Chapter 31 Modernism and the classical tradition

Question 1

Modernists

Answer 1

20th century composers who made a radical break from the musical language of their predecessors and contemporaries while maintaining strong links to the tradition.

Question 2

Arnold Schoenberg

Answer 2

1874-1951 move beyond tonality ex the book of the hanging garden, three piano pieces 5 orchestra pieces- mahler treated instruments soloistically op 11 and erwartung op 17 for soprano opera . influenced berg and webern.

Question 3

Atonality

Answer 3

• music that avoids establishing a tonal center

Question 4

12 tone method

Answer 4

a form a tonality based on systematic orderings of the 12 notes of the chromatin scale. Started of with tonal work ex tone poem string sextet verklarte nacht 1899 draws on mahler and strauss. Complexity in scoring. String quartet # 1 in d minor op 7- brahms developing variation chamber music themes evolve through variation and combination. - nonreptiion but new variations
Atonal- Strauss influence of avoiding conventional cadences, non repetition - emancipation of the dissonance - any combo of tones could serve as a stable chord and did not need to resolve. Ex Saget mir, auf welchem pfade- from the book of the hanging gardens op 15 1908 floating tonal space, does not gravitate to a tone. German lieder influence- texture, rise and fall of the vocal melody, division of phrases

Question 5

Pitch class

Answer 5

set a collection of pitch classes that preserve its identity when transposed, inverted or reordered and used melodically or harmonically .motive containined 3 or more pitches

Question 6

Chromatic saturation

Answer 6

appearance of all 12 pitch classes within a segment of music. Used to give the feeling of completing a phrase.

Question 7

Expression

Answer 7

exaggerated gestures, angular melodies, and unrelenting dissonance. Ex Schoenbergs Erwartung op 17 - non repetition to an extreme - no themes or motives

Question 8

Pierrot Lunaire

Answer 8

back to “tradiition” 1912 schoenberg a cycle of 21 songs 5 performer switch 9 instruments and soprano. Voice declains the text in sprechstimme approximating the written pitches in the gliding tones of speech while following the notated rhythm exactly. Each poem has a refrain, traditional genres including waltz a serenda

Question 9

Twelve tone method

Answer 9

12 tones that are only related to one another row or series 12 tone composition consisting of the 12 pitch classes arranged in an order chosen by the composer and producing a particular sequence of intervals. Row can be used in its original prime , inversions retrograde backwards and retrograde inversion. Instrumental ex piano suite op 25 - row appears in 8 forms (bach) and violin concerto op 36 tetrachords 4 consecutive notes hexachord in 12 tone theory the first six or last six notes in the row.

Question 10

Alban Berg

Answer 10

1885-1935 adopted 12 tone and atonal but his music was more approachable opera Wozzeck 1925 expressive gestures, characteristic styles with atonal expressionist opera continuous music some sprechstimme , leitmotifs, pitch class sets for specific characters 12 tone works - lyric suite for string quartet 1925 and lulu 1928

Question 11

Anton Webern

Answer 11

1883-1945 music is a presentation of ideas that can be expressed in no other way. Wrote The path to the new music 12 tone music was inevitable result of evolution because it combined advanced approach to pitch, musical space and presentation of musical ideas. First 12 tone 1925 op 17 voice violin and clarinets. Wrote equally for voice and instruments. Op 10 no 4 5 pieces for orchestra- only 6 measures long- the song was done when all 12 notes were played Symphony op 21 1927 only 8 minutes long. Double cannon in inversion. Sonata form. Stripped texture, specific dynamics Klangfarbenmelodie tone color melody concept of schoenberg in which changes of tone color are perceived as parallel to changing pitches in melody.

Question 12

Igor Stravinsky

Answer 12

1882-1971 russian. Undermining meter through unpredictable accents and rests or through rapid changes of emeter, frequent ostinatos,discontinuity and interruption, dissonance based on diatonic, octatonic. “Russian period” ballets firebird 1910 - humans diatonic supernatural octatonic or chromatic. and petrushka 1910, blocks of static harmony, repetitive melody and rhythmic patterns. Influenced by Rimsky the rite of spring 1911 prehistoric russia. Regular barring each pulse in the first 2 measures is played with the same strength. Unpredictable pattern of stresses but 9 measure periods to make it easier to dance to. WWI= less money and smaller ensembles. L’histoire du soldat 1918 6 solo instruments in pairs and percussion

Question 13

neoclassicism

Answer 13

stravinsky 1910s-1950s revived, imitated or evoked the styles, genres , and forms of pre-romantic music especially of the 18th century. Rejection of romanticism. Ex Symphomy of Psalms 1930 stravinsky - perpetual motion, ostinaots, fugue

Question 14

Neotonal

Answer 14

established a single pitch as a tonal center but does not flow the traditional rules of tonality.

Question 15

Serial music

Answer 15

music that used the 12 tone method used especially for music that extends the same general approach to aries in parameter other than pitch. - ex In memoriam Dylan THomas 1952 Stravinsky disrupted emeter, juxtaposed blocks

Question 16

Bela Bartok

Answer 16

hungarian 1881-1945 peasant music with german and french tradition. Over 2000 hungrian slovak song and dance tunes, ethnomusicology first works first string quartet 1908 and opera bluebeard’s castle. 1918- hungarian and debussy style PIano- Allegro barbaro 1911 piano used more as a percussive instrument . 2 violin sonatas 1921-22 pushing away from tonality. Other famous works 3 and 4 string quartets, music for strings, percussion and celesta 1936 and mikrokosmos 1929 153 piano pieces - easy to difficult - sing pitch center, contrapuntal and formal procddures of classical , rhythmic completely of peasant tradiiotn and irregular meters short motives and phrase both classical and peasant

Question 17

Charles Ives

Answer 17

1874-1954 synthesizing international and regional music traditions. american , protestant, european and experimental. American- started with writing parlor songs and marches. Worked as an organist and composed solo songs and sacred choral works. 2nd symphony american themes, hymans and transitional passages of bach, wagner. 3rd symphony - movements based on american hymn tunes. Thematic fragmentation. - development happens first with the theme in its entirety at the end. (Cumulative form) New england holiday and three places in new england
What made him similar to older composers- wide range od styles in one piece, different blocks of material debussy, referenced folk song, timbre, rhythm, register art song- General william booth enters into heaven 1914

Question 18

Experimental music

Answer 18

20th century music that focused on the exploration on new musical sounds, techniques and resources. IVES

Question 19

Polytonal

Answer 19

the simultaneous use of 2 or more keys, each in a different layer of the music ex Processional for chorus and organ 1902 and Scherzo all the way around the back 1908 - palindrome, builds layers of dissonant ostinatos. Units represented the 1st 5 prime numbers Famous The unanswered question 1908 Tonal and atonal laters in one piece

Question 20

Cumulative Form

Answer 20

• the principle theme appears in its entirety only at the end of a work preceded by the development.

Question 21

Collage work

Answer 21

or passage that uses multiple quotations without following a standard procedure for doing so, such as quodlibet or melody.