-
Period: to
Gustav Mahler
German-Jewish composer known today for his elaborate romantic symphonies, innovative conducting practices, and establishment of standard concert etiquette. He also had an occasional volatile temperament towards his colleagues most notably Strauss and Schoenberg. -
Period: to
Claude Debussy
French composer considered to be the first impressionistic composer, despite the fact he rejected the title. He studied at the Paris Conservatory, he had many students, and his compositional style would later be studied by composers in Japan and China. -
Period: to
Richard Strauss
German romantic composer known for his operas, conducting, symphonic poems and concertos. His opera, Salome, premiered in 1906, caused a great deal of controversy over its subject matter and is discussed in great detail in the first chapter of this book. He went in and out of the limelight throughout his life and was selectively antisemitic during different points of his career. -
Period: to
Jean Sibelius
Finnish romantic composer, he became instrumental in the Finnish independence movement in the early 20th century and he was seen as a cultural icon and integral to the nation's identity as a sovereign nation. While he was not the most innovative composer of his time, he is still respected as one of the greatest composers of the 20th century and his birthday is celebrated with music festivals in Finland every year. His music often took inspiration from nature and Norse mythology. -
Period: to
Will Marion Cook
African American violinist, composer, and conductor. He was one of the first African American students at Oberlin and he studied with Joseph Joachim in Berlin thanks to Fredrick Douglass. He was never fully accepted by white circles as a serious composer, so he found his voice as a composer of music for African American literature and eventually a Broadway show. He also founded the New York Syncopated Orchestra, blending classical training and experimental jazz motifs. -
Period: to
Arnold Schoenberg
Austrian-Jewish composer, known for teaching Anton Webern and Alban Berg among others and founding what he believed to be the second Viennese school of composition. He was the one of the first composers to achieve international fame for composing strictly atonal music and his work was met with a mix of admiration and contempt. He, along with Mahler are responsible for the split between classical and popular music. This is because they elevated "classical" compositions to intellectual circles. -
Period: to
Charles Ives
American composer, organist and insurance agent, his music did not gain widespread recognition until later in his life, after he had quit composing. He experimented with modern compositional techniques like atonality, polyrhythms, and multi-spatial harmonies. However, unlike Schoenberg, he did not completely reject tonality. He wrote, "Why tonality as such should be thrown out for good, I can't see, Why it should always be present I can't see." (Ross, pg.143) -
Period: to
Maurice Ravel
French composer, known for his frequent manipulation of musical form creative blending of 20th century styles and (neo-classicism, impressionism and jazz) and orchestrating several well known piano works. He was often categorized as an impressionist but rejected the title. He studied at the Paris Conservatory with Gabriel Faure and later taught Ralph Vaughan Williams. -
Period: to
Bruno Walter
German-Jewish composer, who escaped Nazi Germany in 1933 and became one of the greatest 20th century cnductors of his time. He mde many notble recordings with the things. -
Period: to
Bela Bartok
Hungarian composer most well known for his collection and incorporation of folk melodies into his compositions. He created this new modern style of composing by travelling to different isolated villages in Europe and recording their cultural melodies with fellow ethnomusicologist Zoltan Kodaly. -
Period: to
Igor Stravinsky
Well known Russian composer famous for experimenting with polyrhythms, polychords, and atonality. Composer of the controversial ballet, The Rite of Spring. Composed in three periods, he also had a neoclassical period and later in life a sacred period. He was tutored by Rimsky-Korsakov and was influenced by his friend and assistant Robert Craft, who later wrote his biography. -
Period: to
Percy Grainger
Australian pianist, arranger, and composer whom attended the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt. Also utilized folk melodies in his compositions. His music was often complicated challenging the finest ensembles of his time and his music instructions were always written in English, unique for the time. -
Period: to
Anton Webern
Austrian composer, and one of Schoenberg's most famous students. He made improvements and expansions to Schoenberg's 12 tone system further in the orchestral world and helped bring the second Viennese school to prominence in the early half of the 20th century -
Period: to
Edgard Varese
