Major Musical Movements and Composers of the 20th Century
Impressionism
A pictorial and musical movement that emerged in the 20th century, in which artists tended to create visual music, emphasizing the impression produced in humans by sounds. Gone are the melodic lines, and pentatonic scales are used. Dissonance is employed, with no clear rhythms. Debussy is a prominent figure.
Expressionism
Consists of a despairing vision of the world and creates a critical language that distorts reality. It introduces a new concept of harmony, denying traditional rules by using continuous dissonance and free melodies. This movement emerged in literature before music. Schoenberg is a key figure.
Twelve-Tone Technique
Defined by Schoenberg as a composition with 12 tones without relation between them. It consists of using the 12 tones of the chromatic scale, removed and placed in a series. This series will undergo three changes: retrograde, inversion, and retrogradation of the inversion.
Nationalism
The resurgence in music of nations that had been excluded from music-making. These countries include Russia, Bohemia, Scandinavia, Hungary, England, Spain, and the USA.
Neoclassicism
A movement that occurred in the French area and extended to other countries. There is a reaction against lyricism, and a return to old forms, taking works of Bach and Handel as models. It features a simple and bare style.
Serialism
A method of composition that uses a series of sounds, derived from the twelve-tone system, to organize all the sound elements: rhythms, timbres, and intensities.
Atonality
A method of composition characterized by the absence of tonality, the absence of a tonal center around which the harmonic discourse revolves.
Debussy (1862-1918)
Promoter of Impressionism. In his Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, one can see the influence of literary movements, such as Mallarmé’s symbolism. In 1899, he produced fully Impressionist works such as 3 Nocturnes. Other notable works include La Mer and Clouds.
Ravel (1875-1937)
A musician closely linked to Spain. There are trends of symbolism and exoticism in his work. In his Bolero and La Valse, he masterfully used the orchestra and incorporated aspects of Spanish influence.
Falla (1876-1946)
Born in Cadiz, he lived through the crisis of ’98. To capture the essence of Spanish musical nationalism, in his first period, he composed La vida breve, and in a second period, El Amor brujo, The Three-Cornered Hat, and Nights in the Gardens of Spain. He was influenced by Andalusian folklore. He wrote El retablo de Maese Pedro in a third period.
Stravinsky (1882-1973)
Unleashed chain reactions, similar to Picasso. In The Rite of Spring, it is important to study the evolution of rhythm. The Wedding is popular, Ragtime Music incorporates jazz, Mass is religious, and Oedipus Rex draws inspiration from early music.
Schoenberg (1885-1951)
Creator of the twelve-tone technique, Suite for Piano, and Pierrot Lunaire. In 3 Pieces for Piano, he displays an Impressionist style. Pelleas and Melisande is in a post-Romantic vein. He was a disciple of Mahler.
Electroacoustic Music
Music that combines electric sounds with concrete sounds.
Musique Concrete
Based on sounds produced in the real world. It was named by Schaeffer, its inventor, as it produced concrete objects. It emerged from the noise of Futurism.
Minimalism
Emerged around 1960. It uses simplicity to circumvent the technical complexities and emotional conflicts characteristic of Western music.
Aleatoric Music
Music in which the author does not write or determine what the musicians must interpret; at the time of execution, they must improvise or complete the score.
Pop
Emerged in the 1950s, when Europe’s youth began to express their disagreement after the Second World War.
Jazz
Originated among African Americans and is characterized by its rich rhythms and harmonies, using improvisation as a compositional basis.