From Dualisms to SpectrumsRather than entertaining convenient binaries, the complex and diverse nature of music in the 20th century may be more conducive to thinking in term of a spectrum

Traditional/Conservative

Composers working in established, recognizable forms and styles

Includes various “neos”:Neo-Classicism, Neo-Romanticism

Progressive

Composers consciously exploringnew techniques and approaches, but conceiving of their work as an extension or natural development of mainstream western art music

Avant-Garde

Musicians exploring nontraditional and alternative approaches and methods – reconsidering the very nature of musical experience

EuropeBenjamin Britten (1913-1976)•British•Essentially conservative•Wrote in all major genres•Strong vocal composer•Important composer of operas

Luciano Berio (1935-2003)

•Italian•Early association with

Darmstadt•Broad musical interests

•Master of multiple styles and techniques

György Kurtág (b. 1926)•Hungarian•Unique, personal composer•Experimental•Interests ranging from electronic music to folk elements•Extended techniqes

Krzysztof Penderecki (b. 1933)

PolishAvant-Garde

Like Ligeti, explored sound clusters

Developed unique form of notation

Later turned to neo-Romanticism

America

In the US, composers in the second half of the century have two obvious options:

Academic Serialism – an extension of Schoenberg’s accomplishment, though independent, something like an American version of the Darmstadt School

Neo-Classicism – an extension of Stravinsky’s middle period, tonal as opposed to atonal; implies a conservative approach which locates the music in reference to established forms and styles, more popular and accessible

Or:

Experimentalism – a controversial and professionally insecure “third way” – coming out of Ives, Cowell, and Partch, composers explore various nontraditional styles and approaches

LeonardBernstein

(1918-1990)

FLUXUS

Major influences: Cage, La Monte Young, Duchamp, Dada

Major exponents: Nam Jun Paik, George Brecht, Dick Higgins, Yoko Ono

A response to the revolutionary implications of Cage’s life and work

Nearly as much a social philosophy as an aesthetic project

Formed in the 1960s by an international group of musicians who believed that the composer should not have a professional status in society, and that all music should be accessible to everyone (accessible economically, but not necessarily intellectually)

Less significant as an organization than as a catchword for a new avant-garde orientation based on unconventional attitudes towards music and performance, and breaking down the barriers between the arts and between artists and society

La Monte Young(b. 1935)

George Brecht(1026-2008)

MINIMALISMDistinct from the movement in visual arts with the same name

New compositional procedure pioneered by Terry Riley, Steve Reich, and Philip Glass

A response to the technical convolutions of academic and total serialism, as well as the intellectual aloofness of Fluxus

A conscious reduction in musical materials

Pattern and repetition

Gradual change

Harmonic language is generally accessible

Steve Reich(b. 1936)

The US, a Little LaterMultiple streams of musical composition open up throughout the 70s, and later

The previous options are still available: academicism, experimentation, conservatism

Two important strains:

Post-Minimalism – utilizes the technical procedures associated with minimalism, but in a looser, freer manner, to serve various compositional agendas

Neo-Romanticism – a self-conscious return to the straightforward lyricism and expressivity associated with 19th-century romanticism, but with the benefit of developments in technique

David Lang (b. 1957)

DavidDel Tredici(b. 1937)