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| IMPRESSIONISM | PRIMITIVISM | NEO-CLASSICISM |
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| EXPRESSIONISM | SERIALISM | TOTAL SERIALISM |
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| INDETERMINISM | TEXTURALISM | MINIMALISM |
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| ELECTRONICISM | NEO-ROMANTICISM | ECLECTICISM |
| Mankus mixes media of rust, carbon, acrylic, clothespins, rack, and image transfer to create her artistic vision. |
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| Sally Mankus: Pink Napkin | (1998) |
Background
In a very real way, Eclecticism (choosing diverse elements from many different sources) is the essence of the 20th century, demonstrating the individualism and pluralism which characterizes the era. Certain composers simply cannot be placed into neat categories due to their originality and individuality.
Composers throughout the century have extensively utilized a great diversity of new techniques and new styles in their music, and although the term is frequently used to define certain music in the second half of the century, this text will expand the meaning to include several categories. Eclectic music might draw from pre-existing music (quotation), non-Western sources, popular music, or be a significant transformation of traditional materials.
Eclectic Composers pre-1950
Eclectic Composers post-1950
Suggested listening
"Third Stream"
Another level could be added to Eclecticism with the inclusion of THIRD-STREAM music (the use of popular idioms such as jazz or rock in serious concert music). Composers such as Stravinsky, Hindemith, Ravel, Milhaud, Copland, and Krenek all used popular music idioms of their times in some of their music.
Composers associated with "Third Stream"
Suggested listening
Although there have been female composers throughout music history, they were small in number and generally not recognized for their talents. The 20th century has seen the tremendous growth of gender-blind acceptance, especially in the second half of the century.
Representative 20th century women composers
Suggested listening
It generally takes many years for composers to establish themselves and their work in the concert hall, so it is not unexpected for all of the composers cited thus far to share one common element: they were all born between 1851 and 1950. Below is a list of some composers beginning to make themselves known, either by concert performance or by recording. It is likely that future surveys of 20th century music will include their work as "standards" of the 20th century (and the 21st).
Thanks to Larry Coressel, announcer on WDPR radio, for helping to compile this list.
Representative late 20th century composers
Stefan Kostka writes, in Materials and Techniques of Twentieth-Century Music, the following:
While the post-serial avant-garde tradition has not died out, it has certainly met with serious opposition in the forms of indeterminacy, minimalism, and neoromanticism. Indeterminacy was a reaction against the total control that is the basis for integral serialism. Minimalism opposed the atonal ideas of the incessant recycling of pitch material, of constant variation, and, of course, atonality itself. Neoromanticism does these things too, but it represents also a complicated relationship between today's composer (and listener) and the music of the past.And so twentieth-century music continues as it has always been--a maddening but fascinating collage of approaches and materials, a period without a style. It may be, of course, that the difference between composers and techniques that seem so blatant to us will seem to be only matters of detail to later generations, and that the music of the twentieth century will have a characteristic "sound" that will be easily identified, much as the sound of Haydn and Mozart represents a certain portion of the eighteenth century. But those who struggle to understand twentieth-century music are generally more impressed by its contrasts than by its consistencies.
Kostka said it correctly: the contrasts ARE greater than the consistencies. But, in spite of this and the basic premise of this text that there are at least 12 microcosms which constitute the 20th century, the truth is that they are all interconnected, and this very eclecticism is, in and of itself, a comprehensible style. All periods of music have experienced times of experimentation and times of conservatism; the pendulum between these two concepts swings large and small. The 20th century is just one more swing in this arc.
Although the era's pluralism, in all its diversity, defies one "theory" to explain it (Kostka's "period without a style"), the past century will ultimately all fit together as one thing: a period of music as individual as the composers who contributed to it.
"Top Ten" lists are a popular way to indicate the relative importance of items. While it is somewhat silly to apply this to 20th century music, in all its quantity and diversity, it can be an informative way to start building a concept of repertoire, and perhaps even a library. The list below is not intended to be a compilation of the best pieces of the century, nor the most performed; it is simply one view which focuses on essential characteristics which represent the time. It should be noted that many composers and scholars were asked to create their own lists, and those lists were significiantly different. The criteria for these lists was to have five works from the first half century and five from the second half, and that no composer could be cited twice. It would be an interesting project to create your own list.
These are compositions which, if you could only listen to ten, significantly represent the 20th century. They are all pieces which influence and inspire others; pieces which receive notice, respect, and many performances and recordings; pieces that generate discussion and arguments; pieces that are often cited and quoted.
Predictions are difficult. It is obvious to state that Bach would have had a difficult time predicting Beethoven, just as Mozart would predicting Stravinsky. But the temptation to predict what might happen to music in the 21st century is too wonderful to miss.
Peter Schikele, our pre-eminent pseudo-musicologist states that "all music is created equal". This says that a rock tune written in a garage is equal to a Beethoven symphony. Although noble in sentiment, this is a hard statement to take at face value looking at what happened in the 20th century.
Our past century is unique in its ultimate segregation of "classical" and "popular" music. Both sides seem to look down on the other, with one side saying the other is dull and irrelevant, and the other side saying the first is devoid of strength and discipline. To understand this, we have to examine the presumption that there is such a thing as an "absolute" standard of quality; that is, having the ability to state that one style of music is inherently better than another, and that there is such a thing as a "best" style of music ever written. The only response is, of course, that taste is very personal, and quality is what we as individuals perceive in a piece, not what others perceive.
It is this author's prediction that this will be the century of inclusion. We have witnessed some of this happening already at the end of the 20th century. Musicians have talked about "Third Stream" music for 50 years, although it has not developed very far yet. Music studies in the last 20 years have moved from an effete view of "highbrow" and academic to include jazz, Broadway, gospel, and other genres more commonly associated with the popular side of the art. New music being presented frequently utilize idioms from these and others, such as rock music. We have even seen one of our most respected (and still living) concert composers, John Corigliano, being honored with one of the hallmarks of popular culture, an Oscar at the Academy Awards for his extraordinary music written for the movie The Red Violin.
Our preconception that certain styles are better than others is being eroded away. Music of the 21st century will continue to accept all influences as valid, and will find a way to amalgamate diverse styles. The first "great" composer of this century will be the one to find a way to cross this hurdle; he or she (in the 21st century, the concept of a female composer will not be exceptional) will not be an Eric Clapton or an Elliott Carter; this composer will represent both sides equally, and will be a new breed.
In addition, the traditional forms, such as symphonies, have been "out" for a while, and probably will not return except as anachronisms. Pieces about moods or images, with poetic and enigmatic titles, will be "in". And "tech" music, created with synthesizers and computers, will continue to develop. This is an area already completely accepted by many musicians within the "popular" styles, achieving results which rival the best which "concert" composers have produced.
The best thing that could happen for music is the discovery of new audiences. There is a profound segregation presently, with rock audiences and "classical" audiences rarely seeing eye-to-eye. There could be no healthier possibility than "inclusion" as one of the attributes of 21st century music.
One thing is for absolute certain: the music of the 21st century will be very different from the century past. Music history never travels backwards. Progression, change, and development are as constant as they have been for the last 1000 years.