89971 - History of Twentieth Century Music (1)

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course the student: understands the phenomena and the compositional and aesthetic choices that, by the end of 19th and the beginning of 20th centtury, determined the crisis of the tonal system and the related stylistic and syntactic forms between; learns the stylistic and poetic trends summarized under the category of ‘neoclassicism’, in relation to or in opposition to trends that persisted in the radical linguistic research started before the First World War; knows and understands the avant-garde experiments and innovations in the second half of the 20th century.

Course contents

The course will focus on a crucial forty-year period in European music, marking the transition from late Romanticism to Modernism. The events and issues of this period will be addressed both through an examination of historical–stylistic categories (“late Romanticism,” “exoticism/folklorism,” “impressionism/symbolism,” “expressionism,” “neoclassicism”) and of linguistic–grammatical ones (“expanded tonality,” “aphoristic form,” “modalism,” “polytonality,” “pantonalism”), as well as by illustrating the output and historical roles of eight major composers—Mahler, Strauss, Debussy, Schoenberg, Stravinsky, Bartók, Webern, and Berg—who, in different ways, played a fundamental role in shaping the ‘New Music’ of the early twentieth century.

Readings/Bibliography

A – Textbooks

• Guido Salvetti, The Birth of the Twentieth Century, Turin, EDT, 1991 (“History of Music, edited by the Italian Society of Musicology,” new edition, vol. 10), chapters 1–20; 24–33.

• The candidate must demonstrate a general knowledge of the biographical aspects and works (those composed up to approximately 1918) of Richard Strauss, Gustav Mahler, Claude Debussy, Arnold Schoenberg, Igor Stravinsky, Maurice Ravel, Alban Berg, and Anton Webern, based on the relevant entries in the Dizionario enciclopedico universale della musica e dei musicisti. Le biografie, edited by Alberto Basso, 8 vols., Turin, UTET, 1985–1990; or in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Second Edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell, 29 vols., London, Macmillan, 2001.

B – Essays

The student must be able to report on the content of one essay of their choice from the two listed below:

1. R. Taruskin, The Rite of Spring. Russian Traditions, Stravinsky’s Synthesis [sic!], Rome–Milan, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia–Ricordi, 2002, the sections “The Precedents of a Dream,” “The Conception,” “The Scenario and the Initial Sketches,” pp. 3–46.

2. R. Stephan, “Musical Thought in Schoenberg,” in Schoenberg, edited by G. Borio, Bologna, Il Mulino, 1999, pp. 113–127.

C – Scores

The student must demonstrate knowledge of and be able to illustrate the main characteristics of one of the three compositions listed below, which appear in The Norton Anthology of Western Music, Vol. II: Classic to Modern, Fourth Edition, edited by Claude Palisca, New York, Norton, 2001, and in the subsequent edition of that volume: The Norton Anthology of Western Music, Vol. II: Classic to Twentieth Century, Fifth Edition, edited by Claude Palisca and J. Peter Burkholder, New York, Norton, 2006. For the student’s convenience, the catalogue number in both the fourth and fifth editions of the anthology is indicated for each score.

While studying the score, the student must repeatedly listen to recordings of the selected composition and memorize its essential features.

1. Gustav Mahler, Lied for voice and orchestra Nun will die Sonn’ so hell aufgeh’n, from the cycle Kindertotenlieder, in Norton Anthology, 4th edition, no. 123; 5th edition, no. 137.

2. Claude Debussy, Trois Nocturnes for orchestra, first movement: Nuages, in Norton Anthology, 4th edition, no. 128; 5th edition, no. 138.

3. Arnold Schoenberg, Pierrot Lunaire for voice (“Sprechgesang”) and five instruments, op. 21, the following two movements: no. 8, Nacht; no. 13, Enthauptung, in Norton Anthology, 4th edition, no. 135 A and B; 5th edition, no. 141 A and B.

Teaching methods

Lecture

Assessment methods

The assessment of the level of learning will take place through an oral examination, based on the syllabus published here.

Students wishing to take the examination are required:

1. to demonstrate knowledge of the examination bibliography, with particular attention to the main ideological, aesthetic, linguistic, and historical-critical characteristics of Igor Stravinsky’s neoclassical period.

2. to demonstrate knowledge—acquired through listening and the simultaneous reading of the score—of the complete symphonic suite drawn from Stravinsky’s ballet Pulcinella, and to be able to provide a broad analytical overview of the following sections:
   I. Sinfonia (Overture) – IV. Tarantella.

Office hours

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