MUSIC OF THE 20

CENTURY
MUSIC: Quarter I

Prepared by:
Darius Almerick M. Anire
Mariella Kassandra C. Santianez

th

Claude Debussy (1862-1918)

One of the most important and influential of the 20 th Century
composers was Claude Debussy. He was the primary exponent
of the impressionist movement and the focal point for other
impressionist composers. He changed the course of musical
development by dissolving traditional rules and conventions into a
new language of possibilities in harmony, rhythm, form, texture, and
color.
Debussy was born in St. Germain-en-Laye in France on August
22, 1862. His early musical talents were channeled into piano
lessons. He entered the Paris Conservatory in 1873. He gained a
reputation as an erratic pianist and a rebel in theory and harmony.
He added other systems of musical composition because of his
musical training. Enfant Prodigue (The Prodigal Son). This
enabled him to study for two years in Rome, where he got exposed
to the music of Richard Wagner,

Specifically his Opera Tristan und Isolde, although he did not share the latters grandiose
style.

Debussys mature creative period was represented by the following works:

Ariettes Oubliees (Forgotten Songs)
Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun
String Quartet
Pelleas et Melisande (1895) His famous operatic work that drew mixed extreme
reactions for its innovative harmonies and textural treatments.
La Mer (1905) a highly imaginative and atmospheric symphonic work for orchestra
about the sea
Images, Suite Bergamasque, and Estampes his most popular piano compositions;
a set of lightly textured pieces containing his signature work Claire de Lune
(Moonlight)
His musical compositions total more or less 227 which include orchestral music, chamber
music, operas, ballets, songs, and other vocal music.

The creative style of Debussy was characterized by his unique approach to the
various musical elements. Debussys compositions deviated from the Romantic
Period an is clearly seen by the way he avoided metric pulses and preferred free
form and developed his themes. Debussys western influences came from the
composers Franz Liszt and Giuseppe Verdi. From the East, he was fascinated
by the Javanese gamelan that he had heard at the 1889 Paris Exposition. The
Gamelan is an ensemble with bells, gongs, xylophone, and occasional vocal parts
which he later used in his works to achieve a new sound.
From the visual arts, Debussy was influenced by Monet, Pissarro, Manet,
Degas, and Renoir; and from the literary arts, by Mallarme, Verlaine, and
Rimbaud. Most of his close friends were painters and poets who significantly
influenced his compositions. His role as the Father of the Modern School of
Composition made its mark in the styles of the later 20th century composers like
Igor Stravinsky, Edgar Varese, And Olivier Messiaen. Debussy spent the remaining
years of his life as a critic, composer, and performer. He died in Paris on March
25, 1918 of cancer at the height of the First World War.

MAURICE RAVEL (1875-1937)

Joseph Maurice Ravel was born in Ciboure, France to a Basque
mother and a Swiss father. He entered the Paris Conservatory at the
age of 14 where he studied with the eminent French composer Gabriel
Faure. During his stint with the school where he stayed until his early
20s he had composed a number of masterpieces.
The compositional style of Ravel is mainly characterized by its
uniquely innovative but not atonal style of harmonic treatment. It is
defined with intricate and sometimes modal melodies an extended
chordal components. It demands considerable technical virtuosity from
the performer which is the character, ability, or skill of a virtuoso a
person who excels in musical technique or execution.
The harmonic progressions and modulations are not only
musically satisfying but also pleasantly disappointed and elegantly
sophisticated. His refined delicacy and color, contrasts and effects add
to the difficulty in the proper execution of the musical passages.

These either suggested or portrayed. Many of his works deal with water in its flowering or
stormy moods as well as with human characterizations.
Ravels works include the following:
Pavane for a Dead Princess (1899), a slow but lyrical requiem
Jeux dEau or Water Fountains (1901)
Sonatine for Piano (c. 1904)
Miroirs (Mirrors), 1905, a work for piano known for its harmonic evolution and imagination.
Gaspard de la Nuit (1908), a set of demonic-inspired pieces based on the poems of
Aloysius Bertrand which is arguably the most difficult piece in the piano repertoire.
These were followed by a number of his other significant works, including Valses Nobles
et Sentimentales (1911)
Le Tombeau de Couperin (c. 1917), a commemoration of the musical advocacies of the
early 18th century French composer Francois Couperin
Rhapsodie Espagnole
Bolero

 Daphnis et Chloe (1912), a ballet commissioned by master

choreographer Sergei Diaghilev that contained rhythmic diversity,
evocation of nature, and choral ensemble
La Valse (1920), a waltz with a frightening undertone that had been
composed for ballet and arranged as well as for solo and duo piano.
The two piano concerti composed in 1929 as well as the violin virtuosic
piece Tzigane (1922) total the relativity meager compositional output of
Ravel, approximating 60 pieces for piano, chamber music, song cycles,
ballet, and opera.
Ravel was a perfectionist and every bit a musical craftsman. He strongly
adhered to the classical form, specifically its ternary structure. A strong
advocate of Russian music, he also admired the music of Chopin, Liszt,
Schubert, and Mendelsshon. He died in Paris in 1937.

Comparative Styles of Debussy and

Ravel
As the major exponents of French Impressionism in music,
Debussy and Ravel had crossed paths during their lifetime
although Debussy was thirteen years older than Ravel. While
their musical works sound quite similar in terms of their harmonic
and textural characteristics, the two differed greatly in their
personalities and approach to music. Whereas Debussy was
more spontaneous and liberal in form, Ravel was very attentive
to the classical norms of musical structure and the compositional
craftsmanship. Whereas Debussy was more casual in his
portrayal of visual imagery, Ravel was more formal and exacting
in the development of his motive ideas.

ARNOLD SCHOENBERG (1874-1951)

Arnold Schoenberg was born in a working-class suburb of
Vienna, Austria on September 13, 1874. He taught himself music
theory, but took lessons in counterpoint. German composer Richard
Wagner influenced his work as evidenced by his symphonic poem
Pelleas et Melisande, Op. 5 (1903), a counterpoint of Debussys
opera of the same title.
Schoenbergs style was constantly undergoing development.
From the early influences of Wagner, his tonal preference gradually
turned to the dissonant and atonal, as he explored the use of
chromatic harmonies.
Although full of melodic and lyrical interest, his music is also
extremely complex, creating heavy demands on the listener. His
works were met with extreme reactions, either strong hostility from
the general public or enthusiastic acclaim from his supporters.

Schoenberg is credited with the establishment of the twelve-tone

system. His works include the following:
Verklarte Nacht, Three Pieces for Piano, Op. 11
Pierrot Lunaire
Gurreleider
Verklarte Nacht (Transfigured Night, 1899), one of his earliest
successful pieces, blends the lyricism, instrumentation, and melodic
beauty of Brahms with the chromaticism and construction of Wagner.
His musical compositions total more or less 213 which include
concerti, orchestral music, piano music, operas, choral music, songs,
and other instrumental music. Schoenberg died on July 13, 1951 in Los
Angeles, California, USA where he had settled since 1934.

MUSIC OF THE 20
CENTURY
MUSIC: Quarter I

Prepared by:
Darius Almerick M. Anire
Mariella Kassandra C. Santianez

th