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Richard Wagner
Wagner revolutionized opera with his use of leitmotifs, chromaticism, and continuous music. His Ring Cycle is a monumental set of four operas based on Norse mythology, and Tristan und Isolde is a cornerstone of the late-Romantic harmonic language. -
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Leoš Janáček
Collected Czech, Moravian, and Slovakian folk songs. Believed melody should fit the pitches and rhythms of ordinary life and listened to the chords of nature. Wrote the opera Jenufa. -
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Gustav Mahler
Mahler’s symphonies expanded the boundaries of orchestral music, blending the lyrical and the dramatic. Symphony No. 5, with its famous Adagio, and Das Lied von der Erde are monumental works that bridge late-Romanticism and early modernism. -
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Claude Debussy
Debussy’s work is a cornerstone of musical Impressionism, known for his innovative use of harmony and orchestral color. Prélude and La Mer evoke rich, atmospheric landscapes with a fluid approach to form. -
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Richard Strauss
Strauss is known for his innovative orchestration and tone color. Also sprach Zarathustra is especially famous for its opening fanfare, and Salome revolutionized opera with its psychological intensity. -
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Jean Sibelius
Sibelius's music is deeply connected to the Finnish national identity. Finlandia is one of his most famous works, a powerful expression of Finnish patriotism, while his Violin Concerto is one of the most challenging and revered in the repertoire. -
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Erik Satie
Known for his Trois Gymnopédies, Vexations, and Parade, which defined a new art of musical collage. His music often features simple melodies and unresolved chords. He greatly influenced Les six. -
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Serge Koussevitsky
As the conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Koussevitzky was a strong advocate for contemporary music and played a crucial role in promoting new American composers. -
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Arnold Shoenberg
Development of the twelve-tone technique
- Schoenberg is the father of atonality and the twelve-tone system, which radically transformed music in the early 20th century. Pierrot Lunaire is a key example of his Expressionist style, combining vocal techniques and atonal music. -
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Charles Ives
Ives was a pioneering figure in American modernism, known for his use of polytonality, dissonance, and American folk elements. The Concord Sonata is one of his most complex works, incorporating experimental techniques and philosophical ideas. -
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Maurice Ravel
Drew on folk material from various parts of the world. Wrote Daphnis et Chloe, Le Tombeau de Couperin, and Rapsodie espagnole. -
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Béla Bartók
Hungarian composer focused on folk-based musical realism. Attributed his use of polytonality to folk players and listened especially closely to those who lived on the margins of society. -
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Igor Stravinsky
Stravinsky is considered one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. The Rite of Spring caused a riot at its premiere, changing the course of music with its complex rhythms and dissonant harmonies. -
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Anton Webern
Wrote orchestral cycle the Six Pieces. Economic, wanted to make a lot out of few notes and would go to the brink of nothingness in his music. Part of the "Second Viennese School". -
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Alban Berg
Best known for his opera Wozzeck, which looks into the mind of a soldier who goes mad and murders his wife. It was a lament and tribute to the Great War. -
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Sergei Prokofiev
He lived in America and Paris before returning to Russia in 1927, where he faced the same humiliation from Soviet officials that all Soviet composers did. He also wrote the ballet of Romeo and Juliet. -
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Darius Milhaud
Known for his eclectic style that incorporated elements of jazz, polytonality, and folk music, as well as his involvement in the Les Six group of composers. -
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Paul Hindemith
Hindemith’s work often reflected a blend of traditional and modern elements, responding to the shifting political landscape. -
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Virgil Thompson
Thomson was a major figure in American music, known for his distinctive style blending classical music with elements of American folk and jazz. Four Saints in Three Acts is an innovative American opera with a libretto by Gertrude Stein. -
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Henry Cowell
His work with tone clusters, rhythmic experimentation, and engagement with non-Western music helped shape the direction of 20th-century music. -
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George Gershwin
Gershwin blended classical music with jazz and popular styles. Rhapsody in Blue is a groundbreaking work that fused the sounds of jazz with symphonic music, and Porgy and Bess is considered one of the greatest American operas. -
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Roy Harris
American composer who used broad tonal melodies and asymmetrical rhythms. His most well-known work is his third symphony. -
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Kurt Weill
Weill’s collaborations with playwright Bertolt Brecht pushed the boundaries of musical theater, integrating social and political themes into their works. -
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Aaron Copland
Copland’s music became synonymous with American identity, blending modernism with folk idioms. Appalachian Spring is one of his most beloved works, capturing the American frontier spirit, and Fanfare for the Common Man is a patriotic anthem. -
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Harry Partch
Pioneered just intonation and microtonality -
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Dmitri Shostakovich
Shostakovich’s work navigated the constraints of Soviet censorship. Symphony No. 5 is a response to Stalin’s regime, balancing a complex mix of irony, optimism, and subtle defiance. His String Quartet No. 8 reflects a deeply personal response to oppression. -
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Oliver Messiaen
Messiaen's music combines religious themes, complex rhythms, and exotic sounds. Quatuor pour la fin du temps is a profound chamber work composed while he was a prisoner of war, and Turangalîla-Symphonie is a large-scale work celebrating love and time. -
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Elliot Carter
American composer who embraced the aesthetic of density and difficulty. Used complex textures, polyrhythm, and metric modulation. -
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John Cage
Pioneer of the prepared piano, coined chance-controlled music. -
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Benjamin Britten
Britten’s operas often reflect themes of human suffering and alienation. Peter Grimes is a seminal English opera, and War Requiem is a powerful choral work that juxtaposes war poetry with the Latin mass for the dead. -
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Milton Babbitt
Babbitt was a leading figure in serialism and electronic music. Philomel, for voice and tape, is an iconic work that integrates speech, song, and electronic sounds. -
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Leonard Bernstein
Highly influential American conductor, composer, and educator. First American-born conductor to become director of a major American orchestra. Championed American music around the world. Well known for his musical West Side Story. -
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Iannis Xenakis
His approach to combining art, science, and philosophy in music makes him a key figure in the development of avant-garde music in the 20th century. -
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György Ligeti
He was an avant-garde composer, used a technique called micropolyphony. His Reqiuem was used in 2001: A Space Odyssey. -
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Pierre Boulez
Boulez was a leading figure in postwar avant-garde music, known for his development of serialism and his exploration of electronics. Le marteau sans maître combines complex rhythms with subtle vocal and instrumental color. -
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Morton Feldman
New York experimental composer. Took inspiration from Schoenberg twelve-tone writing and then slowed things down letting each note have a voice. Used sparse textures and irregular, overlapping rhythms. -
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Karlheinz Stockhausen
Stockhausen was a pioneer of electronic and experimental music. Gesang der Jünglinge is one of the first major works to combine electronic sound with recorded voices, while Kontakte explores the relationship between sound and electronic manipulation. -
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La Monte Young
”Master of the drone’, this minimalist composer best known for this exploration of sustained notes -
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Terry Riley
Added triads to Young's long-tone process, "completing the minimalist metamorphosis", and created tape loop works. Wrote Mescalin Mix and In C. -
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Steve Reich
New York minimalist composer known for developing a phasing technique. His music is reminiscent of modal jazz and African American experiences. -
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Phillip Glass
Philip Glass’s contributions to music include the development of minimalist music and its integration into classical and popular forms, as well as his influence on film scoring and opera. -
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John Adams
His most notable contributions are primarily in minimalist a post-minimalist composition.