachordal combinatoriality” if the first hexachord of one of its forms has the same content as the second hexachord of an inverted form.
It is a way of relating serial forms within a work
Creative uses of this have been most thoroughly exploited by Milton Babbitt
Copland, Aaron
1900-1991
American composer
Studied with Boulanger in Paris gaining knowledge of neoclassicism which he combined with Jazz in his Piano Concerto 1926
Three ballets in which he used American material: Billy the Kid 1938, Rodeo 1942 and Appalachian Spring 1944
Appalachian Spring gave Copland his distinctively American style
He moved into Stravinsky-like serialism with Connotations 1961, Inscape 1967
Cowell, Henry
1897-1965
American composer
The Tides of Manaunaun 1912 - “clusters” of notes to be played on the piano with the fist, palm or forearm
Used the inside of the piano for The Banshee 1925
Influential book “New Musical Resources” 1930
He devised a machine, the rhythmicon for realizing the complex rhythms he was demanding in his music
20 symphonies, which use Persian, Indian and Japanese instruments
Craft of Musical Composition
Hindemith’s composition textbook
Explains the system of composition based on dissonance classifications for different sonorities
Music should began simply (triad) and move to a point of maximum dissonance (climax) and ultimate return to simplicity which is why his pieces always end with a major triad
Hindemith wished to extend the rules of traditional tonality rather than breaking them altogether
The triad remained the foundation for his works
Crumb, George
B 1929
American composer
Five Piano Pieces 1962
Made use of special instrumental effects in the creation of atmosphere sound imagery, often macabre or nocturnal
Ancient voices of Children (for soprano, treble and ensemble) 1970
Makrokosmos 1-2 for piano 1972-3
D-S-C-H
Used as the four-note pc group D, Eb,C,B which denotes Dmitri Shostakovich used this motive in some of his compositions including his violin concerto
Dada
Explicitly “anti-art” much of what the bizarre manifestos, the noise-poetry the chance-poetry, the incomprehensible “simultaneous” poems in three languages at once, and the general obscenity and irrationality were about was a nihilistic and pessimistic negation of both “bourgeois society” and the claims of Modern Art to be able to change that society.
Satie’s Gymnopedie 1888, Parade 1917
Dahlhaus, Carl
B 1928
German musicologist
Wrote: Habilitation (1966), a fundamental study on the development of tonality
He focused on 15th and 16th century music particularly that of Josquin
His writing and editorials on Wagner’s music have brought about renewed of Wagner scholarship
A constant theme of Dahlhaus’s writings and research is the present conception of music and its place in modern society
Dallapiccola, Luigi
1904-1975
Italian composer, pianist and writer
Pioneer of dodecaphony in Italy
His works combine 12-tone techniques with a love for melody and for the song and dance forms of early Italian music
His most important compositions are Variazioni per Orchestra 1954 and Volo di Notte and several song cycles
Davies, Peter Maxwell
B 1934
English composer known for his highly dramatic music
Music theater pieces of the late 1960s/70s are expressionist in style
Eight songs for a mad king (1969) for solo voice and instrumental ensemble feature a crazed obsessive individual with extended vocal techniques
Frequently borrows from the Middle Ages and Renaissance“Missa super l’homme arme” 1968
Sometimes quotes directly, other times alludes to or imitates stylistically, using plainsong, church modes, or hocket
Uses “magic squares” medieval puzzles of mystically or mathematically related numbers, - to determine the formal structure of pitches or rhythms
De Stijl
A group of artists located in Netherlands which took its name from its monthly publication begun in 1917
Promoted the art of almost mathematical purity based on geometrical shapes
This was a new objectivity which was an outgrowth of the post-war Dadaist movement
Debussy, Claude
1862-1918
French composer who had a great deal of influence on the development of 20th century music
Founder and main representative of the impressionist musical style
Won the Prix de Rome in 1884
Interested in the works of impressionist painters and the poetry of Paul Verlaine, Pierre Louys, Stephane Mallarme
Led Debussy to a new style of music first exemplified in his famous “Prelude a l’apres-midi d’un faune” (Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun) after a poem by Mallarme.
