20th Century

1. Impressionism
Classical Music of the 20th Century
vs Expressionism

2. Impressionism

3. Impressionism
Claude Monet - Soleil levant

4. Claude Monet - Water Lilies

5. Impressionism
 Goal of Impressionism
 Movement
 NOT “Capturing the subject”

6. Impressionism
Musical Example:
La Mer mov. II - Claude Debussy

7. Impressionism
The Great Impressionist of Music
Claude Debussy
1862-1918

8. Impressionism
The Great Impressionist of Music
Maurice Ravel
1875-1937

9. Musical Example:
La cathedrale engloutie - Debussy
Impressionism
“The Sunken Cathedral”

10. Impressionism
 Musical Characteristics
 Atmospheric
 Non-emotional (Opposite of Romantic music)
 Explored other scales (e.g. whole tone)

11. Whole tone scale
 Impressionistic music, like the Common Practice
Period, is tonal. A single tonic is evident, although it
does not achieve importance through specific voice
leading (for example, through a leading tone). Instead,
tonic is created in other ways, such as repetition or
being the central pitch, or even more simply, through
the use of a pedal point.

12.  Look at Debussy: Voiles

13. Expressionism

14. Expressionism
Germany
France

15. The Scream -
Munch

16. Sunflowers -
Van Gogh

17. Expressionism
Goals of Expressionism
 Capture “being alive”
 Express emotional experience… not
physical reality
 Expressionism also in dance, architecture,
and movies

18. Expressionism
Musical Example:
Pierrot Lunaire - Schoenberg

19. Expressionism
Notable Composer:
Arnold Schoenberg
1874 - 1951
Students:
Alban Berg
Anton Webern

20. Expressionism
Musical Example:
Five Pieces for Orchestra -
Schoenberg

21. Expressionism
Musical Characteristics:
 Atonal (no key center)
 Dissonance (represents inner turmoil)
 Primal

22. Impressionism Expressionism
-Atonal
-Dissonant
-Inner emotions
-Tonal
-Non-emotional
-“Color”
-Non Traditional
harmony
-“New Sounds”

23. Other 20th Century
Classical Musical Styles
 Post Romantic/Nationalism - Mahler, Sibelius
 Free Dissonance - Ives
 12 Tone - Schoenberg, Berg, Webern
 Neoclassicism - Stravinsky, Hindemeth, Ravel
 Minimalism - Glass, Reich, Le Monte Young
 Post Modernism/Electronic - Cage
 Jazz Influenced - Gershwin, Copland, Milhaud