Reading: Early Modernism Flashcards
Debussy
- Border between Romanticism and Modernism.
- Known as impressionist.
- Tone colours were subtle, mysterious.
- Melodies were fragmentary.
- Harmonies were vague.
- Each instrument in orchestra contribute momentary gleams of colour (as opposed to Mahler, where each instrument was a hero).
Where did the first major phase of avant-garde music take place?
Paris and Vienna.
Early modernism was a revolution in ___.
Tonality.
What is the form of Clouds by Debussy?
ABA’.
What is the recurring theme in Clouds by Debussy?
The Cloud Theme.
How does “Clouds” by Debussy end?
With a drumroll (suggesting distant thunder?).
What is Debussy famous for?
His innovations in orchestration and in piano writing.
What alterations did Stravinsky make to Russian folk material in The Rite of Spring?
Boldly and brutally imagined the fertility cults of prehistoric Slavic tribes. Folk melodies broken down into repeated, fragmentary motives, and was treated as the source of primitive rhythmic and sexual energy.
What is notable about the Dance of the Adolescents in The Rite of Spring by Stravinsky?
The irregular rhythm of a dissonant chord.
Stravinsky was a fan of the “___” in music, and rejected Romantic emotionality.
Objectivity.
What is the musical style that models itself on pre-Romantic composers such as Bach, Handel, and Mozart, but transforms the music to its own unique rhythm and style?
Neoclassicism.
True or false? Stravinsky and Schoenberg are both neo-classicists.
False. Only Stravinsky is.
