Chapter 7: Twentieth Century (Modernism)

7.1 OBJECTIVES

1. Identify the timeframe of the Modernism Period
2. Identify functions of music of the Modernism Period
3. Connect prominent composers of the Modernism Period with well-known works.
4. Recognize unique instrumentation of the Modernism Period
5. Critically evaluate stylistic characteristics of the Modernism Period
6. Synthesize music of the Modernism Period with today’s culture

7.2 KEY INDIVIDUALS

• Aaron Copland
• Alban Berg
• Anton Webern
• Arnold Schoenberg
• Bela Bartok
• Claude Debussy
• George Gershwin
• Maurice Ravel
• Zoltan Kodaly

7.3 INTRODUCTION AND HISTORICAL CONTEXT: 1900 TO 1950

Music, like the other arts, does not occur in a vacuum. Changes brought on by advances in science, and inventions resulting from these advances, affected composers, artists, dancers, poets, writers, and many others at the turn of the twentieth century. Inventions from the late Romantic era had a great impact on economic and social life in the twentieth century. These inventions included the light bulb, the telephone, the automobile, and the phonograph. Thomas Edison invented the phonograph in 1877 and patented it in 1878. While researching means to improve the telegraph and telephone, Edison developed a way to record sound on tinfoil-coated cylinders. He would speak into a mouth piece and there cording needle would indent a groove into the cylinder. The playing needle would then follow the groove, and the audio could be heard through a horn speaker (in the shape of a large cone). Edison improved his invention and formed the Edison Speaking Phonograph Company to market the invention. Edison’s phonograph had an especially great influence on the spread of music to larger audiences; he also advertised the device’s usefulness for dictation and letter writing, recording books for the blind, recording and archiving family members’ voices, music boxes, toys, and clocks that verbally announce the time with prerecorded voices. In 1917, such audio phonograph devices were purchased by the U.S. Army for $60 each and used to make troops feel closer to home during World War I.

What defines twentieth-century music? Innovations in music of this period reflect the dramatic changes taking place in the world at large. On a political level, the twentieth century was one of the bloodiest and most turbulent periods in history. While wars are a constant throughout all of human history, the global nature of twentieth-century politics resulted in conflicts on a scale never before seen; World War II (1939-1945) is widely regarded as the deadliest conflict in human history in terms of total deaths, partly due to advancements in technology such as machine guns, tanks, and eventually the atom bomb. The death toll is somewhere between 45 – 85 million (including civilians); this is nearly equivalent to the entire populations of Germany or California, Texas, and Florida! Musically, this translated to drastic changes in the construction of melodies and harmonies.

7.3.1 Melody

One of the ways in which composers deviated from the music of the nineteenth century was the way in which they constructed melodies. Gone were the singable, sweeping tunes of the Romantic era. In their place rose melodies with the following new characteristics: angular shapes, wide leaps, and unusual phrase structures. In some cases, melody lost its status as the most prominent feature of music altogether.

7.3.2 Harmony

The most obvious difference between twentieth-century music and what preceded it is the level of harmonic dissonance. This is not a new phenomenon. The entire history of Western music can be viewed in terms of a slowly increasing acceptance of dissonance, from the hollow intervals of the Middle Ages all the way to the lush chords of the nineteenth century. However, in the twentieth century, dissonance became a new goal for composers. Some composers continued to push the tolerance level for dissonance in the context of standard tonal harmony. One example is through the use of polytonality, a technique in which a piece of music has two tonal centers at the same time. Think of singing “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” in C major while someone next to you sings the same song in D major. Other composers disregarded the rules of the past and invented new systems of musical organization. Often, this resulted in music that lacked a tonal center, music that we now refer to as atonal. Some of the composers you will learn about specialized in more than one style.

