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 • Penderecki’s 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 Cage’s • 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 • 4’33” • Performer does nothing • “If my work is accepted, I must move on to the point where it isn’t”

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 Bach’s harpsichord music • Renaissance Concerto - Lukas Foss, 1986 • Based on the music of Orfeo’s lament from Monteverdo’s 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