Great Music of the 20th Century

Overview

Course No. 7006

Travel into the lives of the great 20th-century composers and immerse yourself in the era’s sublime musical masterworks. The 20th century was a hotbed of musical exploration, innovation, and transformation unlike any other epoch in history. Ranging across the century in its entirety, these 24 lectures present a musical cornucopia of astounding dimensions—a major presentation and exploration of the incredible brilliance and diversity of musical art across a turbulent century.

Using a chronological approach, you’ll explore the fascinating gamut of 20th-century musical “isms,” from impressionism and fauvism to serialism, stochasticism, ultraserialism, neo-classicism, neo-tonalism, and minimalism. You’ll discover the genius of composers such as Debussy, Stravinsky, Schoenberg, Webern, Bartók, Ligeti, Riley, Adès, and many others. This remarkable inquiry opens the doors to an extraordinary spectrum of contemporary masterpieces that await discovery and deep listening.

Video Lectures

01: 20th-Century Music: Be Afraid No Longer!

Look at the goals of this course, as it explores the principal trends in 20th-century concert music, as well as the historical issues and events that shaped them.

Duration: 47 min

02: Setting the Table and Parsing Out Blame

Examine historical and social factors that influenced 20th-century composers’ abandonment of tradition and obsession with originality. Learn about Claude Debussy’s revolutionary music.

Duration: 44 min

03: Debussy and le français in Musical Action

Investigate the qualities of Debussy’s music that connect it to French art and poetry. Learn how his work, Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, began musical modernism.

Duration: 45 min

04: Russia and Igor Stravinsky

Trace the early life of Stravinsky, his education, and his relationship with impresario Sergei Diaghilev. Discover their legendary partnership in the ballets The Firebird and Petrushka.

Duration: 42 min

05: Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring

Relive The Rite of Spring’s riotous premiere, examining its influence and Stravinsky’s daring compositional techniques that changed rhythm, melody, and orchestration.

Duration: 43 min

06: The Paradox of Arnold Schoenberg

Learn about Schoenberg’s misunderstood influence on 20th-century music and trace his early life, vision, and achievements, including his work, Transfigured Night.

Duration: 45 min

07: The Emancipation of Melody!

Study Schoenberg’s metamorphosis in which he sought to free melody from functional tonality, as exemplified in his Six Little Pieces for Piano.

Duration: 43 min

08: The Second Viennese School

Explore the contributions of Schoenberg, Alban Berg, and Anton Webern to non-tonal music, including Schoenberg’s iconic song cycle Pierrot Lunaire.

Duration: 47 min

09: The “New” Classicism

Follow Stravinsky’s creation of a neo-Classical musical hybrid in Pulcinella, incorporating themes from the Baroque composer Pergolesi and reflecting modernist sensibility.

Duration: 46 min

10: Schoenberg and the 12-Tone Method

Study Schoenberg’s 12-tone compositional system, allowing composers to write large-form, non-tonal music and discover its enormous influence on listeners.

Duration: 45 min

11: Synthesis and Nationalism: Béla Bartók

Learn about Bartók’s early life and career, focusing on his travels collecting indigenous folk music and its influence on his compositions.

Duration: 43 min

12: America’s Musical Gift

Explore the diversity of American vernacular music and its influence on composers like George Gershwin and Aaron Copland in their iconic jazz-tinged masterworks.

Duration: 46 min

13: American Iconoclasts

Discuss nonconformist composers such as Charles Ives and Harry Partch, and examine their unique contributions to the music landscape.

Duration: 47 min

14: The World Turned Upside Down

Investigate Ultraserialism and the impact of World War II on composers as they sought to create music purged of the past.

Duration: 46 min

15: Electronic Music and European Ultraserialism

Learn how musical synthesizers and tape recorders gave rise to electronic music and musique concrète, and the development of hyper-complex music.

Duration: 46 min

16: Schoenberg in Exile

Trace Schoenberg’s creative output during his exile to the United States and his efforts on behalf of European Jews during World War II.

Duration: 47 min

17: Stravinsky in America

Delve into Stravinsky’s neoclassic music and how it evolved during his relocation to the United States.

Duration: 48 min

18: For Every Action an Equal Reaction

Discover visionary composers who turned away from Serialism, including the extraordinary Stochastic music of Iannis Xenakis.

Duration: 47 min

19: The California Avant-Garde

Encounter original musical thinkers in California, such as Henry Cowell, Lou Harrison, John Cage, and Morton Feldman, who introduced new musical concepts.

Duration: 44 min

20: Rock around the Clock

Trace the development of rock ‘n’ roll and minimalism’s impact on American musical culture, highlighted by works from Terry Riley, Steve Reich, and Philip Glass.

Duration: 45 min

21: East Meets West; South Meets North

Hear how composers such as Tōru Takemitsu and Heitor Villa-Lobos fused Asian and Western traditions, expanding the musical landscape of the 20th century.

Duration: 48 min

22: Postmodernism: New Tonality and Eclecticism

Investigate how postmodernism in music represented a return to Romantic musical values and the incorporation of diverse musical influences.

Duration: 46 min

23: The New Pluralism

Witness the trend toward musical pluralism, with composers employing a range of musical languages within a single work.

Duration: 44 min

24: Among Friends

Listen to Professor Greenberg discuss his own professional journey, highlighting his acclaimed works and the finding of his voice as a composer.

Duration: 48 min