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John Philip Sousa
Bandmaster, best known for marches. Promoted American wind-band tradition, outgrowth of British military bands. -
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Pictro Mascagni
Italian composer and conductor, became the official composer of the Fascist regime in the 1930s. -
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Scott Joplin
American, popularized ragtime. -
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Amy Marcy Cheney Beach
American composer and pianist, very successful in Europe, wrote scholarly articles. -
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Ralph Vaughan Williams
Leader in English music, collector and editor of folksongs, hymns, teacher, and conductor. -
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Sergei Rachmaniov
Not interested in nationalism, master of melody, virtuosic pianist, toured the US. -
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Charles Ives
Innovative and original American composer. Not completely atonal. Polytonal, polyrhythms, and polymeters. "Americana" style. -
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Gustav Holst
English, influenced by folksong and Hindu mysticism. Original composer and important teacher. -
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Manuel de Falla
Principal Spanish composer of the 20th century. Used Spanish popular folk music, international fame. -
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Bela Bartok
Hungarian composer and pianist, important ethnomusicologist, known for rhythmic music, incorporated his own native folk music into compositions. -
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Robert Nathaniel Dett
Canadian, pianist, studied with Boulanger. Helped found the National Association of Negro Musicians. -
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Igor Stravinsky
Versatile and interesting 20th century composer. Rhythmic style, harmonically interesting. -
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Zoltan Kodaly
Hungarian, ethnomusicologist, music educator, created movable 'do' solfege system. -
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Luigi Russolo
Italian futurist painter, composer, and builder of experimental musical instruments. -
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Nadia Boulanger
Important teacher of composers in 20th century, most prominent American composers of the first half of the century studied with her. Conductor, composer. Helped composers find their "voice." -
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Florence Price
First black female composer to have a symphony performed by a major American orchestra. -
Ragtime
Precursor to jazz, developed from African-American piano style with syncopated rhythms. -
Blues
Musical genre derived from African American performance traditions that used "blues notes" or bent pitches. -
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Sergei Prokofiev
Russian composer, orchestral/piano/film music. -
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Lili Boulanger
French composer, first woman to win the Prix de Rome (1913), sister of Nadia. -
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William Grant Still
First black American composer to have a symphony and opera performed by a major ensemble. First black American to conduct a major symphony orchestra. -
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Henry Cowell
John Cage's teacher, American innovator who was drawn to non-Western music. Coined the term "tone cluster." -
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George Gershwin
Influential American composer, pianist, and conductor. Worked in Hollywood, successfully fused jazz and pop music. -
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Duke Ellington
American jazz composer, band-leader, an pianist. Unique big-band jazz, one of the first African American composers to cross races with his music. -
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Aaron Copland
Composer, teacher, critic, conductor, and sponsor of concerts. (First to have multi-faceted career) Mostly tonal music, studied with Nadia Boulanger. Traits: vigorous, mixed meters, open intervals, solos, clean/transparent, folk songs. -
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Louis Armstrong
African American jazz musician who revolutionized jazz. Singer, band leader, and trumpeter. -
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Dimitri Shostakovich
Versatile, most important Russian composer during his time. -
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Elliot Carter
American composer, influential teacher and composer for 50 years. -
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Samuel Barber
American composer and accomplished singer. Child prodigy and gifted melodist, continued a successful conservative tonality in the midst of 20th century musical experimentaitons. -
Tides of Manaunaun
Use of tone clusters. -
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John Cage
American composer and philosopher, most innovative composer of the 20th century. Changed definition of music, used indeterminacy, he was the center of avant-garde music in the mid-20th century. -
Art of Noises
Creed/manifesto made of essays depicting the history and future of sound according to Russolo. -
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World War I
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Billie Holiday
Leading female blues singer. Broke racial barriers by performing with white bands. -
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Billy Strayhorn
"Collaborated" with Duke Ellington for many years. Known for composing A Train. -
Jazz
American musical style influenced from West African music. -
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Leonard Bernstein
American conductor, composer, teacher, author, pianist. Influential American composer of the 20th century, brought classical music to the public via various media. -
Les Six
Famous French composers/musicians/performers; Durey, Honegger, Milhaud, Tailleferre, Auric, Poulenc. -
The Harlem Renaissance
Cultural capital of African American arts (literature, painting, and music). Included William Grant Still and Langston Hughes. -
Types of American Music in the 19th Century
- Imported Western art music
- Vernacular music
- Sacred (vocal, old-fashioned)
- Small amount of art music by American composers
- University schools just starting
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Non-tonal music
Style of composition that focused on musical elements other than pitch. Percussion ensembles were given a new status in concert music. -
Swing Era
Highly improvisational style of New Orleans jazz to the "big band" era. -
John Williams
American composer and conductor. Considered one of the best film score composers in America. -
Porgy and Bess
Written by Gershwin, intended to be American folk opera. First opera with an all black cast. -
Peter and the Wolf
Orchestral piece, cultivated music in young children with a narrator. -
Billie's Blues
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Period: to
World War II
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The Unanswered Question
Orchestral work with no specific genre. Written in 1906 but not published until 1940. Contrasting timbres throughout the piece (strings/solo trumpet/wind "quartet") -
Bebop
New "cool" jazz with fast tempos, dissonant solos. -
Musique concrete
French concept, relied on natural sourced sounds and altered by different means. -
Appalachian Spring
Ballet, portrays a pioneer celebration in spring around a newly-built farmhouse. Made an orchestral suite drawn from the ballet; used to sell music to different markets. -
A Black Pierrot
Art song from a song cycle echoing Schoenberg's "Pierrot Lunaire." Text by Langston Hughes, a song about rejection in love because of color. Chromatic harmony, blues influence. -
Aleatoric music
"Chance music" was a new concept of composition that left one or more musical elements in performance up to chance. -
Rock n Roll
Blend of musical styles from blues and honky-tonk to create a new genre. -
Make Our Garden Grow from Candide
Operetta, revised by Bernstein in 1989. Based on Voltaire, chorus duet. -
West Side Story
Musical theater (Romeo and Juliet saga). -
Eric Whitacre
American composer, conductor, and lecturer. Known for virtual choir project, large online, musical performances, and neo-tonal style.