The Piano Place - History - The Twentieth Century

The Twentieth Century

The most obvious trend in Twentieth century music is the break away of tonality. It is rooted in the reaction against Romanticism, trying to capture the freedom associated with primitive life. Later twentieth-century composers turned towards internationalism, aleatoric music, experimentation, and technology as a source of their art.

The music of the twentieth century is innovative, unusual, and increasingly unfamiliar to our ears. Many new elements appeared in the new music that are unthinkable by tradition. Rhythm, for example, went from the regular, symmetric rhythm of the past to the irregular rhythm patterns based on 5, 7, 11, or 13 beats to a bar that is constantly changing. Polyrhythm, or the use of more than one rhythmic pattern at the same time, came into being. Melody changed from the vocal tunes of the past to having wide leaps and odd intervals that have no relation to the voice. Harmony went from the triads (3 notes) and 4 note chords to the complex 6 or 7 notes of modern music, adding increasing tension that's never heard before.

The tonality of twentieth-century music aims to extend or break away from the major-minor system of the past. The chromatic harmony of the last 19th century led to the use of all twelve tones around a center. Polytonality, or the use of two keys simultaneously, was used by such composers as Stravinsky. Atonality, the total break away from tonality, considers all twelve tones within a scale to be of equal value. This is most associated with the composer Schoenberg, who took it a step further to create Serialism, or arranging the twelve tones into a tone row that serves as the structural basis for the composition. Traditionally, consonance is considered as the element of rest and dissonance as the momentary tension. In twentieth-century music, however, dissonance becomes normal and can even be used as the final cadence as long as the chord before is more dissonant than the final chord. Listeners are taught to accept those new sounds as they never did before.

In the twentieth-century, the piano is increasingly used as an instrument of percussion. Composers such as Stravinsky and Bartok injected a rhythmic vitality into piano music.

There are many composers of the twentieth-century that are worth mentioning: Stravinsky, Schoenberg, Webern, Prokofiev, Lutoslawski, Cage, Babbit, etc. Many of them contributed significantly to piano music. The style of twentieth-century piano music is diverse. The listener is encouraged to listen to many examples and become familiar with the different styles. Occasionally, pick up a "new age" composition, practice it and perform it, as a good way to expand your musical knowledge. Twentieth-century music is an aquired taste: you may not favour it the first time you hear it, but the more you listen to it, the more you will understand the subtleties of music that goes beyond melodies, simple harmonies, and regular rhythms.

< The Impressionists