Music 190W Week 14
Music of the Twentieth Century, Part I
Reading
Chapter 14
Listening
CD 2, tracks 42-44, 45
Study questions
- What are some general characteristics of C20 music (p. 291; I like to abbreviate 20th century as "C20"--saves keystrokes)
- What qualities does C20 music share with C19 music?
- What is the avant-garde?
- What is the dilemma of C20 composers? (By the way, what is a dilemma?)
- Which elements of music have many C20 composers emphasized more than melody and harmony?
- Which musical practice that was common in Baroque music is also used in C20 music?
- How is music described as "impressionist" different from other music? Who is the best-known impressionist composer?
- What is neoclassicism?
- Which composer does the chapter identify as an important neoclassicist?
- Which element of music is most obviously new in Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms?
- What do we call the short melodic/rhythmic patterns heard in Symphony of Psalms?
- Schoenberg is associated with which approach to composition?
- How was the composer Bartok involved with folk music?
- What do the life stories of Schoenberg and Bartok have in common?
- C20 music includes what entirely new category of instruments?
- While some 20th century composers tried to control all aspects of the performance of their pieces, others used improvisation and chance operations (like rolling dice). Which composer is most associated with chance operations?
- What aspect of sound has Cage helped us understand better?
- What is minimalism in music?
- Why have some C20 composers chosen to write accessible tonal music?
Listening review
For the quiz and final exam, I will ask you about the two pieces from this chapter that are included on the 2 CD set. Since we have more time in class, I will play examples of the other styles discussed in the chapter and show part of a video on John Cage.
Stravinsky, Symphony of Psalms, excerpt from Part 1, CD 2 of the 2 CD set, tracks 42-44
"A multimovement neoclassical work for chorus and orchestra composed in 1930 by Igor Stravinsky" (p. 304).
The orchestra does not include violins, violas, or clarinets. This piece is neoclassical because it uses elements of music of the past--repetition, ostinato, fugue, chant-like melodies--and presents them in a C20 musical language (more dissonant chords than you would hear in earlier music, and no feeling of tonic and dominant chords).
Use this outline to follow the sections described on p. 304.
introduction track 42
verse 1 track 43, 00:00 to 00:28
interlude track 43, 00:28-00:35
verse 2 track 44 described in four parts on p. 304
part 1 00:00-00:30
part 2 00:30-01:13
part 3 01:13-01:51
part 4 01:52-02:08
Varèse, "Ecuatorial," CD 2, track 45
"Composed in 1934 by Edgard Varèse (1883-1965).
This piece combined conventional and electronic instruments: bass voice, 4 trumpets, 4 trombones, piano, organ, percussion, and Ondes Martenot, an early electronic instrument pictured on p. 307.
Use these links to follow the description on pp. 306-8.
zone 1 00:00-00:33
zone 2 00:33-00:54
zone 3 00:54-01:40
zone 4 01:40-2:15
zone 5 02:15-03:16
Use this example as practice in listening not for melodies and harmonies, but for the sounds themselves. Be open to the surprising combinations of tone colors.
Hacker handbook exercises
There are no new Hacker handbook exercises for this week or next. There will be two quiz questions that ask you to identify the problem in a sentence.
Quiz
Take the week 14 quiz.
This file was last modified on 16 May 2000.