7.3.3 The Role of Music

Music has had many roles throughout history. The music of Josquin de Prez helped enhance worship during the Renaissance Period. The works of Haydn and Mozart reflected the leisurely life of the aristocracy during the Classical Era. Opera served as a form of musical escapism during the Romantic Period in the daring and ambitious works of composers such as Richard Wagner. In the twentieth century, music began to move away from entertainment into the realm of high art. Composers sought to challenge the listener to experience music in new ways and in some cases to reevaluate their fundamental notions of what music is. This sense of revolution was not limited to music; it was also taking place throughout the art world. As we discuss the many “-isms” in music, we will see direct parallels with the visual arts.

7.3.4 Compositional Styles: The “-isms”

Near the start of the twentieth century, many composers rebelled against the excessive emotionalism of the later Romantic composers. Two different styles emerged: the Impressionist style led by Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel, and the atonal Expressionist style led by Arnold Schoenburg. Both styles attempted to move away from the tonal melodies and harmonies of the past. The impressionists added new chords, scales, and colors while the expressionists used a math-based twelve-tone system that abandoned tonality.

7.3.5 Impressionism

The two major composers associated with the Impressionist movement are Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel. Both French-born composers were searching for ways to break free from the rules of tonality that had evolved over the previous centuries. Impressionism in music, as in art, focused on the creator’s impression of an object, concept, or event. The painting labeled Image 7.1, by the French impressionist painter Claude Monet, suggests a church or cathedral, but it is not a clear portrait. It comprises a series of paint daubs that suggest something that we may have seen but that is slightly out of focus.

In the painting labeled Image 7.2, we see how Monet distilled a scene into its most basic elements. The attention to detail of previous centuries is abandoned in favor of broad brushstrokes that are meant to capture the momentary “impression” of the scene. To Monet, the objects in the scene, such as the trees and boats, are less important than the interplay between light and water. To further emphasize this interplay, Monet pares the color palate of the painting down to draw the focus to the sunlight and the water.

Similarly, Impressionist music does not attempt to follow a “program” like some Romantic compositions. It seeks, rather, to suggest an emotion or series of emotions or perceptions. Characteristics of nature become symbols of these emotions; water and light often permeate these works.

Listen to the example of Debussy’s La Mer (The Sea) linked below. Pay particular attention to the way the music seems to rise and fall like the waves in the sea (water) and moves from the depths to the surface of the water (dark to light). This music progresses without ever repeating a section. Music that is written without any repetition of parts is said to be “through-composed.” Most impressionist music is written in this manner. Even though such music refrains from following a specific program or story line, La Mer suggests a progression of events throughout a day at sea. Note that Debussy retained the large orchestra first developed by Beethoven and used extensively by Romantic composers. This music, unlike the Expressionism we will visit next, is still tonal in that it has a tonal center and uses many standard, although expanded, harmonies.

Debussy, La Mer

Impressionist composers like Maurice Ravel used sounds and rhythms that were unfamiliar to most Western European musicians. One of the most famous compositions by Maurice Ravel is entitled Bolero. A bolero is a Spanish dance in three-quarter time, and it provided Ravel with a vehicle through which he could introduce different (and exotic, or foreign) scales and rhythms into the European orchestral mainstream.

Unlike most composers we have discussed, Ravel was not born into a family of musicians. His father was an engineer, but he supported Ravel’s musical talents. After attending the Paris Conservatory as a young man, Ravel drove a munitions truck during World War I. Throughout all this time, he composed compositions of such lushness and creativity that he became one of the most admired composers in France. He is best known for Bolero and an orchestral work entitled Daphnes et Chloe. This latter work was originally conceived as a ballet in one act and three scenes. The plot on which the piece is based concerns a love affair between the title characters Daphnis and Chloe. The first two scenes of the ballet depict the abduction and escape of Chloe from a group of pirates. However, it is the third scene that has become so immortalized in the minds of music lovers ever since. “Lever du jour,” or “Daybreak,” takes place in a sacred grove and depicts the slow build of daybreak from the quiet sounds of a brook to the bird calls in the distance. As dawn turns into day (light), a beautiful melody builds to a soaring climax, depicting the awakening of Daphnis and his reunion with Chloe.

