3.2 Twentieth Century to Contemporary

Why modern and contemporary music matter on Praxis 5113

ETS maps early twentieth century and mid-twentieth century to present as distinct history topics under Music History and Literature. Listening items often drop you into a short excerpt with extreme dissonance, irregular accents, sparse pointillism, looping pulses, or electronic timbres and ask for style, technique, or composer school. Non-listening items test definitions (serialism, aleatory, minimalism, extended technique) and landmark associations (The Rite of Spring, twelve-tone method, phase music).

A useful exam strategy is to build a timeline of style packages rather than memorizing every date. Know what each package sounds like, which names attach to it, and which earlier period it rejects or revives.

Early twentieth century: Expressionism and the Second Viennese School

Expressionism (especially German/Austrian, c. 1908–1920s) seeks intense inner emotion, often anxiety or psychological extremes. Musically this can mean free atonality (no tonal center), extreme registers, angular melody, and speech-song (Sprechstimme), as in Schoenberg’s Pierrot lunaire. Do not confuse Expressionism with Impressionism: Expressionism is jagged and intense; Impressionism is coloristic and atmospheric.

Arnold Schoenberg moves from late Romantic chromaticism to free atonality and then invents the twelve-tone (serial) method: an ordered tone row using all twelve pitch classes, manipulated by prime, inversion, retrograde, and retrograde-inversion forms. Serial organization can extend beyond pitch to rhythm, dynamics, and articulation in later total serialism, but 5113 core knowledge centers on pitch serialism and the Schoenberg circle.

Alban Berg applies twelve-tone and atonal techniques with more lyrical, sometimes quasi-tonal surface (Wozzeck, Lulu, Violin Concerto). Anton Webern writes extremely concise, transparent, often pointillistic textures where single tones or small cells are isolated in register and color—a major influence on post-1945 serial composers. Exam listening: sparse, crystalline Webern versus denser late Romantic or Expressionist climaxes.

Stravinsky, primitivism, and neoclassicism

Igor Stravinsky is essential for multiple early twentieth-century packages. The Rite of Spring (1913) represents primitivism / Russian period modernism: pounding irregular accents, ostinatos, polytonal or dissonant verticals, and raw orchestral color that caused a legendary Paris premiere scandal. Listening clues: shifting meters, brutal accents, folk-like melodic cells, and high rhythmic energy.

Stravinsky later turns to neoclassicism: clearer textures, references to older forms (concerto grosso, symphony, opera-oratorio), cooler emotional surface, and balanced formal design (Pulcinella, Symphony of Psalms, The Rake’s Progress). Still later he engages serial techniques. For 5113, prioritize Rite markers and the idea that one composer can span primitivism → neoclassicism → serial interest.

Bartók, Ives, and other early modern landmarks

Béla Bartók combines ethnomusicological study of Eastern European folk music with modernist harmony and rhythm: asymmetric meters, tone clusters, night-music textures, and percussive piano writing (string quartets, Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta, Concerto for Orchestra, Mikrokosmos). Exam link: folk-derived modernism distinct from German serialism and French Impressionism.

Charles Ives represents American experimentalism: polytonality, quotation of hymns and popular tunes, layered tempos/ensembles, and philosophical programs (The Unanswered Question, Three Places in New England). Listening may sound “chaotic” relative to common practice because independent layers collide.

Other names that may appear in survey stems: Prokofiev and Shostakovich (Soviet modernism with tonal anchors and irony), Copland (American open intervals, ballet Americana—Appalachian Spring), and Hindemith (neo-tonal / Gebrauchsmusik traditions). Prioritize techniques and aural identity over exhaustive lists.

Mid-twentieth century to present: chance, process, electronics, eclecticism

After World War II, art music diversifies further. Praxis items rarely require deep score analysis of every living composer; they do require recognition of major approaches.

Aleatory / chance music allows elements of indeterminacy—performer choice, graphic scores, or chance operations. John Cage is the central name (4′33″, prepared piano, chance procedures). Related ideas: open form, improvisatory flexibility within composed frameworks. Exam trap: equating all improvisation with aleatory art music; jazz improvisation is a different tradition (next section).

Minimalism (U.S., from the 1960s–70s onward) uses limited materials, clear pulse, repetition, and gradual process. Key figures:

• Steve Reich — phasing, interlocking patterns (Piano Phase, Music for 18 Musicians)
• Philip Glass — additive processes, arpeggiated patterns, opera (Einstein on the Beach)
• John Adams — post-minimalist energy with richer harmony and orchestral drama (Short Ride in a Fast Machine, Nixon in China)

Listening ID: steady beat, audible pattern evolution, consonant or modal harmony relative to serialism—not the sparse pointillism of Webern.

Electronic music includes tape music, synthesizers, computer music, and live electronic processing. Historical poles: musique concrète (recorded real-world sounds manipulated on tape) and pure electronic synthesis. Classroom-relevant: electroacoustic works, MIDI, and digital tools (also tied to Category IV technology, but history items focus on the existence and sonic profile of electronic art music).

Extended techniques expand how traditional instruments produce sound: multiphonics, key clicks, bowing the tailpiece, prepared piano, singing into instruments, unconventional percussion. These appear in contemporary scores and listening excerpts that sound “nontraditional” without necessarily being fully electronic.

Postmodern eclecticism mixes historical styles, popular idioms, quotation, and irony—rejecting a single progressive narrative. Contemporary concert music may blend tonal lyricism, minimalist pulse, and world or popular references. For exam discussion stems, emphasize pluralism: after about 1970, no single style “owns” art music.

Aural style-marker cheat sheet

Exam scenarios

1. Listening: sparse, isolated pitches in extreme registers, very short piece → Webern/serial pointillism, not Debussy.
2. Listening: pounding asymmetrical accents and folk-like cells → Rite of Spring modernism.
3. Non-listening: “composer who organized all twelve pitch classes in a row” → Schoenberg’s twelve-tone method.
4. Non-listening: “music in which chance or performer choice determines aspects of the work” → aleatory / Cage.
5. Comparison stem: Impressionism vs Expressionism vs Minimalism—match atmosphere/color vs psychological intensity vs process/repetition.

Pedagogy note for music educators

When 5113 asks how contemporary styles appear in school programs, think age-appropriate entry points: Copland ballets, Bartók pedagogical piano, Reich/Glass rhythmic processes for composition units, and careful framing of atonal or electronic excerpts with clear listening maps. History knowledge supports repertoire selection and style-accurate performance.