THE TWENTIETH CENTURY & CONTEMPORARY MUSIC

Evolution of music theory

 The 20th century saw musical theory evolve mainly in the following areas:

Modality  : The almost exclusive use of major and minor modes for more than 2 centuries is called into question by the use of new scales based on medieval modes and on natural scales (pentatonic scale, acoustic scale) or artificial scales (tone scale, etc.).

Dodecaphonic serialism  : At the beginning of the century, Arnold Schönberg's Vienna school freed itself from the system of major and minor tones and invented dodecaphony and serialism. It was followed after 1945 by the Darmstadt school where Boulez, Stockhausen and others developed Webern's serialism.

Random music  : In the 1950s, American composers such as John Cage introduced an element of chance into their compositions, initially uncontrolled, then taken up by European composers such as Stockhausen, Boulez and Boucourechliev who organized this chance by including an element of the unpredictable in some of their works (semi-random music, open form).

Polytonality  : It is theorized and widely used by Darius Milhaud.

Microtonal music : Composers such as the American Charles Ives, the Czech Alois Haba or the French Ivan Wyschnegradsky explore new avenues by introducing the quarter tone. Some composers even consider the use of third tones and sixth tones.

Electroacoustic music  : In the middle of the 20th century, composers looking for new sound materials invented musique concrète and electronic music.

Notation  : the appearance of new instruments on the one hand, and the production of new sounds on traditional instruments on the other, lead to the creation of new signs and even new styles of notation.

Evolution of instruments

Percussion instruments took on particular importance in the 20th century. Thus, instruments such as the vibraphone, but also tubular bells and the celesta, invented but still little used in the 19th century, found an important place in the symphony orchestra of the 20th century.

Furthermore, the development of electricity and the invention of electronics led to the creation of new instruments, electromechanical like the Hammond organ or electronic like the Martenot waves, synthesizers and electroacoustic music studios .

Composers and musical movements

 At the dawn of the 20th century, Paris and Vienna were the two capitals of art.

The first half of the century saw two main trends develop:

-        In France, impressionist and symbolist music represented by Debussy, Ravel, Roussel, Schmitt and Kœchlin, who will be followed by Jacques Ibert, André Jolivet , Henri Sauguet and Henri Dutilleux.

-        In Austria, dodecaphonic music created by Schönberg and the Vienna school, which was followed, after 1945, by the Darmstadt school.

 In 1913, Stravinsky revolutionized modern music, while triggering the scandal of the century with "The Rite of Spring" performed in Paris by Diaghilev's Ballets Russes .

In 1920, neoclassical composers gathered around Jean Cocteau to form the Group of Six , which would break up 5 years later, each following their own trajectory.

The Spaniard  Manuel de Falla perpetuates the Spanish school in the wake of Granados and Albéniz, while in Eastern Europe, the Hungarian Béla Bartók perpetuates the Slavic tradition, in the continuity of the Czechs Smetana, Dvorak and Janacek.

In the United States, Gershwin combined jazz with classical music in his symphonic works and his opera "Porgy and Bess."

In 1948, Pierre Schaeffer invented musique concrète in the RTF studios, followed by Pierre Henry in 1949. In the early 1950s, Karlheinz Stockhausen invented synthesized electronic music in the NWDR radio studio in Cologne and, in 1955, Luciano Berio and Bruno Maderna created the Studio de Phonologie musicale in Milan.

In Great Britain, Benjamin Britten renewed English opera which had changed little since Henry Purcell.

Currents of contemporary music

We have already encountered some major trends in contemporary music in the chapter devoted to the 20th century, namely:

-       Serialism with the 2nd Vienna School and the Darmstadt School
-       Electroacoustic music , initiated by Pierre Schaeffer
-       Random music and open form , with Pierre Boulez and Karlheinz Stockhausen
-       Algorithmic music with Pierre Barbaut and Iannis Xenakis.

We will see how these movements have evolved since the 1950s.

Post-serialism  : Strict serialism, or even integral or pointillist serialism, gradually died out at the end of the 1950s. Increasingly, composers were led to soften serialism by reintegrating a part of tonality and continuity. This post-serialism gradually imposed itself in composition and it can be said that all contemporary composers were more or less influenced by it.

Postmodernism  : Postmodernism emerged in the 1980s as a reaction against atonal and elitist modern music and in order to win back a public of music lovers left by the wayside. It translates into a return to tonality, melody, rhythmic regularity and greater formal simplicity.

Minimalist music  : Minimalist music is characterized by a return to tonality, a regular pulse and the repetition of phrases or musical cells.
We distinguish between repetitive minimalism founded by Terry Riley and whose main representatives are Steve Reich, Philip Glass and John Adams, and mystical minimalism represented among others by Arvo Pärt and Henryk Górecki.

Spectral music  : Opposing serial composition, chance and all the various calculations used in many works of the 20th century, spectral music is based exclusively on the acoustic properties of sound. Its main representatives are the French composers Tristan Murail and Gérard Grisey, as well as Michael Levinas and Hugues Dufourt.

Electroacoustic music  : Electroacoustic music invented in the 1950s is evolving with electronic and computer techniques.
Thus, mixed electroacoustics (association of traditional instruments and electronic sounds) is becoming widespread, and life electronic music is developing thanks to advances in real-time computing which also allows composers to synthesize sounds and create new musical forms.
Electroacoustic music will also inspire certain composers and Pop-Rock DJs who will develop so-called “Electro” music.
 
Musical and instrumental theatre : musical theatre, which appeared in the 1960s, is a way of rethinking opera. It is a show where all the components (voice, instruments, staging, sets, costumes, etc.) are closely intertwined with each other.
Instrumental theatre, for its part, takes into consideration the visual and gestural implications of the instrument and the instrumentalist in their relationship to space.

Musical syncretism  : Following all the trends proposed by contemporary music, some composers choose to create their own language at the crossroads of all the others, drawing on all the trends and styles of the past and present to write personal music.