Music of the 20th Century

1. 20th Century Music

2. INTRODUCTION
The twentieth century initially saw a
continuation of Romanticism. Some composers turned
their attention to their respective folk and traditional
music, an attitude that was a holdover from nineteenth
century nationalism.
Music is diversified in a number of tendencies
with the century’s advancement. Many styles and trends
arose, often contradicting one another. The tradition
practice of following one model or style of music as
faded as the Romantic era came to an end. New
movements and methods, like atonality Expressionism,
and Minimalism, invaded the musical scene as a means
of achieving originality. In spite of its constant
controversy and relative lack of unity, the twentieth
century left behind compositions of undeniable quality,
without a doubt on par with those of preceding centuries.

3. Most Essential Learning
Competencies
• Describes distinctive musical elements of
given pieces in 20th century styles;
• Explains the performance practice (setting,
composition, role of composers/performers,
and audience) of 20th century music;
• Relates 20th Century music to other art
forms and media during the same time
period;
• Performs music sample from the 20th
century
• Evaluates music and music performances
using guided rubrics

4. 1. Post-Romanticism
2. Electronic music
3. Jazz
4. Serialism
5. Expressionism in music
6. Indeterminacy, aka aleatoric music
7. Impressionism in music
8. neo-Classicism
9. minimalism in music
10.neo-Romanticism
11.Second Viennese School

5. Post-Romanticism
late romantic characteristics
extended into the 20th century -
expansive melodies, chromatic
harmonies, lush orchestrations,
affinity for programmatic
elements.

6. Electronic music
• any type of music created
whole or in part by
electronic means
• may utilize recording
devices (tape recorder),
synthesizers, and more
recently, computers

7. Jazz
• a uniquely American musical style
developed initially by African
Americans in New Orleans, Chicago,
and New York
• emphasized syncopation
• inflected melodies (including "blue"
notes Flat3, Flat5, and Flat7) and
improvisation
• ex. “Basin Street Blues” - 1964

8. Serialism
• a compositional approach developed
in the 20th century by the Second
Viennese School
• any number of musical parameters
(such as pitch, rhythm, dynamics,
tone colour) are organized using a
specific ordering (set) that undergoes
manipulation
• sometimes used as a synonym for
dodecaphonic (or twelve-tone) music

9. Expressionism in music
• early 20th century German style
• marked by extreme dissonance,
angular melodies, irregular
rhythmic groupings
• explored deeply psychological
themes
• ex. "Erwartung" op. 17, Arnold
Schoenberg

10. Indeterminacy,
aka aleatoric music
• a style that evolved in
the mid-20th century
• relied on randomness
and chance to
determine some of the
aspects of the music
and its performance

11. Impressionism in music
• late 19th and early 20th century
French style associated most
closely with the music of Claude
Debussy and Maurice Ravel
• often programmatic
• use of non-traditional scales:
modes, whole tone, pentatonic
• 9th chords, parallel harmonies
• blurring of the metrical pulse

12. neo-Classicism
• a post WWI style marked by a
return to absolute music and
traditional formal structures
• cultivated a less emotional
(more detached) sensibility
• ex. Symphony No. 1, op. 25
"Classical" first movement,
Sergei Prokofiev

13. minimalism in music
• a style o music that evolved in the latter
half of the 20th century
• generally characterized by he seemingly
endless repetition of short melodic
patterns, complex cross-rhythms, and a
return to tonal/modal principles
• its adherents include Steve Reich, Philip
Glass, John Adams, and Michael Nyman
• ex. "Six Pianos", Steve Reich

14. neo-Romanticism
• generally, a late 20th
century style
• a return to tonal principles,
lush orchestration, and
expansive melodies
• characterized by
heightened emotionalism

15. Second Viennese School
• the trio of early 20th century
composers formed by Schoenberg
and his disciples Alban Berg and
Anton Webern
• works demonstrate Expressionism
• developed twelve-tone method
• music marked by atonality and
contrapuntal textures
• ex. Violin Concerto, first
movement, Alban Berg

16. THE 20TH CENTURY AND BEYOND
(Performance practice of the 20th century music)

17. Performance practice of the
20th century music
The major performing institutions of the 19th
century have continued into the 21st century with only
minimum structural change, except for a rather belated
movement toward unionization of personnel; this
development has of course improved the performers’ lot
greatly, while increasing the costs of performance.
Unquestionably, the major new influence on 20th-century
music performance was electronics. Broadcasting and
recording widened even further the potential audience for
concert artists, at the same time as they tended to decrease
the physical necessity for large new public performance
arenas. Electronic instruments appeared, both amplified
versions of older ones (guitar, piano, and even some
woodwinds) and instruments with fundamentally electronic
means of tone production (electronic pianos and organs, the
theremin and Ondes Martenot, sound synthesizers, and still
later developments).

18. Performance practice of the
20th century music
Other new compositional and performance
possibilities also emerged—for example, film, tape,
stereophonism, and computers. Even before the
phonograph (invented c. 1875) had begun to be
regarded as more than a toy, serious research into
the authentic performance of older music had
produced an awareness of possibilities that pointed
the way out of late Romantic gigantism and
subjectivism. From the very beginning of the 20th
century, the chamber concerts given by Arnold
Dolmetsch and his family, on reconstructions of old
gambas and recorders, attracted attention to small
ensembles and different sonorities and encouraged
the activities of other artists.

19. New Media in Late
20th-century Art
New forms of multimedia, performance, and digital art

20. New forms of multimedia,
performance, and digital art
There’s nothing like discussing
‘contemporary’ art forms for making you realise
we’re now in the twenty-first century. When you
look at developments which seem quite recent
(particularly related to the Internet) you suddenly
realise that these were in the LAST CENTURY!! – (to
sound for a moment a little like Tom Wolfe). The
latter half of the nineteen hundreds saw artists
breaking up the boundaries of aesthetic genres and
introducing all sorts of new technology into their
work – as well as mixing disparate activities into
one experience. New Media in Late 20th-century
Art is a survey of the new media which evolved
roughly in the period 1950—2000.

21. New forms of multimedia,
performance, and digital art
It covers the mixing of media and
performance, video art, video installations,
and the new forms of digital art. Starting
from the notion that traditional Art has
been a painting in two dimensions, Michael
Rush looks at the extensions made by the
twentieth century. It’s a beautifully
illustrated book, with picture captions
which explain the significance of each
medium

22. REFERENCES/LINKS
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/20th-century_music
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_20th-
century_classical_composers
• https://www.britannica.com/art/musical-
performance/The-20th-century-and-beyond
• https://www.brainscape.com/flashcards/composer
s-5296284/packs/7879751
• https://mantex.co.uk/new-media-in-late-20c-art/