French modernist composer and the father of "Organized sound" and one of the first composers to experiment with electronic music. He is well known in the percussion world for composing some of the first works for percussion ensemble and making it an accepted ensemble in the concert scene. He also had several students, the most notable being William Grant Still. -
Period: to
Alban Berg
Austrian composer, also a pupil of Schoenberg and a composer of the second Viennese school. His interpretation of the 12 tone system was deemed more romantic and musical in way audiences could recognize. Many scholars believe this was due to his modeling of romantic form in a lot of his compositions. One of his most well known works was the opera, Wozzeck, due to its atonal score and social commentary on World War One and rise of the Nazi party. -
Period: to
Eric Satie
French composer, known for inspiring the anti-romantic trend in 20th century French music. Composers like Debussy, and the composers known as les six allegedly drew inspiration from his style, which is marked by sparse instrumentation, unresolved chords, and quiet dynamics. -
Period: to
Louis Durey
French composer, a member of les six, a group of 20th century French composers who embraced impressionism, jazz and serialism in their compositions. He was also a well known member of the communist arty following WWII. -
Period: to
Sergei Prokofiev
Russian pianist, conductor, and composer, he was most well known for his ballets and piano sonatas. He was able to work freely under the soviet union and is regarded as one of the 20th century's finest Russian composers. -
Period: to
Arthur Honegger
Swiss composer, one of les six, a group of experimental composers inspired by Debussy, Ravel, and American Jazz. He was inspired by trains and used them as inspiration for his work Pacific 231. -
Period: to
Germaine Tailleferre
French composer and the only female member of les six. She was among the most successful composers at the Paris Conservatory, and her work earned her national acclaim after her death in 1983. -
Period: to
Darius Milhaud
French composer. one of les six. His music was very heavily influenced by jazz and south American music, he collaborated with the other members of les six throughout his career. -
Period: to
Paul Hindemith
German composer, most well known for creating Gebrauchsmusik, or music for use. He experimented with 12 tone and polyrhythms. He also composed a sonata for every instrument. -
Period: to
George Gershwin
American composer, known for blending jazz and classical music into his own unique compositional style. He is most well known for his English opera, Porgy and Bess. -
Period: to
Francis Poulenc
French composer, one of les six, studied under Erik Satie. He lacked the same musical training the other members had and was often seen as more of an amateur than a serious composer. However, his compositions gained success with time and he also had a career as a successful pianist. -
Period: to
Georges Auric
French composer, one of les six, began composing and performing at the age of 14. He was very heavily influenced by Cocteau, and made great contributions to Avant Garde music. -
Period: to
Kurt Weill
German composer, he made a name for himself as a composer of the earliest examples of musicals and German Lieder, his most famous work was The Threepenny Opera, which, despite being called an opera is considered the predecessor to the modern musical. -
Period: to
Aaron Copland
American composer, conductor, writer, and critic, one of the most famous American composers and developed an academically exciting yet accessible compositional style. He studied with Rubin Goldmark and Nadia Boulanger. His most well known composition, fanfare for the common man, sparked controversy over the title and intention of the work. -
Period: to
Harry Partch
American composer, theorist, and hobo famous for rejecting western music in all aspects. He believed equal temperament was wrong and composed his music in, "The clean integer ratios of the natural harmonic series" (Ross, pg.523). He made up a scale with 43 notes in it and later became a hobo and eventually a proofreader. -
Period: to
Dmitri Shostakovich
Russian composer, well known for his symphonies, deriving his style from neoclassicism and the influence of Mahler. He was also known for his turmoil with the communist party when they denounced his major works, this event is referred to as the Zhdanov doctrine-a cultural policy put in place by the soviet union that suppressed music that was deemed to imperialistic, or capitalist. He is studied today as scholars examine his music and how it reflects his attitude toward the soviet government. -
Period: to
Olivier Messiaen
20th century French organist, teacher and composer, known for experimenting with atonal composition, electronic composition and incorporating melodies inspired by birdsongs. His most famous works include, Quartet for the end of time and Turangalia-Symphonie. -
Period: to
John Cage