Tried to create music based on a single uninterrupted theme rather than on shorter, more conventional themes or motifs
The evocation of mood, atmosphere and color are all important
He achieved this by: instrumentation (particular tone color), Oriental five-tone scale, whole-tone scale, dissonant harmonies, parallel chords and unusual shifting harmonies.
Other notable works: Nocturnes, La Mer, and Images, more than 50 songs, the opera Pelleas et Melisande, two books of etudes, string quartet, preludes
Delius, Frederick
1862-1934
An English Composer
Combines features of romanticism and Impressionism and making use of English materials
Best works are short pieces portraying the English countryside such as “On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring”
Adapted various folk elements to his music, as in Appalachia, Brigg Fair and North Country Sketches
Forms were romantic he employed a number of devices made popular by the impressionists, notably dissonant harmonies and the whole-tone scale
Developing variation
Continuous evolution and transformation of the thematic substance, strictly avoiding literal repetition.
Related to the concept of “musical prose”
Both concepts are used by Schoenberg is his First Quartet
Diaghilev
Director of the ballet company Ballet Russe and other avant-garde movement groups
He selected Stravinsky, Satie and many other artists and musicians for his: Petruschka, The Rite of Spring, and Prelude a l’apres-midi d’un faune
Eaton, John
B 1935
American composer
Early career jazz pianist
Received three Prix de Rome 1959, 1960, 1961.
He utilized varied resources of electronic instruments with exceptional originality and virtuosity.
Closely identified with the Syn-ket a type of electronic synthesizer invented by Pablo Ketoff in 1964, it has several keyboard sensitive to pressure and sliding movement
Electronic music
Music made up of sounds created or manipulated by electronic devices which are recorded and reproduced on magnetic tape or a digital storage medium, OR are created and performed live at virtually the same time
A tape recording or floppy disk or circuit diagram corresponds to the written score of traditional music and playing a tape or compact disk may correspond to a musical performance
It’s early heavy reliance on tape led electronic music to be called tape music
Differs from “music concrete” in that the sounds themselves are generated electronically by a device called a synthesizer
1980s MIDI “musical instrument digital interface”
Elgar, Edward
1857-1934
English composer the first of international importance since the death of Purcell in 1695.
Most important works: Pomp and Circumstance marches, The Dream of Gerontius and Enigma Variations, Cello concerto
His music follows the general forms and harmonic traditions of the 19th century romantic composers
Emancipation of dissonance
Phrase coined by Schoenberg to describe his new style of composition after the First Chamber Symphony
Emphasis on non-harmonic tones becomes so extreme that they tend to not resolve at all
Dissonant harmonic complexes are no longer regulated by underlying triadic successions but are “set free” as absolute harmonic entities, capable of standing on their own and related solely to one another rather than to a single harmonic type representing a universal norm.
Das Buch der hangended Garten (op 15), and his monodrama Erwartung Op 17
Ethnomusicology
The study of music in relation to the culture that produced it
Traditions typically China, Japan, and Arab countries outside of the western tradition
Until the 19th century it was all lumped in together as “exotic music” but towards the end of the 19th century scholars started studying the individual countries in more depth giving the same attention as other disciplines in music
One result has been an increased influence of non-western music in wester music in both popular and serious music
Expressionism
A term borrowed from painting to describe certain kinds of 20th century music written as though to express the innermost feelings of the composer or in stage works of the characters
Paintings - distortion and exaggeration to picture a kind of inner reality
Music - sounds harsh, discordant as well as emotional and dramatic
Schoenberg’s Verklarte Nacht (transfigured night), Pierrot Lunaire, Berg’s two operas: Lulu and Wozzeck and Peter Maxwell Davies, Eight Songs for a mad king 1969.
