VI. THE TWENTIETH CENTURY AND BEYOND
Part Outline
Time-Line and Introduction
1. Musical Styles: 1900-1945
1900-1945: An Age of Musical Diversity
Characteristics of Twentieth-Century Music
Tone Color
Harmony
Alternatives to the Traditional Tonal System
Rhythm
Melody
2. Music and Musicians in Society
3. Impressionism and Symbolism
French Impressionist Painting
French Symbolist Poetry
4. Claude Debussy
Debussy’s Music
5. Neoclassicism
6. Igor Stravinsky
Stravinsky’s Music
7. Expressionism
8. Arnold Schoenberg
Schoenberg’s Music
Atonality
The Twelve-Tone System
9. Alban Berg
10. Anton Webern
Webern’s Music
11. Béla Bartók
Bartók’s Music
12. Charles Ives
Ives’s Music
13. George Gershwin
14. William Grant Still
15. Aaron Copland
16. Musical Styles since 1945
Characteristics of Music since 1945
Increased Use of the Twelve-Tone System
Extensions of the Twelve-Tone System: Serialism
Chance Music
Minimalist Music
Musical Quotation
Return to Tonality
Electronic Music
“Liberation of Sound”
Mixed Media
Rhythm and Form
17. Music since 1945: Five Representative Pieces
18. Jazz
Jazz in Society
Roots of Jazz
Ragtime
Blues
Elements of Jazz
Tone Color
Improvisation
Rhythm, Melody, and Harmony
Jazz Styles
New Orleans Style
Swing
Bebop
Cool Jazz
Free Jazz
Jazz Rock (Fusion)
19. The American Musical and Music in Film
Musical Theater
Elements of the Musical
Development of the Musical
Leonard Bernstein
Music in Film
Early Film Music
Functions and Styles of Film Music
Creating Film Music
Music and Image
20. Rock
Development of Rock
Elements of Rock
Tone Color
Rhythm
Form, Melody, and Harmony
Listening Guides in Part VI
- Prélude à L’Après-midi d’un faune (Prelude to The Afternoon of a Faun), by Claude Debussy
- Le Sacre du printemps (The Rite of Spring): Part I, Introduction; Omens of Spring—Dances of the Youths and Maidens; Ritual of Abduction; Part II, Sacrificial Dance, by Igor Stravinsky
- Pierrot lunaire (Moonstruck Pierrot), Op.21: Mondestrunken (Moondrunk), by Arnold Schoenberg
- A Survivor from Warsaw, Op.46, by Arnold Schoenberg
- Wozzeck, Act III: Scenes 4 and 5, by Alban Berg
- Five Pieces for Orchestra, Op.10: Third Piece, by Anton Webern
- Concerto for Orchestra: Second Movement (Game of Pairs), by Béla Bartók
- Putnam’s Camp, Redding, Connecticut, from Three Places in New England, by Charles Ives
- Rhapsody in Blue, by George Gershwin
- Afro-American Symphony: Third Movement, by William Grant Still
- Appalachian Spring: Theme and Variations on Simple Gifts, by Aaron Copland
- Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared Piano: Sonata II, by John Cage
- Poème électronique (Electronic Poem): Opening Segment, by Edgard Varese
- Fugata, by Astor Piazzolla
- Concerto Grosso 1985: First Movement, by Elen Taaffe Zwilich
- Short Ride in a Fast Machine, by John Adams
- Lost Your Head Blues, by Bessie Smith
- Hotter Than That, by Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five
- Bloomdido, by Charlie Parker
- Miles Runs the Voodoo Down, by Miles Davis
- West Side Story: Tonight Ensemble, by Leonard Bernstein
- Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, from Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, by the Beatles
Terms in Part VI
glissandopolychordfourth chord
tone clusterpolytonalitybitonality
atonalitypolyrhythmostinato
impressionismpentatonic scalewhole-tone scale
neoclassicismprimitivismexpressionism
Sprechstimmetwelve-tone systemtone row; set; series
serialismminimalist music chance music; aleatory music
quotation musicmicrotonesjazz
call and responseragtimeblues
rhythm sectionchorusNew Orleans jazz
Dixieland jazzfront linebreak
swing bandriffbebop
cool jazzfree jazzjazz rock; fusion
musical; musical comedyfilm music
VI-1. MUSICAL STYLES: 1900-1945
Objectives
This section contains a survey of the principal technical developments in music during the first half of the century. After a brief discussion of parallel changes in the arts and sciences of the early twentieth century, the influences of folk and popular music, Asian and African music, and European art music from the Middle Ages through the nineteenth century are traced. The main body of the section considers the principal parameters of music — tone color, harmony, tonality, rhythm, and melody — in relation to the music of earlier periods. Among the topics considered are the prominence of the percussion section in twentieth-century music, new ways of playing conventional instruments, polychords, fourth chords, tone clusters, polytonality, bitonality, atonality, and polyrhythms. Reference is made to a wide variety of music.