After the ballet’s premier in June of 1912, the music was reorganized into two suites, the second of which features the music of “Daybreak.” As you listen to the audio, try to imagine the pastel colors of daybreak slowly giving way to the bright light of day.

LISTENING GUIDE

Audio

• Composer: Maurice Ravel
• Composition: Daphnis and Chloe, Suite No. 2: “Lever du jour”
• Date: 1913
• Genre: Orchestral Suite
• Form: Through-composed
• Performing Forces: orchestra/chorus

Table 1: Listening Guide for Daphnis and Chloe, Suite No. 2: “Lever du jour”

Timing	Performing Forces, Melody, and Texture
0:00	Murmuring figures depicting a brook. Woodwinds, strings and harps, with more instruments entering periodically. Languid and flowing. Tonal, with ambiguous key centers and lush harmony typical of much Impressionistic music.
0:52	Sweeping melody reaches first climax, and then dies down slowly. Strings over murmuring accompaniment.
1:09	Strings and clarinet enter with song-like melody. Melody over murmuring strings.
1:30	Flute enters with dance-like melody. Melody over murmuring strings
1:48	Clarinet states a contrasting melody. Melody over murmuring strings.
2:13	Chorus enters while strings continue melody. Melody over murmuring strings and “Ah” of chorus.
2:53	Melody rises to a climax and then slowly diminishes. Full Orchestra and Chorus.
3:13	Sweeping melody enters in strings to a new climactic moment. Full Orchestra.
3:19	Motif starts in low strings and then rises through the orchestra. Full Orchestra.
4:05	Chorus enters for a final climactic moment, then slowly dies away. Full Orchestra and Chorus.
4:34	Oboe enters with repeating melody.
4:58	Clarinet takes over repeating melody and the piece slows to a stop. As the piece ends, the texture becomes more Spartan with fewer instruments.

 

7.4 EXPRESSIONISM AND SERIALISM

The name of this style period can be confusing for some. The Expressionist period was not a time when composers sought to express themselves emotionally in a romantic, beautiful, or programmatic way. Due to the nature of the sounds produced by the system of composition described below, Expressionism seems more appropriate for evoking more extreme, and sometimes even harsh, emotions.

In Edward Munch’s famous painting, The Scream (Image 7.3), we see an excellent example of the parallel movement of expressionism taking place in the visual arts. Expressionists looked inward, specifically to the anxiety they felt towards the outside world. This was in stark contrast to the impressionists, who looked to the beauty of nature (water and light in particular) for inspiration. Expressionist paintings relied instead on stark colors and harsh swirling brushstrokes to convey the artist’s reaction to the ugliness of the modern world.

Abstract Expressionism took this concept to a greater extreme, by abandoning shape altogether for pure abstraction. This style is typified by the works of the American painter Jackson Pollock (see Image 7.4).

While the Impressionist composers attempted to move away from Romantic Era traditions, Expressionist composers focused on eliminating traditional harmony with its tonal centers from their music. The resultant sounds often were not pleasant to hear. Thus, the Expressionist style did not (and still does not) appeal to most audiences.

Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951) led this charge against conformity to tonality by developing his famous twelve-tone system. In this method, all twelve notes of the chromatic scale (C, C#, D, and so on) are considered equal. There is no tonal center and no hierarchy of pitches as in a typical scale. Each 12-tone composition is built from a series of 12 different pitches that may be arranged in several different ways. The original row may be played forward, backwards (retrograde), upside down (inverted), and backwards and inverted (retrograde inversion). All the melodies and harmonies in a 12-tone piece must be derived from the original row or from fragments of the original row.

