MUSIC: 20TH CENTURY MUSIC

GRADE 10: First Quarter Notes/Reviewer 2025

CONTENTS:
Contemporary Music

★​ Impressionism
​ Composed in the 20th or 21st century.
★​ Expressionism
20th-century music use atonalism and
★​ Neoclassicism
experimentation Atonal-lack of tonal system
★​ Avant-Garde
★​ Modern Nationalism
IMPRESSIONISM MUSIC
★​ Electronic Music
★​ Chance Music
​ Impressionism is a French Movement that
began in the late 19th century to early 20th
WHAT IS MUSIC?
century. It is called Impressionism because artists
and composers created an impression of a
An artistic form of auditory
subject.
communication incorporating instrumental or
vocal tones in a structured and continuous
★​ Most compositions during the
manner.
Impressionist era were often represented
★​ The sounds produced by singers or
by short, lyrical pieces.
musical instruments.
★​ In Western classical music it is the period
during the late 19th and 20th centuries,
Musical Elements
whose music focuses on mood, emotions,
arose by the subject rather than a detailed
ELEMENTS SIMPLE DEFINITION tone picture.

Timbre Sound quality ★​ Impressionism was originally applied to a

Pitch High or low sounds painting done by Claude Monet entitled
Texture How many sounds?
Tempo Fast or slow? Impressionism: Sunrise. It was scorned by
Duration Long or short? critics of the old school and the name
Structure The musical plan
Dynamics Loud or quiet? stuck since then eventually applied to all
other parts in that era including music.

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★​ Impressionist music has a weakened
Important People
sense of tonality.
★​ Impressionist music does NOT have a
CLAUDE DEBUSSY - the creator of the Whole
clear rhythmic beat.
tone scale. He is a French composer who was
★​ Impressionist music experiments with
born on August 22, 1862.
different types of sound. This is called
★​ Known as the "Father of Impressionist
timbre or tone color.
Music"
★​ He was the primary exponent of the
Elements impressionist movement and the focal
point for other impressionist composers.
★​ Rhythm - has free and flexible rhythm. It ★​ He changed the course of musical
does not have a clear rhythm, or the development by dissolving traditional
rhythm is irregular. rules and conventions into a new
★​ Melody - varies from short to long and language of possibilities in harmony,
follows a free-flowing line. Most of the rhythm, form, texture and color.
theme of the music was centered on ★​ He won the prize at the Prix de Rome
nature, its beauty, and lightness. It also competition with his composition L'Enfant
uses the whole tone scale created by Prodigue (The Prodigal Son).
Claude Debussy. Also uses the pentatonic
scale.
HIS WORKS
★​ Harmony - uses parallel chords for color
SUITE BERGAMASQUE
rather than function, adding dissonant CLAIR DE LUNE
notes to chords. Dissonance certainly PELLEAS ET MELISANDE
JEUX
results from the grating combination of LA MER
harsh, clashing tones THE PRODIGAL SON
PRELUDE TO THE AFTERNOON OF A FAUN
★​ Timbre - is completely unique in
impressionistic music, follows the same
JOSEPH MAURICE RAVEL - He used modes of
characteristics that explains the practice
scales with different moods. He is a French
and performance of the artists of this
composer born on March 7, 1875.
style.
★​ His music has a tonal center and uses
★​ Texture - group of notes sounded
formal structure
simultaneously
★​ He was a French composer, pianist, and
★​ Form - preferred use of short forms such
conductor. He is often associated with
as nocturne, arabesque, song and prelude
impressionism along with his elder
contemporary Claude Debussy, although
 both composers rejected the term. In the formal and exacting in the development of his
1920s and 1930s, Ravel was motive ideas.

internationally regarded as France's

greatest living composer. EXPRESSIONISM MUSIC

★​ Born to a music-loving family, Ravel

attended France's premier music college, ​ Expressionism is a style of art that soon

The Paris Conservatoire. He was not well transcends music that started in 1905 by German

regarded by its conservative artists. It reveals the composer's mind, instead of

establishment whose biased treatment of presenting an impression of the environment.

him caused scandal.

★​ After leaving the conservatoire, Ravel ★​ Artists create exaggerated pictures, use

found his own way as a composer, distorted colors and unrealistic objects

developing a style of great clarity and that shows strong emotions or anger.

incorporating elements of modernism, ★​ It used atonality and the twelve-tone

baroque, neoclassicism, and in his later scale, lacking stable and conventional

works, jazz. harmonies.

