Nationalism was also an important means of expression in the early part of the century. The culture of the United States of America, especially, began informing an American vernacular style of classical music, notably in the works of Charles Ives, John Alden Carpenter, and later George Gershwin. In the latter quarter of the century, eclecticism and polystylism became important.
These, as well as minimalism, New Complexity, and New Simplicity, are more fully explored in their respective articles. Skip to main content. Search for:. History At the turn of the century, music was characteristically late Romantic in style. Figure 1.
Arnold Schoenberg, Los Angeles, Figure 2. American composers like George Gershwin and Duke Ellington began to draw on their own native music - jazz. Stravinsky and Ravel responded with music that also embraced jazz styles. Modernism in music was about being radical and different. Their music reflects advances in music and technology - sometimes including elements of jazz and rock. Film music and video game music increased in popularity towards the end of the century, with the soundtracks to E.
See more Elgar — See more Vaughn Williams — Vaughan Williams. See more Prokofiev See more Shostakovich — See more Britten See more Rutter present.
Jazz, which was created by African Americans, was arguably the biggest musical development of the 20th Century. The USA was now a force to be reckoned with in the world of classical composition for the first time, and a number of American composers looked towards the artform for inspiration, including Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland and George Gerswhin.
Composers also continued to incorporate their native folk music in their work, which was a tradition that began in the Romantic period. Starting in the s, the minimalist school focused on using minimal musical material and making use of repetitive patterns, loops and electronic techniques, reflecting technological advances of the day. This music was generally more consonant-sounding and less overtly challenging than the modernist school, and composers like Phillip Glass and Steve Reich became incredibly popular:.
By taking recorded sounds — of instruments, the human voice or the natural environment, for example — composers like Pierre Boulez and Karlheinz Stockhausen would manipulate these raw materials and turn them into sort of musical collages.
As the 20th Century continued, people came up with various inventive ways of challenging the very meaning of composition. Often this means that the performer gets to determine how part of the piece should be played, perhaps with a freely improvised section. American composer John Cage used aleatoric elements in his music, in addition to a pioneering approach to instrumentation.
He made use of a prepared piano, which has objects placed on or between the strings to alter its sound, often making it more percussive. We are not used to hearing them, so they sound dissonant and out of tune to our ears, but they actually require instruments to be tuned incredibly precisely. The internet has made music more accessible, making it easier for sub-genres to cross-pollinate and influence each other more easily. Film music has become incredibly popular as an artform, and composers like John Williams and Hans Zimmer have helped bring classical-influenced music to a wider audience.
We have learned about impressionism, modernism, minimalism and aleatory, and about how war, politics and technology influenced music, as composers tore up the rules that were established in previous centuries. Last updated 12th July
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