Modern Period (Late Romantic-20th Cent.)

Question 1

20th century Influences outside of music

Answer 1

• Indeterminacy/Chance (John Cage)- Blurring boundaries between music, art, and life
• Digital technologies - invention of instruments, dissemination of instruments. Globalized musical styles
• WWII - Nazi regime rejected serialism (non-nationalist music), musicians belonged to central org. (Orff); serialism after the war, Webern, Copland, Babbitt
• Serialism beyond tonality - Berio “Sequenza”

Question 2

Post-Romantic Operas

Answer 2

• Debussy “Peleas et Melisande” (1902)
• Berg “Wozzeck” (1914) - Expressionist, sprechstimme, rhythmic motives connected to characters. Based off WWI story
•Hindemith “Mathis der Maler” (1934)- Neo-Romantic style, less dissonance, more tonal organization. Consonant chords evolve to dissonant chords
• Britten “Peter Grimes” (1945) - English. Allegory for gay men in hostile society. Bitonality
• Adams “Nixon in China” (1987)
“Dr. Atomic.” (2005) - declassified documents, atomic bomb.

Question 3

Post-Romantic Symphonies/Symphonic Poems

Answer 3

• Debussy “Nocturnes” (1892)- textures, movement w/o harmonic direction, obscured musical images
• Ravel “Tzigane,” (1924) “Bolero,” (1928) “Rapsodie espagnole” (1907) - impressionism, colorful harmonies; Dance styles/suites, incl. Waltzes and outside influences.
• Stravinsky “Symphony of Psalms” (1930) - orch. plus choir. Contrasting sound blocks, octatonic.
• Bartok - “Concerto for Orchestra”(1943) - musical symmetry, palindromes, etc.
• Prokofiev “Kije,” (1933) “Peter and the Wolf” (1936) - tonal w/unexpected harmonies.
• Shostakovich symphonies - wide range of emotions, sonata forms
• Strauss, “Don Quixote” (1897) - motives represent characters, can develop. Less focus on form.

Question 4

Post-Romantic Ballet

Answer 4

• Stravinsky “Firebird,” (1910) “Rite,” (1913) “Petrushka” (1911) - Repetitive rhythmics, blocks; Based on traditional Russian folk-tales; used borrowed folk melodies, unpredictable variations, octatonic collections/dissonance.
• Prokofiev - “Romeo & Juliet” (1935)- Tonality, simple meters
• Copland (Appalachian Spring)
• Tchaikovsky (Nutcracker, Swan Lake)

Question 5

Post-Romantic Chamber Music

Answer 5

• Beach “Piano quintet F# minor” (1907)
• Schoenberg “Pierrot lunaire” (1912)
• Stravinsky “soldiers Tale” (1918)
• Seeger “String Quartet” (1931)
• Messiaen “Quartet for the end of Time” (1941)
• Crumb “Black Angels” (1970)

Question 6

Solo Keyboard Music - 1900s

Answer 6

• Satie “Gymnopedie” (Late 1890s)
• Debussy “Suite Bergamasque” (1905)
• Scriabin “Vers la Flamme” (1914)
• Schoenberg “Piano Suite, Op. 25” (1921)
• Bartok “Mikrokosmos” “piano sonata” (1930s)
• Cage “Music of Changes” (1951)

Question 7

Russian composers (1900s)

Answer 7

• Rachmaninoff (Turn of 1900)
• Stravinsky (Turn of 1900-1930)
• Prokofiev (Early 1900s)
• Shostakovich (early-mid 1900s)

Question 8

Serialist composers

Answer 8

Second Viennese school
• Arnold Schoenberg “Pierrot Lunaire”
• Alban Berg “Wozzeck”
Later…
• Ingolf Dahl “Sinfonietta for Band” - Serialist yet tonal