Impressionism to Serialism: Debussy, Ravel & 20th-Century Music

Impressionism and 20th-Century Techniques in Music

Debussy: Prelude Genre

What genre is Debussy's Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun? Symphonic poem (tone poem).

Impressionism Versus the Romantic Era

How is the Impressionistic era different than the Romantic era? Static and nonfunctional harmony; focus on timbre instead of melody and harmony; suggestions of melodic ideas rather than complete ideas.

Ravel's Bolero and Orchestration

What is significant about Ravel's Bolero? The piece repeats the same two melodies but always in different groups of instruments. The piece is essentially a study in orchestration, an example of impressionists' focus on timbre over melody.

Term for Music with No Key

What is the term for music that has no key? Atonal.

Serialism Defined

What is serialism? A method of organizing all twelve pitches so that none is repeated before all others are heard — a way of ensuring that the resulting music is atonal.

Total Serialism Explained

What is total serialism? Total serialism is the application of the 12-tone matrix to parameters beyond pitch: serialization of all musical parameters simultaneously (i.e., pitch, rhythm, articulations, tempo, etc.).

Schoenberg's First 12-Tone Use

What is the first piece where Schoenberg employs his 12-tone matrix? The fifth movement of Schoenberg's Five Pieces for Piano.

Sprechstimme: Speech-Singing

What is sprechstimme? Speech-singing: a vocal style that is between speech and singing, as in Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire.

Is Pierrot Lunaire Serialized?

Is Pierrot Lunaire a serialized piece? No; it is freely atonal.

Instrumentation of Pierrot Lunaire

What is the instrumentation of Pierrot Lunaire? Why is this significant? Pierrot Lunaire is composed for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, soprano, and piano. This was a completely new instrumentation at the time; no other works had been written for this chamber ensemble. Today, this is a standard instrumentation for many pieces.

Klangfarbenmelodie Defined

What is Klangfarbenmelodie, or "tone color melody"? A "melody" made of timbre instead of pitches.

Are All Atonal Works Serialized?

Is all atonal music serial? No. There is also free atonality, bitonality and polytonality, and other methods of achieving atonality.

Second Viennese School Composers

Who are the composers of the Second Viennese School? Arnold Schoenberg, Anton Webern, Alban Berg.

Significance of the Second Viennese School

Why is the Second Viennese School significant? They founded serialism, which became the dominant style in classical music for most of the 20th century.

Neoclassicism in Music

What is neoclassicism? The combination of classical stylistic features with newer musical ideas.

Bartók's Research and Ethnomusicology

What research did Bartók conduct and what field of music scholarship grew out of that research? Bartók traveled through Eastern Europe and recorded folk music of the people in Hungary and Bulgaria, beginning the field of ethnomusicology — the study of non-Western music.

Stravinsky and Bartók: Meter Treatment

Stravinsky and Bartók treated meter in unique ways that influenced other composers. How do they differ from each other in their treatment of meter? In Stravinsky's music, the meter changes frequently with no sense of downbeat, as in The Rite of Spring. In Bartók's music, the meter is often irregular, such as 7/8 or 9/8, but constant, as in Concerto for Orchestra.