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Twentieth century music

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  • Mavis Osinski
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Meaning of Twentieth Century Music in Music

Twentieth-century music refers to the music composed and performed during the 20th century, which spans from January 1, 1901, to December 31, 2000. This period was marked by significant cultural, social, and technological changes that greatly influenced the development of music.

Characteristics and Innovations

Twentieth-century music is characterized by its innovative approaches to tone, instrumentation, and composition. Composers during this period sought to break away from traditional musical conventions and explore new sounds, structures, and techniques. Some key characteristics and innovations of twentieth-century music include:

1. **Experimentation**: The 20th century saw a period of widespread experimentation in classical music. Composers pushed the boundaries of traditional tonality, rhythm, and form, exploring new harmonies, dissonance, and unconventional scales.

2. **Expansion of Genres**: Many new genres of music were established during the 20th century, including jazz, blues, rock and roll, electronic music, and various forms of popular music. These genres emerged as a result of cultural, social, and technological changes.

3. **Influence of Technology**: The invention of music recording technologies, such as the phonograph record, and dissemination technologies, such as radio broadcasting, massively expanded the audience for music. Prior to the 20th century, music was generally only experienced in live performances. The availability of recorded music allowed for wider access and exposure to different styles and genres.

4. **Revolutionary Composers**: Several composers made significant contributions to the development of twentieth-century music. For example, Igor Stravinsky revolutionized classical composition with his innovative use of rhythm, harmony, and orchestration. Arnold Schoenberg developed the twelve-tone technique, which became widely influential on 20th-century composers.

Cultural and Historical Context

The 20th century was a period of immense cultural, social, and technological change. It witnessed the establishment of Sigmund Freud's psychoanalysis, two world wars, huge social transformations, the invention of nuclear power, political upheaval, the birth of space exploration, and the proliferation of early digital technology. Music, as an art form, responded to these changes, consciously or otherwise. Composers and musicians sought to express human emotion and meaning in a fast-changing and increasingly mechanized world.

Conclusion

Twentieth-century music in the field of music refers to the music composed and performed during the 20th century. It is characterized by its innovative approaches to tone, instrumentation, and composition. This period saw the emergence of new genres, the influence of technology, and the contributions of revolutionary composers. Twentieth-century music reflects the cultural, social, and technological changes that occurred during this transformative era.

Twentieth Century Music is of great variety and very difficult to categorize, a problem which arose from the breakdown of the tonal system in use during the 18th and 19th centuries. With this breakdown, there was no longer a stable foundation on which to build a "common practice" of music. New and unimagined possibilities resulted but no new stable system developed.

Popular questions related to Twentieth century music

20th-century classical music is art music that was written between the years 1901 and 2000, inclusive. Musical style diverged during the 20th century as it never had previously, so this century was without a dominant style.

The century saw a major shift in the way that many people lived, with changes in politics, ideology, economics, society, culture, science, technology, and medicine. The 20th century may have seen more technological and scientific progress than all the other centuries combined since the dawn of civilization.

The 20th century period of music, as its name suggests, began around 1900. It is the last of the six periods of classical music eras and comes after the romantic era that ended around 1910AD.

Noisemakers were added, making the tone color of 20th-century music richer and more interesting. Harmonies became more dissonant and new chord structures were used. Composers were less interested in tonality; others completely discarded it. Rhythms were expanded and melodies had wider leaps, making music unpredictable.

Characteristics of 20th Century Music

  • Orchestras. Orchestras still continued to be the most popular choice for 20th-century composers to display their work.
  • Minimalism. Minimalism has made its way into our lives in many ways during the 20th century, including in the musical field.
  • Futurism.

The term twentieth-century music generally refers to formal concert music of the 1900s, rather than rock, pop, jazz, or world music (Burkholder). (Although we will study these genres later.)

The 20th century includes the years from 1900 to 1999. It is easier to study the history of the 20th century in the United States if the period is divided into three segments: Early 20th Century 1900–1930, Mid-20th Century 1940–1969, and Late 20th Century 1970–1999.

Neoclassical: A term applied to the music of early 20th century composers like Stravinsky which reflects the 18th-century music. Stravinsky's works, particularly after the highly acclaimed The Rite of Spring, did not emphasize tonality but felt restrained.

Characteristics of 20th Century Music

  • Orchestras. Orchestras still continued to be the most popular choice for 20th-century composers to display their work.
  • Minimalism. Minimalism has made its way into our lives in many ways during the 20th century, including in the musical field.
  • Futurism.

Twentieth century music, in terms of its rhythm is described as complex and irregular; meaning, the usual common time and other simple and/or compound meter such as 2/4 (duple meter), 6/8, 3/8, 3/4 (triple meter) etc. is less to be recognized.

MELODY: Melodies are often fragmented, dissonant and experimental. Depending on the form or style used, melodies could be based on scales from non-Western countries, chromatic scales, twelve-tone rows, or microtonal scales. HARMONY: Harmony is often experimental and dissonant.

Ans. A historian named Eric Hobsbawm, called the 20th century as the 'Age of Extremes'. The 20th century saw tremendous economic and political changes across the globe. For instance, the world saw both the rise of democracy and the growth of ideologies like Fascism and Nazism.

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