Baroque Music
The Classical Era
The Romantic Era
The Turn of the Century
Atonality
Fountain Marcel Duchamp, 1917
The Starry Night Vincent van Gogh, 1889
The Scream Edvard Munch, 1893
Composition VII Wassily Kandinsky, 1913
The 20 th Century Expressionism is the tendency of an artist to distort reality for an emotional effect. - Reaction against “beautiful art” - Influenced by WWI Expressionistic music was composed by the Second Viennese School
Arnold Schoenberg Self taught in composition 1904-Began teaching –Students: Alban Berg, Anton Webern 1908-Wife left him for lover –Increased dissonance in compositions 1933-Forced into exile by Hitler, moved to US
Arnold Schoenberg Compositional Periods: - Late Romantic, Expressionism (Atonality), Serialism 1908-Abandoned tonality (Atonality) Second Quartet “Free” Atonality - Notes are used without regard for their traditional relationships - No Key = emancipation of dissonance Pierrot Lunnaire –Setting of 21 poems for voice and chamber ensemble –Sprechstimme- “Spoken voice”
Arnold Schoenberg 12-Tone Technique (Serialism): –All 12 tones are equal –Basis of composition: “tone row” An ordered arrangement of the twelve notes of the chromatic scale –Rules for composition: The set is a specific ordering of all twelve notes of the scale. No note is repeated within the set The set may be stated in any of its "linear aspects"
Anton Webern Denounced by Nazi Party –Referred to him as “degenerate art” Very Patriotic, never left Germany Accidentally shot by an American Soldier during Allied occupation. Compositions: –Drastic influence on post-war avant-garde (more influential than Berg) –Style Free Atonality/12-tone technique Very short in duration Sparse textures Carefully chosen timbres (detailed instructions) & effects
Anton Webern Klangfarbenmelodie-”Tone color melody” breaking up a musical line or melody out from one instrument to between several instruments. Style is called “Pointillism” (when the music is sparse, with many rests)
Alban Berg Compositions combine all music from his lifetime Violin Concerto – most popular - 12-tone technique - Quotations (Bach) Wozzeck – The first avant-garde opera - Atonal, 12-tone, and Tonal - No Aria or Recit: “through composed” - Atonality allows subject matter to be truly represented
Characters: –Wozzeck – a soldier (“poor folk”) –Marie – Wozzeck’s mistress Synopsis –Act 1 – Wozzeck is tortured by his commanding officer & a doctor –Act 2 – Marie admires earrings her lover has given her. Wozzeck is unsuccessful in confronting them –Act 3 – Wozzeck murders Marie. When back at the local tavern, people notice blood on his hands. Wozzeck tries to hide the knife in a pond, and wash the “blood” off of his clothes and drowns. The opera closes on a scene with Wozeck & Marie’s child. Wozzeck