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20th century composers quizlet
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The 20th century's 3 Greatest Composers
The 20th century has watched many musicians break through their generation's bounds of normalcy to creat a completely new music. Musicians who initiated revolutions so grandiose that the impact—like an earthquake’s aftershocks—would reverberate for decades and influence scores of musicians to come. Such influences can be traced back to three specific composers. Igor Stravinsky, Aaron Copland, and Nadia Boulanger: the triumvirate of 20th century music.
Igor Stravinsky, remains the century’s most shocking and versatile composer. Born in Russia in 1882, Stravinsky enjoyed a musically wealthy childhood. He was the son of a famous opera singer and well-educated in piano performance and harmony/counterpoint. His parents sent him to St. Petersburg University to obtain a Criminal Law/Legal Philosophy degree. While attending school, Stravinsky befriended a young man whose father, Rimsky-Korsokav, later developed a special affinity for Stravinksy’s music (Nousiainen). Because Stravinsky was not schooled in traditional techniques, Rimsky-Korsakov advised him to continue private harmony and counterpoint lessons, rather than attend a formal conservatory. Rimsky-Korsakov, professor at such an institution, thought the rigorous atmosphere might overwhelm and discourage the young composer (Walsh). Despite this lack of formal training, Stravinsky created some of the 20th century's most profound pieces.
The Rite of Spring, Stravinsky’s most notable music contribution, was commissioned by Sergei Diaghilev for the Ballets Russes. For readers unfamiliar with the ballet, Rite choreographs the story of an ancient tribe’s sacrifice of an adolescent virgin whom, in order to save the Earth,...
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... of you. What an impression you have left with the music-lovers around the world!” (“Letter”). This impact is Nadia Boulanger remains the most significant figure of 20th century music.
FOOTNOTES
[1]<![endif]> This abstract sketch was Stravinsky’s response when author, Robert Craft, asked him to draw his music.The drawing is comparable to the abstract nature of Stravinsky’s compositions (Craft).
[2]<![endif]>The phrase “Appalachian Spring” was first coined by poet Hart Crane.Martha Graham copied his words for her ballet’s already-finished score, which, until then, Copland had modestly titled “Ballet for Martha”
[3]<![endif]> Tanglewood is a premier music academy founded by Boston Symphony director, Serge Koussevitsky, in 1940.His goal was to provide a place for budding musicians to study with orchestra musicians and other world class artists
Tomoff, Kiril. Creative Union: the Professional Organization of Soviet Composers, 1939-1953. New York, NY: Cornell Univ Press, 2006. Print.
Sergei Rachmaninoff is considered to be the final, magnificent composer of the Romantic era in Russian classical music, ushering forward its traditions into the twentieth century. His four concertos are a reflection of his development as a composer and pianist, with regard to maturity and compositional style. The evolution of music during the late nineteenth century to early twentieth century had no significant effect on Rachmaninoff; rather he continued to produce ingenious works reflective of his Russian upbringing and the Romantic era.
Elements of this piece that helped shape a new musical language for thee twentieth – century would consist of Stravinsky experimenting with rhythm and new combinations of instruments. The way he uses dissonance in his pieces as well polyphonic and polytonal textures. His ballets were strongly nationalistic but contained rites of Russia in ancient times. On the opening night of The Rite of Spring, he caused a riot to ensue because it wasn’t like a regular ballet, it was totally different. It consisted of no ballet dancing at all, but more of a chant dance, the different melodies and the change in dissonance caused the ballet to be viewed as a frightening experience to some. Spring is something that is viewed as beautiful, light, loving and this ballet showed none of this, from the point of view of those who attended that night.
Dmitri Shostakovich was one of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century. He achieved fame, but with much hardship along the way. He was censored and threatened with not only his life but that of his wife and children by playing the role of a public figure in Soviet Russia. The question is was he a committed communist or a victim? The events in his life, good or bad, shaped the music that he created and led to one of the greatest symphonies of the 20th century, his Fifth Symphony.
Ever since humans first learned how to make music with their voices and with instruments thousands of years ago, music has been changing. Some changes took place over hundreds or even thousands of years, stunted by human isolation or by guidelines set in place by religious institutions. The 20th century, in contrast, experienced several rapid, radical changes in the popular genres of music. This made the 20th century a very rich time period for musical culture. These remarkable genres--including, but not limited to jazz, rock and roll, and the music of the “British invasion”--all influenced one another, and all influenced the culture we still live in today.
