Twentieth Century (1930-2000)

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    Neo-tonality

    Not entirely tonal, but not entirely atonal
  • Electric guitar invented by George Beauchamp

  • John Williams born

    John Williams is widely regarded as one of the best and most influential American composers. If you hear a movie score and you think "wow, that's really good," John Williams probably composed it.
  • "Porgy and Bess" is first performed

    Composed by George Gershwin (1898-1937)
  • Philip Glass born

    Philip Glass is considered to be a minimalist composer
  • "Take the 'A' Train" written

    Composed by Billy Strayhorn (1915-1967)
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    World War II

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    Musique Concrete

    Popular in France
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    Electronic Music

    Musique Concrete is a specific style of electronic music. Electronic music has developed and changed in many ways since its original creation as technology has advanced.
  • Tape music invented

    Tape music is integral in musique concrete
  • A. L. Webber born

    Andrew Lloyd Webber is a composer of musicals that have been extremely successful both on Broadway and the West End, including the ever popular "Phantom of the Opera."
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    Indeterminate Music

    John Cage is credited with pioneering this style
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    Aleatoric music

    "roll of the dice" music
  • "Sonatine for violin and piano" written

    Composed by Karlheinz Stockhausen (1928-2007), an aleatoric composer
  • 4'33" composed

    Composed by John Cage (1912-1992)
  • "West Side Story" premiered

    Composed by Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990)
  • Shostakovich String Quartet 8 premiered in Leningrad

    Composed by Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975)
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    Post-modernism

    Formed in reaction to modernism
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    Minimalism

    Philip Glass and John Adams are widely known composers of this style
  • Moon landing

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    Neo-romanticism

    A return to some of the forms of Romanticism
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    New Complexity

  • First MIDI synthesizers released

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    Totalism

    A response to minimalism; parallels post-minimalism in many ways
  • "Into the Woods" opens on Broadway

    Written by Stephen Sondheim (b. 1930)