20 th Century The Age of Technology
Dec 27, 2015
20th Century
The Age of Technology
Science and Medicine
• Louis Pasteur – pasteurization of food, germ theory
• Joseph Lister – sterilization techniques during surgery greatly reduced post operative infections.
Everyday life
• Thomas Edison – incandescent lightbulb
• Electricity – power plants
• Alexander Graham Bell – telephone
• Guglielmo Marconi – wireless telegraphy
• Sir John Fleming – electron vacuum tube
• Lee de Forest – amplification tube
• Edison/Johannes Brahms - phonograph
Everyday Life
• Medical advancements – machines that will scan without making incisions, neonatal observations, cures to fatal diseases
• Computers, satellite
• Wrist watches, cell phones, video cameras and television
• The “global village”
Political Climate
• Karl Marx – Communist Manifesto• German/French dispute over Rhineland• Germany, France, Italy, Austria and
Russia had large professional armies with millions of civilian reserves
• WWI – assassination of heir to Austro-Hungarian throne
• Russian Revolution
Political Climate
• Warfare changed, using poison gas, heavy artillery, and air raids
• Formation of the League of Nations
• The Great Depression
• Rise of Mussolini and Hitler
• WWII – atomic bomb
Claude Debussy
• 1862-1918• Parents enrolled
him in Paris Conservatory
• Pianist• When not receiving
top honors at school, turned to composition
Claude Debussy
• “Wagner was…a beautiful sunset that was mistaken for a sunrise.”
• Lush orchestration• Parallel chords• Extended ranges• Impressionist –
Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_7loz-HWUM
Impressionist Painting
Impressionist Painting
Maurice Ravel
• 1875-1930
• Mother was of Basque heritage
• Bolero
• Daphnis and Chloe
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KK23BhEQVyU
Erik Satie
• 1866-1925• Gymnopedies• Kicked out of school
–had no special gifts• Military for short
period of life• Influenced and
associated with Debussy and Ravel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-Xm7s9eGxU
Igor Stravinsky
• 1882-1971
• Father leading bass at Imperial Opera St. Petersburg
• 19 studied composition with Rimsky-Korsokov
• Experienced both World Wars
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWotpIy0uTg
Igor Stravinsky
• Fascinated with Russian folklore
• Russian Revolution of 1917 wiped out his families wealth
• Firebird Suite• Rite of Spring• 1939 applied for U.S.
citizenship – L.A.
Igor Stravinsky
• Four periods of career
• Early Period – late romantic and national flavored music
• Russian period – firebird, Petrushka, Rite
• Neoclassical period – Soldier’s Tale, Symphony of Psalms
• Serial period
Arnold Schoenberg
• 1874-1951
• Hungarian/Czech
• Violin lessons- 8
• Lived on edge of poverty
• No concert tickets – formed his own chamber ensemble
Arnold Schoenberg
• Late Romantic style
• Second Viennese School of music
• Equality for all notes – atonal
• Taught Berg and Webern
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CFnJiElpks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Bq4EykKzEg
Alban Berg
• 1885-1935
• “Master of the smallest link”
• Wozzeck
• Violin Concerto
• Student of Schoenberg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCa7QG2oVf0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqSSHwFEn_8
Anton Webern
• 1883-1945
• Foremost student of atonality
• Five Pieces for Orchestra
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOnFKLvonQw
Charles Ives
• 1874-1954
• Insurance salesman
• Could hear nine rhythms in his mind simultaneously
• Composed with overlapping ideas
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIFowc-9j3I
Aaron Copland• 1900-1990• First American
composer to receive international acclaim
• Simple Gifts• Rodeo, Appalachian
Spring• Music for the masses• Movie scores• Olympics
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ajQYANLiug http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEro8pG0hiE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dCRd-g6Qp8
Jelly Roll Morton
• 1890-1941
• Claims he created jazz music
• First to write it down
• Told grandmother he worked the night shift at “the docks”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8_2ISGOIjU
George Gershwin• 1898-1937• 11 parents bought second
hand piano for older brother
• George dropped out of school at 15
• Tin Pan Alley – pop music of the time
• Rhapsody in Blue, Porgy and Bess, Embraceable You
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1U40xBSz6Dc
Leonard Bernstein
• 1918-1990
• Tanglewood and Koussivetsky
• Youngest conductor of N.Y. Philharmonic
• Wrote for the stage
• Popular and Art music combined
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20XqYgJsz9A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qy6wo2wpT2k
Edgard Varese
• 1883-1965
• Philosopher of music
• Did not like to write things down
• “organized sound”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9mg4KHqRPw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7AIiTeKBUc
Bela Bartok
• 1881-1945
• Ethnomusicologist
• Royal Academy of music
• Travelled Hungary and collected authentic folk music
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2E058Ep99Y
Sergei Rachmaninoff
• 1873-1943
• Parents aristocratic Russians
• Pianist and conductor
• Connects the Romantic Era and the 20th Century
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-qwJoFQ3qo
Benjamin Britten
• 1913-1976
• English composer
• Peter Pears
• Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra
• Many genres of music
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHNgfF19CTY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HhTMJ2bek0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piNH18JhDU4