An Outline of The History of Western Music Grout ... - The Reel Score

4. Benjamin Britten (1913-1976) - the most prolific and best-known English composer of
the the mid-20th century and distinguished especially for his choral compositions,
songs, and opera
5. Michael Tippett (1905-1998) - open to historical, traditional ethnic, & non-Western
styles and materials
6. New Music Manchester group
a) Alexander Goehr (b. 1932)
b) Peter Maxwell Davies (b. 1934)
c) Harrison Birtwestle (b. 1934)
E. Germany
1. Harbored the most aggressive nationalism between the two world wars
a) Nazis did try to enforce a kind of national purity
b) Led to a dissolution of its creative forces - some of its most talented musicians took
refuge abroad
2. Paul Hindemith (1895-1963)
a) disturbed by the widening gulf between composers and an increasingly passive
public in the late 20's & 30's he began to compose "Gebrauchsmusik" - music for
use as opposed the music for its own sake
b) followed a new harmonic method which he called "harmonic fluctuation"
1: fairly consonant chords progress toward combinations containing greater
tension & dissonance
2: which are then resolved either suddenly or by slowly moderating the tension
until consonance is reached again
3. Carl Orff (1895-1982) - along with Kodály's method and materials he won a following
among educators in many countries
4. Kurt Weill (1900-1950)
a) two careers
1: as an opera composer in Berlin - embracing Gebrauchsmusik
2: as a Broadway composer in New York
F. Latin America
1. Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959) - Brazilian, made use of Brazilian rhythms &
sonorities
2. Silvestre Revueltas (1898-1940) - Mexican
3. Carlos Chávez (1899-1978)
4. Alberto Ginastera (1916-1983) - Argentinian
G. Neo-Classicism in France
1. Neo-Classicism represented a broad movement from the 1910's into the 1950's
a) composers revived, imitated, or evoked the styles, genres, and forms of pre-
Romantic music, especially of what we now call the Baroque & Classic
b) many mid-20th century works hark back to earlier procedures - but in less obvious
ways
c) composers tried to absorb the more experimental elements from the previous
decades while maintaining continuity with tradition
1: held to some recognizably familiar features of the past