Post-Romanticism (1890-1930)

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    Gustav Mahler

    Gustav Mahler was a Maximalist who used musical elements from non-Western cultures. He made significant expansions to symphonies and Lieder. He was also considered to be the heir to Beethoven and Mozart.
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    Claude Debussy

    Although Debussy was technically apart of the Impressionist movement, he disagreed with this and instead considered himself to be a Symbolist. He composed Prelude a "Apres-midi d'un faune", and he was credited for it being the first modern orchestral work.
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    Richard Strauss

    Strauss was a Maximalist. Against popular opinion, he liked and supported Wagner's use of chromaticism. He is famous for his poems and operas.
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    Erik Satie

    Erik Satie was the founder of Les Six, which was originally named Les Nouveaux Jeunes.
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    Arnold Schönberg

    Arnold Schönberg was the Expressionist who created the 12-tone scale. He also created melodies in atonality called "tone rows".
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    Maurice Ravel

    Maurice Ravel was an Impressionist who composed the first Impressionist piano piece.
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    Igor Stravinsky

    Igor Stravinsky was a Neo-Classicist. Even though the style of his music often changed, it always remained harsh and rhythmically complex. His music had a lot of sharp dissonance but was still tonal. He also had a strange obsession with the number 13 which showed up a lot in his music.
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    Louis Durey

    Louis Durey was a member of Les Six but left after they released their first album. He caused many of the problems in Les Six. He also wrote protest music during the Vietnam War.
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    Maximalism

    Maximalism was not an official term for the post-Romantic period because the elements of Maximalism were introduced at a later time. Maximalism had a lot of chromaticism and thick textures.
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    Impressionism

    Impressionism was one of the first anti Romantic styles. The Impressionist style disregarded chord progression rules, but the music was still tonal. The painting style during this time put emphasis on color and light. Musical Impressionism was characterized by pentatonic and whole tone scales, unresolved dissonances, parallel chords, free rhythm, and a general sense of vagueness. The Javanese Gamelan was the main influence on Impressionism.
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    Arthur Honeggar

    Honeggar was the only non-French member of Les Six. He attended the Conservatoire de Paris with three other members of Les Six.
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    Darius Milhaud

    Milhaud was one of the three other members of Les Six who attended the Conservatoire de Paris with Honeggar. He rejected the ideas of Impressionism, and his music was heavily influenced by American Jazz.
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    Germaine Tailleferre

    Tailleferre was the only female Les Six and also attended the Conservatoire de Paris. Although singing alone caused her stage fright, she excelled as an accompanist.
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    Georges Auric

    Georges Auric was a Neo-Classicist and a member of Les Six. He ran SACEM and attended the Conservatoire de Paris.
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    Francis Poulenc

    Poulenc is one of the more well-known members of Les Six because his music was a little more accessible.
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    Expressionism

    Expressionism led to atonality due to the fact there were no chord progression rules. The 12-tone method was created during this era.
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    Neo-Classicism

    The Neo-Classicism era brought back tonality, more clarity in music, and an emphasis in rhythm.
  • World War 1 started

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    Dadaism

    There is no description of Dadaism.
  • World War 1 ended

  • Les Six

    Les Six was created by Erik Satie and Jean Cocteau. Although Jean was not an official member, he made himself apart of everything they did, kind of like a producer.
  • 12-tone Method

    Arnold Schönberg created the 12-tone method. The idea was that once one of the 12 notes was used, it would not be used again until all other 11 notes were used.