Modern Times
Igor Stravinsky
Modernism was essentially an outgrowth of historicism in that it presupposes a composer's knowledge of his place in music history, and has roots in the ideas of mid-19th-century philosophers . In music it developed due to social factors—the public concert in its current form, and the attendant formation of a "canon" of past masterworks that were performed regularly, instead of sinking into stylistic obsolescence as consumers' tastes moved on—as well as the purely musical void left by the death of Beethoven.The first notable exponent of modernism in music was Franz Liszt, whose so-called New German School sought a conscious break with the music of the past. The best-known composer sometimes considered affiliated with this school of thought was Richard Wagner.
While much late-romantic music pulled at or suspended tonality, Schoenberg was probably the first to call for a complete break from it as a matter of doctrine. And thus modernism: tonality was rejected because music had to exhibit progressive stylistic development and others had already stretched tonal music to the breaking point. By 1909, Schoenberg had abandoned tonality for the most part, and he was not alone. A commitment to "perpetual innovation" soon became inherent in modernism, with Schoenberg going on to develop a twelve-note technique to replace tonality as a determining system and others going on to do completely different things . This plurality of individual styles was also inherent to modernism, with its emphasis on inwards expression and personal originality.
Modernism produced a few works that achieved real popular success—most notably, the tone poems of Richard Strauss, the symphonies of Gustav Mahler and Dmitri Shostakovich, the violin concertos, Third Piano Concerto, First and Fifth Symphonies, and several ballets by Sergei Prokofiev, Stravinsky's Firebird, Petrushka, Sacre du printemps, and Symphony of Psalms, and Bartók's Third Piano Concerto and Concerto for Orchestra—and, whether or not one considers the chain of "progressive" musical reactions it set off to be modernistic as well, has had a practically inescapable influence, touching contemporary art composition, many genres of pop music, film scores and theatre.
While much late-romantic music pulled at or suspended tonality, Schoenberg was probably the first to call for a complete break from it as a matter of doctrine. And thus modernism: tonality was rejected because music had to exhibit progressive stylistic development and others had already stretched tonal music to the breaking point. By 1909, Schoenberg had abandoned tonality for the most part, and he was not alone. A commitment to "perpetual innovation" soon became inherent in modernism, with Schoenberg going on to develop a twelve-note technique to replace tonality as a determining system and others going on to do completely different things . This plurality of individual styles was also inherent to modernism, with its emphasis on inwards expression and personal originality.
Modernism produced a few works that achieved real popular success—most notably, the tone poems of Richard Strauss, the symphonies of Gustav Mahler and Dmitri Shostakovich, the violin concertos, Third Piano Concerto, First and Fifth Symphonies, and several ballets by Sergei Prokofiev, Stravinsky's Firebird, Petrushka, Sacre du printemps, and Symphony of Psalms, and Bartók's Third Piano Concerto and Concerto for Orchestra—and, whether or not one considers the chain of "progressive" musical reactions it set off to be modernistic as well, has had a practically inescapable influence, touching contemporary art composition, many genres of pop music, film scores and theatre.
The End
(to be continued....)
Reference
National Organisation of Book Publishing/Lybanis Public. ISBN: 978-960-06-2231-7 History of Music of 3nd Gymnasium Class