Music after WWII (1945-present)

"Style is no longer merely an inheritance from one's immediate predecessors but rather a response to a vast if not unlimited range of historical and geographical stimuli available via modern communications media; and the validity of styles is something audiences, not historians, decide."

This idea by Scott Johnson describes many composers' thinking of music during the second half of the twentieth century. Styles still within "classical" music that dominated during this time were:

1. Total Control: an extension of the serial technique, which governed different elements of music, which was often related to mathematical formulas.
1. Structures I by Pierre Boulez is an example of this type of music. A formula was created and each aspect of music was put into the formula, creating the music. It sounds very random to the audience, but in fact, is well thought-out by the composer. This kind of music is hard to understand without diving head first into the score for analysis. 


2.  Extended Technique: This was when composers used traditional instruments in non-traditional ways. They pushed the boundaries of what sounds could be created. By using traditional technique for string instruments (ie: plucking, playing over the fingerboard or bridge) and non-traditional technique (ie: playing in between the bridge and tail piece, on the tail piece, and striking the body of the instrument) composers such as Penderecki created a whole new sound world with a string orchestra in his piece Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima. Another technique that I find very cool is speaking into a piano while holding down the damper pedal. This was done by George Crumb in his piece Ancient Voices of Children. Composers were pushing the boundaries of sound even more to describe different ideas in their music.
3. Indeterminacy: This music is often also called "chance music" or "aleatory music". Composers writing in this style only specify certain aspects of the music and leave the rest up to the performer. Of course we all know Cage's piece 4'33". To me, the idea of this piece is more of a statement of how Cage felt about music. Was it really notes from instruments arranged in certain ways, or just the sound or silence that one hears at any time? 
4. Minimalism: Out of the three previously discussed types of music, minimalism seems to be one that is still often composed. Perhaps it is because Philip Glass continues to lead the way in its composition. However, minimalism is not a new concept. The romantic composer Anton Bruckner was quite minimalist within the structures of his time. Motives and phrases often repeated many times in a row in his music. Perhaps minimalism of the twentieth century is simply a revival of Bruckner's ways. 

One must not forget that there were always, of course, other styles of music. As we talked about in class last week, perhaps none of these were considered until notation of 'popular' music began. Jazz and Pop music definitely have their roots in classical music, but they most likely just did not materialize out of nothing in the early 20's. 

From this course I have realized that when writing about each 'period' of music history, a few things are always the same. There was never a clear cut end time of one style and start time of the next. Everything built on what came before. Composers were always affected by political and worldly happenings, which also affected style in music. They were also always looking to push boundaries, whether it was in texture, tonality, sound, technique, appeal, and emotion. However, during this process of discovery, there was often distaste for it and a want for simplicity and ways of the past. The saying that "history repeats itself" seems very appropriate for my leanings form this course. It is important to understand that while history and music are always moving forward, they would not be able to do so without always looking back into the ways and styles of the past.

Early Modernism (1895-1945)

By the twentieth century, there was a sort of exhaustion from the Wagner revolution. And so, almost predictably, composers wrote music in reaction to that era. The most easily seen contrast is in the music of Claude Debussy. He reacted against the density of Wagner's music and also to tonality. He was part of the impressionist movement, during which the painter Claude Monet lived. The characteristics of impressionism can easily be heard and understood when listening to the music of Debussy and viewing the paintings of Monet.

Impression: Sunrise by Claude Monet

In his piece "Nuages" from Nocturnes, Debussy essentially paints with sound the images of clouds.

  

 

Characteristics:

1. sensual impression, rather than every detail
2. depicting of scenes, especially in nature
3. pleasure to the senses
4. timbre became important, led to advances in instrumentation and effects (ie. muted strings)
5. un-metered rhythms and long meandering melodic lines, similar to French poetry of the time

During 'early modernism' there was a renewed fascination with primitivism.  The most noteworthy instance was Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring. Here he collaborated with Diaghilev and Nijinsky to create a ballet that wasn't very well received at its premier. His aim was not to appeal to those who wished to hear about 'fairy tales and human joy and grief', but rather to express the 'sublime uprising of Nature renewing herself' using a Pagan ritual. Perhaps this was not so well-received by the audience because this subject was one that was often hushed in public. While this period was short lived, perhaps Stravinsky wanted to prove the point that music doesn't always have to be "beautiful" to have worth.

