-
Period: to
Claude Debussy
Claude Debussy is credited as the most important French composer of the early 20th century and is credited with his creation of the first modern orchestral work, Prelude to the 'Afternoon of a Faun.' Debussy primarily composed in the Impressionist style and pushed back against the dominant German influence. -
Period: to
Richard Strauss
Richard Strauss was a German composer who followed Wagner's use of chromaticism. A maximalist composer, his music contained excessive amounts of motives, huge orchestration, extreme harmonic chromaticism. He was responsible for the composition of Salome, Elektra, and Don Juan -
Period: to
Igor Stravinsky
Igor Stravinsky was a prominent composer from the early 1900s until his death in 1971. Some of his prominent pieces from the time period were The Firebird, Petrushka, and The Rite of Spring. -
Period: to
Maximalism
Maximalism developed in German-speaking areas and the main composers were Richard Strauss and Gustav Mahler. It involved large performance groups, extreme chromaticism, thick textures, and high use of themes and motives. -
Period: to
Impressionism
Impressionism was first developed in French areas around the 1890s as a response to popular German composers of the time. The movement was led by composers like Debussy, Respighi, and Ravel and involved exotic scales, parallel chords, free rhythm, and other "untraditional" compositional methods. -
Prelude to the 'Afternoon of a Faun'
Prelude to the 'Afternoon of a Faun' was based on a tone poem by symbolist Stephan Mallarme. Mallarme was a major influence on the impressionist movement and the movement's characteristics are on full display in the piece. The opening of the piece feels vague in tempo, key, and meter and this trend continues on throughout, with an overall lack of direction. -
Development of the Radio
Italian inventor Gugliemo Marconi's first sent morse code messages a mile away by radio in 1895. By 1914 the radio had been advanced far enough that it could be used to transmit music and voices over thousands of miles. -
Invention of the Airplane
Wilbur and Orville Wright are credited with the first sustainable "heavier than air" flight with their invention of the airplane in 1903. -
Salome
Salome is a one-act opera composed by Richard Strauss famous for "The Dance of the Seven Veils." The opera is characterized by Strauss's use of excessive motifs and faced pushback for the Dance of the Seven veils as it was seen as blasphemous. -
Period: to
Expressionism
Began in Germany and Austria and continued indefinitely from then and was influenced by composers like Schoenberg and his students. This style focused on separating music from tonality and chord progression. The style largely followed the 12 tone method and considers all chords equal. -
The Rite of Spring
The Rite of Spring was a ballet written by Stravinsky depicting scenes of Pagan Russian rituals. The work contrasted with most previous pieces as it was extremely forceful both rhythmically dynamically and eventually resulted in a riot in its premiere. -
Hornstobel-Sachs Instrument Classification
The Hornstobel-Sachs Classification system was developed by Erich Moritz von Hornbostel and Curt Sachs to sort instruments into groups of similar characteristics. The groups included Idiophones, Membranophones, Chordophones, Aerophones, and Electrophones (this category was added to the list in 1940). -
Period: to
World War I
World War I was the first truly global war and began as a result of heightening tensions in Europe that eventually reached a tipping point with the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria. -
Period: to
Spanish Flu
The Spanish Flu pandemic was the deadliest pandemic in history and was largely spread by various world militaries traveling through Europe. Infected soldiers brought the disease back to their home countries, resulting In the deaths of 20 to 50 million people. -
12 Tone Method
The 12 Tone Method was a style of composition that placed an equal emphasis on all notes to separate music from tonality. The method was taught by Arnold Schoenberg to his students Alan Berg and Anton Webern