Discussion Topics
1. A brief discussion of the radical changes that have taken place in the first half of the twentieth century is in order. The workbook has an exercise you may wish to use in class or assign for outside exploration. Placed in the broader context, the students should be able to appreciate that changes in music are no more radical than those in other areas.
2. In discussing the general characteristics of the period, consider other aspects of our society such as literature, costume, manners, mores, and art. The illustrations in the text should prove helpful in relating music to the other arts:
Donald Judd (1928-94). See VI-16.1 for a discussion of his sculpture Untitled.
Helen Frankenthaler (b. 1928). See VI-16.1 for a discussion of her Flood.
Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944). Kandinsky was a leading member of the second major group of expressionist artists to arise in Germany, Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider). It has been suggested that the four panels Kandinsky designed in 1914 for an American collector’s dining room represent the four seasons. (See for example Kandinsky: the Development of an Abstract Style by Rose-Carol Long). Winter has been suggested as the mood for Panel for Edwin R. Campbell, No. 3, with summer as the stimulus for No. 1. Since Kandinsky never identified the works as such, however, it would be more important to emphasize his aim of charging form and color with a purely spiritual meaning by eliminating all resemblance to the physical world.
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1880-1938). Informal leader of a group of expressionist artists known as Die Brücke (The Bridge), Kirchner revolted against traditional academic standards and sought to establish a new unity of nature and emotion. In Street Scene, Berlin (1913) Kirchner uses distortion of form, color, and shape to symbolize our unhappily anonymous existence.
Jacob Lawrence (1917-2000). Lawrence is best known for his paintings in series, such as Tousssaint L’Ouverture (1937-38), Frederick Douglass (1938-39), Harriet Tubman (1939-40), Migration (1940-41), John Brown (1941-42), Harlem (1942-43), War (1947), and Struggle (1955-56). “In the North the African American had more educational opportunities” is the 58th panel in his Migration series of 60 paintings. Milton W. Brown describes the Migration series as “an account of the massive movement of Blacks from the rural South to Northern urban centers during and after World War I, a historic occurrence of profound significance not only for the Black people, but for America in general. A sociological rather than a heroic epic, it is not the story of individuals or specific events, but of anonymous humanity. And the paintings manage to capture in an uncanny way the rhythm of a people in flux, the vulnerability of huddled masses, the force of history driving people like scraps in a wind.” (Jacob Lawrence, New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 1974, pp. 11-12.)
Fernand Leger (1881-1955). Identified with “machine art,” Leger tended to mechanize the human being, as he glorified modern machinery. Repudiating all romanticism, he said “For me the human figure . . . has no more importance than keys or bicycles.” (Encyclopædia Brittanica, 1972). This attitude is evident in his portrayal of a small dance or bistro combo, The Three Musicians (1930).
Henri Matisse (1869-1954). Often regarded as the most important French painter of the 20th century, his career was long and varied, covering many different styles of painting from Impressionism to near Abstraction. Early in his career Matisse was viewed as a Fauvist, and his celebration of bright colors reached its peak in 1917 when he began to spend time on the French Riviera at Nice and Vence. Here he concentrated on reflecting the sensual color of his surroundings and completed some of his most exciting paintings (Nicolas Pioch, WebMuseum). Music (La Musique, 1939).
