20th Century Music

• It was a time for revolt.

• The famous riot in music history occured in Paris on
May 29, 1913 at the premier of Igor Stravinsky's
ballet, The Rite of Spring. (Video)
• Chords, rhythm, and percussive sound that were
considered noise in 1913 are now commonly heard in
jazz, rock and music for movies and television.
20th Century Music
• American composers began to draw on their own native
music - jazz. Folk music was also a great source of inspiration
for composers.
• Sudden emergence of advanced technology for recording
and distributing music as well as dramatic innovations in
musical forms and styles.
• Musical styles reflected a move away from the conventions
of earlier classical music creating exciting new forms and
styles.
Musical Styles
Musical Styles
Broadway Musical is a theatrical performance
with singing, acting, and dancing found in the
Theatre District in Downtown, New York City.
Musical Styles
Jazz originated in New Orleans, United States that is
characterized with blue notes and syncopation.
Musical Styles
R&B originated in African American
communities. It became the biographical
mirrors of work songs, ballads or lyrics
from minstrel shows, church hymns and
gospel music, and some of the secular
music of America. The combination of
rhythm and blues brought forth the
manifestation of particular emotions on
the very melodic and soulful "blues" with
an accompaniment of "rhythmic"
concentration and force.
 Musical Styles

Pop music orignated in United

States and United Kingdom which
includes an aim of appealing to a
general audience. Common variants
include the verse-chorus form. The
lyrics of modern pop songs typically
focus on simple themes – often love
and romantic relationships.
 Music Genre
• Impressionism served as a transitional
bridge between the Romantic and the
Modern period
• Expressionism aimed to represent the
feeling from the inner perspective
• Neo-classicism composers' incorporate
classical elements in their music
 Music Genre: IMPRESSIONISM
• Characteristics:
• Sublime moods and melodic suggestion
• NOT “Capturing the Subject”
• New combinations of extended chords,
harmonies, whole tone, chromatic scale
and pentatonic scale.
Music Genre: IMPRESSIONISM
• Born in France
• A student from Paris Conservatory in
1873, gained reputation as an erratic
pianist and rebel in theory and
harmony
• One of the most important and
influential of the 20th century.
• He composed for orchestral music,
piano muisc, operas, ballet and vocal
Claude Debussy music.
Music Genre: IMPRESSIONISM
• Born in France
• A student from Paris Conservatory
known as “Virtuoso”
• He refined delicacies and color,
contrasts and effects add to the
difficulty in the proper execution of
the musical passages.
• Many of his works deal with water in
its flowing or stormy moods
Maurice Ravel
 Music Genre: EXPRESSIONISM
• Characteristics:
• Capture “being alive”
• Composers were more concerned with sound colour
(combination of the instrumental sound)
• Textures varied greatly throughout a piece; from solo section
to full passages of orchestra
• Extreme dynamics
• Unusual combination of instruments, at times playing the very
lowest and the very highest notes of their range
Music Genre: EXPRESSIONISM
• Born in Viena, Austria
• He composed the 12 tone system
(chromatic scale)
• He uses melodic and lyrics interest,
with extremely complex, creating
heavy demands on the listener

Arnold Schoenberg
Music Genre: NEO-CLASSICISM
• Characteristics:
• Has order, balance, clarity, and emotional
restraint
• AVANT GARDE - works that are experimental or
innovative particularly with respect to art,
culture, and politics.
Music Genre: NEO-CLASSICISM
• Russian composer, pianist
and conductor
• One of the major
composers of the 20th
century

Sergei Prokofiev
Music Genre: NEO-CLASSICISM
• American composer and
pianist
• Expanded popular and
classical genre
• “Father of American Jazz”

George Gershwin