Taking this a step further, fragments or other elements such as dynamics or rhythmic units, may be organized in a set pattern. This is known as serialism. If the pitches moved up, then up again, then down, the dynamics could be matched as mf (medium loud), f (loud), and p (soft), for example.

Schoenberg viewed dissonance as a goal. His music invited the listener to revel in various levels of dissonance, and many listeners were never able to adjust.

Born in Austria, and of Jewish descent, Schoenberg was already composing by the age of nine. While in his teens, he studied composition with the Austrian composer and conductor Alexander Zemlinsky. In 1901 he moved to Berlin where he was befriended and mentored by the German composer Richard Strauss. Three years later in 1903, Schoenberg returned to Austria and began a long association with the renowned composer Gustav Mahler who became one of his strongest supporters.

In 1909, Schoenberg composed the first complete work that completely did away with tonality. This piano composition, “Drei Klavierstücke” (“Three Piano Pieces”), Op. 11 was the first piece we now refer to as being completely atonal. Other atonal compositions include: “Five Orchestral Pieces” (1909), Pierrot Lunaire (1912), and Erwartung (Expectation 1924) for soprano and orchestra.

In 1925 Schoenberg was hired by the Prussian Academy of Arts in Berlin to teach composition, and he would most likely have continued his career as teacher and composer in Europe were it not for the rise of the Nazi party and their subsequent persecution of European Jews. In 1933 he was released from the Academy and moved to Paris and then Boston. In 1934 he settled in California and held teaching positions first at the University of Southern California (1935-36) and then the University of Central Los Angeles (1936-44).

After immigrating to the United States, Schoenberg reconnected with the Jewish faith he had abandoned as a young man. The sadness he felt because of the personal accounts of the horrible treatment experienced by so many Jews during World War II led to his composition of A Survivor from Warsaw, which was composed for orchestra, male chorus, and narrator. The piece was completed in September 1947 and the entire piece is built on a twelve-tone row. This important work is Schoenberg’s dramatization of a tragic story he heard from surviving Polish Jews who were victims of Nazi atrocities during World War II.

LISTENING GUIDE

Audio

• Composer: Arnold Schoenberg
• Composition: A Survivor from Warsaw
• Date: 1947
• Genre: 12-tone composition for small orchestra, male chorus, and narrator
• Form: through-composed

Nature of Text: Narration of Germans’ treatment of Jews in Warsaw during WWII

Performing Forces: orchestra, male chorus, and narrator

Table 2: Listening Guide for A Survivor from Warsaw

Timing	Performing Forces, Melody, and Texture
0:35	Trumpet introductory fanfare built from 12-tone row. Trumpets, snare drum, clarinets. Irregular rhythmic figures built from 12-tone row. 12-tone chordal structures built from 12-tone row.
0:46	Celli (cellos) enter with rhythmic motif. Brief medodic motifs move between celli, woodwinds, trumpets, and strings. Rhythms are derived from the 12-tone row and are irregular. 12-tone based chordal structures continue throughout piece.
1:06	Xylophone added.
1:16	Clarinet added. Clarinet completes instrumental introduction.
1:21	Narrator enters. Instrumentation and dynamics are altered to match rise and fall of phrases in narration.
1:57	French Horn enters.
2:19	Narration. Narration much more intense and trumpet fanfare underscores this change.
3:09	Narration. Bass drum begins a steady pulse with snare drum and xylophone irregular rhythms as drama in narration increases.
3:19	Narration switches to German. Narrator begins to shout in German.
3:38	Narration switches back to English. Strings play tremolo in background.
4:05	Narration becomes more introspective. Strings become more lyrical to underscore change in story.
4:20	Orchestra. Orchestra interlude decreases the intensity of the moment.
4:38	Narrator returns.
6:01	Narration. As narrator says “faster and faster” the music begins to accelerate as well.
6:19	Male chorus. Men begin to sing the Jewish prayer Shema Yisroel accompanied by strings. Brass and woodwinds are used as interjections throughout this section.
7:41	Brass join chorus. Intensity in Chorus and Orchestra build.
7:52	Brass continue as chorus ends. Brass and strings build to big climactic moment and conclude piece at 8:01.