In reaction to impressionism, expressionism was created as a last onset of Romanticism. This was a  period when composers wrote music that expressed the stream of consciousness. What they thought of or experienced, they wrote as it happened. This can be heard in movements from Schoenberg's Five Pieces for Orchestra.

There is no real development of a melodic idea or form to the movements. Rather than creating music to 'paint' a certain idea or setting, there are simply just a string of sounds and ideas....similar to how thoughts float through our minds....through Schoenberg's mind. As expected, audiences didn't know quite what to make of this music. There was plenty of rioting and fighting at some of Schoenberg's premiers, as listeners were puzzled at what they were hearing.

Throughout these time periods in music, one thing remains the same: creating art based on the human experience. Whether it be emotional affect, thoughts, or how one relates to nature, musical creations continued to be centered around the experiences of its creators....not just preexisting drama or poetry.

The New German School and Late Romanticism (1850-1900)

Franz Liszt and Richard Wagner founded The New German School and attached to it the slogan "the music of the future".  It was at this time in music history that composers created the belief that music and beauty could be created without the academic rules and conventions of the preceding periods. Building from Berlioz's idea of a program symphony, composers such as Liszt wrote pieces in which the musical structure was created by events in said 'program' (the story off which the piece was composed) rather than by an abstract form (ie. sonata form).  However, this wasn't always the case. Liszt composed Les Preludes before pairing it with a poetic meditation by Lamartine. All in all, composers were relating specific poetry and stories to their music, compared to, say, the Third Symphony of Beethoven, that was inspired by ideals and liberties.

Richard Wagner (1813-1883) insisted that art arose from nature instead of convention. He expressed that 'art of the future' should express the 'essence of people from which it comes'. He aimed for his 'art' to include more than just music. It should include staging, singing, many emotions, and long extended passages where a single idea or emotion is expressed.

"The highest collective artwork is the drama; it can only be present in its greatest possible completeness when each type of art in its greatest completeness, is present in it"

These words sum up Wagner's thoughts on music and art. It is quite clear to us his viewpoints when we look at the massive works he composed...works of 5 hours, dense orchestral passages and never-ending emotional drive. To him, this was the music of the future...even more limitless than the music of Beethoven, which during his time was sometimes considered too long and demanding for the audience. His music was to serve the drama...not to 'please the public', as he claimed Mozart's opera did. "Music serves as a means to carry out the dramatic purpose."

I have come to realize that while music history progresses because of innovations in harmony, rhythm, tonality, and the like, it also progressed and developed because of the reactions composers had to the music preceding theirs. And so for Wagner, his music was a reaction to Beethoven's music-he believed the next place music had to progress from was Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.

Some composers of the late romantic period opposed the ideas of the New German School and continued to compose and expand upon the ideas in the classical tradition. That is to say, they expanded tonally the music of their predecessors (Beethoven, Schubert) but remained more in line with the four movement sonata plan and other classical forms. If Beethoven had lived longer, would it be possible to say that his music would have been similar to Brahms'? It is very interesting to compare the music of Brahms and Wagner and realize that they were composing in in the same time.

In Wagner's Prelude to Tristan und Isolde, the constant sense of longing and unresolved desire can be contrasted with the opening of the fourth movement of Brahms' Fourth Symphony. While there may well be a sense of longing in Brahms' music, there are also points of arrival-something that doesn't really happen in Wagner's music until the end of the 4 hour work! This shows how different the composers' interpretations of art and the expression of emotion were. The intense outpouring of emotion into the music of late Romanticism is very starkly contrasted in the next period - impressionism - which proved to be a reaction to the German style that dominated during the time of Wagner, Brahms, and their contemporaries.

