2011 © McGraw-Hill Higher Education

Music: An Appreciation, Brief7th Editionby Roger Kamien

Part VI

The 20th Century & Beyond

Music after 1945

Ch. 17 - Musical Styles since 1945• Many societal changes since WWII

• Instant communication has altered the world• Constant demand for novelty

Characteristics of Music Since 1945• Increased use of the 12-tone system• Serialism—12-tone techniques extended• Chance music that includes the random• Minimalist music w/ tonality, pulse, repetition• Deliberate quotations of earlier music in work• Return to tonality by some composers• Electronic music• “Liberation of sound”• Mixed media• New concepts of rhythm & form

Extensions of the 12-Tone System: Serialism

Increased Use of the 12-Tone System• After WWII, Europeans explored 12-tone

• 12-tone viewed as technique—not a style

• Webern’s music & style became popular

• Nazi’s had banned music by Schoenberg & Jews• European composers heard 12-tone as “new”

• Pointillist approach w/ atomized melodies

• The system was used to organize rhythm, dynamics, and tone color• Tone row ordered relationships of pitches• Serialism ordered other musical elements

• Result was a totally controlled, organized music• Relationships often very difficult to perceive

Minimalist Music

Chance Music• Opposite of serialism

• Composers choose pitches, tone colors, & rhythms by random methods• John Cage: 4’33”, Imaginary Landscape• Karlheinz Stockhausen: Piano Piece No. 11

• Characteristics• Steady pulse, clear tonality, repetition of short

melodic fragments

• Dynamics, texture, & harmony constant over time

• Emphasis on simple forms, clarity, understatement

Return to Tonality

Musical Quotation• Represents conscious break with serialism• Improves communication w/ audience

• Quoted material conveys symbolic meaning

• Parallels quotation in implying other styles

• Frequently juxtaposes quoted material with others, creating an Ives-esque sound

Electronic Music• Uses technological advances for new music

• Recording tape, synthesizers, computers• Allows composers to skip the middle step of

performers to convey their ideas to an audience• Provides unlimited palette of sounds/tone colors

Mixed media

“Liberation of Sound”• Use of wider variety of sounds than ever

• Some sounds were previously considered noises

• Visual art often combined w/ music for effect

• Novel & unusual performance techniques are required (screaming, tapping instrument, …)

Rhythm and Form• Some new compositions ignore rhythmic

notation & specify sound in seconds/minutes

• Some music “unfolds” w/o obvious form devices

• Use of microtones, clusters, any new sound

• Often intended to relax concert atmosphere

• Traditional forms giving way to new ideas

Ch. 18 - Music since 1945: Five Representative Pieces

Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared PianoSonata II (1946-1948)by John Cage (1912-1992)

Basic Set, CD 9:01 Brief Set, CD 5:35

Prepared piano is grand piano w/ objects inserted between some strings

Note: Binary form—A A B B Percussive sounds on some notes Polyphonic

ListeningPoème électronique (Electronic Poem;

1958)by Edgard Varèse (1883-1965)Listening Outline: p. 348 Basic Set, CD 9:03

Brief Set, CD 5:37Created using recording tape, wide variety of

raw sounds that are often electronically processed

Note: Electronic and electronically processed sounds

Some tone-like sounds, some noise-like

Early electronic composition

ListeningConcerto Grosso 1985

(To Handel’s Sonata in D Major for Violin and Continuo, First Movement)by Ellen Taaffe Zwilich (b. 1939)Listening Outline: p. 350 Basic Set, CD 9:16

Brief Set, CD 5:41

Quotation music, each of its 5 movements uses material from 1st movement of the Handel piece.

Note: Use of quoted material Continuo part, as in Baroque Period Terraced dynamics to imply Baroque

Listening

Short Ride in a Fast Machine, by John Adams

Listening Outline: p. 351Basic Set, CD 9:18 Brief Set, CD 5:43

Rapid tempoRhythmic drivePowerful, colorful sonorities

Listening

Shard (1997) by Elliott Carter for solo acoustic guitarListening outline p. 354Basic Set, CD 9:22 Brief Set, CD 5:47

Jazzlike offbeat accentsDyads – two tones sounding simultaneouslyHarmonics