 

Schoenberg’s ideas were further developed by his two famous students, Alban Berg and Anton Webern. Together, the three came to be known as the Second Viennese School, in contrast to the first Viennese School, which consisted of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. Born in Vienna, Alban Berg began studying with Schoenberg at the age of 19 and soon became known for his unique compositional style, which fused post-romantic concepts with Schoenberg’s cutting-edge twelve-tone techniques. Heavily influenced by Richard Wagner, Berg held on to techniques such as the leitmotif and sought to couch his harmonic ideas in tried-and-true forms such as the sonata and fugue. Although he composed many famous pieces, such as his Violin Concerto and his unfinished opera Lulu, he initially made his fame with Wozzeck, an opera based on the drama Woyzeck by German playwright Georg Buchner. Berg served during World War I, and much of Wozzeck was composed in 1917, during a period of leave from the Austro-Hungarian Army. The opera consists of three acts, each with five scenes organized as variations of a musical idea, such as the variations of a theme, a chord, or a rhythmic pattern. Berg himself adapted the libretto from Buchner’s original play.

The story of the opera centers on the title character, Wozzeck. Like the main character in many romantic operas, he is a tragic figure. However, whereas the operas of the nineteenth century often depicted gods and mythical figures, the story of Wozzeck addresses the type of societal problems that Berg may himself have encountered during World War I, including human cruelty. The character of Wozzeck is that of a pitiful and unremarkable soldier who is tormented by his captain and subjected to medical experiments by a sadistic doctor. Wozzeck, who is often given to hallucinations, eventually goes mad and kills his love interest, Marie, who has been unfaithful. The opera ends after Wozzeck drowns trying to clean the murder weapon in a pond and wading out too far.

Listen to the recording below of act 3, scene 2, the scene in which Wozzeck kills Marie. The scene features a variation on a single note, namely B.

LISTENING GUIDE

Audio

• Composer: Alban Berg
• Composition: Wozzeck
• Date: 1924
• Genre: Opera
• Form: variation on a single note

Nature of Text: Wozzeck and Marie walk by a pond. Wozzeck stabs Marie in throat with a knife.

Performing Forces: orchestra, singers

Table 3: Listening Guide for Wozzeck

Timing	Performing Forces, Melody, and Texture	Text and Form
0:00	Instrumental introduction evoking a low, and ominous feeling. Orchestra.
0:24	Wozzeck and Marieenter. Marie wishes to leave. A syrupy melody in the strings reflects Wozzeck’s pleas to Marie to sit down.	Marie: Dort links geht’s in die Stadt. ‘s ist noch weit. Komm schneller! Wozzeck: Du Sollst dableiben, Marie. Kom, setz’ Dich. Marie: Abe rich muss fort.
0:45	Marie leaps up, saying, “I must go!” and low ominous notes play underneath as Wozzeck lures her back.	Wozzeck: Komm. Bist weit gegangen, Marie. Sollst Dir die Fusse nicht mehr wund laufen. ‘s ist still hier! Und so dunkel. – Weisst noch, Marie, wi lang’ es jetzt ist, dass wir uns kennen? Marie: Zu Pfingsten drei Jahre. Wozzeck: Und was meinst, wie lang’ es noch dauern wird? Marie: Ich muss fort. Wozzeck: Furchst Dich, Marie? Und bist doch fromm! Und gut! Und true!
2:06	A sweet melody in the strings evokes the line by Wozzeck “What sweet lips you have, Marie.”	Wozzeck: Was Du fur susse Lippen hast, Marie! Den Himmel gab’ ich drum und die Seligkeit, wenn ich Dich noch of so kussen durft! Abe rich darf nicht! Was zitterst?
2:57	Wozzeck says, “Those who are cold shiver no more. You will not shiver in the morning dew,” fortelling Marie’s death. She asks what he means and the music ceases creating a tense silence.	Marie: Der Nachttau fallt. Wozzeck: Wer kalt ist, den friert nicht meher! Dich wird beim Morgentau nicht frieren. Marie: Was sagst Du da? Wozzeck: nix.
3:40	The music begins to build as Wozzeck prepares to kill Marie.	Marie: Wie der Mond rot aufgeht! Wozzeck: Wie ein blutig Eisen! Marie: Was zitterst? Was Willst?
4:07	The music echoes Wozzeck word by word as he says, “No one, Marie! If not me, then no one!” After the act is done, the orchestra dies down to a single note and Wozzeck exclaims, “Dead!”	Wozzeck: Ich nicht, Marie! Und kein Andrer auch nicht! Marie: Hilfe! Wozzeck: Tot!
5:00	Orchestra Orchestral interlude