★​ He liked to experiment with musical forms ★​ It served as a medium for expressing

and then made some orchestral strong emotions, such as anxiety, rage,

arrangements of other composers music. and alienation

HIS WORKS Elements

Bolero
Jeux d'Eau or Water Fountains (1901) ★​ Rhythm - has complex and irregular
La Valse (1920)
rhythm due to liberation of form and
Daphnis et Chloe (1912)
String Quartet (1903) harmony.
Rhapsodie Espagnole
★​ Melody - uses distorted melodies and
harmonies; uses 12 tone scale created by
COMPARING DEBUSSY AND RAVELS MUSIC
Arnold Schoenberg.
STYLES:
★​ Harmony - uses harsh dissonance and
​ Whereas Debussy was more spontaneous
and liberal in form, Ravel was very attentive to the atonality (it means that it does not have a

classical norms of musical structure and the tonal center or key).

compositional craftsmanship. ★​ Dynamics - utilizes extreme contrasting

dynamics and the pitch range of their
Whereas Debussy was more casual in his instruments.
portrayal of visual imagery, Ravel was more ★​ Texture - has a constant change in
texture because there is a consistent
 change in instrumental color making the
of his earliest successful pieces, blends the
sound dark and heavier. lyricism, instrumentation, and melodic beauty
of Brahms with the chromaticism and
construction of Wagner
Important People
IGOR STRAVINSKY - He was born in

ARNOLD FRANZ WALTER SCHOENBERG - His Oranienbaum (now Lomonosov), Russia on June

composition involves atonality (composition has 17, 1882. Stravinsky's early music reflected the

no tonal or center key). He was born in a influence of his teacher, the Russian composer

working-class suburb of Vienna, Austria on Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.

September 13, 1874. ★​ But in his first successful masterpiece,

★​ Makes the music feel more ambiguous and The Firebird Suite (1910), composed for

even unsettling. Diaghilev's Russian Ballet, his skillful

★​ He taught himself music theory, but took handling of material and rhythmic

lessons in counterpoint. inventiveness went beyond anything

★​ German composer Richard Wagner composed by his Russian predecessors.

influenced his work as evidenced by his He added a new ingredient to his

symphonic poem Pelleas et Melisande, Op nationalistic musical style.

5 (1903), a counterpoint of Debussy's ★​ Igor Stravinsky stands alongside

opera of the same title. fellow-composer Schoenberg, painter

★​ Schoenberg's style was constantly Pablo Picasso, and literary figure James

undergoing development. From the early Joyce as one of the great trendsetters of

influences of Wagner, his tonal preference the 20th century.

gradually turned to the dissonant and ★​ A new level of dissonance was reached

atonal, as he explored the use of and the sense of tonality was practically

chromatic harmonies. abandoned. Asymmetrical rhythms

★​ Although full of melodic and lyrical successfully portrayed the character of a

interest, his music is also extremely solemn pagan rite. When he left the

complex, creating heavy demands on the country for the United States in 1939,

listener. Stravinsky slowly turned his back on

Russian nationalism and cultivated his
neoclassical style.
HIS WORKS
★​ Stravinsky's musical output approximates
Verklarte Nacht,
127 works, including concerti, orchestral
Three Pieces for Piano, op. II
Pierrot Lunaire, music, instrumental music, operas, ballets,
Gurreleider
Verklarte Nacht (Transfigured Night, 1899), one
 solo vocal, and choral music. He died in Was a moderating factor between the
New York City on April 6, 1971. emotional excesses of the Romantic period and
the violent impulses of the soul in expressionism.
It was, in essence.
HIS WORKS

Petrouchka (1911)
The Rake's Progress (1951) ★​ A partial return to an earlier style of
writing, particularly the tightly-knit form

PRIMITIVISM - Primitivism has link to Exoticism of the Classical period, while combining

through the use of materials from other culture, tonal harmonies with slight dissonances.

To Nationalism through the use of materials ★​ It also adopted a modern, freer use of the

indigenous to specific countries, and to ethnicism seven-note diatonic scale. An example of

through the use materials from European ethnic Neo-Classicism is Bela Bartok's Song of

group. Two well-known proponents of this style the bagpipe and piano sonata. In this

were Igor Stravinsky and Bela Bartok. It latter piece.

eventually evolved into Neo-Classicism.

