Pulcinella Ballet (1920)

It is often stated that the 20th century Neoclassic movement began in the year 1920 with Stravinsky’s Pulcinella ballet. While it is a convenient and easy date to remember, it is not quite accurate, as composers such as Prokofiev (“Classical” Symphony, 1917), and Ravel (Le Tombeau de Couperin, 1917) were composing in a Neoclassic style a few years before Stravinsky (who knew both composers quite well).  Neoclassicism in music was a 20th-century movement, especially vibrant during the interwar years, where composers aimed to revive aesthetic principles traditionally linked to "classicism": order, balance, clarity, economy, and emotional restraint. Pulcinella is a brilliant study in Neoclassic music!

Bartok had a very deep connection to Hungarian folk music. Starting in 1904, Bartok first heard Magyar (native Hungarian) peasant music and began to travel with the newly invented recording machine, recording peasants singing and playing instrumental folk music.  He then wrote down what he heard-not an easy task-and began to infuse his music with ‘true’ folk music. He can be considered to be the first true ethnomusicologist, and he studied Hungarian, Eastern European, North African, and Turkish music. He wrote later in life that “the outcome of these studies was of decisive influence upon my work, because it freed me from the tyrannical rule of the major and minor keys.” His Dance Suite of 1923 is chock full of folk tunes. Enjoy!

Darius Milhaud (1892-1974)

One of the most important influences on classical music of the 20th century was jazz.  Jazz made its way to Europe primarily through African American military bands. Notably, the Harlem Hellfighters, led by James Reese Europe, performed for soldiers in France during World War I, effectively introducing the genre to European audiences. This extensive exposure during the war played a pivotal role in spreading jazz across the continent. Composers in many countries began to employ jazz-derived harmonies and rhythms in their music even before 1920, such as Stravinsky’s L’Histoire du soldat of 1918 and Erik Satie’s Gymnopédie pieces. Darius Milhaud’s La création du monde is perhaps the finest example of jazz-inspired art music.

Arnold Schoenberg is credited with being the first composer to abandon tonality in 1908 with his String Quartet No. 2. He was also the “inventor” of the 12-tone system of composing, with the first 12-tone works being composed between 1921 and 1923.  Schoenberg proclaimed himself the inheritor of the great German-dominated tradition of European music. He thought continuing that tradition required something as radical as Beethoven’s or Wagner’s innovations. Even if the general public disliked it. He had no use for music that appealed to popular taste. He and Stravinsky became the two opposing poles through the first half of the 20th century: Neoclassicism vs. Atonal Serialism.  They both wound up living near each other in Los Angeles!

George Antheil is a name that most people are not familiar with, He was an American avant-garde composer whose works were so dissonant and cacophonous that they caused riots at performances. His most famous work by far was his Ballet mecanique, heard here. Here are the composer’s own words  regarding this piece: “scored for countless numbers of player pianos. All percussive. Like machines. All efficiency.No LOVE. Written without sympathy. Written cold as an army operates. Revolutionary as nothing has been revolutionary.”

The piece consists of periods of music and interludes of silence set against the roar of airplane propellers.  Antheil’s music has much in common with the “Futurist” movement in Italy.

Aaron Copland (1900-1990)

Aaron Copland, the “Dean of American Music”, went through numerous stylistic periods in his long career. He started with a jazz-influenced period in the 1920s, of which a good example is his Piano Concerto offered here.  This was followed by a very dissonant and harsh period later in the 20s. That in turn was followed by his “Americana” period that can be said to have lasted many years, and which includes most of his most famous works such as Billy the Kid, Rodeo, Appalachian Spring, El Salón México, to mention only a few. These works were based on folk material from Anglo-American sources as well as Latin American sources. Quite late in life, Copland turned to writing atonal serial music, which was not received very well by the public at large.

Paul Hindemith was a prolific German composer, violist, and conductor whose innovative music and pedagogical efforts left an indelible mark on twentieth-century classical music. His compositions, characterized by intricate counterpoint, harmonic complexity, and rhythmic vitality, bridged traditional forms with modern expression. Hindemith’s theoretical writings and teaching influenced generations of musicians, shaping contemporary thought on composition and performance practice. His approach to musical structure and tonality challenged prevailing norms, inspiring new directions in both composition and music education. Hindemith’s legacy endures through his versatile works and his significant contributions to musical innovation. His influence continues to resonate across modern music globally. One of his early works is Kleine Kammemusik op. 24/2, heard here. It is a bouncy piece with a Neoclassic emphasis on clarity, humor, and lightness.

Dmitri Shostakovich was one of the most important composers of the 20th century. A child prodigy of stupendous proportions, he completed his 1st symphony, which is a mature masterpiece, at the age of 19. In the 1920s Russia was a very experimental place in terms of art, literature, and music. Shostakovich’s works from the last part of that decade are among some of his most forward-looking and radical. Some, like his opera The Nose, based on Nikolai Gogol’s 1836 story of the same name, are wildly absurd and full of verve and surprises. The story concerns a St. Petersburg official whose nose leaves his face and develops a life of its own.