 

7.5 NEOCLASSICISM

In the decades between World War I and World War II, many composers in the Western world began to write in a style we now call Neoclassicism. When composing in a neoclassic manner, composers attempted to infuse many of the characteristics of the Classical Period into their music, incorporating concepts like balance(of form and phrase), economy of material, emotional restraint, and clarity in design.

One composer who was able to combine elements of neo-Classicism with the traditions of his homeland was Béla Bartók (1881 – 1945). Bartok was born in Nagyszentmiklós, Hungary and was an important figure in the music of the early twentieth century. A noted composer, teacher, pianist, and ethnomusicologist, he was appointed to a position in the Royal Academy of Music in Budapest in 1907 and worked there until 1934. Along with his friend and colleague Zoltán Kodály, Bartók enthusiastically researched and sought out the music of Hungarian peasants, and both composers used these native folk songs as inspiration for their own original compositions.

In addition to Hungarian folk music, Bartók’s style was influenced by the Romantic music of Strauss, the Hungarian composer Franz Liszt, Debussy’s impressionism, and the more modern music of Arnold Schoenberg. Due to these influences, his music was often rhythmic and incorporated both tonal and chromatic elements. Bartók composed numerous piano works, six string quartets, and an opera titled Duke Bluebeard’s Castle, as well as a ballet entitled The Wooden Prince (1916), and a pantomime entitled The Miraculous Mandarin (1919). His string quartets and his Concerto for Orchestra have become part of the standard repertoire of professional performing groups worldwide.

LISTENING GUIDE

Audio

• Composer: Béla Bartók
• Composition: Concerto for Orchestra – Movement Five “Finale”
• Date: 1944
• Genre: Orchestral composition featuring all of the different sections of the orchestra
• Form: Concerto in five movements – this is the fifth movement only

Performing Forces: Full Orchestra

Table 4: Listening Guide for Concerto for Orchestra – Movement Five “Finale”