Important People
BELA BARTOK - Bela Bartok was born in
Nagyszentmiklos, Hungary (now Romania) on SERGEI PROKOFIEFF - is regarded today as a
March 25, 1881, to musical parents. He started combination of neo-classicist, nationalist, and
piano lessons with his mother and later entered avant-garde composer. His style is uniquely
Budapest RoyalAcademy of Music in 1899. recognizable for its progressive technique,
★​ He was inspired by the performance of pulsating rhythms, melodic directness, and a
Richard Strauss's Also Sprach Zarathustra resolving dissonance.
to write his first nationalistic poem, ★​ Born in the Ukraine in 1891, Prokofieff set
Kossuth in 1903. out for the St. Petersburg Conservatory is
★​ He was a concert pianist as he travelled equipped with his great talent as a
exploring the music of Hungarian composer and pianist.
peasants. ★​ His early compositions were branded as
avant garde and were not approved of by
HIS WORKS
his elders, he continued to follow his
Six String Quartets (1908-1938)
The Concerto for Orchestra stylistic path as he fled to other places for
Allegro Barbaro hopefully better acceptance of his
Duet for Pipes
creativity.

NEOCLASSICISM
HIS WORKS
 ★​ After moving to the United States in 1939,
Concerto in C Major
Opera 26 No. 3 he completed his famed Symphony in C
Symphony NO. I
and became an American citizen.
★​ Stravinsky died in New York City on April
FRANCIS POULENC - One of the relatively few
6, 1971, with more than 100 works to his
composers born into wealth and a privileged
name.
social position, the neo-classicist Francis Jean
Marcel Poulenc was a member of the group of
young French composers known as "Les Six”. HIS WORKS

★​ He rejected the heavy romanticism of The Firebird (1910)

Petrushka (1911)
Wagner and the so-called imprecision of
The Rite of Spring (1913)
Debussy and Ravel.
★​ His compositions had a coolly elegant
AVANT GARDE MUSIC
modernity, tempered by a classical sense
of proportion.
​ A French phrase meaning "vanguard" or
★​ Poulenc was also fond of the witty
(literally, ‘advance guard’), describes movements
approach of Satie, as well as the early neo
of innovation and experimentation in the fields of
- classical works of Stravinsky.
arts and music.

HIS WORKS ★​ The Avant Garde artists can be described

Concert Champetre (1928) as a group of people who develop fresh

The Concerto for Two Pianos (1932)
and often very surprising ideas in visual
Concerto for Solo Piano (1949)
Les Mamelles de Tiresias (1944) art, literature and culture at large.
Perpetual Motion No. I
★​ It breaks various rules and regulations of
traditional music and creates a new
IGOR STRAVINSKY - Igor Stravinsky was born on
organized sound.
June 17, 1882, in Oranienbaum, Russia. He rose to
★​ Closely associated with electronic music,
fame in the early 1900s for his compositions for
the avant-garde movement dealt with the
the Ballets Russes, including the controversial
parameters or the dimensions of sound in
The Rite of Spring.
space. The avant-garde style exhibited a
★​ Stravinsky brought his family to
new attitude toward musical mobility,
Switzerland and then France, continuing
whereby the order of note groups could
his output with such works as Renard and
be varied so that musical continuity could
Persephone.
be altered.
 ★​ Improvisation was a necessity in this style, as his stage and film songs continue to be
for the musical scores were not jazz and vocal standards.
necessarily followed as written. ★​ Considered the "Father of American
Jazz," his "mixture of the primitive and
the sophisticated" gave his music an
Elements
appeal that has lasted long after his
death.
★​ Harmony - have a great increase in the
use of chords that blur the sense of a
stable tonality; have mysterious sound, HIS WORKS
while diminished chords have an Summertime
unsettling, dissonant sound. Rhapsody in Blue
An American in Paris
★​ Melody - uses the tone-row, 12-tone, or Opera - Porgy and Bess
dodecaphonic music, uses 'Micro-tones'
and improvisations in compositions. LEONARD BERNSTEIN - an accomplished pianist
★​ Rhythm - uses polyrhythm which means a before he became famous a conductor also
rhythm which makes use of two or more known as "Lenny"
different rhythms simultaneously and ★​ He bridged the gap between classical
syncopation which is the shifting of the music, Broadway musicals, jazz, and rock.
normal accent, usually by stressing the ★​ Born in Massachusetts, USA, Leonard
normally unaccented beats. Bernstein endeared himself to his many
followers as a charismatic conductor,

Important People pianist, composer, and lecturer.

★​ His big break came when he was asked to

GEORGE GERSHWIN - His music is light music, substitute for the ailing Bruno Walter in

jazz and shows music that linked classical and conducting the New York Philharmonic

popular music where he makes use of Orchestra in a concert on November 14,

improvisations, syncopation and polyrhythms. 1943.

★​ Gershwin was born in New York to Russian ★​ The overnight success of this event

Jewish immigrants. His older brother Ira started his reputation as a great

was his artistic collaborator who wrote the interpreter of the classics as well as of the

lyrics of his songs. more complex works of Gustav Mahler.

★​ His first song was written in 1916.