American theorist and composer most well known for leading the way for avant-garde, aleatoric and electronic music. He also was the first to write music for the prepared piano and other unconventional instruments. He also held the belief that Beethoven was wrong for leading future generations towards the idea of goal oriented music with a resolution instead of music that unfolds organically by the moment; this belief inspired the name of one of the chapters of Alex Ross' book. -
Period: to
Benjamin Britten
British pianist and composer well known for his operas, chamber music, and adherence to tonality and form. These traditional practices made him a somewhat controversial figure, but also propelled him to success. His music is very symbolic of Aldeburgh, a fishing town on the east coast of the British isles, where he said his music is inspired. His most famous works include Peter Grimes and Billy Budd. -
Period: to
World War I
-
Period: to
Milton Babbit
American theorist, composer, and mathematician who focused his work on serial and electronic music, having been inspired by the work of the second Viennese school. He completed in depth research on both music theory and mathematics and his most famous students include Stephen Sondheim and Stanley Jordan. He is also known for an academic article titled 'Who cares if You Listen?' published in the magazine High Fidelity in 1958. -
Period: to
Leonard Bernstein
American composer and world class conductor known for bringing the art of conducting to the notoriety it holds today. His most well known composition is the musical West Side Story and he is also known for his eloquent Harvard lectures on theory and tonality, conducting in Germany in 1948 (a big deal for a Jewish musician), and his PBS series of classical concerts for kids. -
Period: to
Gyorgi Ligeti
Austrian composer and one of the leading avant-garde composers of the 20th century. His work features experiments with electronic instruments and polyrhythms, and any non-western music he found interesting. He was one of the most inclusive and progressive composers of the 20th century and even composed a piece for 100 metronomes. -
Period: to
Pierre Boulez
French conductor and composer, a student of Andree Vaurabourg and Oliver Messiaen, he experimented frequently throughout his career with neo-classicism and total serialism and was heavily influenced by Asian music in his formative years. His most well known works are Le Marteau Sans Maître and structures, a piece composed using his method of total serialism. -
Period: to
Morton Feldman
-
Period: to
Karlheinz Stockhausen
German composer, known for experimenting with Avant Garde, aleatoric and electronic music in a way that gained success in the 20th century. He was inspired by Oliver Messiaen, Edgard Varese, and Anton Webern and apparently inspired the Beatles in their creation of the album Sargent Peppers' lonely hearts club. He also had some unconventional beliefs regarding spirituality. -
Terry Riley
American composer who a partnered with La Monte Young in order to further develop the technique of creating music with drones. According to Ross he, " Terry Riley's contribution to was to add the sweet sound of triads to the long tone process. This move completed the minimalist metamorphosis." (Ross, pg. 539). He then perfected the technique of running multiple tapes through a tape recorder to create some of the first electronic beats. -
La Monte Young
American composer considered the master of the drone and a foundational figure in the west coast minimalistic music scene. He started as a scholar of Webern's serial music and then slowed down the chord progressions and created his own atonal drone music. He also had a brief stint creating conceptual art, which blended mundane acts into a musical performance. -
Steve Reich
American composer, well known for manipulating the human voice into a composition known as It's gonna rain. He also took inspiration from the sounds of trains on train tracks and the sounds of everyday life in New York City. His main innovation was finding the music in the recorded voice, he was able to speed up and slow down recorded voices enough to create cadence and isolate pitches and chord progression. -
Philip Glass
American composer, extremely well known for his use of dynamic minimalism, employing repetitive structures with shifting layers and congruent chords. He is known for denouncing avant-garde movement calling it, "Creepy, crazy music", (Ross, pg. 548). He studied both music and mathematics and even studied with Nadia Boulanger in 1964. Major works include Music in Twelve Parts and the opera Einstein on The Beach. -
Period: to
World War II
-
Period: to
Cold War
-
John Adams
20th century American composer known for combining minimalism with constant motion. His music is widely successful both on the concert stage and the movie screen. He was also successful in fusing his classical training with with trends in popular music making his music enjoyable for all.