Twentieth Century Music

Fülszöveg

This book presents a new approach to modern music by examining it from the ground up, from the elements common to all music rather than from individual works considered out of context.
More than any previous period, the twentieth century has reshaped music's basic materials : its sounds, its notation, even its instruments. The technical means of writing and playing music are still in flux. Even the relation the composer shares with his public and with society has changed, and this altered relationship can threaten his artistic independence by involving him in commercial or political issues.
Professor Stuckenschmidt begins with a study of the elements of musical form and expression - sounds, rhythm, timbre, and texture —as modern composers inherited them. The strands of transition from Wagner and Debussy are then followed through the second Viennese school and into the experiences of Boulez, Cage, and Stockhausen. New techniques and instrumental media, such as pre-recorded tapes,... Tovább

Fülszöveg

This book presents a new approach to modern music by examining it from the ground up, from the elements common to all music rather than from individual works considered out of context.
More than any previous period, the twentieth century has reshaped music's basic materials : its sounds, its notation, even its instruments. The technical means of writing and playing music are still in flux. Even the relation the composer shares with his public and with society has changed, and this altered relationship can threaten his artistic independence by involving him in commercial or political issues.
Professor Stuckenschmidt begins with a study of the elements of musical form and expression - sounds, rhythm, timbre, and texture —as modern composers inherited them. The strands of transition from Wagner and Debussy are then followed through the second Viennese school and into the experiences of Boulez, Cage, and Stockhausen. New techniques and instrumental media, such as pre-recorded tapes, electronic sounds, and chance composition, emerge as aids in a composer's search for freedom within the confines of atonal discipline. The author concludes with an appraisal ofmusic's place among other arts and of the role of the composer in modern society.
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