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Gustav Mahler (1860-1911)
Viennese maximalist composer that made important expansions to symphonies. Huge performance groups with a lot of texture. He is the most well known maximalist composer. -
Debussy (1862-1918)
The most important French composer in the early 20th century. He composed the first modern orchestral work
"Prelude to 'The Afternoon of a Faun'" (1894) Popularized Impressionism in music -
Richard Strauss (1864-1949)
German maximalist composer famous for tone poems and operas. He also supported Wagner's use of chromatics and expanded on it. -
Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951)
Austrian expressionist composer. Started to write atonal in 1907. he also invented Serialism and the 12 tone method. -
Maurice Ravel (1876-1937)
A French Impressionist composer that is credited with the first impressionist piano piece -
Microphone Invented
David Edward Hughes made the first working microphone .By packing carbon in the microphone, it would pick up sound vibration and turn them into electrical impulses. Unfortunately, Thomas Edison stole the patent so it is technically Edison's. -
Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971)
Russian composer with a lot of styles over his lifetime. One of the main things that was consistent about his style was his harsh and rhythmically complex music. He was tonal, but with a lot of dissonance.
Famous work:
The Rite of Spring, 1913 -
Florence Price (1887-1953)
Florence was the first black female composer to be recognized and have an American orchestra perform her symphony. Symphony No.1 in E minor -
Maximalism Becomes Popular (1890's-1914)
Minimalism is a German/Austrian style that wanted to make everything larger and push everything to the limit. Extreme chromaticism, performance groups, use of themes, and textures. This music often has very thick and complex traits. Composers: Richard Strauss and Gustav Mahler -
Impressionism is introduced (1890's-1920's)
One of the first anti-romantic styles, impressionism ignored progression rules entirely. It is mainly characterized by dissonance, with free rhythm and exotic scales (pentatonic, whole tone, etc.). The music was generally vague and was meant to make the listener think. Composers who used this style were Debussy, Delius, Respighi, and many others. -
Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953)
Russian Neo-classical composer that wrote for orchestra. He wrote seven symphonies, and many more pieces. One of his most notable is "Peter and the Wolf" (1936). -
Prelude to 'The Afternoon of a Faun'
Impressionist piece wrote by Debussy. Very crude and obscure. -
Expressionism
German style lead by Schoenberg. This style focused on freeing music from tonality and chord progressions. All notes are equal, so there is no home pitch to return to. -
Neo-Classical
The goal of this style was to return to clarity. To return to what Mozart and Beethoven were most famous for. A return to form. composer: Prokofiev -
Headphones
A Mormon electrician, Nathaniel Baldwin created the first pair of headphones using copper wiring and an operators headband. After getting no success with private companies, Baldwin sold hundreds of pairs to the US Navy. These were used in WW1. -
Titanic Sinks
The cruiser, Titanic, strikes and iceberg after being deemed "unsinkable". Many people are killed in this tragedy. -
The Rite of Spring Premier
The first showing of The Rite of Spring ended abruptly. Not even five minutes in, members of the crowd began to boo the performance. The music and the store were radical, combined with the temperature of the room, people began to act out against the other spectators being disrespectful. This results in the famous riot. -
Period: to
First World War
After the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary, the world plummets into the first world war. -
Dadaism
"Anti-art". wanted nonsense. Based in deliberate irrationality. -
Founding of the National Association of Negro Musicians
Created by Robert Nathaniel Dett to give a home to all the African American musicians. -
12-tone method (Serialism)
Developed by Schoenberg and taught to Berg and Webern. A system to use every note before repeating anything. This sequence can be inverted, retrograde, and inverted retrograde. This all comes from a matrix used to create a sequence.