Learning Objectives
- Outline the social, cultural, and political impact of WWI and WWII.
- Discuss the growth of the United States as a world power.
- Describe the impact of technological advancements on the development of music in the twentieth century.
- Describe, compare and contrast the main stylistic differences of Contemporary music styles including impressionism, post-Romanticism, serialism, and expressionism.
- Summarize the changing nature and application of the concept of tonality throughout the century.
- Discuss the impact of Claude Debussy's "Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun" in light of the Symbolist movement in literature.
- Illustrate how the Russian composer Igor Stravinsky experimented with rhythm, new instrumental combinations, and the percussive use of dissonance, and discuss the impactof these techniques on contemporary music.
- Describe the impact of Arnold Schoenberg and the Second Viennese School on 20th-century music.
- Distinguish the main stylistic differences of nineteenth- and twentieth-century composers and styles.
- Describe the musical and political impact of “national schools” of composition that developed across Europe during the 20th century.
- Explain the impact of composer Aaron Copland on American contemporary music.
- Describe the impact of Latin American composers on the larger "art music" scene and repertoire.
- Define and analyze the main differences between jazz, ragtime, and blues.
Serialism
Serialism as a compositional technique originated with Schoenberg's twelve-tone system of composition. Anton Webern, Schoenberg's pupil and a founding member of the Second Viennese School, pioneered a type of serialism that gave the composer total control over all the elements of a piece of music (rhythmic durations, dynamics, range, and pitch). After Webern's death in the closing days of World War II, others picked up where he left off. Webern's compositional technique, often called total serialism, was employed by a core group of influential composers after World War II that included Witold Lutoslawski (1913-1994), Pierre Boulez (b. 1925), Karlheinz Stockhausen (1928-2007), and Milton Babbitt (1916-2011).
Image Missing: "Witold Lutoslawski"
Serialism has certainly not been the most popular form of music. The perceived harmonic chaos has led some, if not most, listeners to shy away from it. In his famous article Who Cares If You Listen? Milton Babbitt summed up the feelings of his contemporaries when he wrote that serialism offered the possibility of writing absolute music in its purest form. This was music for music’s sake, he argued, and it existed regardless of the approval of a listening public.
Composer: Witold Lutoslawski
-
"Novelette: First Event"
Post-Impressionism
Image Missing: "Toru Takemitsu"
Some composers, such as Japan’s Toru Takemitsu, are often labeled post-Impressionist for their deliberate melding of discrepant compositional methods. In works such as "The Night" from Toward the Sea II for alto flute and strings, Takemitsu used serial techniques in combination with other atonal techniques.
Composer: Toru Takemitsu
-
"Toward the Sea II: II. The Night"