The arrival of the 20th century brought new musical movements as an answer to the new modern societies marked by a new way of life thanks to the improvements brought by industrialization, medicine, and science in general.
The music reflected the new hopes and fears of people through new ways of creation. We have talked about expressionism, that showed the fears and distress of the human soul. Now we will talk about other movements that rose in the 20th century.
In music, its precursors were Balilla Pratella and Luigi Russolo. They defended the use of noise created by machines as a part of the orchestra, rejecting the timbrical limitations of traditional instruments.
Although Futurism was a movement that did not last long, the idea of using noises from modern societies and devices influenced many contemporary composers.
Some of the most interesting musical pieces created or influenced by this movement are Ionisation by Edgar Varèse (1885-1965) and Pacific 231 by Arthur Honegger (1892-1955). Listen to Ionisation in the following video:
The music reflected the new hopes and fears of people through new ways of creation. We have talked about expressionism, that showed the fears and distress of the human soul. Now we will talk about other movements that rose in the 20th century.
6.2.1. Futurism
This trend was created in Italy around 1909 by Tommaso Marinetti. It emphasized technology, speed, and industrial creations (machines, cars, airplanes...) as the features of a better society.
Although Futurism was a movement that did not last long, the idea of using noises from modern societies and devices influenced many contemporary composers.
Some of the most interesting musical pieces created or influenced by this movement are Ionisation by Edgar Varèse (1885-1965) and Pacific 231 by Arthur Honegger (1892-1955). Listen to Ionisation in the following video:
6.2.2. Dadaism
Dadaism, founded by Tristan Tzara, could be considered as a variant of Surrealism. However, Dadaism is based on a lack of meaning more than on the subconscious (as Surrealism was).
Dadaism, that was rooted in Germany, France and the United States between the years 1916 and 1920, sought deliberately to generate scandal and controversy, questioning and rejecting established art and values.
In the field of music, Dadaism was important as a predecessor of other avant-garde movements such as aleatory music.
Below you can listen to Tristan Tzara singing a Dadaist song:
6.2.3. Dodecaphonism
Dodecaphonism is a new way to organize the twelve sounds of the chromatic scale. I was created by Arnold Schoenberg in 1923 as an evolution of music and as an emancipation of the tonal system.
In Dodecaphonism each note is equally important (as opposed to the tonal system based on a hierarchy of tonal centers, or the modal system where the modal note is the most important).
This system is based on sequences of the twelve notes. These sequences can appear melodically, harmonically and in any register or timbre. The sequence can be presented in four ways: normal, retrograde (backward), inverted (mirror-like) and retrograde-inverted.
Dodecaphonism had an important impact on most contemporary composers, especially on Schoenberg's disciples Alban Berg (1885-1935) and Anton Webern (1883-1945).
As an example, you can listen below to Anton Webern's Concerto op.24:
