Modernism in Music | Modern Classical Music | Music History Video Lesson

Summary

This video explores the modern period in Western music history, from 1890 to 1945, highlighting the era's social and political upheavals and their impact on music. It delves into modernism's diverse musical styles, including impressionism, primitivism, neoclassicism, and atonality, showcasing composers' experimentation with sound, rhythm, and harmony. The script also touches on the influence of scientific advancements and the avant-garde movement, setting the stage for the post-modernist trends to come.

Takeaways

• 🎼 The modern period in Western music history spanned from approximately 1890 to 1945, characterized by both a historical time period and a philosophical aesthetic.
• 🌟 Modernism in music arose as a reaction to radical changes in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, reflecting a wide range of musical styles that emerged during this era.
• 🏛 Modernist composers saw themselves as the avant-garde, pushing the boundaries of music through experimentation with sound, timbres, rhythms, and tonality.
• 🎶 One of the key traits of musical modernism was the rejection of functional tonality, leading to the exploration of new sound colors and organizational techniques.
• 🌅 Impressionism in music was both an extension of romanticism and a reaction against German romanticism, focusing on innovative sound colors and non-functional harmony.
• 🦋 Primitivism took the romantic focus on nationalism and folk music to a new level, with composers exploring humanity's natural and primitive roots through non-Western harmonies and driving rhythms.
• 🎩 Neoclassicism rejected romanticism by looking back to the music of the 17th and 18th centuries, incorporating modern harmonies into classical forms and genres.
• 🔍 Atonality, connected with expressionism, sought to emancipate dissonance from traditional harmonic conventions, leading to the development of serialism by composers like Arnold Schoenberg.
• 🤝 Many modernist composers mixed and matched elements of different styles within their compositions, creating a diverse and experimental musical landscape.
• 🌐 The musical experimentalism of the first half of the 20th century laid the groundwork for even more innovation in the second half, with a heavier reliance on new technologies and structural procedures.
• 📚 The script provides a list of major composers of the modern period and musical examples to explore the sound of modernism, offering a comprehensive overview for further study.

Q & A

What is the time period covered by the modern period in Western music history?

The modern period in Western music history covers approximately from 1890 to 1945.

What does the term 'modernism' signify in the context of music?

In the context of music, 'modernism' refers to both a historical time period and a philosophical aesthetic, describing forms of musical expression that adhered to the radical changes happening at the end of the 19th century and into the 20th century.

What were the major social and political upheavals during the period of modernism in music?

Major social and political upheavals during the period of modernism included the Franco-Prussian War, the Spanish-American War, the First World War, the Russian Revolution, the Spanish flu, the Great Depression, the rise of Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler, and the Second World War.

How did scientific achievements influence the modernist composers?

Scientific achievements such as Charles Darwin's evolutionary theory, Sigmund Freud's psychoanalysis, and Albert Einstein's theories of relativity, along with technological inventions like recorded sound, the telephone, automobiles, and airplanes, inspired modernist composers to challenge traditional musical conventions and experiment with new ways of constructing music.

What is the significance of the rejection of functional tonality in musical modernism?

The rejection of functional tonality in musical modernism signifies a break from traditional harmony rules, allowing composers to explore different sound colors, new ways of organizing sound, polytonality, and even post-tonality.

What are the key characteristics of Impressionism in music?

Key characteristics of Impressionism in music include innovative sound colors, an avoidance of strict meter, the use of non-functional harmony, and a focus on instrumental solos that blend into each other to create a dreamy, impressionistic effect.

How does Primitivism in music relate to the broader cultural and scientific context of its time?

Primitivism in music is influenced by both national pride in folk music and Charles Darwin's theories of evolution, focusing on a more natural or primitive expression that is disengaged from the modern world's complexities. It often utilizes non-Western harmonies, scales, driving rhythms, and odd meters.

What distinguishes Neoclassicism from other styles of modernism?

Neoclassicism distinguishes itself by rejecting Romanticism and looking back to the music of the 17th and 18th centuries, utilizing baroque genres and forms with modern and even jazz-influenced harmonies, creating a sense of objectivity and timelessness.

What is Serialism and how did Arnold Schoenberg pioneer its use in music?

Serialism is a form of atonality where all 12 pitches of a chromatic scale must sound before any can repeat, aiming to make all pitches equal. Arnold Schoenberg pioneered its use by constructing melodies and harmonies based on a matrix of all 12 pitches, which influenced a generation of composers.

How did composers during the modern period experiment with combining different styles?

Composers during the modern period often mixed and matched elements of different styles within single pieces or across their careers, such as combining primitive rhythms with atonal harmonies within a neoclassical structure, as seen in the works of Igor Stravinsky and Aaron Copland.

