twentieth-century music and the past

Twentieth-Century Music and the Past

A Summary

Compared to older forms , twentieth-century music is distinctly characterized by the collective search for new expressive structures While traditional music 's functional tonality ' straddled the opposing constructs of expression and structure , the newer form defined its niche in expressive and intellectual uniqueness

Technology has demonstrated to affect little in form and function of instruments , institutions , and repertory , because the original parameters of the eighteenth and nineteen centuries remain intact . The same can be said of the actual musical ideology we presently hold , the

br concepts of which are devoted mainly to the inseparable ideas of art and creation , yet often succumb to the traditionalist view of the artist as hero - bringing creative individuality , freedom , and originality up front once more . Even the supposedly modern avant-garde style traces its essence and purpose in nineteenth-century Romanticism

Therefore , a complete understanding of twentieth-century musical thought may only be realized by a thorough study of the past , and acknowledging the contributions made . From the freedom and technique in the work of classicists like Beethoven and Wagner to the celebrated pieces of twentieth-century masters Strauss and Mahler , pronounced signatures of musical organization , structure , and complexity owned by eighteenth- and nineteen-century music are comparably noted . But , most importantly , Romanticism 's artist individuality formed modern originality , becoming a catalyst for change . This is when functional tonality was finally replaced by other musical ideologies , which is ultimately what identifies twentieth-century music . Currently , the trademark organization and structure of old is no longer operative in modern music , as it has been replaced by new musical thought that makes a clean break from the past

In a nutshell , twentieth-century music history can be identified in two parts : the end of functional tonality and the discovery of new tonal modes and a fresh attempt at explorations and analyses after World War II . In the end , the mark that twentieth-century music has made is ultimately within the artist or composer , who had been tasked to create new forms of musical expression and originality...