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modernism movement
modernism movement
The history of classical music
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The Twentieth Century saw many rapid changes in society with the industrial revolution, rise of capitalism, women’s suffrage, challenging of religious concepts and World Wars. These changes led to people questioning everything they had known, including music. The questions asked led many composers into developing experimental ideas that were radical and unusual which gave rise to the Modernism era of music.
The earliest modernist movement is referred to as Impressionism. Closer to symbolism, impressionism is music that suggests and creates an atmosphere for listeners to come up with their own interpretation. A famous impressionism work is Three Nocturnes (1899) by composer Claude Debussy. Inspired by artist James Whistler, Debussy sought to use music to show the fluidity and mystery of light. (Nocturnes) The first of the nocturnes is titled “Clouds” and suggests relaxing while watching the clouds pass by. The piece introduces new ideas as it is played to the pentatonic scale, which is just the five black keys of the chromatic scale. While seeming to be in sonata form of ABA’ , the exposition (A) contains the entire form of aba and the recapitulation (A’) does not contain the full sequence. The English horn motive returns several times but the cloud sequence remains the theme of the piece. The cloud theme is repeated over and over at different pitches and instruments but is still unchanged in base form. Soft and restrained the composition accomplishes its purpose of invoking an image of a peaceful evening watching the clouds go by. The refinement of Debussy created another modernist movement called primitivism. (Kerman)
Primitivism is the unrestrained expression of pre-technological cultures. (Blood) The cultures were seen as be...
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...tely write a piece of music that sounds ugly. Musicians feel the need to invent new sounds and forms, creating new techniques. While the avant-garde music may only appeal to a few, when they are added to old techniques, new music that delights all audiences is born.
Works Cited
Blood, Brian. "Music of the 19th Century." Dolmetsch Online - Music Theory Online. Dolmetsch Organisation, 06 Sept. 2013. Web. 7 Dec. 2013.
Kerman, Joseph, and Gary Tomlinson. Listen. Bedford/St. Martin's, 2011. CD.
Kerman, Joseph, and Gary Tomlinson. Listen. 7th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2012. Print.
"Nocturnes." LA Phil. Los Angeles Philharmonic Association, 2013. Web. 7 Dec. 2013.
Taylor, Rebecca. "A Comparison of the Approaches of Schoenberg, Berg and Webern to Serialism in Their Music." MusicTeachers.co.uk (2002): 2-4. Resources. MusicTeachers.co.uk, 2002. Web. 12 Dec. 2013.
The 20th century was an extremely rich period for the arts, including music. Artists pursued new means of expression, and many musical artwork including compositions caused euphoria among the critics and audiences because of their innovative character. Modernism replaced the romanticized aesthetics of the 19th century and composers ventured to discover new sonorities, forms, organizational systems, rhythms and instruments. Luciano Berio was born in the midst of this cultural whirlwind which was taking place between both World Wars. The Italian composer whose career flourished after World War II in the United States had contact with the most prominent composers of his time such as Dallapiccola, Boulez, Stockhausen, Ligeti, Posseur and Cage.
Music has evolved too many different forms that we recognize today. We trace this development throughout time. Beginning in the middle ages, we have seen advancement from the Gregorian chant all the way to the Jazz of the 20th century. The current events, politics, religion, technology and composers can shape musical eras during time. Here I will look at the middle ages, renaissance, baroque, classical, romantic and twentieth century periods. I hope that a better understanding can be reached to why, when, where and who are the reasons for musical evolution.
Soul had a great cultural impact on the music industry during the 1960's, especially considering that record labels such as Motown, Stax, and Fame had several important soul artists under contract. While Motown was considered by some to be a more restrained (pop) type of soul, musicians such as Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder and groups such as the Supremes and the Temptations released many successful records in combination. Both Stax and Fame Records decided to take a different approach, and many of the tracks issued out of their respective studios were of a grittier, southern soul style, which some consider to be more true to the roots of African American culture. Some southern soul musicians include Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, and Aretha Franklin. During the civil rights movement and more so after Martin Luther King was assassinated, some soul artists began incorporating a "black power" element within their music. For example, take James Brown's single "Say It Loud, I'm Black and Proud".
Current western classical music did not occur overnight. It was a long process that had its beginnings in the sacred music of the Middle Ages. War, disease, famine, political unrest and advancements in science brought changes, to not only how music was perceived, but also in how it was presented, giving modern western classical music its rich history today.
- Norris, Jeremy Paul. The development of the Russian piano concerto in the nineteenth century. Indiana: Indiana University Press, 1988. Print.
Fuller, Richard. "Romantic Music (1850-1900)." Romantic Music (1850-1900). N.p., 15 Feb. 2010. Web. 31 Dec. 2012. .
