20th-century classical music

20th-century classical music
Name	20th-century classical music
Era	20th century

Contents

20th-century classical music was a period of intense experimentation and pluralism in Paris, Vienna, Berlin, New York City, Moscow, London, Prague, Budapest, Tokyo, and Buenos Aires. Composers such as Arnold Schoenberg, Igor Stravinsky, Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel, Dmitri Shostakovich and Béla Bartók explored new harmonic, rhythmic and formal resources alongside institutions like the Soviet Union's Moscow Conservatory, the Wiener Musikverein, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, and festivals such as the Donaueschingen Festival and the Tanglewood Festival of Music. This era intersected with movements and events including World War I, World War II, the Russian Revolution, the Great Depression, the Cold War, and the rise of recording industries like Columbia Records and Deutsche Grammophon.

Historical overview and stylistic periods

The early period featured late-romantic figures such as Gustav Mahler, Richard Strauss, Alexander Scriabin, Sergei Rachmaninoff and contemporaries tied to conservatories like the Saint Petersburg Conservatory and the Royal College of Music. The 1910s and 1920s saw radical departures by Arnold Schoenberg and the Second Viennese School alongside neoclassical reactions from Igor Stravinsky and networks around the Ballets Russes. The 1930s–1950s encompassed nationalist currents in Poland (e.g., Karol Szymanowski), socialist realism directives in the Soviet Union with Dmitri Shostakovich and Sergei Prokofiev, and avant-garde experiments by John Cage, Pierre Boulez, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and Luciano Berio. The postwar decades branched into serialism linked to Witten, electronic studios such as the Westdeutscher Rundfunk and Groupe de Recherches Musicales, minimalism represented by Steve Reich, Philip Glass, and Terry Riley, and spectralism associated with Gérard Grisey and Hugues Dufourt.

Serialism united composers from the Internationales Musikinstitut Darmstadt and the Paris Conservatoire including Olivier Messiaen, Pierre Boulez, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and Anton Webern. Neoclassicism connected Igor Stravinsky, Sergei Prokofiev, Paul Hindemith, and institutions like the Salzburg Festival. Nationalist schools appeared in Hungary with Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály, in Argentina with Alberto Ginastera, and in Japan with Toru Takemitsu. Electronic and musique concrète practices emerged at Centre Pompidou-affiliated studios and the Cologne Electronic Music Studio, involving Pierre Schaeffer, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Luc Ferrari and Hugh Le Caine. Minimalism spread from Brooklyn and San Francisco scenes via ensembles like Philip Glass Ensemble and Steve Reich and Musicians.

Prominent landmarks include Claude Debussy's "Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune", Igor Stravinsky's "The Rite of Spring", Arnold Schoenberg's "Pierrot Lunaire", Alban Berg's "Wozzeck", Anton Webern's orchestral works, Dmitri Shostakovich's symphonies, Béla Bartók's string quartets, Sergei Prokofiev's "War and Peace", Olivier Messiaen's "Catalogue d'oiseaux", John Cage's "4′33″", Karlheinz Stockhausen's "Gesang der Jünglinge", Pierre Boulez's "Le Marteau sans maître", György Ligeti's "Atmosphères", Steve Reich's "Different Trains", Philip Glass's "Einstein on the Beach", Luciano Berio's "Sequenza" series, Giacinto Scelsi's solo works, Elliott Carter's string quartets, Arvo Pärt's tintinnabuli pieces, Krzysztof Penderecki's "Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima", and Alberto Ginastera's ballets.

Harmonic innovations ranged from Claude Debussy's modal experiments to Arnold Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique propagated by Anton Webern and Alban Berg and later adaptations by Pierre Boulez and Karlheinz Stockhausen. Microtonal research advanced through Harry Partch, Ivan Wyschnegradsky, and Julian Carrillo. Rhythmical reconfigurations occurred in Igor Stravinsky's polymeters, Bela Bartok's asymmetric meters derived from Hungarian folk music, and Steve Reich's phased patterns linked to African music influences via performers like Nana Vasconcelos. Formally, indeterminacy championed by John Cage and Earle Brown contrasted with strict serial structures in the Darmstadt School and with additive processes in works by Henri Dutilleux and Olivier Messiaen.

Orchestration adapted with expanding percussion in Gustav Mahler's successors and novel ensembles like the Pierrot ensemble popularized by Arnold Schoenberg and Pierrot Lunaire performances; this led to chamber forces used by Peter Maxwell Davies and Helmut Lachenmann. Electronic instruments and tape techniques appeared via the Cologne Electronic Music Studio, IRCAM, and studios at RCA Victor; pioneers included Karlheinz Stockhausen, Pierre Schaeffer, and Milton Babbitt. Extended techniques for strings and winds were developed by Béla Bartók, Krzysztof Penderecki, Luciano Berio, and George Crumb, while prepared piano was introduced by John Cage. Ensembles like the London Sinfonietta, Ensemble InterContemporain, and the Kronos Quartet commissioned new repertoire and collaborated with soloists such as Mstislav Rostropovich and Viktor Ullmann.

Critical reception varied from scandal at the Ballets Russes premiere of "The Rite of Spring" to official condemnation in the Soviet Union where Dmitri Shostakovich and Sergei Prokofiev navigated socialist realism mandates and denunciations at events like the Zhdanov Decree. Audiences divided between proponents of avant-garde movements centered at Darmstadt and conservative institutions such as the Metropolitan Opera and the Royal Opera House. Musicology and criticism flourished in journals like The Musical Quarterly, Tempo (magazine), and Die Musikforschung, while broadcasters like the BBC and record labels including Deutsche Grammophon shaped canon formation. Political uses appeared in contexts like Nazi Germany's suppression of "degenerate music" and Cold War cultural diplomacy through tours by Leonard Bernstein, Herbert von Karajan, and ensembles sponsored by the United States Information Agency.

The century’s techniques influenced film composers such as Bernard Herrmann, Ennio Morricone, and John Williams, and fed into popular genres via artists collaborating with classical figures like Frank Zappa, David Bowie, and Radiohead's orchestral projects; contemporary composers including Thomas Adès, Kaija Saariaho, Jennifer Higdon, John Adams, Tan Dun, Steve Reich (later works), George Benjamin, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Anna Clyne, Missy Mazzoli, Caroline Shaw, Nico Muhly, Matthias Pintscher, Julia Wolfe, Tania León, Unsuk Chin, Thomas Larcher, Alex Ross (as critic), and institutions like Lincoln Center continue to draw on serial, spectral, minimalist, and electronic legacies. Educational programs at the Juilliard School, Royal Academy of Music, Moscow Conservatory, Curtis Institute of Music and festivals like Aldeburgh Festival sustain performance and scholarship informed by the innovations of this period.

Category:Classical music by century