What technological and structural changes in music composition are hinted at for the second half of the 20th century in the script?

The script suggests that the second half of the 20th century saw an explosion of musical experimentalism, relying more heavily on new technologies and structural procedures for composing music, which will be explored in the next video on post-modernism.

Outlines

00:00

🎼 Introduction to Modernism in Western Music History

This paragraph introduces the modern period in Western music history, spanning from 1890 to 1945. It explains modernism as both a historical era and a philosophical aesthetic, emphasizing its use to describe the radical musical changes of the time. The paragraph sets the stage for understanding modernism's diverse styles by discussing the significant social and political events that influenced this period, including wars, revolutions, and scientific breakthroughs. It also highlights the role of modernist composers as avant-garde, challenging traditional musical constructs and experimenting with new sounds and structures.

05:00

🎹 Exploring the Styles of Modernism: Impressionism, Primitivism, Neoclassicism, and Atonality

The second paragraph delves into the four prominent styles of musical modernism: Impressionism, Primitivism, Neoclassicism, and Atonality. Impressionism is described as an evolution from Romanticism, focusing on innovative sound colors and non-functional harmony, exemplified by Claude Debussy's 'Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun.' Primitivism is portrayed as a movement that embraced natural and primitive elements, with Stravinsky's 'The Rite of Spring' as a key example. Neoclassicism is presented as a reaction against Romanticism, favoring older musical forms with modern harmonies, as illustrated by Stravinsky's 'Pulcinella.' Atonality is discussed in the context of Expressionism, with composers like Schoenberg pioneering serialism to liberate dissonance from traditional harmony. The paragraph concludes by noting the fluidity of these styles, as many composers integrated various elements in their works.

Keywords

💡Modernism

Modernism in the context of the video refers to a period in Western music history from approximately 1890 to 1945, characterized by a departure from traditional forms and the exploration of new musical languages. It is both a historical time period and a philosophical aesthetic. The term is used to describe the radical changes in musical expression that occurred during this era, reflecting a reaction to the social and political upheavals of the time. For example, the script mentions that modernism 'describes relatively few unifying musical traits,' highlighting its diversity and the experimental nature of the music composed during this period.

💡Impressionism

Impressionism is a style within modern music that emerged as a reaction against German Romanticism and was also recognized in French painting. It is characterized by innovative sound colors, an avoidance of strict meter, and the use of non-functional harmony. The video illustrates this with Claude Debussy's 'Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun,' which focuses on instrumental solos and a dreamy, impression of Mallarmé's poem, showcasing the style's focus on capturing the essence rather than the detail.

💡Primitivism

Primitivism in music, as discussed in the video, takes the Romantic focus on nationalism and folk music to a new level by emphasizing natural or primitive aspects of humanity, often using non-Western harmonies and scales, driving rhythms, and odd meters. Igor Stravinsky's 'The Rite of Spring' is cited as an example, depicting pagan-inspired rituals and dances, and reflecting a fascination with the primitive as a means to escape the complexities of modern life.

💡Neoclassicism

Neoclassicism is presented as a reaction against Romanticism, where composers looked back to the music of the 17th and 18th centuries for inspiration. This style is characterized by a return to Baroque genres and forms with modern harmonies, often influenced by jazz. Stravinsky's 'Pulcinella' is mentioned, which is based on 18th-century music and features a focus on wind instruments with modern rhythms, cadences, and harmonies.

💡Atonality

Atonality is a significant aspect of modern music, particularly associated with the artistic movement of Expressionism. It involves the rejection of functional harmony and the emancipation of dissonance from traditional harmonic conventions. Arnold Schoenberg's development of serialism, where all 12 pitches of the chromatic scale are treated equally, is highlighted as a key example of atonality, influencing a generation of composers.

💡Expressionism

Expressionism is an artistic movement that is closely related to atonality in music. It is characterized by the use of dissonance and unconventional structures to express intense emotions and ideas. The video connects Expressionism with the atonal composers who believed that traditional harmony had reached its limits and that new approaches were necessary to convey the emotional depth they sought.

💡Avant-garde

The term 'avant-garde' is used in the video to describe modernist composers who were at the forefront of musical innovation, pushing the boundaries of what was considered possible in music. They experimented with new sounds and structures, often challenging traditional norms and expectations, as evidenced by their exploration of polytonality, post-tonality, and other innovative techniques.

💡Polytonality

Polytonality is a musical technique where two or more keys are used simultaneously, creating a complex and often dissonant sound. It is one of the ways in which modernist composers broke the rules of tonal harmony to explore different sound colors, as mentioned in the script when discussing the rejection of functional tonality.

💡Post-tonality

Post-tonality refers to musical compositions that move beyond the traditional tonal system, exploring new ways of organizing sound without relying on the functional harmony that characterized earlier periods. The video discusses this concept in the context of modernism, where composers were exploring new territories in music that did not adhere to the established rules of tonality.

