Download Claude Debussy (1862-1918) Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun

The 20th Century and Beyond (1900-today)
- Much of the music from 1900 through today has seen a shift from a tonal center to atonality.
Atonality - music without a central key
- Imagine getting dressed each day, purposely choosing clothes that do not match.
Instead mixing colors that you would usually not mix.
classical & romantic (tonal)
20th century (atonal)
Claude Debussy (1862-1918)
- A French composer whose music
became known as impressionist music.
- Impressionist music focused on atmosphere, mood & color rather than
on emotion or a story like in Program Music. It used more dissonance
than Romantic music.
Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun
Youtube link
- based on a poem by french author Mallarme.
About the piece Debussy said:
The music of this prelude is a very free illustration of Mallarmé's beautiful poem. By no means does it claim to be a synthesis of it. Rather there is a succession of
scenes through which pass the desires and dreams of the faun in the heat of the afternoon. Then, tired of pursuing the timorous flight of nymphs and naiads, he
succumbs to intoxicating sleep, in which he can finally realize his dreams of possession in universal Nature.
Faun
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)
- A French Music Impressionist who was
known for his melodies, orchestral and
instrumental textures and effects
- Another strong suit of Ravel's was his ability to orchestrate
other people's music
Bolero
- one of the last pieces written by Ravel before he retired due to illness.
Youtube link
- originally composed as a Ballet for a Russian Ballerina, although widely played
today as an orchestral concert piece.
- It is based on a Spanish dance called a Bolero
- Ravel wanted to create a Theme and repeat it a number of times without any
development, gradually increasing the orchestra as best he could. It was an experiment
and he wanted the audience to know that.
* There is a story that says at the end of the premiere of the piece, a woman stood up and yelled
"Ravel is mad". When Ravel was told about this he smiled and said that she understood the piece.
The piece is built using this ostinato
Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971)
- Russian composer who wrote music
using many different styles
- He became famous after composing 3 ballets. He then turned to
neoclassicism in which he wrote music with "classical" ideas,
such as form, balance and no emotion. In the 1950's he turned to
serialism, which was a music that used math to organize musical
ideas.
The Firebird
- a ballet written in 1910 and was his Breakthrough piece
Fantasia - need DVD
- Based on a Russian folktale of a glowing bird that is both a blessing and a curse to its captor.
Firebird
Arnold Schönberg (1874-1951)
- Austrian composer who developed the
"12-Tone Technique"
"12-Tone Technique" - manipulating the 12-tones of the chromatic scale so that all
of the notes are sounded no more, or no less than any other. This is accomplished
through the use of Tone Rows
.
Chromatic scale
12-Tone Row
Pierrot lunaire no. 8 Nacht(Night)
Youtube link
(Pierrot in the Moonlight)
- this is from a setting of 12 poems
- The narrator delivers the poem in Sprechstimme, or spoken text, with instrumental
accompaniment. This is called mellodrama
.
Pierrot lunaire no. 13 Enthauptung(Beheading)
Youtube link
John Cage (1912-1992)
- An American composer whose
music can be referred to as AvanteGarde (experimental or innovative)
Cage's Experiments
Indeterminacy - music that sounds random, as if chosen by chance
Electroacoustic Music - music produced through electronic means
Non-Standard use of musical instruments - using instruments to
create sounds that originally were not intended
Sonata for Prepared Piano No. V
Youtube link
Youtube Link - The Title says it all
Living Room Music
Youtube link
4'33''
Youtube link
They missed the point. There’s no such thing as silence. What they thought was silence, because they didn’t know how
to listen, was full of accidental sounds. You could hear the wind stirring outside during the first movement. During the
second, raindrops began pattering the roof, and during the third the people themselves made all kinds of interesting
sounds as they talked or walked out.
— John Cage speaking about the premiere of 4′33″.