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Medieval
500—1400
Renaissance
1400—1600
Baroque
1600—1750
Classical
1750—1825
Romantic
1825—1900
Early 20th century
1900—1950
Contemporary music
after 1950
 
 

Early 20th century

1900—1950
   
 

At the turn of the 19th to the 20th century, classical music was still predominantly romantic in style, but the impressionist movement, headed by Claude Debussy, gained influence. In America, composers such as Ives and Gershwin developed their own specific compositional language. In Vienna, Schoenberg worked first on atonality and was later to create the twelve-tone technique. The Second Viennese School, as the circle of composers forming around him in Vienna is called, influenced decisively the development of classical music of the 20th century.

Achille-Claude Debussy
Achille-Claude Debussy
August 22, 1862 – March 25, 1918
Photo by Felix Nadar, ca. 1908
George Gershwin
George Gershwin
September 26, 1898 – July 11, 1937
Photo ca. 1937

The scope of classical music in the 20th century is impressive, from the expressionism of the early Schoenberg, the neoclassical compositions of Stravinsky, the futurism of the early Prokofiev, Mossolov and Antheil to the socialist realism of the late Prokofiev, Glière, Kabalewsky and other Russian composers; from the “musique concrete” of Schaeffer to the intuitive music of Stockhausen. Boulez, amongst others, worked on the development of the dodecaphony towards serial music with its strict compositional rules. Also the stylistic development of individual composers showed an impressive range. Besides, there were completely independent, singular personalities like the Frenchmen Messiaen.

Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky
17 June 1882 – 6 April 1971
George Grantham Bain Collection
Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev
Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev
27 April 1891 - 5 March 1953
Sergei Prokofiev in New York, 1918

One important characteristic of the concert music of the 20th century is the split of the public audience into a traditional- and an avant-garde-oriented. Prominent figures of one world were often considered minor or even unacceptable in the other. Many composers have ardent followers in the avant-garde, whereas they are often met with a certain hostility from outside. Interestingly enough it can be observed that the influence of the classical avant-garde composers on the popular music can be observed and increasingly so. The borders of the genres become ever more permeable, which is surely also connected to the distributional possibilities and accessibility of music never known before.

 
   
 
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