KUTZTOWN UNIVERSITY
KUTZTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA
DEPARTMENT OF MUSIC
COLLEGE OF VISUAL AND PERFORMING ARTS
MUS 220 Modern Music since 1900
Approved by Department: November 6, 2007
I. Course Description
This course is an examination of the trends and stylistic concepts developed in Europe and
America beginning with Post-Wagnerian Romanticism. Among the trends and styles to be
considered are impressionism, neo-classicism, twentieth-century nationalism, the twelve-tone
school, jazz, electronic, chance, multi-media, consolidation, neo-romanticism, minimalism, and
computer music.
Prerequisite: MUS 010 or Permission of the Instructor
3 semester hours
3 clock hours
II. Course Rationale
The purpose of the course is to provide the student with a survey and understanding of music in
the twentieth century and the present time. It attempts to place contemporary music into
perspective and rhythm with the history of the art through the centuries. Evolutionary and
revolutionary forces are studied in regard to literature, composition, and performance. Music as
an art is placed in the mainstream of the economic, social, and political history of the era.
III. Course Objectives
Upon completion of this course, the student will be able to:
1. identify style characteristics of music composed after 1900.
2. identify style characteristics of specific composers.
3. determine the probable time from which a score was composed through the identification of
compositional style characteristics.
4. determine the probable composer based on the identification of specific style characteristics.
5. discuss the major composers since 1900 and what their contribution was to the development
of modern music.
6. discuss innovative compositional techniques employed by major composers since 1900.
IV. Assessment
Assessment of each student’s level of accomplishment with reference to the course objectives
will be based upon a subset of the following:
1. regular examinations.
2. graded homework assignments.
3. completion of analysis project
4. graded presentation
5. regular listening quizzes.
V. Course Outline
1. Introduction and Overview
A. What is modern?
B. Some examples of 20th century compositional styles.
C. The political-economic-social background.
2. Musical Concepts Directly Involved in 20th Century Music
A. Stylistic and compositional (melody, harmony, rhythm)
1. Classic and romantic styles (1750-1900).
2. Melody and contemporary music's influence.
3. Harmony and tonality, a revolution in sound.
4. Rhythm, "The tyranny of the bar line".
B.
Texture
1. Polytonality and polyharmony
2. Contrapuntal texture - "Back to Bach?"
C.
Coloristic devices
1. The piano, melodic or percussive?
2. The orchestra: contrasts in emphasis - German and French.
3. The voice: Italian opera and the rest of the world of music, a contrast.
4. Formal construction, a framework of the past.
3. The Opening of the Twentieth Century and the Continuance of Romanticisim
A. Germany and Austria (1900-1918)
1. Post Wagnerian Opera - Richard Strauss
2. German and Austrian symphonists: Anton Bruckner, Gustav Mahler.
3. Carl Nielson: Denmark's great.
B.
Imperial Russians: Rachmaninov, Scriabin
4. Impressionism
A. What is Impressionism? How the concepts of music are affected.
B.
C.
Claude Debussy: Piano and orchestral music
Maurice Ravel
1. Rhapsodie Espagnol, Daphnis and Chloe.
2. La Valse and orchestrational talents.
D. Other impressionists: Griffes, Delius, D'Indy.
E.
Les Six and other French 20th Century contributions
1. Eric Satie
2. Milhaud, Honegger, Poulenc.
5. Three Composers Whose Works Exhibit a Turn from Nineteenth Century Traditions and
whose Music Embodies Modernity.
A. Igor Stravinsky
1. Study of "Le Sacra Du Printemps" and its effects on music in this century.
2. His life as a mirror of 20th century trends.
3. "Symphony of Psalms"
B. Bela Bartok
1. Research into central European folk music
2. "Concerto for Orchestra"
3. Bartok and Music Education - "Mikkrocosmos"
C. Paul Hindemith
1. Gebrachmusik-Kammermusik-hormonic tension.
2. "Mathis der Mahler"
3. "Symphonic Metamorphosis"
6. Twentieth Century Idioms
A.
Nationalism
1. Russia: The Composer and the State.
a. Prokofiev - Emigrant returned
b. Shostakovich and socialist realism
2.
England: The pursuit of folk music
a. Vaughn Williams, Holst
b. Britten, Walton
3. Spain and Manuel De Falla
B.
The New Romanticism
1. Carl Orff and Zoltan Kodaly:
2. "Carmina Burana" and "Hary Janos"
3. Impact of Orff and Kodaly on Music Education; instrumental and vocal
methods.
C.
Neo-Classicism
D.
Expressionism and the Twelve Tone Revolution
1. What is atonalism
2. Arnold Schoenberg: from "Verklarte Nacht" to "Five Pieces for Orchestra".
3. The operas and orchestral music of Berg and Webern (Wozzeck).
4. Stravinsky and atonalism: "Agon."
7. Music in Twentieth Century America
A. Breaking European Ties
1. Edward MacDowell
2. Nationalism in American music: Charles Ives,
"Three Places in New England", "Symphony #2".
3. Moore, Randall Thomson, Harris.
B.
