Twentieth Century

By zaikeise

  • Ralph Vaughn Williams

    1872-1958; English composer; wrote operas, ballets, chamber music, and orchestral works

  • Serge Rachmaninoff

    1873-1943;
    Russian pianist-composer;
    Most of his characteristic music is for the piano

  • Gustav Holst

    1874-1934; English composer; most reputable piece is orchestral suite The Planets

  • Arnold Schoenberg

    1874-1951;German modernist composer; started using atonality

  • Charles Ives

    1874-1954; American modernist composer

  • Maurice Ravel

    1875-1937; Impressionist; pianist-composer

  • Manuel de Falla

    1876-1946; Spanish composer; exposed public to Spanish folk tradition

  • Igor Stravinksy

    1882-1971; Russian pianist-composer

  • Anton Webern

    1883-1945; studied under Schoenberg

  • Aaron Copland

    1900-1990; American composer

  • Dmitri Shostakovich

    1906-1975; Russian composer; premiered his first symphony at the age of 19

  • Polytonality

    Music with more than one tonal center, simultaneously. Used a lot by Charles Ives

  • Neoclassicism

    Movement from 1910s-1950s. Composers revived practices from eras that were pre-Romantic.

  • Expressionism

    Style that strived to free music from tonality; No chord progression rules; started in Germany and Austria

  • Les Six

    Group of six French composers that wanted to free French music from foreign domination. Consisted of Arthur Honneger (1892-1955), Darius Milhaud (1892-1974), Francis Poulenc (1899-1963), Germaine Taillferre (1892-1983), Georges Aurie (1899-1893), and Louis Durey (1888-1979)

  • 12 Tone Method

    devised by Arnold Schoenberg, a way to use the twelve different tones together without establishing a tonic. Enabled atonal pieces to be more coherent.

  • Twentieth Century Music Era Begins

    1930-2000

  • Modernism

    Used by composers to create a style unique, distinctive, and individual; Harmonies do not always resolve; orchestration changes; the strictness behind tonality and rhythm is completely disregarded.

  • Avant-Garde

    A term used to describe mainly modernist composers, or composers who would depart from traditional music practices.

  • Musique Concrete

    Music where concrete sounds were used rather than music notation

  • Electronic music

    Technology was developing and many musicians started exploring combining this with music.

  • Computer Music

    Advances in computing enabled composers to explore experimenting with music in digital settings and technology.

  • End of Twentieth Century