Faculty of the Arts, the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music

Course title: Music in the 20th Century

Annual, 2018-2019, Lesson, 4 semester hours

Lecturer: Dr. Ofra Yitzhaki

Email: ofray@hotmail.com

Reception time: Upon request

Course Description

A study of main musical styles in western music from end of the 19^th Century to the end of the 20^th Century through historical overview, analysis of musical works and an in-depth examination of central compositional techniques.

Course Requirements

Mandatory class attendance and participation in class activities (Work analysis, etc.)

Reading of articles in preparation for class discussion

Four short quizzes (of mainly multiple choice questions) during the school-year, including identification of musical works and questions regarding the reading material and the class material. These quizzes will have one date only.

An exam at the end of the year: The exam will include mainly multiple-choice questions, referring to analysis of musical excerpts according to the material studied during the year.

Grading Components

Quizzes during the academic year – 40%

Active participation in class activities – 10%

Final exam – 50%

Taking and passing at least two of the quizzes during the academic is mandatory in order to take the final exam.

Course Subjects (Subject to Change)

• Late Romanticism: Richard Wagner; Stretching of tonal limits
• Postromanticism : Mahler and Strauss
• Impressionism: Debussy and Ravel; Non-functional Harmony
• From Expressionism to Atonality and Dodecaphony: Second Viennese School; Free Atnoality; Twelve-Tone technique; Luigi Dallapicola
• Primitivism and Folklorism: Stravinsky; Bartok; Polyrhythm, Polytonality
• Neo-Classicism after World War I: The French Six; Stravinsky; Hindemith
• American Music between the wars: The Development of Blues and Jazz; Gershwin; Ives; Copland; Varese; Cowell
• Russia before World War II: Rachmaninov; Prokofiev; Shostakovich
• Tonality in a changing environment: Britten; Walton; De Falla; Malipiero; Barber
• Post-War European Avant-Garde: Messiaen; Total Serialism;

Boulez and Stockhausen

• Total Serialism in the U.S.: Milton Babbitt; Stravinsky
• Indeterminacy: John Cage; Morton Feldman; Earle Brown
• Electronic Music: Nono; Babbitt; Live Electronics
• New Textures: Ligeti; Xenakis; Penderecki; Boulez
• Minimalism: Reich; Glass; “Holy Minimalism”
• Influences from East: Crumb; Takemitsu
• The New Tonality: Del Tredici; Rochberg; Maxwell-Davies
• Post-Modernism: Berio; Schnittke; Gubaidulina; Pärt, Gorecki; Adams; Zorn

Bibliography (Subject to Change)

Deri, Otto. Exploring Twentieth Century Music. New York: Holt McDougal, 1968.

Griffiths, Paul. Modern Music: A concise history. New York: Thames and Hudson,      2004

Griffiths, Paul. Modern Music and After. New-York: Oxford University Press, 1995.

Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy http://www.grovemusic.com

Morgan, Robert. Twentieth-century music: a history of musical style in modern Europe and America. New York: W.W. Norton, 1991.

Schoenberg, Aronld. Style and Idea: Selected Writings of Arnold Schoenberg. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1975

Simms, Bryan R. Music of the twentieth century: Style and structure. New York: Schirmer Books, 1986.

Stuckenschmidt, Hans H. 20^th Century Music. New-York: McGraw-Hill Books Company, 1970.

Whittall, Arnold. Musical Composition in the 20^th Century. New-York: Oxford University Press, 1999.