Both texts and music concentrate more on the psychology of the characters than on external events
German and Austrian composers of the early 20th century like Schoenberg and Berg
Believed art should reflect the inner soul of the creator
Instead of producing an accurate representation of a scene, a composer should express his personal feelings toward it
Involved distorting reality and traditional structures
Falla, Manuel de
1876-1946
Foremost Spanish composer of his time
Particularly known for his use of traditional Spanish music (much of it very old) in his own music
First great success: opera La Vida breve “Life is Short”
He’s combined Spanish folk elements with some of the methods of the French impressionist composers
Song cycle: Siete Canciones popilares espanolas “Seven popular Spanish Songs” 1914 he used actual folk melodies as well as the rhythms and style of folk music
Faure, Gabriel
1845-1924
French composer and teacher
His music represents a transition from 19th century romanticism to the idioms of the 20th century
Church organist and director of the Paris Conservatory
Taught musicians: Ravel and Nadia Boulanger
His compositions are noted for a highly original treatment of harmony, careful use of counterpoint and in his songs, the meticulous fitting of words to music
He made free use of dissonance but never abandoned tonality
His best known songs, numerous piano pieces (preludes, nocturnes, barcaroles, impromptus) and a large amount of chamber music, of which the best examples are two quartets for piano and strings, two piano quintets, and a string quartet composed shortly before his death, Requiem
Feldman, Morton
1926-1987
American composer
1950s closely associated with Cage, Brown, Wolff and Tudor and with the abstract expressionist painters in NY
Influenced by the visual artists more than that by any musician
He composed pieces immediately recognizable for their extreme point-style scoring and their subdued dynamic range
Invented new means of notation to give certain freedom in performance
Introduced Graph notation and precise notation but to make duration relatively free
Foss, Lukas
B 1922
German-born American composer, pianist and composer
His music combines a variety of styles, among them neoclassicism, romantic lyricism, and American folk elements
Late 1950s used various styles experimenting with improvisation, aleatory music, serial techniques and quotation and collage
Futurism
Early 20th century art movement which encompassed painting, sculpture poetry, theater, music, architecture, and cinema
Marinetti initiated the movement in 1909
Futurist rejected tradition and introduced experimental sounds by machinery and inflicted several 20th century composers
Often misused to loosely define any sort of avant-garde or difficult music
Gamelan
General name for classical Indonesian orchestra (many different kinds)
Javanese music uses two kinds of scale systems - a 5 tone scale called slendro, and a seven tone system called a pelog
Texture is usually dense
Percussion used: gongs, drums, xylophones, and kettles
Central melodic theme is played by metal xylophones
Gebrauchsmusik
“Music to be used” “Utility music”
A term invented in the 1920s for music to be played “used” at home by amateurs instead of in a concert halls by pros
Paul Hidemith wrote music especially for this purpose
Compositions call for small groups of performers and are not long or difficult
Allow for substitutions of instruments when you dont have one available
Gershwin, George
1898-1937
American composer
First to succeed in combining american popular and serious music
Rhapsody in Blue for piano and jazz orchestra first performed in 1924 (with composer as soloist)
Elements of ragtime, jazz, spirituals and blues
Symphonic poem (An American in Paris), Concerto in F for piano, folk opera Porgy and Bess
Ginastera, Alberto
1916-1983
Argentine composer
Nationalism (uses folk elements directly) Subjective nationalism (folk elements are not explicit as in his String Quartet no1) and Neo-Expressionism which began with Quartet no 2, his first entirely serial work.
Tragic and fantastic elements in opera. Don Rodrigo 1964 - exploited 12-note techniques
Glass, Philip
B 1937
American composer first became known for his minimalists music, extensive repetition, rhythmic regularity, conventional tonal harmony
1960s found his own eight-member ensemble
1970s began writing opera - Einstein on the Beach 1976, Akhnaten 1984, a series of meditations in Egyptian, Hebrew and Akkadian
Haba, Alois
1893-1973
Czech composer, theorist and teacher
Originator of the use of quarter-tone and sixth-tones in western art music… to realize this he pioneered the construction of special instruments: three types of quarter-tone piano, harmonium, and a quarter-tone clarinet, trumpet and guitar
Microtonal music
