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Gustav Mahler (1860-1911)
Viennese, considered the heir to Mozart and Beethoven.
Utilized the aspects of music of non-western cultures. -
Claude Debussy (1862-1918)
Most important French composer of the 20th century and credited with composing the first modern orchestral work. Composed the famous piece, "Prelude to 'The Afternoon of a Faun," which was a tone poem based on the symbolist Stéphane Mallarmé's poem. -
Richard Strauss (1864-1949)
German, supported Wagner's use of chromaticism, and famous for tone poems and operas. Strauss composed two operas called Salome (1905) and Elektra (1909). -
Maurice Ravel (1876-1937)
Ravel was credited with writing the first impressionist piano piece. -
Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971)
In 1902 his father died and he met Rimsky-Korsakov, studied privately with him for 3 years. In 1909, began collaborating with Sergei Diaghilev. Stravinsky's overall style consisted of: ostinati, harsh, rhythmically complex, essentially tonal, and self-borrowing. -
Period: to
Impressionism
use of pentatonic, whole tone, and other exotic scales
unresolved dissonances
parallel chords
free rhythm
vagueness -
Period: to
Maximalism
extreme chromaticism
extreme sizes of performances
extreme use of themes and motives
thick textures -
Period: to
Expressionism
focused on completely freeing music from tonality
12-tone method introduced by Arnold Schoenberg -
Primitivism
it alludes to specific stylistic elements of tribal objects