What is 20th Century Music?
When I think of or hear the term “20th-century music” I get so intimidated! “Why?” You may ask. Because it’s HARD music to perform!! But I guess that depends on your definition of 20th-century music now, doesn’t it?!
In The Beginning
When does this all begin anyway? Well in the 1900s…the turn of the 20th century! We leave the Romantic Era of music because apparently we are bored to tears of it and create new things like A-tonality or 12 tone step music which for many musicians is beyond difficult and usually sounds awful in both respects (awful may be a relative term and biased on my end). We hear new works and pieces from Schoenberg and Berg Opera’s in the 1920s, like this one: (jump around the piece a little) https://youtu.be/b8WeX8MrThU.
Can you imagine the shock this probably brought to audiences that were used to Romantic-era music? I’m sure many people walked out! As a society, change it hard to swallow but swallowed it we did and moved forward to music by Copland, Bernstein, and John Cage, among others. Cage would be, in my opinion, the most experimental of the bunch and has “composed” pieces like 4'33" https://youtu.be/JTEFKFiXSx4. His quote at the beginning of this piece, “Everything we do is music” I guess relates to things we don’t do or say in the silence as well. Can this really be considered music if there is nothing to listen to? Well…again it depends on your definition of music. There are sounds in silence after all, and perhaps it wasn’t the sounds that the silence says but the awkwardness and the shuffle of audience members getting restless that makes the music. Was that what was Cage trying to say? Was he saying anything at all? I believe many pieces like this are meant to drive our curiosity to ask questions. If music, much like people, is always predictable wouldn’t it be boring after a while? Wouldn’t you want some excitment? These composers live and breathe music, so I’d say their rationale is quite sound…weird but sound.
20th-century & 21-century music. Is there much of a difference?
We could talk about the complexities of Copland, Bernstein, Ravel even Debussy and their 20th-century pieces, but as a vocalist, my assumptions and experiences are wrapped around contemporary pieces from the turn of the 21st century. Composers like Ben Moore, Jake Heggie, Mark Adamo, and Dominick Argento. And yes, I do mention these people specifically because I am and have sung their music. 21st-century music, even though that’s not the topic, has not changed as dramatically as from the 20th to the 19th century. It’s a continuation, from which most of my “modern” repertoire stems. So, 20th-century music to me is not necessarily a break away from tonality, which I believe has become a trend again in the last thirty or forty years. There are vocal lines and melodies that have no references to the accompaniment and vice versa, but there is always a thematic element that ties the whole piece together cohesively.
Take a listen to this piece by Dominick Argento. At around 1:00 the tonality and tensions change and even though the vocalist is still in the same key as the vocalist, the piano line plays as if it were on its own, not supporting the text. https://youtu.be/fCBfP7AKfkU
The text in this piece gives us clues as to why Argento decided to change that middle section of the piece. That is a vocalist's bread and butter and at times our savior…the text! And for my own sanity, I need to justify why there is so much chaos and hardship in a piece when I choose to sing it. The chaos can make sense!
The contemporary ideas that composers have nowadays aren’t exactly groundbreaking but they have begun to include all types of genres into their compositions. This being a new trend of the last I’d say ten to fifteen years. Here’s an example of a new opera composed right before COVID hit last year. It’s called “Sweet Land”: https://theindustryla.org/projects/sweet-land/
I hate to be judgmental about this because I know the kind of work and effort that goes into making this kind of production…too much. I thought it was interesting and the different techniques they used were cool, like the costumes, setting, and different vocal styles but I wouldn’t watch it a second time. The use of a-tonality is prevalent, so it could be considered a multi-era opera (is that even an actual term?). For me, it was difficult to listen to, but I can appreciate its value based on my studies and what I understand of music, and what the composer and librettists are trying to say base on my own interpretation.
This stands for all music that we misunderstand or to which we don’t give chances. I’ve learned that knowledge truly is power! The more you know, the more you understand how much you don’t know! I can appreciate different things, music or otherwise, even though I may not like the knowledge or experience I’ve gained. It’s a paradox, but I’ve had to re-train my brain to not instantly recoil or judge a piece of music that has a label like, “20th-century music.” You’ll never know what you like or hate if you never give it a try. Thanks for reading. Till next time. ;)
Rebeckah
