Twentieth Century Music: An Introduction

Offering complete, accurate coverage in a tightly condensed, simple format, this comprehensive exploration of modern music (to 1998) deals primarily with the music itself and musical ideas. It puts the whole century in a unified concept, helping readers make sense out of the heterogeneity. It explains the overall development of 20th century music in relation to the past and to two big cycles of contemporary music; and encompasses classical and experimental traditions as well as popular elements, media, multi-media, and theater. Twentieth-Century Music and the Past. THE BREAKDOWN OF TRADITIONAL TONALITY. The Sources. The Revolution: Paris and Vienna. THE NEW TONALITIES. Stravinsky and Neo-Classicism. Neo-Classicism and Neo-Tonality in France and Outside of France. National Styles. Musical Theater. ATONALITY AND TWELVE-TONE MUSIC. The Viennese School. The Diffusion of Twelve-Tone Music. THE AVANT GARDE. Before World War II. Technological Culture and Electronic Music. Ultra-Rationality and Serialism. Anti-Rationality and Aleatory. The New Performed Music: The United States. Post-Serialism: The New Performance Practice in Europe. POST-MODERNISM. Beyond Modern Music. Back to Tonality. Pop as Culture. Media and Theater. Music Examples. For courses anyone interested in 20th Century Music, Modern Music, or the History of Music.