20th Century

1900-1999

General Characteristics

• Great depression

• Collapse of many empires

• World Wars

• Mass media

– Technology

• Inventions

– Automobile

• Scientific discoveries

– Theory of relativity

Characteristics of 20th Century Artwork

• Expressionism

• Cubism

• Abstract

Horses by Senaka Senanayake

Kimberly Conrad- moving metals 5-2-2011

Abstract expressionism

Franz Marc (1880-1916) “Piggies”

Cubism

Differences?

Romantic Art (Top)Eldena Ruin by Casper David Friedrich

1825

20th century Art

Important people of the 20th century• Albert Einstein, Germany

– Developed theory of relativity

• Winston Churchill

– British politician

• Amelia Earhart

– Fly solo across Atlantic ocean

• Henry Ford

– Assembly line

• Wright Brothers

– The first successful airplane

Musical Developments

• Electronic music

• Expressionism

• Serialism

– 12 tone row

• Music concrete

– Using recorded sounds as raw material

• Impressionism

– Whole tone and pentatonic scales

Atonality

• When a piece of music is not centered around

a key signature.

• “no home base”

Serialism

• Using all 12 notes of a scale in a piece of music

Differences with Romantic and 20th

Century MusicRomantic 20th Century

Melody Often lyrical, long irregular

phrases

Wide variety, very disjunct

Harmony Increased use of modulation Atonal

Rhythm Frequent change in meters

with different movements

Prominent and complicated

Form Same as classical but

expanded

All previous forms changed

Texture Homophonic Homophonic, Pointillism

Technology in music

• New instruments-Synthesizers

– Many sounds

• Recorded music

– Edit recording speed up or slow down the music

• Downloaded music

– Travels quickly

Impressionism

• Suggests atmosphere

• Music painted an unclear imagine in the listeners

imagination

• Claude Debussy

Prepared piano

• Sound altered by placing objects between or on

the strings, the hammers or dampers

• John Cage

Whole tone scale• Each note is separated from its neighbor note

by a whole step.

• Eliminates major/minor system

• The Simpsons Theme

Igor Stravinsky

• June 5, 1882- April 6, 1971

• Born in Russia, moved to

France then moved to

America

• Buried in Venice Italy

• Author of several books

• Famous work

– Rite of Spring Ballet

Arnold Schoenberg

• September 13, 1874- July 13

1951

• Austrian composer

• Used atonality

• Developed serialism

• Also a painter and music

theorist

• Teacher of John Cage

Aaron Copland

• November 14, 1900-

December 2, 1990

• American Composer, born in

Brooklyn

• Wrote music for Hollywood in

the 1930’s

• Most famous works

– Appalachian Spring

– Fanfare for the Common Man

Phillip Glass

• January 31, 1937

• American composer, Baltimore

• Composer of Art music and

minimalism

• Most famous work

– Einstein on the beach

John Cage• September 5, 1912- August 12,

1992

• American composer and music theorist

• Innovator of electroacoustic music

• Innovator of prepared piano

• Most famous work

– Sonatas and Interludes- prepared piano

– 4’ 33’’

(The sounds of the environment surrounding the performance is important to live music)

Charles Ives

• October 20, 1874- May 19,

1954

• American Composer

• Insurance salesmen

• Innovator of polytonality, and

polyrhythm

• Used hymns, and traditional

songs in an untraditional way.

• Most famous work

– The unanswered question

Famous 20th century Composers in order of birth

Schoenberg

Charles Ives

Stravinsky

Copeland

Cage

Glass

20th Century Instruments

• String

– Electric Guitar

• Woodwind

– Ewi

• Brass

– Euphonium

• Keyboard

– Synthesizer

• Percussion

– Drum Set

Listening example 1

• Composer: John Cage

• Title: “Sonatas and interludes for prepared

piano”

• Date: 1946-1948

• Texture: Homophonic

• Form: Free

• Additional information: instruction manual on

where to place bolts, screws and other objects

in piano.

Listening example 2

• Composer: Phillip Glass

• Title: “Einstein on the beach”

• Date: 1976

• Texture: Homophonic

• Form: Opera

• Additional Information: First famous opera

Listening Example 3

• Composer: Aaron Copland

• Title: “Simple gifts” from Appalachian

Spring

• Date: 1944

• Texture: Homophonic

• Form: Ballet

• Additional Information: originally written

for orchestra, later transcribe for band