1890-1914 Western Art Music – A Brief Overview

The late 19^th century and early 20^th century was a period of considerable changes in society as a whole. The rapid industrialization and technological development, and the ideas introduced by Freud would lead to a significant paradigm shift in social life. The arts, as a reflection of the environment to which it is inserted, had to modernize itself along with the new world around it. In music, this modernization came in different fronts championed by composers of different nationalities and traditions: Mahler, Debussy, Schoenberg, Strauss, and Stravinsky are examples of artists who developed their own methods to achieve what would become the modern music, the music of their time. The original approaches utilized by these composers would result in the pulverization of art music as a language. As Joseph Auner states: “a defining characteristic of music since 1900 has been the lack of any single, unifying mainstream[1]”. Despite the means employed, these composers had the same goal in common: to propel forward music as an art, introducing new paths.

Since Beethoven, the composers who came after had to deal with the shadow that the great master casted over them. Beethoven exhausted the possibilities of the Sonata Form, and although the Sonata Form was not abandoned, the composers who came after viewed themselves forced to explore new paths. Two of the alternative paths found by the composers, the expansion of harmonic procedures and the use of folkloric material, which can be found already in the music of Chopin, Liszt and Wagner, would be the embryos that lead to the “collapse” of the tonal system in the early 20^th century. The descendants of the Austro-German tradition like Mahler, Strauss and Schoenberg, impregnated by Freud’s ideas, would seek to expand the music practices that preceded them. Meanwhile, Debussy, Bartok and Stravinsky denied the Germanic tradition to some extent and found in folklore and exotic cultures their own path towards the emancipation from the excesses of the Romantism.

 Gustav Mahler is perhaps the most iconic example of the Germanic tradition maximalization, as his symphonies attest. Following the steps of Beethoven and Brahms Mahler sought to expand the Symphony without distancing himself from the tradition, expanding the orchestra, applying new procedures, juxtaposing ideas, adding non-musical and philosophical elements in his works. Some of these elements can be witnessed already in his first Symphony (1888), but the quintessential example of such maximalism is Mahler’s 8^th Symphony (1907), the “Symphony of a Thousand”, counting on 1029 musicians at its first performance.

Richard Strauss maximalization of the Germanic tradition comes through the opera, more specifically in Salome (1905). The one act opera is heavily influenced by Freud’s teachings. Strauss expands the Germanic opera tradition by introducing new pathos, new states of the human psyche in his musical drama. The composer defies morality the same way women emancipation challenged the patriarchy at the time, and the music which deviates from the traditional tonalism also provoked the listener.

From all German composers who sought new paths for the development of art music rooted in its traditions Arnold Schoenberg is probably the figure who created the biggest impact in the musical world. Erwartung (1909), also very influenced by Freud’s teachings, fully embraces the atonalism, depicting the psychological horror of the main character and breaking permanently with the tonal system. On Pierrot Lunaire (1912) the Sprechgesang, if considered as a tool to maximize musical expression, expands the tradition rather than neglect it. Neither of these works are composed under Schoenberg’s 12-tone system, but they point the direction where Schoenberg and much of the 20^th century music was heading. Through Schoenberg the Western music reached the full emancipation of the dissonance, a consequence prophesied in Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde.

While the Austro-German composers were expanding their tradition, composers outside Germany sought other means to innovate their art. Claude Debussy, a Wagnerian in the beginning of his career, moved away from Wagner’s music and would find in “exotic” cultures a great source of inspiration for his own music. Instead of moving towards the atonalism, Debussy freed himself from the traditional harmonic procedures by using exotic materials such as the whole-tone and pentatonic scales. We can find these materials in the first 4 measures of Prélude à L’après-midi d’un Faune (1894). Debussy’s orchestration take inspiration on Impressionist painting techniques, and perhaps we can attribute to Debussy and later French composers the emancipation of the timbre.

Another composer who would rival Schoenberg’s musical novelties is the Russian Igor Stravinsky. Much like Debussy, Stravinsky deviated from the Austro-German tradition and found in his own culture the sources for his own music. The Firebird Suite (1910) and Petrushka (1911) are good examples of Stravinsky’s use of Russian folkloric material as well as of his emancipation of the tonal system by the use of symmetrical octatonic scales, however, The Rite of Spring is perhaps Stravinsky’s work that impacted music the most. The abundance of dissonances is a clear break with the tonal tradition, but the innovations in rhythm would permanently change the Western Art Music. If Schoenberg emancipated music from the tonal system through atonalism, and Debussy through timbre, it is safe to say that Stravinsky collaborated the same way emancipating rhythm.

Many composers of the period were very influential for the music innovations that would take place in the following years. From Erik Satie who completely defied the Western art music tradition, to Anton Webern who expanded the teachings of his master Arnold Schoenberg, much can be added to this discussion, and a brief overview can not make justice to this very lively period of music. Nevertheless, the aforementioned composers and their respective works can be considered the liberators of music from the tonal system, which would not be abandoned, but rather enriched by these new musical trends.

---

[1] Auner, Joseph Henry. Music in the Twentieth and Twenty-first Centuries. Western Music in Context. 2013.