● MODERN NATIONALISM ●

(Horizons – “Music and Arts Appreciation for Young Filipinos” Learner’s Material 10)
(Pp.23-25)
MODERN NATIONALISM
A looser form of 20th Century music development focused on nationalist composers and
musical innovators who sought to combine modern techniques with folk materials. However,
this common ground stopped there, for the different breeds of nationalists formed their own
styles of writing. In Eastern Europe, prominent figures of this style included the Hungarian Bela
Bartok and the Russian Sergei Prokotieff, who were neo-classicists to a certain extent, Bartok
infused Classical techniques into his own brand of cross rhythms and shifting meters to
demonstrate many barbaric and primitive themes that were Hungarian—particularly gypsy—in
origin. Prokotieff used striking dissonances and Russian themes, and his music was generally,
witty, bold, and at times colored with humor. Together with Bartok, Prokotieff mad extensive
use of polytonality, a kind of atonality that uses two that uses two or more tonal centers
simultaneously. An example of this style is Prokotieff’s Visions Fugitive. In Russia, a highly
gifted generation of creative individuals known as the “Russian Five”—Modest Mussorgsky,
Milly Balakirev, Alexander Borodin, Cesar Cui, and Nikolai Rimsky Korsakov—infused chromatic
harmony and incorporated Russian folk music and liturgical chants in their thematic materials.
French composer and pianist Erik Satie was a colorful figure in early 20th Century music,
specifically avant-garde and modern nationalism.
●21 ST CENTURY MUSIC TRENDS
Music scholars predict that the innovative and
experiment development of 20th century classical music
will continue to influence the music of the 21st century.
With so many technical and stylistic choices open today’s
composers, the possibilities for “new” music and radical
experimentation are promising . At present, modern
technology and gadgets still have great impact on all
types of music. However, what remains to be seen is
when this trend will shift, and what the distinct qualities
of emerging classical works will be.
●SUMMARY
The early half of the 20th century also gave rise to new
musical styles, which were not quite as extreme as the
electronic, chance, and minimalist styles that arose later.
These new styles were impressionism, expressionism,
neo-classicism, avant-garde music, and modern
nationalism.
IMPRESSIONISM
Made use of the whole-tone scale. It also applied suggested, rather than depicted, reality. It
created a mood rather than a definite picture. It had a translucent and hazy texture, lacking, a
dominant-tonic relationship. It made use overlapping chords, with 4th, 5th, octaves, and 9th
intervals, resulting in a nontraditional harmonic order and resolution.

EXPRESSIONISM
Revealed the composer’s mind, instead of presenting an impression of the environment. It
used atonality and the twelve-tone scale, lacking stable and conventional harmonies. It served
as a medium for expressing strong emotions, such as anxiety, rage, and alienation.

NEO-CLASSICISM
Was a partial return to a Classical form of writing music with carefully modulated dissonances.
It made use of a freer seven-note diatonic scale.
THE AVANT-GARDE
Style was associated with electronic music and dealt with the parameters or dimensions or
sound in space. It made use of variations of self-contained note groups to change musical
continuity and improvisation, with an absence of traditional rules on harmony, melody, and
rhythm.

MODERN NATIONALISM
Was a looser form of 20th century music development that focused on nationalist composers
and musical innovators who sought to combine modern techniques with folk materials.
A number of outstanding composers of the 20th century each made their own distinctive mark
on the contemporary classical music styles that developed. Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel
were the primary exponents of impressionism, while Arnold Schoenberg was the primary
exponent of expressionism, with the use of twelve-tone scale and atonality. Igor Stravinsky was
also an expressionist and neo-classical composer. He incorporated nationalistic elements in his
music, known for his skillful handling of materials and his rhythmic inventiveness. Bela Bartok
was neo-classical, modern nationalist, and primitivist composer who adopted Hungarian folk
themes to introduce rhythms with changing meters and heavy syncopation. Sergei Prokotieff is
regarded today as a combination of neo-classicist, nationalist, and avant-garde composer.
Francis Poulenc was a successful composer for piano, voice, and choral music. His
compositions had a cooly elegant modernity tempered by a classical sense of proportion.
George Gershwin is considered the “Father of American Jazz” His works range from classical
composition to songs for stage and film. Leonard Bernstein is best known compositions for
the stage and his music lectures for young people. Philip Glass is a commercially successful
minimalist and avant-garde composer.
AND THAT’S ALL, THANK YOU!