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Mahler
Maximalist composer. He used the full orchestra for solo Lied. -
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Debussy
Impressionist composer, although he did not think of himself as that. He is credited with composing the first modern orchestral work. -
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Strauss
Maximalist composer. He is famous for his tone poems and operas. -
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Satie
Created a group called Les Nouveaux Jeunes which was later renamed to Les Six in 1920. -
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Schoenberg
Expressionist composer. He created the 12-tone method and Sprechstimme along with Alban Berg. -
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Ravel
Impressionist composer. He is credited with composing the first impressionist piano piece. -
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Stravinsky
Neo-classicist composer. He had an obsession with the number 13 as we see in his composition Rite of Spring -
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Webern
Expressionist composer. One of Schoenberg's students. -
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Berg
Expressionist composer. He was one of Schoenberg's students. He and Schoenberg are responsible for the creation of Sprechstimme. -
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Durey
He was a member of Les Six, but left shortly after instigating and pushing for their first album. -
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Cocteau
He was very involved with Les Six and even wrote many things for the group. -
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Impressionism
This was one of the first anti-Romantic styles and very anti-Germanic. It was influenced by the Javanese Gamelan. Similar to Symbolists in the literary aspect. Chord progression rules no longer mattered and chords (more like parallel fifths) were treated equally and it was all very vague. However it was essentially still tonal. Dissonances would go unresolved, and the whole-tone and pentatonic scales were favored heavily. Very free rhythm and melodies were often just thrown in random places. -
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Maximalism
Everything was extreme: chromaticism, sizes of the performance groups, even themes and motives. Lots of thick textures that make piano reductions a lot less feasible than before. Richard Taruskin started the use of the term. -
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Honegger
He considered himself Swiss. He composed most of his music on commissions. -
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Milhaud
He rejected the idea of Impressionism. American Jazz and his trip to Brazil in 1918 influenced his work heavily. -
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Tailleferre
Very talented accompanist, but had horrible stage fright when it came to performing solo. A few of the men in Les Six helped and encouraged her to compose and even perform. She accompanied for the local school in the later years of her life for fun. -
Prelude to "The Afternoon of a Faun"
Composed by Claude Debussy. A tone poem based on the symbolist Stephane Mallarme. -
Sprechstimme
Roughly translates to "speak-singing." This style was first used by Engelbert Humperdink in his opera Königskinder in 1897, but was used very often by Schoenberg as well. -
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Auric
Neo-classicist composer. He was a member of Les Six and ran SACEM. -
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Poulenc
He rejected the idea of Expressionism. His partner Pierre Bernac premiered most of his songs. -
Salome
Composed by Richard Strauss -
Atonality
Schoenberg came up with the idea. He would create "melodies" through the use of tone rows. Not all atonal music follows the 12-Tone Method. -
Elektra
Composed by Richard Strauss -
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Expressionism
All 12 notes were seen as equal, thus completely losing a sense of tonality. Melodies were optional and harmonies can not be analyzed. Sprechstimme, or speak-singing, was also very popular. -
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Neo-Classicism
Composers of this style look back at eras of the 18th century and return to the Baroque and Classical uses of harmony, tonality, and timbre. -
Harmonielehre
Schoenberg published his idea of atonality and the "harmony method" in this book. -
Pierrot lunaire
This is a song cycle by Arnold Schoenberg. It is 21 poems from the Belgian symbolist poet Albert Giraud. Schoenberg divided it into 3 sets of 7 poems and arranged it for solo voice and 5 instrumentalists. -
The Rite of Spring
Composed by Igor Stravinsky -
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World War I
This changed music and compositions a lot on many different levels. -
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Dadaism
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Jazz
It began in 1917 and gained popularity in Europe around 1919. -
Les Six
Created by Erik Satie and Jean Cocteau. Members included: Georges Auric, Louis Durey, Arthur Honegger, Darius Milhaud, Francis Poulenc, and Germaine Tailleferre. -
L'Album des Six
This was Les Six's first album. It was instigated and pushed for by Louis Durey who soon left before the project was even finished. -
12-Tone Method
This is the idea that all 12 notes are equal. Each note/chord must be used once before the order and any notes can be repeated. -
Les mariés de la tour Eiffel
It is a ballet written by and for Les Six to perform. Cocteau wrote the libretto and the five members at the time worked together to compose the music.