💡Serialism

Serialism is a method of composition devised by Arnold Schoenberg, where the organization of musical elements such as pitch, rhythm, and dynamics is based on a series of ordered numbers. In the classic form of serialism mentioned in the video, all 12 pitches of the chromatic scale are used in a specific order before any pitch is repeated, aiming to create a sense of equality among all pitches.

💡Historical Context

The historical context of the modern period in music is crucial for understanding the motivations behind the changes in musical style. The video script outlines significant events such as the Franco-Prussian War, the Spanish-American War, World War I, the Russian Revolution, the Spanish flu, the Great Depression, and World War II, which contributed to a sense of disillusionment and the need for new forms of artistic expression.

Highlights

Modernism in Western music history is examined from 1890 to 1945, encompassing a historical period and a philosophical aesthetic.

Modernism's first use by critics to describe radical musical changes at the turn of the 19th to 20th century.

Modernism's lack of unifying musical traits makes it useful for referencing diverse styles from the era.

The sounds of modernism vary from wistful and bucolic to bizarre and jarring.

Understanding the social and political upheaval of the late 19th and early 20th centuries is key to modernism.

Modernism was a reaction to unprecedented death and destruction, influencing artistic representation of human experience.

Scientific achievements, like Darwin's theory of evolution and Freud's psychoanalysis, inspired modernism.

Einstein's theories of relativity fundamentally changed perceptions of time and space, influencing modernist composers.

Modernist composers challenged traditional music with experiments in timbres, rhythms, and tonality.

Rejection of functional tonality was a unifying trait of musical modernism.

Introduction of four prominent modernist styles: Impressionism, Primitivism, Neoclassicism, and Atonality.

Impressionism in music suggested objects through innovative sound colors and non-functional harmony.

Primitivism took the focus on nationalism and folk music to a new level, exploring natural or primitive humanity.

Neoclassical composers looked back to the 17th and 18th centuries for musical inspiration.

Atonality and serialism freed dissonance from harmonic conventions, creating a new approach to melody and harmony.

Modernist composers often mixed elements of different styles within single pieces and across their careers.

The musical experimentalism of the first half of the 20th century expanded with new technologies in the second half.

A list of major modern period composers and musical examples are provided for further exploration.

Transcripts

[Music]

welcome to liberty park music's fourth

video in our music history series

in this video we'll be looking at the

modern period in western music history

lasting from approximately 1890 to 1945.

as with romanticism modernism is both a

historical time period as well as a

philosophical aesthetic

in everyday conversation modern

typically means current

or recent as a term referencing music

modernism was first used by critics to

describe forms of musical expression

adhering to the radical changes

happening at the end of the 19th century

and into the 20th century unlike the

terms romanticism or classicism

modernism describes relatively few

unifying musical traits

making it especially useful for

referencing the many musical styles to

grow out of this historical era

the sounds of modernism range from the

wistful and bucolic

to the bizarre and jarry

[Music]

