Download Notes for Class 3 - Midcoast Senior College

MIDCOAST SENIOR COLLEGE
Thirty Years That Shook the World
NOTES for CLASS no. 3 (March 25)
A review of the “Post-Wagnerians” -- Mahler, Strauss,
Schoenberg and his students Webern & Berg
These composers build upon the legacy of late-19th century Romantic (Austro-German) music,
which may be summarized as follows:
(1) Music as highly “EXPRESSIVE” statement, very often PROGRAMMATIC (i.e. in
its extra-musical references). At times even autobiographical. Concerned with weighty, serious
“themes” (life, death, honor, patriotism, dreams, fears, etc.)
(2) Equally “weighty” in its sound --- massive sonorities, use of the large orchestra,
with large brass and percussion sections.
(3) Extremely CHROMATIC in its use of pitches -- DISSONANT (unresolved,
yearning, pushing forward), perhaps even verging on ATONALITY. The element of time
(tempo in particular) is used for expressive and structural purposes.
(4) Much of this music is not intended for mass audiences – it requires intensive,
concentrated listening by a knowledgeable elite. In fact, it may be intentionally “difficult” (to
perform AND to hear).
The above traits could be said to characterize Beethoven (!), or Beethoven’s 19th century
followers Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Wagner, Liszt, etc.
The Post-Wagnerians, in fact, extend this tradition --- perhaps in unexpected directions.
Schoenberg, Berg and Webern (a trio often referred to as the Second Viennese School) offer the
most extreme examples. In many of their works, the line between tonality and ATONALITY is
crossed.
A contrasting approach: FRANCO-RUSSIAN music
1) The early 20th century French and Russian composers offer a different approach. Compared
with the Austro-German school, they have a relatively consonant tradition – one that extends
back for centuries.
(For example, compare Bach to Vivaldi, or Brahms to Bizet, or Wagner to Verdi. The Germanic
composer invariably uses a more dissonant language.)
Therefore, the Franco-Russian composers are less concerned about the “crisis of chromaticism.”
2) Another comparison: Franco-Russian (as opposed to Germanic) music has traditionally
offered relatively simple textures, pure colors, non-developmental forms. You might think of it as
a mosaic or “slide show” approach to form, rather than a continuous (“motion picture”)
approach. Note that the relatively NON-developmental genres of opera and ballet are,
respectively, Italian and French in origin. The DEVELOPMENTAL genres --symphony, sonata,
string quartet-- are Germanic.
3) While Franco-Russian music is programmatic, it is not necessarily weighty in its extramusical subject matter. Concern with nightmares, fears, guilt, passion, foreboding, -- the stuff
of EXPRESSIONISM – is relatively lacking. Instead, Debussy and Ravel are often allied with
the French artistic movement known as IMPRESSIONISM. (A label they both rejected!)
5) Regarding the use of materials: the F/R composers often choose to evade the so-called “crisis
of chromaticism” by turning to scales and compositional techniques which either (a) pre-date the
era of functional tonality, i.e. commonly used before 1600, or (b) reflect the music of nonEuropean cultures. For example, in music by Debussy, Ravel, Stravinsky, Prokofieff and Satie,
notice the use of the following:
the whole tone scale
Pentatonic scale
Medieval modes (pre-major/minor European scales)
“parallelism” as a harmonic principle
non-functional chord succession (“non-functional harmony’)
polytonality (two or more key centers heard simultaneously)
non-developmental approaches to form
clear, even “pointillistic,” texture (another view of “Klangfarbenmelodie”?)