test 5 Flashcards
years of 20th century music
1900-2000
style traits
Harmony (biggest dividing line) emancipation of dissonance
frees harmony from having to move from tension to rest
emancipation of dissonance
polytonality
more than one key being defined
atonality
all twelve tones have equal importance. no tonal center being defined
expanded tonality
tonal center still defined, but all other 12 tones are used as well
serialism
12 tones arranged in a specific order or series. type of atonality
rhythm
disregards past patterns, use of polyrhythms and polymeters
Post-romanticism
composers carry on Wagnerian traditions. ex: Richard Strauss &Gustav Mahler
impressionists painters
ex: monet. Light reflection, subtle, hazy
symbolist poets
suggest rather than describe
impressionistic music
timbre/orchestration equate to painters’ color.
Ambiguous harmonies and rhythms equate to poets’ ambiguous words
impressionistic style traits
whole tone scales, non western. downbeats accented, "blurry" rhythms parallel chords, 9th chords smaller forms, rejecting large forms of Germanic music Originated in Paris
Tone Row
specific ordering of all 12 pitches
Trasposition
tone row heard at a higher or lower register
Retrograde
tone row played backwards
inversion
tone row played upside down
retrograde inversinos
tone row played upside down and backwards
matrix
chart that shows all possible forms of tone row
Arnold Schoenberg
invented 12-tone system
worked in vienna and later in America
2nd Viennese School of Composers
Schoenberg, Alban Berg and Anton Webern (Schoenberg’s students)
Sprechstimme
speechlike style of singing using approximated pitches
Klangfarbanmelodie
tone color melody; use of different instruments for different pitches of a melody
National Schools in France
‘Les Six’ -D. Milhaud, F. Poulenc
Objective, understated, elegant
National Schools in Russia
D. Shoshtakovich,
S. Prokofiev,
S. Rachmaninov
A. Scrabin
National Schools in German
P. Hindemith
C. Oriff
K. Weill
Romantic Nationalism
In response to political unrest, used folk music to stir emotions
20th Century Nationalisim
More objective/scientific, Studied folk music for its nontraditional scale music
Bela Botrok
wrote “interpreted intermezzo” from Concerto for Orchestra
Primitive sounding rhythms
percussive dissonances
Ostinatos
Repeated figures
Bartok Bizzakato
snapping fingers agains strings to create a percussive sound, used folk elements, traditional forms, incorporates unfamiliar scales, frees him from tyrannical rule of major and minor keys
Igor Stravinksy
Uses Primitivism, percussive dissonant harmonies and ostinato figures, polytonality, serialism and neoclassicalisim
Rite of Spring
Ancient Russian Sacrificial ceremonies
Primitivism
Depictions of prehistoric culture,
George Crumb
“Ancient Voices of Children” -song cycle
Avante-garde
new styles and techniques; cutting edge and experimental. Literally “advance guard” at the front of progress
Extended Technique
playing instruments or using voice in unconventional manners
Gyorgi Ligeti
Often emulates electronic or mechanized music with natural instruments
Tone clusters
groups of close intervals played together
John Cage
(1912-1992) No boundary or a vague one between music and noise
Prepared Piano
Piano who’s sound is altered by insertion of various materials (metal, rubber, leather, paper) between strings, invented by J. Cage
Aleatoric (‘Chance’)
Music that is composed using indeterminacy (rolling dice, ect.)
Imaginary Landscape
Playing random radio stations together and seeing what comes out
Musique Concrete
natural sounds records on tape then manipulated (different speeds, reversed, processed thru filters)
Electronic music
electronically produced sounds by an oscillator. waveforms are altered with filters
Stockhausen’s “Song of Youth”
uses natal and electronic music
Minimalism
repetition of short harmonic, melodic or rhythmic patterns with little variation
Electric Counterpoint
by Steve Reich, minimalism
Arvo Part
Spiritual Minimalism
Tintinnabular style
bell-like style developed by Estonian composer Arvo Part, achieved by weaving conduct lines that hover around a central pitch; from latin word for bell
