Timeline 6: 20th Century (1930-2000)

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    Schoenberg

    Austrian-born composer; expressionist; started out very tonal and progressed to atonality by 1910; leader of the second Viennese School
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    Stravinsky

    Russian composer; Neoclassical, rhythmic complexity, and sharp dissonance
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    Kodaly

    Hungarian composer who invented a method later named after him
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    Malipiero

    Italian composer, musicologist, and teacher
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    Varese

    French-born composer, coined the term "organized sound"
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    Villa-Lobos

    Brazilian composer; single most significant figure in 20th century Brazilian art music
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    Toch

    Austrian composer; wrote classical and film music
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    Durey

    One of Les Six; wrote music for both sides in WWII and used Vietnamese themes in music protesting war
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    Martin

    Swiss composer; heavily inspired by Christianity
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    Prokofiev

    Russian composer; created acclaimed masterpieces across multiple genres
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    Honegger

    One of Les Six; considered himself Swiss; composed many works in many genres
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    Milhaud

    One of Les Six; studied Debussy and immediately rejected impressionism; encouraged Tailleferre to keep composing; jazz and traveling to Brazil both influenced his music in different ways
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    Tailleferre

    One of Les Six; struggled with stage fright but accompanied countless musicians on piano throughout her life
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    Hindemith

    German composer and violinist; advocate for Neue Sachlichkeit musical style in 1920's
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    Still

    American composer; 1st African American composer to have a symphony and opera performed by a major ensemble; part of Harlem Renaissance
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    Sessions

    American composer; studied at Harvard at 14 years old
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    Thomson

    American composer; played a major role in the development of American classical music
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    Gershwin

    American composer; composed music in both classical and popular genres; wrote musicals and film scores
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    Auric

    One of Les Six; French-born composer; studied with Satie's teachers; neo-classicist; ran SACEM
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    Poulenc

    One of Les Six; born into rich family in Paris; self-taught but had mentors
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    Ellington

    American composer; major band leader in swing era and later in big band era; most famous for jazz
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    Copland

    American composer; mostly tonal; taught at Harvard; vigorous musical style with mixed meters and many open intervals
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    Armstrong

    American composer, actor, singer, and trumpet extraordinaire; one of the most influential jazz musicians of all time
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    Shostakovich

    Russian composer; unique harmonic language; worked for many years under Stalin
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    Barber

    American composer; saw tremendous success at a very early age
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    Schuman

    American composer; composed 8 symphonies; won inaugural Pulitzer Prize
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    Menotti

    Italian-American composer and librettist; won the Pulitzer Prize twice for The Consul
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    Cage

    American composer; pioneer of indeterminacy in music and non-standard use of instruments
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    Stylistic Traits

    Dissonant chords
    Polychords
    Tone clusters
    12 tone system
    Melodic freedom
    Predictable cadences
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    Genres

    Maximalism, Minimalism, Impressionism, Expressionism, Serialism, Primitivism, Jazz, and Electronic
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    World War II

  • Cassette Tape Invented

  • Walkman Invented

  • Fall of Berlin Wall