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| 20th century music | |
|---|---|
| Name | 20th century music |
| Start | 1901 |
| End | 2000 |
| Region | Global |
| Notable people | Igor Stravinsky, Arnold Schoenberg, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, The Beatles, John Cage, Pierre Boulez, Béla Bartók, Sergei Prokofiev, Igor Stravinsky, Gustav Mahler, Anton Webern, Alban Berg, Maurice Ravel, Claude Debussy, Aaron Copland, George Gershwin, Leonard Bernstein, Benny Goodman, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, Prince, Madonna, Kraftwerk, Brian Eno, Phil Spector, Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Terry Riley, Patti Smith, Nina Simone, Paco de Lucía, Astor Piazzolla, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Shostakovich, Dmitri Shostakovich, Carl Orff, Ravi Shankar |
20th century music The music of the 20th century encompassed radical innovations across composition, performance, recording, and popular culture, reshaping global auditory landscapes. Rapid changes in Europe, United States, Latin America, Africa, Asia and institutional settings such as the Paris Conservatoire, Juilliard School, Moscow Conservatory and Vienna State Opera accelerated stylistic cross-pollination between classical, jazz, folk, and emerging electronic traditions. Political events including World War I, World War II, the Russian Revolution, the Cold War, and decolonization influenced patronage, censorship, dissemination, and diasporic artistic networks.
The century’s origins trace to late-19th-century figures at institutions like the Bayreuth Festival and the Conservatoire de Paris where innovations by Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel, and successors intersected with socio-political shifts such as World War I and the aftermath of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The collapse of imperial structures and the rise of nation-states fostered nationalist composers including Jean Sibelius, Zoltán Kodály, Béla Bartók, and Heitor Villa-Lobos, while revolutionary movements in Russia propelled composers tied to the Bolshoi Theatre and Mariinsky Theatre like Sergei Prokofiev and Dmitri Shostakovich. Urbanization around hubs such as New York City, Paris, Berlin, and Buenos Aires enabled salons, cabarets, and recording industries centered on venues like Carnegie Hall and labels such as Columbia Records.
The century saw the rise of Impressionism and Expressionism with figures linked to the Vienna Secession and groups around the Second Viennese School—Arnold Schoenberg, Alban Berg, Anton Webern. Neoclassicism associated with Igor Stravinsky and institutions like the Société des Concerts coexisted with serialism advocated by Pierre Boulez and Karlheinz Stockhausen. Minimalism emerged via Steve Reich, Philip Glass, and Terry Riley in contexts such as San Francisco and New York City. Jazz movements—Dixieland, Swing, Bebop, Cool jazz, Free jazz—evolved through scenes in New Orleans, Kansas City, Harlem, and Chicago with leaders like Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, and Miles Davis. Popular currents birthed Rock and roll, R&B, Soul music, Funk, Hip hop, and electronic genres tracing roots to Kraftwerk, Disco, and studio innovators like Phil Spector.
Avant-garde composers including John Cage, Iannis Xenakis, György Ligeti, Edgard Varèse, and Olivier Messiaen challenged notation and sound practices in venues like the Donaueschingen Festival and institutions such as IRCAM. Orchestral titans—Gustav Mahler, Richard Strauss, Sergei Rachmaninoff—bridged Romantic legacy and modernism; pedagogues at Curtis Institute of Music and Royal College of Music shaped generations including Leonard Bernstein and Aaron Copland. Jazz innovators—Benny Goodman, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane—transformed improvisation and ensemble roles across clubs like the Village Vanguard and Swing Street. Pop and rock icons—Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Madonna, Michael Jackson—reconfigured songwriting, performance, and media spectacles tied to festivals such as Woodstock and broadcast platforms like MTV.
Commercial recording industries—EMI, RCA Victor, Decca Records, Motown—and broadcast networks including BBC, NBC, CBS expanded reach of artists across radio, film, and television. The rise of film music through composers like Bernard Herrmann and Ennio Morricone intersected with studios such as Hollywood and festivals like Cannes Film Festival. Mass media amplified phenomena like the British Invasion, Soul Train, Motown Revue tours, and global tours by acts tied to agencies such as William Morris Agency. Copyright regimes like the Berne Convention and organizations such as ASCAP and BMI influenced publishing, while jukeboxes, 78 rpm, LP, cassette, CD, and digital formats shifted consumption.
Recording and reproduction technologies—electric microphone, magnetic tape, multitrack recording, stereophony—were developed by companies like Bell Labs, EMI, and innovators such as Les Paul. Electronic instruments including the theremin, Moog synthesizer, and modular systems by Don Buchla enabled new timbres used by Wendy Carlos and Kraftwerk. Studio techniques—overdubbing, sampling, sound synthesis—emerged in studios like Abbey Road Studios and Sun Studio, while experimental institutions such as Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center and IRCAM fostered computer music and algorithmic composition.
Music intersected with movements like the Civil Rights Movement, Black Power and antiwar protests surrounding the Vietnam War, influencing artists such as Nina Simone, Sam Cooke, Marvin Gaye, and Bob Dylan. Postcolonial identities shaped music scenes in India, Brazil, Argentina, and Nigeria via artists like Ravi Shankar, Astor Piazzolla, Caetano Veloso, and Fela Kuti. State policies in Soviet Union and People's Republic of China affected artistic careers and repertoire tied to institutions like the Moscow Conservatory and campaigns such as the Cultural Revolution. Women and LGBTQ+ artists—Patti Smith, Joan Baez, Freddie Mercury—challenged norms in venues, labels, and festivals.
The century’s experiments underpin contemporary practices across classical music, jazz, pop music, electronic dance music, and film scoring, with academic programs at Berklee College of Music and Royal Academy of Music preserving techniques. Genres such as hip hop, ambient music, post-rock, and neo-classical trace aesthetic and technological lineages to pioneers like John Cage, Brian Eno, Steve Reich, and Kraftwerk. Contemporary institutions—Grammy Awards, BBC Proms, streaming platforms and archival projects—continue to mediate repertoire, scholarship, and performance practice, ensuring ongoing reinterpretation and global circulation of works by figures such as Igor Stravinsky, Miles Davis, The Beatles, and Philip Glass.
Category:Music by century