Claude Monet (1840-1926). The impressionist painters were interested in capturing the effect of light and atmospheric conditions on their subjects. Monet’s Impression, Sunrise (1872, exhibited 1874) is the famous painting that inspired a critic to mockingly give the whole movement that name.
Edvard Munch (1863-1944). His famous (perhaps infamous?) The Scream is discussed in chapter VI-7.2 below.
Pablo Picasso (1881-1973). The American Heritage Dictionary defines cubism as “an early 20th-cent. school of painting and sculpture in which the subject matter is portrayed by geometric forms without realistic detail.” The objects may be presented as if seen from different angles in the same painting. The earlier phase, Analytic Cubism, is marked by objects fragmented into abstract geometrical forms in an exploration of three-dimensional space. A later phase, Synthetic cubism, marked a return to brighter colors in which flat shapes of color formed objects. Picasso’s Violin and Grapes (1912) is an example of the transition from Analytic to Synthetic Cubism. It contains trompe l’oeil aspects of simulated wooden wallpaper. Picasso’s Girl Before a Mirror (1932) is considered one of his finest canvases, and was inspired by one of his romantic liaisons. The surrealistic qualities of deformation and fanciful imagery come through effectively with the brilliant colors in the reproduction. Consider also his Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (p. 312), discussed in chapter VI-6.7 below.
Jackson Pollock (1912-56). See VI-16.1 for a discussion of his One (Number 31, 1950).
Bridget Riley (b. 1931). See VI-16.1 for a discussion of her op art Nataraja.
Andy Warhol (1929-1987). See VI-16.1 for a discussion of his Campbell’s Soup Cans.
3. The WebMuseum, at < contains examples of many twentieth-century artistic styles. Search for other art sites with your favorite search engine.
4. Search for specific composers or musical styles with a Web search engine and keywords such as impressionism, expressionism, minimalism, paired with music, or use one of the large music resources sites. Extensive links maybe found at <
5. If time permits, you may wish to contrast Stravinsky’s Pulcinella with the Pergolesi work that inspired it. Whether the Pergolesi Trio Sonata is spurious or not should have no relevance to Stravinsky’s treatment of the material.
6. The text refers to many musical examples with the great variety of topics discussed. Though all the material will be elaborated on later, you may wish to treat some topics in detail now. A stylistic comparison listening exercise may be found in the workbook. Space is provided for comparing three different compositions. You might wish to contrast styles in this introduction to the twentieth century by including impressionist, expressionist, and neoclassical works as well as earlier periods. Integrate concepts presented in this section, if possible, in choosing these examples. A few moments from Stravinsky’s Les Noces, for example, can demonstrate the importance of the percussion section, Milhaud’s The Creation of the World can serve as a quick introduction to the use of jazz in the art music of Europe, and Prokofiev’s Classical Symphony can very quickly demonstrate the revival of an old style to serve contemporary interests. Name the composers and titles in the hope the students will wish to hear more of the selections chosen.
7. Since this chapter focuses partly on departures from pre-twentieth-century harmonic, melodic, and formal norms, remind your students that they can go back to the Online Learning Center at any time to clarify any concepts. It is, of course, crucial that students understand conventional practices before exploring departures from those conventions.
Questions and Topics
1. Discuss some developments in science and the visual arts that paralleled the rise of the new music.
2. Discuss the influence of jazz on twentieth-century music.
3. Discuss new harmonic devices and approaches to tonality in the twentieth century.
4. Discuss some new rhythmic procedures of twentieth-century music.
5. Discuss the new attitudes toward dissonance that arose during the twentieth century.
6. The Paris International Exhibition of 1889 and its influence on music.
7. Music for percussion ensemble in the twentieth century.
8. The rise of ethnomusicology as a discipline, and its influence on twentieth-century music.
9. The workbook has an exercise for exploring the radical changes that took place in the first half of the twentieth century
VI-2. MUSIC AND MUSICIANS IN SOCIETY
Objectives
This section discusses the impact of radio, television, and recordings on the listening habits of the public. Also mentioned are the various institutions that have commissioned new music: ballet and opera companies, foundations, orchestras, performers, film studios, and wealthy music lovers. Several of the most noted women among American composers are mentioned, as are leading African American composers. The text also describes the emigration of many famous composers to the United States because of World War II, the widespread dissemination of American jazz and popular music, and the role of universities in nourishing new music.
