Setting the Stage for the 21st Century

1
Setting the Stage for the 21st Century

• Total Serialism, New Sounds, Freedom, Chance,
  Postmodernism, Fusion

2
After WW II

• The Audience
• Technology
• The struggle between popularization and
  classical
  
• The end of the war marked a turning point
• A period of conflicting tendencies
• Extreme control
• Complete freedom

3
Total Serialism

• Composers felt Schoenberg, Berg, and Webern had
  not gone far enough
  
• Serialism means the notes are arranged in a
  series
  
• The first composition based on total serialism
  was Structures I by Pierre Boulez

4
Structures I

• Boulez was trained in math and music
• Structures I was written for two pianos
• Boulez made series for four different musical
  elements
  
• Pitch
• Duration
• Attack (the way a pianist strikes the note)
• dynamics

5
Structures I

• Demands skilled performers and a lot of effort by
  the listeners
  
• sounds like a random, disjointed piano piece but
  is actually a carefully constructed work
  
• You hear the shifting textures and contrasting
  panels of sound

6
Other Composers of this Style

• Karlheinz Stockhausen 1928 -
• Luciano Berio 1925 -
• Milton Babbitt 1916 -

7
A Late Development

• Electronic Music Technology
• Development of the synthesizer in the 1950s
• All aspects of music could be controlled
• The performance no longer needed a human

8
New Sounds, Freedom, and Chance

• Popular composers began to overwhelm the music of
  serious composers
  
• The most interesting experiments were happening
  in serious music

9
New Sounds

• Many experiments revolved around new technology
  provided by
  
• Synthesizer
• Tape recorder
• Computer
• New techniques on traditional instruments

10
New Sounds

• Two composers working with sound textures
• Gyorgy Ligeti 1923 -
• Krzysztof Penderecki 1933 -
• Ligeti worked with large blocks of sound
• The blocks can expand or contract

11
Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima

• Pendereckis most famous composition
• 1960
• For string orchestra

12
Freedom and Chance

• Total serialism and block sounds require very
  careful control
  
• Freedom and Chance are a move away from control
• The idea was John Cages
• Cage studied with Schoenberg who told him he had
  no ear for music!
  
• Cage said Everything we do is music

13
John Cage 1912 - 1992

• Prepared piano
• The toss of dice
• Works include
• Imaginary Landscape No. 4 1951
• 12 radios
• 433
• Performer does nothing
• If my work is accepted, I must move on to the
  point where it isnt

14
Postmodernism

• The meaning of art was no longer certain
• Is paint dropped on the floor art?
• Is subway graffiti art?
• Concert organizations are presenting the music of
  the past
  
• Are orchestras simply museums?
• The economy forced cuts in support for the arts

15
Postmodernism

• A deliberate return to the past
• A return to tonality
• Neo-tonality
• Neo-Romanticism
• Quoting earlier styles and cross-fertilization
• The rapid spread of recorded music
• Do all moments in history exist with equal weight?

16
Postmodernism

• The dividing line between opera and musicals is
  narrowing
  
• Performing groups deliberately mix genres
• String quartets play Jimi Hendrix
• Chamber groups use amplified instruments

17
Postmodern Music

• It began by quoting earlier music
• Nach Bach - George Rochberg
• fragments of Bachs harpsichord music
• Renaissance Concerto - Lukas Foss, 1986
• Based on the music of Orfeos lament from
  Monteverdos Orfeo

18
Renaissance Concerto

• Recitative - after Monteverdi
• Many repeated pitches
• The opening phrase is a direct quote

19
Other Features of Postmodern Music

• Return to tonality
• David del Tredici 1937-
• Multimedia Postmodern
• Laurie Anderson 1947-1999
• Incorporation of musical elements from other
  cultures
  
• Alan Hovhaness 1911-

20
Other Features ofPostmodernism

• Merging of popular and Serious music
• Minimalism
• Philip Glass 1937-
• John Adams 1947-

21
Fusion

• The most important aspect of Postmodern Music is
  the narrowing of gaps between all types of music
  
• A mix of jazz and rock is called fusion
• Miles Davis
• Keith Jarrett
• William Bolcom
• Bobby McFerrin

22
Fusion

• The theater
• Les Miserables
• Phantom of the Opera
• Both works contain the style of the Broadway
  Musical and the continuous musical settings of
  the opera

23
Inclusion

• Women and minorities are taking their place in
  American music making
  
• Sound Patterns by Pauline Oliveros 1932-
• Sometimes by Olly Wilson 1937-
• Wings by Joan Tower 1938-
• Symphony No. 1 by Ellen Taaffe Zwilich 1939-

24
The Performers

• The traditional barriers between classical and
  popular music are disappearing
  
• The Kronos Quartet