Timing	Performing Forces, Melody, and Texture
26:12	Chord tones. French horns. Tonal scales.
26:20	Violins. Strings and timpani. Fast scale patterns. Tonal scales.
26:38	Violins. Adds flute background figures. Fast scale patterns. Tonal scales.
26:40	Violins. Adds muted brass background figures. Fast scale patterns.
26:49	Violins. Adds full brass and woodwind fanfare like accompaniment. Violin scales and others playing chords.
26:55	Oboes. Brief interlude figure.
26:57	Celli. Scale patterns.
26:58	Violas. Scale patterns.
27:01	Violins. Very fast and high scale patterns.
27:14	Adds brass chords and figures from other strings. Strings and brass. Rhythm changes to include triplets.
27:25	Adds trombones and tuba on low note accents. Strings and brass.
27:33	Flutes and oboes. Begins section featuring different woodwinds.
27:36	Clarinet.
27:44	Oboe.
27:47	Woodwinds and violins. Section featuring alternation between fast string scale figures and fast woodwind scale figures.
28:01	Strings. Adds timpani.
28:05	Trombones.
28:15	Strings.
28:18	Bassoon. Section featuring bassoons, then clarinet, then oboe, then flute. Sections follow one another playing similar material.
28:30	Flute and adds bass clarinet. Lyrical section with flute melody and clarinet accompaniment.
28:42	Bassoon.
28:47	Violins. Oboes in background.
28:52	Violins. Clarinet in background.
28:56	Violins. Adds French Horn.
29:02	Oboe. Clarinet in background.
29:10	Violins. Tempo speeds up.
29:14	Trumpet. Fanfare begins. Rhythmic fanfare figures. Fanfare outlines minor sounding tonality.
29:25	Trumpet. Fanfare continues. Rhythmic fanfare figures. Fanfare outlines minor sounding tonality.
29:32	Trumpets. Adds French Horns to background. Fanfare continues.
29:43	Adds flute. Fanfare continues.
29:53	Rhythm changes.
30:02	Tympani and harp. Harp begins simple background beat pattern. Rhythm changes.
30:07	Violins.
30:14	Violas. Violas state a new melody Woodwinds in background.
30:25	Violins take over the melody. Woodwinds in background.
30:40	Celli take over the melody. Violins and woodwinds in background.
30:56	String section. New section begins.
31:05	Oboes. Woodwinds and strings.
31:30	Oboe states new fragment of a theme.
31:35	Horn repeats fragment.
31:41	Woodwinds pass fragment around. Woodwinds and strings.
31:49	Strings. String section and woodwinds. New, faster and more intense rhythms.
32:06	Timpani enters.
32:09	Strings. Strings restate fast scale figures from earlier in movement. Fast scale figures.
32:25	Brass and strings alternate. Full orchestra with timpani. Fanfare rhythm.
32:34	Brass. Brass feature.
32:44	Strings. Strings begin to restate scale figures.
32:55	Strings. String parts get slower and softer. Rhythm slows.
33:04	Strings. Soft string interlude. Slower more relaxed.
33:31	Woodwinds. Woodwinds play quiet interlude section.
33:54	Bassoon followed by other woodwinds. Woodwinds build to final brass fanfare – strings in background.
34:12	Brass enters softly with fanfare figures and builds. Brass and strings. Complexity increases with dynamic increase.
34:29	Woodwinds join brass. Continues to build.
34:47	Brass. Big brass fanfare with fast string patterns in background. Slower but stronger brass, fast strings.
35:05	Strings and brass alternate. Strings alternate with loud brass fanfare figures to end. Faster, more aggressive rhythms.

 

7.6 The American Style

Jazz is a uniquely American style. American orchestral composers were becoming aware of jazz in the early twentieth century, and George Gershwin (1898-1937) was no exception. Gershwin dropped out of school at the age of fifteen to begin a professional career playing piano in New York’s Tin Pan Alley – an area of New York City known for songwriting businesses. After several years of success as a performer and composer, he was asked by the famous band leader Paul Whiteman to compose a work that would help raise people’s perceptions of jazz as an art form. The resulting work, Rhapsody in Blue, combines the American blues style with the European symphonic tradition into a brilliant composition for piano and orchestra. Listen to how beautifully Gershwin combines these elements via the link below.

Gershwin, Rhapsody in Blue (1924)

In addition to Rhapsody in Blue, George Gershwin is also known for his opera, Porgy and Bess. Although not a true opera in the strict sense of the term (Gershwin dubbed it a “folk opera”), the piece is considered one of the great American operatic works of the century. The story is set in a tenement in Charleston, South Carolina. Based on DuBose Heyward’s novel Porgy, the opera incorporated classically trained black singers to depict the tragic love story between the two main title characters. Gershwin based the opera’s music on elements of folk music, referring to southern black musical styles like blues and spirituals. Drawing on the nineteenth century opera tradition, Gershwin made use of leitmotifs to represent people or places. Near the beginning of the opera, we hear the famous aria “Summertime,” which depicts the hot, hazy atmosphere in which the story is set.

