Modernism Is Not a Style: Think of It As an Attitude/Idea That Resulted in a Variety Of

Modernism

Modernism was a phenomenon that affected all of the arts in the 20th century, including literature, painting, and music.
Modernism is not a style: think of it as an attitude/idea that resulted in a variety of prominent styles.
Can be described as the desire for novelty at any cost; the new must be as different as possible from the old.
In music, this can be seen in the abandonment of traditional forms and tonality.
The most extreme forms sought to erase all links to the past.
Modernism resulted in the following new approaches: impressionism, expressionism, atonality, serial composition, and minimalism.

Expressionism

Expressionism is a broad artistic movement that sought to give voice to the unconscious and to explore humanity’s deepest and darkest emotions.
Tried to avoid traditional forms of beauty and confront the human existence, often making it unpleasant.
This movement is often seen as abstract and is characterized by extreme emotional intensity.
It rejects conventional techniques of representation, favoring exaggeration and distortion.

Atonality and Serial Composition

Atonality is the absence of a tonal center (key or “home base”).
Composers such as Schoenberg, Webern, and Berg were searching for a new way of writing music with a more direct and immediate emotional impact than any music before.
In vocal music, these composers used a technique called Sprechstimme, which is literally translated as “speech-voice” and is a mixture of speaking and singing.
Creates a surreal quality in the music
Serial Composition: based on the use of numbers to create “rows” and “series” of pitches for an atonal work
Provided a means for organization without conforming to traditional forms.

Aleatory Music and Minimalism

Aleatory Music: music of chance that leaves certain elements of the performance to randomly determined circumstances such as the roll of a dice.
Some actions can even be determined at the whim of the performer.
These works differ from one performance to the next.
Minimalism: A movement that emerged in the 1960’s that relied on multiple repetitions of small units that differ only slightly or are varied only gradually over long stretches of time.
Technology was important to many of these works.

Reactions to Modernism

Much of the music that was influenced by Modernism was widely condemned by listeners.
This music did not conform to the mainstream ideas of traditional music, and even seemed to threaten the existing social order.
These works were seen as a rebellion against the social status quo, and performances occasionally led to riots in concert halls.
Later genres such as ragtime, jazz, rock and roll, and rap would also be controversial at their start.