Musical Alternatives before WWII

Question 1

Capitals of Modernism:

Answer 1

Paris and Vienna.

Question 2

Reactions to Modernism:

Answer 2

• Traditionalism: Neoclassicism.

- Maurice Ravel.

Question 3

What type of American music began to attract attention in the 1900’s?

Answer 3

Popular (ragtime, jazz) and African-American music.

Question 4

What was a common trait of American popular music?

Answer 4

Curiosity-driven, experimental. Meanwhile, Europeans were employing a more calculated style. Move away from tonality was in order to achieve expressionism. Expressionism is the most extreme human feelings.

Question 5

Charles Ives

Answer 5

First great American composer. Nationalism, “American” music. Equated dissonance with masculinity.

Question 6

Transcendentalism

Answer 6

All things related despite incongruity. Dissonance mirrors diversity in culture.

Question 7

The Rockstrewn Hills Join the People’s Outdoor Meeting

Answer 7

• “American” elements. Fragments of popular dances including ragtime, marches, and hymns.
• Chaotic, kaleidoscopic. Fragmented, accented dissonance. Polytonality. Celebration vs. nightmare.

Question 8

The Unanswered Question

Answer 8

Transcendentalism at work. Two conductors, 3 levels (trumpet [unanswered question of existence], woodwinds [answers], strings [silence of the druids]).

Question 9

What was the musical atmosphere like in Europe between 1919 and 1939?

Answer 9

• Retreat from modernism.
• Disillusionment, suspicion of progress.
• More accessible music – retrenchment of some composers.

Question 10

Serialism

Answer 10

Uses all 12 tones of the scale to create a 12 tone row. Each pitch of the row must be stated in order. Only after the row is stated can you start the row again. You can state the row upside down, backwards, state the pitches simultaneously, etc. Schoenberg.

Question 11

Neoclassicism

Answer 11

A clearer form, a more transparent texture, objective (sometimes playful) rather than intensely expressive form of music. Can sometimes sound impersonal. Stravinsky.

Question 12

Maurice Ravel

Answer 12

Neoclassicism mixed with impressionism.

Question 13

Piano Concerto in G

Answer 13

• Modern sounds, classical form.
• Jazz influence, “blue” notes, jazz harmonies, syncopated rhythms, instrumentation.
• Movement 1 is sonata-esque. Clarity of phrases, themes, repetition, contrast, variation, sectional divisions.