★​ He is a true "crossover artist," in the sense HIS WORKS
that his serious compositions remain
West Side Story (American version of Romeo
highly popular in the classical repertoire, and Juliet)
 Candide (1956)
Mass (1971)
MODERN NATIONALISM

PHILIP GLASS - His works uses displacement of

A looser form of 20th century music
(beats or accents) rhythms. And rely on
development focused on nationalist composers
traditional diatonic scale and harmonies.
and musical innovators who sought to combine
★​ Uses Diatonic Scale consisting of seven
modern techniques with folk materials.
notes with the first note repeated one
octave above the tonic note. Tonic also
★​ However, this common ground stopped
known as the root, which is the first note
there, for the different breeds of
of the scale.
nationalists formed their own styles of
★​ Born in New York, USA of Jewish
writing.
parentage, Glass became an
★​ The musical styles that evolved in the
accomplished violinist and flutist at the
modern era were varied. Some of these
age of 15. In Paris, he became inspired by
were short-lived, being experimental and
the music of the renowned Indian sitarist
too radical in nature, while others found
Ravi Shankar.
an active blend between the old and the
★​ He explored the territories of ballet,
new.
opera, theater, film, and even television
jingles. His distinctive style involves
ELECTRONIC MUSIC
cell-like phrases emanating from bright
electronic sounds from the keyboard that
The capacity of electronic machines such
progressed very slowly from one pattern
as synthesizers, amplifiers, tape recorders, and
to the next in a very repetitious fashion.
loudspeakers to create different sounds was
★​ Aided by soothing vocal effects and horn
given importance by 20th-century composers
sounds, his music is often criticized as
like Edgar Varese, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and
uneventful and shallow, yet startlingly
Mario Davidovsky.
effective for its hypnotic charm
★​ The composer records different sounds
that are heard in the environment such as
HIS WORKS the bustle of traffic, the sound of the wind,
He formed the Philip Glass Ensemble and the barking of dogs, the strumming of a
produced works such as:
guitar, or the cry of an infant.
Music in Similar Motion (1969)
Music in Changing Parts (1970), which ★​ These sounds are arranged by the
combined rock-type grooves with perpetual
composer in different ways like by playing
patterns played at extreme volumes.
Music in Fifths
 the tape recorder in its fastest mode or in ★​ He was the "Father of Electronic Music"
reverse. and he was described as the
"Stratospheric Colossus of Sound."

Synthesizer

HIS WORKS
New inventions and discoveries of science Hyperprism
and technology lead to continuing developments POÈME ÉLECTRONIQUE

in the field of music.

★​ These devices are used for KARLHEINZ STOCKHAUSEN - Stockhausen is a

creating and recording music to central figure in the realm of electronic music.

add to or to replace acoustical Born in Cologne, Germany, he had the

sounds. opportunity to meet Messiaen, Schoenberg, and

Webern, the principal innovators at the time.
★​ Together with Pierre Boulez, Stockhausen
Musique Concrete
drew inspiration from these composers as
he developed his style of total serialism.
Music that uses the tape recorder is called
★​ Stockhausen's music was initially met with
musique concrete, or concrete music.
resistance due to its heavily atonal
★​ In musique concrete, the composer is able
content with practically no clear melodic
to experiment with different sounds that
or rhythmic sense.
cannot be produced by regular musical
instruments such as the piano or the HIS WORKS
violin. Gruppen (1957)
Kontakte (1960)
Hymnen (1965)
Important People Junglinge

EDGARD VARESE - Edgard (also spelled Edgar) CHANCE MUSIC

Varèse was born on December 22, 1883. He was
considered an "innovative French-born Chance music refers to a style wherein the
composer." piece always sounds different at every
★​ However, he spent the greater part of his performance because of the random techniques
life and career in the United States, where of production, including the use of ring
he pioneered and created new sounds modulators or natural elements that become a
that bordered between music and noise. part of the music.
 ★​ Most of the sounds emanating from the
surroundings, both natural and
man-made, such as honking cars, rustling
leaves, blowing wind, dripping water, or a
ringing phone.
★​ As such, the combination of external
sounds cannot be duplicated as each
happens by chance.

Important People

JOHN CAGE - Cage was known as one of the

20th-century composers with the widest array of
sounds in his works. He was born in Los Angeles,
California, USA on September 5, 1912, and
became one of the most original composers in
the history of western music.
★​ He challenged the very idea of music by
manipulating musical instruments in order
to achieve new sounds.
★​ He experimented with what came to be
known as "chance music."

HIS WORKS

CONCERT FOR PIANO AND ORCHESTRA, 1958

Five Songs of Contralto

GOODLUCK 10 DIAMOND!