Toward Americanism in Music
1. Aaron Copland - more than nationalsim:
"Appalachian Spring".
2. Non-folk oriented Americans: Piston, William Schuman, Roger Sessions.
3. Promising romanticists: Hanson, Barber, Dello Joio.
C.
Music of the American Theatre, "Pop" music.
1.
George Gershwin and the musical marriage of serious and pop.
2.
Jazz: what it means, what it is, and its effect on 20th century composers.
a. Leonard Bernstein
b. Gunther Schuller
3. Music now.
8. Experimentation - Avant Garde
A. Europeans: Stockhausen, Varese, Boulez
B. Americans: Riegger, Powell, Foss
C. Electronic Music
1. Tape recorded, RCA Synthesiser
2. Composers: Leuning, Babbit, Ussachevsky.
9. Chance Music - Silence to semi to exploration
A. John Cage
B. Pierre Boulez
C. Karl Stockhausen
D. Lukas Foss
10. Multi-media - Dance, Theatre, Film
A. John Cage
B. Morton Subotnick
C. Donald Erb
11. Consolidation - Any sound for any style with any techniques
A. Witold Lutoslawski
B. Krzysztof Penderecki
C. Tacleusz Baird
12. Computer Music - Programming the machine for music sounds and visual effectiveness.
A. Kenneth Theis
B. Lejaren Hiller
C. Salvatore Martirano
VI. Instructional Resources
Appleton, Jon, and Ronald Perera eds., The Development and Practice of Electronic Music.
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, Inc., 1974.
Austin, William W. Music in the Twentieth Century. New York: W.W. Norton & Company,
New York, 1966.
Bacharach, A.L. ed, The Music Masters, 4: The Twentieth Century. Baltimore: Penguin Books,
Inc., 1957.
Bernstein, Leonard. The Joy of Music. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1959.
Bernstein, Martin and Martin Picker. An Introduction to Music. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice
Hall Inc., 1966.
Burkholder, J. Peter; Donald Jay Grout, and Claude V. Palisca. A History of Western Music,
Seventh Edition. W. W. Norton & Company, 2005.
Cage, John. Silence. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1961.
Chase, Gilbert. America's Music. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1966. (Revised)
Cook Nicholas, and Anthony Pople, ed. The Cambridge History of Twentieth-Century Music.
Cambridge University Press, 2004.
Cope, David H. New Directions in Music. Dubuque, Iowa: William C. Brown Company,
Publishers, 1976.
Crowhurst, Norman H., Electronic Musical Instruments. Indianapolis: Howard W. Sams and
Co., 1962.
Dallin, Leon. Listener’s Guide to Musical Understanding. Dubuque: William C. Brown
Company, 1959.
Edwards, Arthur C. and W. Thomas Marrocco. Music in the United States. Dubuque: W. C.
Brown Company, 1968.
Erhardt, Ludwik. Music in Poland. Warsaw: Interpress Publishers, 1975.
Ewen, David. The World of Twentieth Century Music. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, Inc.,
1968.
Finney, Theodore M. A History of Music. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company.
Hansen, Peter S. An Introduction to Twentieth Century Music. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, Inc.,
1967.
Harvey, Jonathan. The Music of Stockhausen. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1975.
Howard, John Tasker and James Lyons. Modern Music. A Mentor Book, New American
Library, 1957.
Howe, Jr., Hubert S. Electronic Music Synthesis. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, Inc.,
1975.
Kamien, Roger, (ed.). The Norton Scores. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1968.
Kirby, Michael. Happenings. New York: E. P. Dutton and Co., Inc., 1965.
Kostelanetz, Richard. John Cage. New York: Frederick A. Praeger, Inc., Publishers, 1970.
Machlis, Joseph. Introduction to Contemporary Music. New York: W.W. Norton & Company,
1961.
Machlis, Joseph. The Enjoyment of Music. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1963.
Martin R. Wilbai and Julius Drossi, Music of the Twentieth Century. Englewood Cliffs, NJ,
Prentice-Hall Inc., 1980.
McCalla, James. 20th Century Chamber Music. Taylor & Francis, Inc., 2003.
Miller, Hugh Milton. History of Music. (College Outline Series) New York: Barnes and
Noble, 1947.
Moore, Douglas. A Guide to Musical Styles. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1942.
Nallin, Walter. The Musical Idea. New York: MacMillian Company, 1968.
Ratner, Leonard. Music: The Listeners Art. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1957.
Reich, Steve. Writings on Music, 1965-2000. Cambridge: Oxford University Press, 2004.
Ross, Alex. The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century. Farrar, Straus, and Giroux,
2007.
Salzman, Eric. Twentieth Century Music: An Introduction. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: PrenticeHall, 2001
Tuchman, Barbara W. The Proud Tower. New York: The MacMillian Company, 1966.
White, John D. Understanding and Enjoying Music. New York: Dodd Mead Company, 1968.
Wold, Milo and Edmund Cykler. An Introduction to Music and Art in the Western World.
Dubuque: Wm. C. Brown and Company, 1967.