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20th Century Background

20th Century Background. Key Events. Key Events. 1894 Debussy composes the Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun 1895 Rontgen discovers X-rays 1897 Diesel demonstrates the compression-ignition engine (cough cough! Gasp! Choke!). Key Events. 1898 Deutsche Grammophon organized 1899

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20th Century Background

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  1. 20th Century Background

  2. Key Events

  3. Key Events • 1894 • Debussy composes the Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun • 1895 • Rontgen discovers X-rays • 1897 • Diesel demonstrates the compression-ignition engine (cough cough! Gasp! Choke!)

  4. Key Events • 1898 • Deutsche Grammophon organized • 1899 • Elgar composes The Dream of Gerontious • 1902 • Caruso makes his first recording • 1903 • The Wright brothers fly, Henry Ford driveslook out, everybody!

  5. Key Events • 1904 • The London Symphony Orchestra gives its first concert • 1905 • The Duma formed in Russia following the revolution • 1906 • Ives composes The Unanswered Question • 1907 • First Cubist exhibit in Paris

  6. Key Events • 1909 • Ballets Russe formed • Bleriot flies across the English Channel • 1911 • Mahler composes Das Lied von der Erde • Rutherford thinks up the theory of atomic structure

  7. Key Events • 1912 • Captain of SS Titanic makes BooBoo • 1914 • World War I begins

  8. The 20th Century • Technology • Travel • Medical science • Two world wars • New words: “genocide” “ethnic cleansing” • The atom bomb • AIDS

  9. The 20th Century • Short-sighted economic policies • Commercial greed • Destruction of the environment • Inability to feed millions of starving people

  10. History of the Arts 1900-1939 • Modernism - a movement of self-conscious innovation • Composers rejected tonality • The greatest composers in the first half of the century were • Debussy, Stravinsky • Schoenberg, Berg and Webern • Bartok, Shostakovich, Britten, Ives, Copland

  11. History • WW I (1914-1918) • 40 million died, 20 million wounded • After the war, a period of uncertainty • The Bolshevik revolution gave rise to Communism • Economic devastation of Germany led to Hitler • Mussolini founded the first Fascist state in Europe • Spanish Civil War of 1936-1939 • “The business of America is business” - Calvin Cooledge • The Great Depression of 1929-1933 • A time of turmoil and change

  12. History of the Arts • The Jazz Age • Neo-Classicism • Machine Music, Electronic Music, National styles in England and America

  13. History-1939-present • WW II (1939-1945) • 30 million people died • Cities and town in England, Europe, and the Far East suffered enormous damage • The economy of Europe was in shambles • Many refugees came to America making the United States the most prominent center of Western culture after the war

  14. History of the Arts • From 1945-1960s - two trends: • Intellectualization • Music became organized and mathematical • Experimentation • Everything was tried • Experimentation with sound • Foremost figures: • Pierre Boulez and John Cage • Postmodernism

  15. General Characteristics of 20th Century Music • The Replacement of Tonality • 12-tone system • Atonality • Pantonality • Tone clusters • Pentatonic scale • Whole-tone scale

  16. Characteristics • Tonality • Modal • Polytonality • Non-triadic harmony • Quartal chords

  17. Characteristics • Melody • Rhythm • Length • Tone-color and sound • Quarter tones • Telharmonium • Theremin • Computer

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