The Rite of Spring is breath taking. Personally, I felt it more of a Rite of Passage. The high energy and erratic combinations made me feel an unusual restlessness in my body. When first listening to the bassoon play I expected the composition to be like Spring itself. Spring is soft, flowing, gently to a smooth performance. I wasn't expecting such raw emotion and aggressive tones. I believe this is hwy the audience of the first performance became so erratic and aggressive themselves. The audience who was used to the theater being upper class, Stravinsky took the upper class in high society and brought them back to a more primitive, a more vulgar, and more open time in life which I believe made them feel vulnerable thus having at lashed out on the performance
Western Music has developed in many ways since the middle ages through its form, sound, and message. Throughout these different periods in western music one thing has remained constant, the true essence of music, a way to communicate with someone on a much more divine level than be by rudimentary conversation. Though Ludwig Van Beethoven and Paul McCartney may seem completely opposite they have one in common through their music they changed the world’s perception of its self
Igor Stravinsky was born near St. Petersburg, Russia into a very musical family. His father was famous for being an operatic bass and his mother was a pianist. Their home was filled with art, literature, and music, and Igor started piano lessons at age nine. But his parents didn’t want him to follow in their footsteps, so they encouraged him to study law, which he did. He went to a university to study, and it was there that he befriended Vladimir Rimsky-Korsakov, a celebrated composer, who Stravinsky was apprenticed under for three years. After a year and a half of this excellent music instruction, Stravinsky began his first symphony. It was around this time that he graduated from the university and married his cousin, Catherine Nossenko. When he and his wife went to the country that summer, Stravinsky promised Rimsky-Korsakov, his good friend as well as mentor, that he’d send him the finished music of the piece he was working on. A few weeks later, he sent the completed composition, his well-known Firworks, to him. But the parcel was returned with a message: “Not delivered owing to the death of the addressee”. This was a sad time for Stravinsky, but it was also one full of promise, because before his death Rimsky-Korsakov arranged for some of Stravinsky’s music to be performed. In the audience of one of these performances was Sergei Diaghilev, a dire...
Igor Stravinsky was born near St. Petersburg, Russia in 1882. His father was a bass singer in the Imperial Opera, therefore he was well verse in music at an early age. He began piano lessons while a young boy and began to understand theory. He continued his studies at the University of St. Petersburg after deciding not to pursue law, as his parents wanted him to. Stravinsky's work is usually split into three general style periods: a Russian period, a Neoclassical period, and a Serial period.
When my parents were my age, it was normal to get married because they were not stupid enough to get married just because they wanted to. Nowadays young adults get married just because they feel lonely and they want somebody to cuddle with at night. Our generation is so messed up that some of them get married just because they think that if they have someone special that is going to make them happy. Some people get married just because they think they are going to last forever and live happy for their rest of their lives. They think that is a fairy tale like how they make it look in the movies shown on the Disney channel. People should really think about what they are going to do because marriage is a huge step. Although there is no law that states what age someone can get married, I think that getting married younger than twenty-five can be a terrible mistake because the couple is probably immature, not stable and not committed.
To conclude, these three revolutionary composers that I have analysed in this essay brought so many levels and layers to ‘Modern Music’. With their contributions Modern era was disconnected from romanticism. Without Debussy’s unique, enjoyable compositions, Stravinsky’s rhythmic and dynamic layers and new ideas, Schoenberg’s creative theories and revolutionary 12 tone system one can not think of a Modern era.
Lee, Douglas A. Masterworks of 20th-century Music: the Modern Repertory of the Symphony Orchestra. New York: Routledge, 2002. Google Books. Web. 10 Nov. 2011.
Francis, Henry. "Sketches for the Russian Ballet Collected by Serge Lifar." The Bulletin of the
Igor’s life at school was lonely he once said that he felt no body had any attraction to him. Igor start piano lessons as a young boy he started studying music and started trying to compose. Though he loved music and his parents knew that they expected Igor to go into law. He attended school at the University of Saint Petersburg but took about 50 classes in the 4 years there. The summer after he stayed with a composer and his family where Rimsky-Korsakov one of the most famous composers of those times suggested that Igor not go into law and take some private lessons instead. Igor’s father died that same year in which Igor had already started spending more time on music than on law. The university was closed for 2 moths because of bloody Sunday. In that that time Igor couldn’t take his final test and got a half diploma after that he switched his focuses completely onto music. Igor continued to take private lessons from Rimsky-Korsakov until Rimsky’s death in 1908. In 1905 he got engaged to his cousin whom he had known sense childhood. Though the church was not happy with marrying first cousins they got married in 1906. They had 2 children soon after born in 1907 and 1908. Igor than put on 2 orchestral works that were heard by a guy planning on presenting Russian ballet and opera’s in Paris he than asked Igor to carry out some orchestras and a full-length ballet.
There are people that got married in their forties and still did not make it in their marriage. No matter the age, if a something is not going to work, it just will not work. At the age of eighteen people are considered old enough to be married, so why is young marriage frowned