because modernism was a reaction to the

events of the late 19th century and

early 20th century

it's helpful to understand the great

degree of social and political upheaval

that was happening during these decades

the political revolution sparked in the

latter half of the 19th century

continued

spiraling into military conflicts such

as the franco-prussian war

the spanish-american war and the first

world war which was known at the time as

the great war and the war to end all

wars

additional major events included the

russian revolution the spanish flu

the great depression the rise of joseph

stalin as dictator of the soviet union

the rise of adolf hitler and the nazi

party in germany

and the second world war which ended

with the dropping of the atomic bomb on

the japanese cities of hiroshima and

nagasaki in 1945

from a historical perspective the sheer

amount of death and destruction during

these 55 years was unprecedented

and many in the artistic world came to

feel that the old ways of representing

the human experience were no longer

qualified to handle this terrifying new

reality

not everything however was terror and

suffering

modernism derived great inspiration from

the many scientific achievements of the

late 19th and early 20th centuries

charles darwin's seminal work of

evolutionary theory on the origin of

species

challenged religious beliefs concerning

how life came to be

through his psychoanalytic explorations

of the human psyche sigmund freud

proposed that humans were irrational

subconscious forces driven largely by

hidden desires and drives

then with albert einstein's theories of

relativity in 1905

and 1915 our perceptions of time and

space were fundamentally changed

additionally the inventions of recorded

sound the telephone

automobiles and airplanes resulted in

major changes to how the world

communicated and operated

modernist composers thus began to

challenge what was possible to do with

music

experimenting with a variety of ways of

constructing music

modernist composers saw themselves as

the avant-garde or front-line troops

working to advance music through their

sound experiments

many of these composers experimented

with musical sound through timbres

rhythms and tonality one of the few

unifying traits of musical modernism was

the rejection of functional tonality

laid out by jean-felipe premo in his

1722 treatise

composers at the end of the 19th century

broke the rules of tonal harmony to

explore different sound colors

new ways of organizing sound

polytonality and even post tonality

we'll discuss the different sound

experiments of the period as we

introduce four of the most prominent

styles of modernism

impressionism primitivism neoclassicism

and atonality

the first of these styles impressionism

is seen as both an outgrowth of

romanticism in general and a reaction

against german romanticism

impressionism was first recognized in

french painting through artists like

monet

manet degas cezanne and renault whose

works were seen not so much as depicting

the world as it was

but representing an impression of

reality

like the painting and poetry aspects of

the movement musical impressionism

suggested

its objects through innovative sound

colors an avoidance of strict meter

and the use of non-functional harmony an

example of impressionism is claude wc's

prelude to the afternoon of a fawn from

1894

based on the poem by symbolist stefanie

malerme

prelude to the afternoon of a fawn is a

single movement symphonic poem that

focuses on instrumental solos whose tone

colors blend into each other throughout

an airy

open orchestral framework the melody

contains dotted quarter notes

sixteenth notes and triplets disrupting

the sense of time and forward motion

and providing a dreamy impression of

malarmy's poem

our second style primitivism takes the

romantic focus on nationalism and folk

music to a new level

composers influenced both by national

pride in the folk

of their country and by charles darwin's

theories of evolution

focused on humanity as being more

natural or more primitive and disengaged

from the modern world's inventions

trials and tribulations as with

impressionism

primitivist composers utilized

non-western harmonies and scales

but were also preoccupied with driving

rhythms and odd meters

primitivist composers set their music to

stories based on folk tales and imagined

pre-history

such as an igor stravinsky's ballet the

rite of spring

which depicts a series of pagan-inspired

rituals and dances

primitivism also provided new avenues

for virtuosic writing

examples of which can be found in bella

bartok's piano piece allegro barbara

allegro barbaro couples pentatonic and

polytonal chords with a fast-paced

forward movement

and nearly constant eighth notes

in contrast to impressionism and

primitivism the composers of the

neoclassical movement rejected

romanticism by looking back to the music

of the 17th and 18th centuries

neoclassical composers returned to

baroque genres like the suite

concerto and fugue and utilized forms

like the sonata form

minuet and rondo with modern and even

jazz influenced harmonies

these musical forms were not an

outgrowth of the music of the time

but instead were objects out of time

meant to provoke thought

neoclassical sound experiments tended to

include smaller ensembles with a greater

emphasis on wind instruments than in

previous time periods

igor stravinsky's neoclassical period

was ushered in with his composition of

the ballet suite

pultunella based on music from the 18th

century

the ballet centers on the character of

bulcinella an italian comedia del orte

figure

and the costumes in set were designed by

pablo picasso

the original melodies currently believed

to have been composed by dominique

cogallo were revised by stravinsky for a

chamber orchestra

and featured a heavy emphasis on win

solo instruments with modern rhythms

cadences and harmonies

the final style we're going to cover

atonality is arguably one of the most

talked about within music circles

in connection with the artistic movement

of expressionism atonal composers

believed that music had gone as far as

it could with regards to functional

harmony

and that dissonance had to be

emancipated freed from the harmonic

conventions of the past

as a result of this philosophy music no

longer had to sound consonant

by following the rules codified by ramon

composer arnold schoenberg began

experimenting with a form of atonality

called serialism in the 1920s

in the classic form of serialism all 12

pitches of a chromatic scale had to

sound before any could repeat

the thought was that this made all 12

pitches equal

to construct melodies a composer would

map out a matrix of all 12 pitches

and base the melodies and harmonies on

what was laid out in that matrix

schoenberg's method proved hugely

influential for an entire generation of

composers

including his proteges the austrian

composers albenberg

and anton weber while each of these

styles are described separately here

many modernist composers would mix and

match elements within single pieces

and as well across their entire careers

some pieces would include primitive

rhythms coupled with atonal harmonies

nested within a neoclassical structure

composers like igor stravinsky and aaron

copeland

experimented across a myriad of these

styles throughout their careers

the musical experimentalism of the first

half of the 20th century exploded in the

second half of the 20th century

relying ever more heavily on new

technologies and structural procedures

for composing music

we'll explore some of these trends in

our next video on post-modernism

here is a list of some of the major

composers of the modern period

and here are some musical examples to

help you explore the sound of modernism

[Music]

we hope you enjoyed this overview of

modernism for more music history video

stay tuned to liberty park music

and keep an eye out for our composer

bios article series where we'll explore

the lives and music of your favorite

classical composers

[Music]

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