Romanticism (1800-1850)

The romantic era rings a lot of bells with me. When reading about the 'romantic' artist, I was drawn to their way of thinking and the style in which they created art. A few quotes and points that distinguished the thinkers of this era from the classical era preceding it:

"I am not made like any of those whom I have ever seen; I dare to believe that I am not made like any who exist." -Rouseau

-The feudal class was done away with and people were no longer seen as units, rather, as individuals.

-The idea that individuals could rise from a low position to a position of prominence was born.

-The romantics concentrated on emotional conflict and climax and taking the audience through an entire range of emotional reactions.

-Romantic art generally inclines to the sublime rather than the beautiful. Its aesthetic aim is not pleasurable satisfaction, but emotional stimulation.

-There were five major themes in Romantic art: love, death, mystical religion, politics, and nature. Composers of the romantic era frequently incorporated these into their works.

Portrait of Beethoven by Arthur Paunzen

It goes without saying that Beethoven is probably the greatest musical figure in Classical music to this day. He fully embodied the persona of a romantic artist. Instead of writing music with clarity and transparency in the structure like composers of the classical era, Beethoven was writing music based on heroism and political events of the time (he was especially inspired by the French Revolution and the ideals of liberty and equality). He was truly 'pouring his feelings' into his work. Faced with the 'fate' of losing his hearing, he rose up against that and asserted a heroic attitude towards life. Through his music, we can understand the different events and things Beethoven went through during his life. A few points about romantic composers:

1. Their music was appreciated during their lifetime more than music had been in previous eras
2. They were not supported as much by the patronage system and worked more as private entrepreneurs. This way, they could express their own thoughts in new ways, but still had to appeal to the 'marketplace'.
3. There were generally three kinds of composers in the Romantic era:
1. ones with great artistic imaginations and support from serious critics, but found themselves subject to financial insecurity
2. ones who succeeded by making brilliant impressions on the public and had much financial success
3. ones who appealed to the mass market, writing popular works but rarely masterpieces
4. Overall, the need to appeal to the public was very important to Romantic composers.

Another notable event during this period was the rise of the modern music conservatory. The downfall of the aristocracy after the French Revolution brought the end of the patronage system and threatened to make a musical crisis. The Paris Conservatory was created to educate new musicians, since the private apprenticeship style training no longer existed.  To this day, the Paris Conservatory is a prime school in the classical music world.

Composers were also writing music inspired by their own feelings or events that took place in their lives. This was the beginning of program music, music that renders a musical narrative. Symphonie Fantastique by Hector Berlioz was exactly could be classified in this category. Using many of the themes of Romantic art, mainly love, death, and mysticism, he told the story of an artist with a lively imagination who poisons himself with opium in the depths of despair (most Romantic artists) because of hopeless love (sound familiar?). Here is a summary of the story:

Okay, so it's a little more complicated than that, but I got a good laugh when I saw this picture circulating a few months ago on my newsfeed.

The fourth movement "March to the Scaffold" depicts the part of the story that is unfolding. Because the artist is so desperately and hopelessly in love with the woman of his dreams who returns no feelings, he poisons himself with opium which, instead of killing him, sends him into a deep sleep with crazy dreams. In these dreams, he kills his beloved and then is condemned to death and watches his own execution. In the fifth movement, Berlioz goes so far as to write a passage in the strings marked 'col legno' (with the stick of the bow) that represents the sound of bones falling.

Here's a recording of March to the Scaffold. It is one of my favorite pieces ever. (Please note the epic pedal notes in the bass trombone throughout.)

 The following tidbit is awesome:

"Leonard Bernstein described the symphony as the first musical expedition into psychedelia because of its hallucinatory and dream-like nature, and because history suggests Berlioz composed at least a portion of it under the influence of opium. According to Bernstein, 'Berlioz tells it like it is. You take a trip, you wind up screaming at your own funeral.'"

 What a looker.

In summary, composers during the Romantic Era were leaving no stones unturned. They allowed many aesthetic factors to influence their music and created works that took audiences through an array of emotions. This paved the way for the next era, where all of these things were magnified and expanded, making music the most popular ways for anyone to tell stories, share emotions, and even communicate.