Impressionism Modernism Expressionism Serialism Experimental Minimalism Electronic

Area of Study Two Changing directions in Western Classical music from 1900 Expressionism

Munch – The Scream

Expressionism Atonal – the absence of a key. This idea was established at the beginning of the 20th century when composers were wanting to be ‘new’ and ‘different’. They didn’t want to create music that had a definite key signature. They valued each of the 12 semitones as a note within it’s own right with equal importance. Extreme ranges Cluster chords – lots of chromaticism / dissonance (clashing) Sudden changes in mood and texture No clear melody Contrasting dynamics Has little cadences, repetition or sequences

SCHOENBERG PERIPETIE

Arnold Schoenberg, 1874-1951 Albern Berg, 1885-1935 Anton Webern, 1883-1945 The Second Viennese School- the 3 composers belonged to this group- this is because they were all very similar in their style and approach to this new, modern style of music. This style can be seen to be very artistic- it is a very personal and deeply expressive form of composing music.

Second Viennese School Arnold Schoenberg Teacher Alban Berg Student Anton Webern

Arnold Schoenberg Born in Vienna, Austria, 1874. Inspired by the expressionist painter Kandinsky. Expressionists believed that art should express inner feelings without being restricted by conventional forms. Abstract. Pioneer of atonal music as he thought tonality was restrictive and couldn’t express the full range of human emotions. He used lots of dissonance that did not resolve straight away. He invented SERIALISM.

Composition VII by Kandinsky

Peripetie Context Composed in 1909 but revised in 1922 and 1949 Is the fourth movement from his ‘Five Orchestral Pieces’ Peripetie comes from a Greek word meaning ‘sudden changes’.

Listen to the piece and list both musical facts and your own opinion

Instrumentation ‘Peripetie’ was written for a large orchestra so he could produce contrasts with texture, dynamics & timbre. It is written for quadruple woodwind (4 per section) 3 flutes & piccolo 3 clarinets & bass clarinet 3 bassoons & contrabassoon 3 oboes & cor anglais A large brass section, with and without mutes. A large percussion section – cymbals, timpani, xylophone & of course strings 90 musicians are needed to perform this work.

HOMEWORK Draw/ print and label the following instruments with brief descriptions of each: Piccolo Cor Anglais Bass Clarinet Contrabassoon Tam-Tam

PERFORMANCE MARKINGS Haupstimme- Principal voice/main melodic line Nebenstimme- Secondary voice/ next most importance in melodic line

Performance markings…. a 2 or a 3 All two or three bassoons should play the same notes divisi The players on this line divide into groups pizz Short for pizzicato- pluck the strings arco Bow the strings bell up The brass player points the bell end of their instruments upwards produces loud strident sound 1 solo A single person plays this line tutti Everyone joins in again + Hand-stopped- the horn player inserts their hand further than usual into the bell Tremolo- note rapidly repeated

Revision Context Instrumentation Performance markings

Harmony HEXACHORD- this is a group of six notes played together. They can also be used to form short melodic ideas. One example is played by the horns from the second beat of bar 8: C Bb E F C♯ A Notes can be played in any order and in any octave. Hexachord compliment - take the other six available semitones: B D Eb F♯ G G♯ - and use these to form another chord/motif. These can be transposed and reordered.

C Bb E F C♯ A B D Eb F♯ G G♯ Using these two hexachords, devise 30 seconds of music to represents this picture:

MOTIFS Seven motifs are introduced very quickly right at the beginning of the piece Each of the motifs is based on a hexachord Here are the first three that we hear: Motif A opens the movement. It is a short fanfare played by three clarinets, a bass clarinet and three bassoons.

Motifs continued…. Motif B :Piccolo, three flutes, three oboes and cor anglais, plus three clarinets in B flat and one in D (a very unusual clarinet). Notice all the accidentals creating the dissonant chord at the end of the motif.

Motifs continued….. Motif C: Six horns playing, another angular line. Again the motif is in triplets but this time triplet quavers. Notice the use of the dissonant interval of a 7th.

Developing the motifs The motifs are developed in the middle three sections through: Imitation – where a motif in one part is repeated a few notes later in a different part overlapping the motif in the first part Diminution – where the note values are made smaller (usually halved) Melodic inversion – where the melody is turned upside down

Melody Made up of short fragmented motifs combined in different ways First 18 bars = 7 different motifs quickly introduced Melodies move in leaps. Schoenberg uses octave displacement unexpectedly moving individual notes of main melody to different octave Melodies are not developed or extended but varied through use of techniques e.g. inversion melody turned upside down) and rhythmic augmentation (notes become twice as long).

Rhythm, Metre and Tempo What can you tell me about the rhythm, metre and tempo? Look at your scores and remember to use music vocabulary!

Rhythm, Metre and Tempo Metre changes between 3/4, 2/4 , and 4/4 Tempo is Sehr rasch= very fast Rhythms are complex and varied and change quickly.

Texture How would you describe the texture of this piece?

Texture Texture is largely polyphonic with occasional monophonic and homophonic moments. Complex textures built up through techniques such as imitation and inversion.

Structure How would you describe the structure of this piece of music? This is open to interpretation…

Structure No obvious melody but melodic fragments so the structure is difficult to define. Free rondo form. Five sections (ABACA). It is called free rondo because it is very different to traditional rondo form from the classical period which had different clearly contrasting sections.

Dynamic outline: 1 19 35 44 59 A B A1 C A2 Motifs introduced Motifs developed Calmer sections that develop motifs in reverse order Motifs developed in counterpoint <fff> pp < fff > pp < > < fff pp

To conclude…

- Sehr Rasch (very fast) STRUCTURE - Free Rondo TEMPO - Sehr Rasch (very fast) No obvious melody but KLANGFARBENMELODIE (tone colour melody) this is where a tune is passed around different instruments- quick changes between families of instruments-strings/ woodwind etc.. HEXACHORD – six notes that form a chord. C, Bb, E, F, C#, A Tonality - atonal INSTRUMENTATION: large orchestra. Quadruple woodwind (3 flutes & picc, 3 oboes & cor anglais, 3 cl & bass cl, 3 bsn & contabassoon. 6 horns, 3 trumpets, 4 trombones, tuba. Timp, cymbals, xylophone. String section. Dissonant

REVISION https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJxSCJKnSmI Quizlet.

Serialism

Every piece of 12-tone music is based on a scale (called a ‘note row’) that is devised especially for that piece of music. The scale must contain 12 different notes (notes of the chromatic scale), each note to be used once only.

The notes are arranged in a chosen order – ‘P’ (for ‘prime order’)

The note row is then written backwards – ‘R’ (for ‘retrograde’) P R

‘P’ is then turned upside down - ‘I’ (for ‘inversion’).

The notes of ‘I’ are written backwards – ‘RI’ (for ‘retrograde inversion’)

Each note of the row may be transposed at the octave. Any of these four forms of the series may be transposed (raised or lowered in pitch) to begin on any of the 12 notes of the chromatic scale – P1 to P11 (for ‘prime’). The row and its variants may be treated melodically and harmonically (chords built from the row).

Large jumps Changes in dynamics, mood and texture