Test 3 Flashcards
Impressionism characteristics music
Smaller orchestras - less orchestration Great use of tonal color (timbre) Parallel motion Gentle treatment of rhythm Asian tonality
Impressionism characteristics
Tried to capture something that’s incomplete
Fond of nature
Common places
Top two French impressionists
- Claude Debussy
2. Maurice Ravel
Early 20th century music characteristics 1900-1945
Tone color (timbre) was most important characteristic of this time
Harmony- polytonality, atonality-alternatives to trad. tonal systems
Polyrhythmic- different rhythms throughout piece
Abstract melody, differs throughout piece
Composers inspired by folk, Asian, African, Middle East & past music
Polytonality
the musical use of more than one key simultaneously. Bitonality is the use of only two different keys at the same time.
Polychordal
Playing two or more chords at one time
Polyrhythmic
simultaneous use of two or more conflicting rhythms, that are not readily perceived as deriving from one another
Atonality
music that lacks a tonal center, or key.
Twelve tone system (set, tone row)
C C# D D# E F F# G G# A A# B
Can be rearranged in any order
Can’t repeat a note until all others are used
Tone cluster
Chord using at least three adjacent tones in a scale
Neoclassicism characteristics
More clearly perceptible themes
Revived forms of earlier periods (eg. romantic and baroque period)
Avoided the exaggerated gestures and complex forms of late romanticism
Characteristics borrowed from both the classical period and newer trends evolving at the time
Was more emotionally restrained than the romanticism at the time
Igor Stravinsky - the firebird, petrouchka, the rite of spring – composed for what?
Ballet and orchestral work
Premier of rite of spring
Riot, people hated it
Expressionism characteristics
Expressionist music is atonal
Each piece generally confines itself to expressing one intense emotion.
Composers make full use of the pitch range of instruments
Timbre is felt to be as important as the melody
Extremes of dynamics, from as quiet as possible to as loud as possible
Pieces tend to be quite short
Sprechstimme
Sung speech
alban berg and anton webern
Studied under Arnold Schoenberg
Leaders in atonal music
Bella Bartok - Hungarian music
Deeply expressive, rhythmically powerful Unexpected accents & imaginative tone color (timbre) Percussive drum like sounds out of piano Polychordal Took inspiration from many places
Charles Ives
Music rooted in folk/dance/popular music Unconventional, combined melodies Polyrhythmic, Polychordal, polytonal Ear splitting dissonance, very hard music to perform Composed art songs, concerts etc.
George Gershwin- rhapsody in blues opening solo for what instrument
Clarinet
William Grant Still
African American composer
Danzas de panama
Aaron Copland - Appalachian spring
Composed for ballet and 13 member chamber orchestra
Serialism
Use of twelve tone technique to organize rhythm, dynamics, and tone color.
Chance music (aleatory music)
Where a composer choses pitches, tone colors, and rhythms by random methods or allows a performer to choose much of the musical material.
Quotation music
Works containing deliberate quotations from earlier music.