Discussion Topics
1. Discuss the position of CDs, lazer disks, and videos in the current musical scene, and how they have changed traditional habits of concert-goers (remember when students carried pocket scores to concerts?). Discuss the great opportunities for education: could a course such as this be taught without recordings? We often forget the pre-Lp period, when there were three or four Haydn symphonies, the same for Mozart, and virtually nothing before Bach. Are CDs and cassettes causing a similar upheaval? What has happened to the home market for reel-to-reel tapes and machines?
2. To get the students involved and aware of contemporary music in their own area, the workbook has a research project that asks them to compile statistics and determine percentages. Help them locate concert offerings, especially if they are not familiar with the usual means of concert listings.
3. You might play the final section of The Rite of Spring to see if the shock value of this music has diminished over the last eighty-eight years. Ask your students if they have heard examples of twentieth-century music at a live concert. How many of them own recordings of serious contemporary music? Can any of them recall being impressed, or perhaps angered, by a film score? How many of them have been impressed by the modernistic sounds often found in the background of television thrillers? Or noticed the use of a Johann Strauss waltz as background for the modernistic film 2001, besides the Richard Strauss symphonic poem and the electronic music? If your music department has recently sponsored concerts featuring new music, how many of the students attended, and what were their reactions?
4. The text mentions many instances of commissions. You may wish to raise the question of government support of the arts. Be sure to have both pro and con opinions represented, and if the discussion warrants, you may wish to bring in a comparison to the arts in Russia and European countries.
5. The workbook has a page to help with biographical details for any of the composers discussed.
Questions and Topics
l. Describe the influence of radio, television, and the recording industry on the listening habits of American audiences.
2. Compare and contrast the attitudes toward new music of the audiences of Mozart’s day with those of the early twentieth century.
3. Describe the role of the American university in fostering the growth of new music.
4. Arturo Toscanini and the NBC Symphony Orchestra.
5. Opera for television.
6. World War II and the migration of composers, musicians, and musicologists to America.
7. Analog versus digital recording techniques.
8. Have recordings changed traditional habits of concertgoers?
9. Discuss the impact of online music trading and purchasing on art music, and on popular music.
VI-3. IMPRESSIONISM AND SYMBOLISM
Objectives
This section provides background information on two artistic movements that were to have their musical counterparts in the work of Claude Debussy: impressionist painting and symbolist poetry. The painters Monet, Renoir, and Pissarro represent the impressionist movement in painting. Symbolist poetry is represented by Mallarmé, Verlaine, and Rimbaud.
Discussion Topics
1. As a general introduction to the topic, the filmstrip Impressionism in Art and Music is to be highly recommended (EAV, also video, 34 minutes, color). The first of the two filmstrips in the set deals with Monet and Debussy, and reinforces the materials in the text (the second deals with other painters and musicians). Just to see the impressionist works in color is worth the time and effort involved. If that is not possible, at least take a few moments to discuss the painting that gave its name to the movement (p. 303).
2. Since this section is designed as a prelude to Debussy, you may choose to go to it directly, but consider playing Debussy’s Reflets dans l’eau, the first number from book I of his Images for piano. This marvelously evocative “water music” is of direct relevance to the text’s remarks about the impressionist painters’ obsession with water: “Using light pastel colors, they depicted the ripples and waves of the ocean and sailboats on the river Seine.” Debussy’s great masterpiece, La Mer, is even more useful for this demonstration, but is a much longer work. Compare Debussy’s interpretation with another example of “water music” discussed earlier in the course, Smetana’s The Moldau (V-12). Although the students have not yet been formally introduced to the details of Debussy’s style, they may be able to make some interesting observations regarding differences between Debussy’s language and that of Smetana. When playing the Debussy work, ask the students to describe examples of aquatic action that seem to be implied by the music.