George Gershwin – “Summertime”

American born Aaron Copland (1900-1990) trained at the American Conservatory in Fontainebleau, France, to study with the most respected music professor of the time, Nadia Boulanger. Copland was instrumental in helping to define a distinct American sound by combining his European musical training with jazz and folk elements. As an early twentieth-century composer, Copland was active during the Great Depression, writing music for the new genre of radio, the phonograph, and motion pictures. El Salon Mexico (1935), Fanfare for the Common Man (1942), and Appalachian Spring (1944) are three of Copland’s most famous works. He won a Pulitzer Prize for his music for the ballet Appalachian Spring and was also an Oscar-winning film composer. Appalachian Spring is a ballet depicting a pioneer wedding celebration in a newly-built farmhouse in Pennsylvania. It includes the now well-known Shaker song Simple Gifts.

Copland, Appalachian Spring (1944)

Copland’s unique style evokes images of the landscape of the west, as we can hear in his score for the ballet Rodeo (1942) linked below. Listen for an opening fanfare that melts into a low, calming tune.

Aaron Copland, Rodeo (1942)

One of the ways in which Copland was able to capture the sense of vastness of the American landscape was through his use of certain harmonic intervals, that is, two notes played together, which sound “hollow” or “open.” These intervals, “perfect 4ths, 5ths, and octaves,” have been used since medieval times, and were named so due to their simple harmonic ratios. The result is music that sounds vast and expansive. Perhaps the best example of this technique is found in Copland’s famous Fanfare for the Common Man.

While fanfares are typically associated with heralding the arrival of royalty, Copland wanted to create a fanfare that celebrated the lives of everyday people during a trying time in American history. The piece was premiered by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra on March 12, 1943 at the height of World War II. To this day, no other piece stirs up patriotic emotions like Fanfare for the Common Man. It has been used in countless movies, television shows, and military recruitment ads. In the 1970’s, the rock band Emerson, Lake, and Palmer wowed audiences with their cover of this piece. It defined Copland’s uniquely American compositional style and remains one of the most popular patriotic pieces in the American repertoire.

LISTENING GUIDE

Audio

• Composer: Aaron Copland
• Composition: Fanfare for the Common Man
• Date: 1942
• Genre: Fanfare

Performing Forces: brass and percussion sections of symphony orchestra

Table 5: Listening Guide for Fanfare for the Common Man

Timing	Performing Forces, Melody, and Texture
0:00	Opening crash heralds introduction by bass drum and timpani that slowly dies down. Slow and deliberate.
0:31	Slow fanfare theme enters. The melody itself is comprised of many perfect 4ths and perfect 5th intervals which convey a sense of openness. Unison trumpets. Slow tempo. No harmonic accompaniment creates a sense of starkness.
1:05	After brief notes from the percussion section, French horns enter, moving a perfect 5th below the trumpets. Trumpets and French horns, with periodic hits from the percussion Built primarily on perfect 4ths and 5ths.
1:46	Repeat of material from the introduction. Percussion.
1:48	Clarinet states a contrasting melody. Melody over murmuring strings.
1:59	Low brass enters with the main theme and is imitated by the horns and trumpets. Full brass and percussion.
3:01	Melody is restated at ½ speed (augmentation) and ends on climactic chord. Full brass and percussion.

 

7.7 CHAPTER SUMMARY

In this chapter we examined the Impressionist style of music and its two main composers, Ravel and Debussy. We also looked at a new approach to harmony and composition developed by Schoenberg, Berg, and others that became known as Expressionism. We then discovered the uniquely American yet contrasting styles of Aaron Copland and George Gershwin—Copland creating an American symphonic style and Gershwin creating a style which incorporated jazz music.