20th-Century Music: Styles and Composers

Impressionism

Characteristics: Conveys moods and emotions through tone color.

Origin: France

Composer: Claude Debussy

Musical Features: Slow tempo, lack of contrast or shape, focus on tone color.

Expressionism

Characteristics: Expresses emotion through music intended to create discomfort and unease.

Origin: Austria & Germany

Composer: Arnold Schoenberg

Musical Features: Harsh, tense, uneasy, and uncomfortable melodies and harmonies; dissonant and dark.

Serialism

Characteristics: A systematic approach to composition using a row of pitches derived from the chromatic scale (12-tone technique).

Origin: Austria & Germany

Composer: Arnold Schoenberg

Musical Features: Dissonant, atonal (lack of tonality), based on a pre-ordered series of pitches.

Audience Reception: Initially unpopular due to its departure from traditional tonality.

Schoenberg's Evolution: Transitioned from a Baroque-influenced style to serialism, exploring new sounds in music.

Primitivism

Characteristics: Emphasis on primordial elements such as rhythm, dynamics, and repetition.

Composer: Igor Stravinsky

Other Styles and Composers

Ragtime

Composer/Piece: Scott Joplin - Maple Leaf Rag

Characteristics: Early American piano music with syncopated rhythms.

New Tango

Composer/Piece: Astor Piazzolla - Libertango

Characteristics: Dark, quick-moving strings with a Spanish influence.

Modernism

Composers: Charles Ives, Luciano Berio, Krzysztof Penderecki

Chance Music

Composer: Terry Riley

Electronic Music

Composer: Milton Babbitt

Nationalism

Composer: Aaron Copland

Minimalism

Composer: Philip Glass

Post-minimalism

Composer: Steve Reich, John Adams

Postmodernism

Composer: Caroline Shaw

Musical Examples

1. Claude Debussy - Nuages (Impressionism): Soft oboes, bassoons, and strings.
2. Arnold Schoenberg - Nacht (Expressionism): Dark piano and creepy strings, followed by female vocals.
3. Arnold Schoenberg - Minuet (Serialism): Disorganized piano with dynamic shifts.
4. Igor Stravinsky - The Rite of Spring (Primitivism): Heavy rhythm with strings, percussion, oboes, clarinets, and trumpets.
5. Charles Ives - The Unanswered Question (Modernism): Soft woodwinds and piano, descending scales.
6. Terry Riley - In C (Chance Music): Repetitive xylophone with other instruments joining.
7. Milton Babbitt - Philomel (Electronic Music): Electronic sounds, beeps, and ringing.
8. Aaron Copland - Appalachian Spring (Nationalism): Soft strings and elongated notes.
9. Luciano Berio - Sequenza III (Modernism): Whispering and vocalizations.
10. Krzysztof Penderecki - Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima (Modernism): Screeching, horror-like sounds.
11. Philip Glass - The Hours (Minimalism): Calm orchestral music with minimal variation.
12. John Adams - Short Ride in a Fast Machine (Post-minimalism): Woodblocks, oboe, and trumpets.
13. Caroline Shaw - Sarabande (Postmodernism): Vocalizations.
14. Scott Joplin - Maple Leaf Rag (Ragtime): Piano music.
15. Astor Piazzolla - Libertango (New Tango): Quick strings.