What would the world be like without music? The world would be a very silent place. Music is in many ways the material of our lives and the meaning of society. It is a reminder of how things were in the old days, a suggestion of how things are, and a view of where society is leading to. Music is the direct reflection of the picture of art, music, and literature. Music can be a way to deliver messages, being poetic, a fine art, or it can just be for entertainment. No matter what it is used for, music is the perfect art there is and there are various types of music; such as classical and romantic. This paper will discuss how classical music and romantic music had a turning point in humanity’s social or cultural development, and how they have
For almost half a century, the musical world was defined by order and esteemed the form of music more highly than the emotion that lay behind it. However, at the turn of the 19th century, romantic music began to rise in popularity. Lasting nearly a century, romantic music rejected the ideas of the classical era and instead encouraged composers to embrace the idea of emotionally driven music. Music was centered around extreme emotions and fantastical stories that rejected the idea of reason. This was the world that Clara Wieck (who would later marry the famous composer, Robert Schumann) was born into. Most well known for being a famous concert pianist, and secondly for being a romantic composer, Clara intimately knew the workings of romantic music which would not only influence Clara but would later become influenced by her progressive compositions and performances, as asserted by Bertita Harding, author of Concerto: The Glowing Story of Clara Schumann (Harding, 14). Clara’s musical career is an excellent example of how romantic music changed from virtuosic pieces composed to inspire awe at a performer’s talent, to more serious and nuanced pieces of music that valued the emotion of the listener above all else.
The most important "isms" of music in the 20th century are neoclassicism, impressionism, primitivism, and nationalism. They are all important movements that play a big role in the history of music.
John Warrack, author of 6 Great Composers, stated, “Any study of a composer, however brief, must have as its only purpose encouragement of the reader to greater enjoyment of the music” (Warrack, p.2). The composers and musicians of the Renaissance period need to be discussed and studied so that listeners, performers, and readers can appreciate and understand the beginnings of music theory and form. The reader can also understand the driving force of the composer, whether sacred or secular, popularity or religious growth. To begin understanding music composition one must begin at the birth, or rebirth of music and the composers who created the great change.
This is the second volume of Richard Taruskin's historical work, and it highlights composers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. He examines the progression of different styles and eras of music.
In the twentieth century, musicians were very open to change. Many new styles and genres were made. In a way, they got rid of all of the rules and created new ones. Composers, trying new things, created ragtime, jazz. Some of the new approaches towards tonality were atonality, polytonality, neotonality and the twelve-tonal methods. Different styles were impressionism, expressionism, neoclassicism, primitivism and minimalism. Composers trying to create completely new sounds produced experimental music, spatial music, and electronic music. Not all composers aimed for completely new things. Some wanted to continue the traditions of old classical composers while also finding ways to make their music relevant in their time. All of these elements together are what characterize the twentieth century and what influences much of our music today.
Roughly from 1815 to 1910, this period of time is called the romantic period. At this period, all arts are transforming from classic arts by having greater emphasis on the qualities of remoteness and strangeness in essence. The influence of romanticism in music particularly, has shown that romantic composers value the freedom of expression, movement, passion, and endless pursuit of the unattainable fantasy and imagination. The composers of the romantic period are in search of new subject matters, more emotional and are more expressive of their feelings as they are not bounded by structural rules in classical music where order, equilibrium, control and perfection are deemed important (Dorak, 2000).
Igor Stravinsky makes for a first-class example of differences and similarities between neoclassicism and modernism. Modernism is defined as “A term used in music to denote a multi-faceted but distinct and continuous tradition within 20th-century composition”1, while neoclassicism may be defined as “A movement of style in the works of certain 20th-century composers, who, particularly during the period between the two world wars, revived the balanced forms and clearly perceptible thematic processes of earlier styles to replace what were, to them, the increasingly exaggerated gestures and formlessness of late Romanticism”2 By not only comparing his works to others but within his own body of work the two movements can be better distinguished. Stravinsky composed in both styles throughout his musical career making his works not only a prime example but a map for the transition between periods/movements, thus giving distinctness to the movements. Stravinsky “cultivated a flexible and reciprocal association with his changing environment. While consistently producing work which transformed the sensibilities of those who heard it, he himself continuously allowed his own sensibilities to be fed, even transformed, by the music and music-making of others.”3 By comparing and contrasting the works of Stravinsky with not only his own works, but with his contemporary's of the early 20th century, the division and resemblances between neoclassicism and modernism can be thoroughly observed.
Music Appreciation has broadened my view to listen to different eras of music that I was not accustomed to. It was pleasant listening, reading, and learning about different periods of music. This course has given me an exceptional amount of knowledge on different styles of music, identifying different elements in music as well as learning about legendary composers who have influenced music throughout history. Not only has music been around for decades, it has developed a history of great composers who have left an imprint in history by their extraordinary compositions of music they developed during their times of glory, like Ludwig van Beethoven. In this essay I will discuss how Beethoven is known as one of the greatest, ingenuity composers of his time and how the classical period is so fascinating to listen to and learn about. In addition, I will also discuss how Music Appreciation has reshaped the way I perceive and listen to different styles of music that have been created throughout history.