The 20th Century time period of music is exciting in its newness and technological innovations which are reflected in many composer’s works during this time.
The textbook describes this time period as one containing great changes in technology, medicine, and lifestyle. Styles like impressionism and expressionism came about emphasizing mood and the unconscious mind (respectively). Another style that was prominent of this time was minimalism which was characterized by “harmonic consonance, steady pulse, and the slow, hypnotic transformation of musical phrases” (Cornelius, Natvig).
An example of composer of this time includes George Gershwin (1898–1937). During high school band class, I played many pieces by Gershwin one of which was called “I got Rhythm” which is an upbeat, bright jazz piece published in 1930. The music does sound like what I expected as it clearly contains a mood that is a defining component of expressionism, as mentioned in our textbook. The mood in this piece is cheerful and puts emphasis on brass instruments like saxophone and trumpet. Contrary to this piece, Gershwin also composed “Summertime” which contains a deep, solemn mood that is drawn out and intense. Both pieces are accompanied with lyrics, which I found to be very interesting.
Hi Rachel! I was interested in the two terms you used when referring to style of The 20th Century music. I didn’t know the styles reflect on impressionism and expressionism. Very interesting!
Hi, I really enjoyed reading your blog, the idea of impressions in this genre was new to me and I found it interesting. Its cool that you were already familiar with this musicians work.