Chapter 8: The Modern Era
Preview Questions
Introduction
This will be the last chapter on “classical” or “art” music. We’ve come to the end of the line after centuries of gradually increasing the amount of dissonance, until music became atonal and had no place further to go harmonically. In the last fifty years we’ve moved back towards tonal music, and some composers have become minimalists in order to simplify the materials.
Review Questions
- How does music from the 20th and 21st centuries differ from that of the 19th century?
- Is the rate of change in society speeding up? Why (not)?
- Who are some composers in modern times who didn’t write popular music?
- What are new genres of music in the 20th and 21st centuries in art music?
Introduction
This will be the last chapter on “classical” or “art” music. We’ve come to the end of the line after centuries of gradually increasing the amount of dissonance, until music became atonal and had no place further to go harmonically. In the last fifty years we’ve moved back towards tonal music, and some composers have become minimalists in order to simplify the materials.
Review Questions
- What are some ways in which music from the 20th and 21st centuries differ from that of up through the 19th century? What are some ways that it is similar to what came before?
- How many of the art music movements can you remember from the 20th and 21st centuries? For each, give the title of a representative piece and the name of its composer. What new techniques did that piece use, and how did it sound?
- Which of the listening examples did you like least? Which one did you like the most? Why?
- What techniques did the composers apply that you thought were the most interesting? Is it important that you like the music that they produced in order to enjoy their ideas?