socialist realism
a doctrine of the soviet union, begun in the 1930s, in which all the arts were required to use a realistic approach (as opposed to an abstract or symbolic one) that portrayed socialism in a positive light. In music this meant use of simple, accessible language, centered on MELODY, and patriotic subject matter.
Sergey Prokofiev
N: Russian
C: Peter and the Wolfminimalism
Lieutenant Kije
Film that Prokofiev composed music for
Romeo and Juliet
C: Prokofiev
G: Ballet
Peter and the Wolf
C: Prokofiev
G: Symphonic fairy tale for narrator and orchestra
Alexander Nevsky
Sergei Eisenstein’s film that Prokofiev wrote music for
Sergei Eisenstein
Directed Alexander Nevsky, Prokofiev wrote the music for this.
Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District
C: Shostakovich
G: Opera
“Chaos Instead of Music”
Newspaper company, Pravda, printed this article and criticized Shostakovich’s opera, Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District.
Leningrad Symphony
C: Shostakovich
G: Symphony
Ernest MacMillan
N: Canadian
C: Two Sketches for Strings
Two Sketches for Strings
C: MacMillan
G: String Quartet
Claude Champagne
N: Canadian
C: Suite canadienne (Canadian Suite)
Suite canadienne
C: Champagne
G: Suite
Heitor Villa-Lobos
N: Brazilian
C: Choros
Choros
Series of fouteen pieces composed by Villa-Lobos
Bachaianas brasileiras
C: Villa-Lobos
G: Series of pieces
Carlos Chavez
N: Mexican
C: Sinfonia romantica
Sinfonia india
C: Chavez
G: Symphony
Silvestre Revueltas
N: Mexican
C: Sensemaya
Sensemaya
C: Revueltas
G: Symphonic poem
Nadia Boulanger
renowned pedagogue and promoter of Faure and Stravinsky, who taught classes in Paris and Fontainebleau.

N: French

International Composers’ Guild
Founded by Vares, a group of American composers who wanted to secure performances of their music.
League of Composers
founded by Claire Reis and Cowell, a group of American composers who wanted to secure performances of their music.
(Leopold Stokowski)
British Orchestral conductor who headed the Philadelphia Orchestra and appeared int the film Fantasia.
(Serge Koussevitzky)
Russian conductor known for his tenure with the Boston Symphony Orchestra
Edgard Varese
N: French
C: Ameriques
Hyperprism
C: Varese
G: solo piano
Octandre
C: Varese
G: Chamber work
Ionisation
C: Varese
G: Percussion ensemble
Poeme electronique
C: Varese
G: Piece for tape
Henry Cowell
N: American
C: The Tides of Manaunaun
tone clusters
chords of diatonic or chromatic seconds produced by pressing the keys with the fist or forearm
The Aeolian Harp
C: Cowell
G: solo piano
The Banshee
C: Cowell
G: Solo piano
New Musical Resources
Cowell’s book that summarizes his new compositional playing techniques
Hymn and Fuguing Tune
C: Cowell
G: Series of works
Ruth Crawford
N: American
C: String Quartet
Rhapsody in Blue
C: Gershwin
G: Rhapsody
Concerto in F
C: Gershwin
G: Concerto
(American in Paris)
C: Gershwin
G: Symphonic tone poem
Porgy and Bess
C: Gershwin
G: Opera
Aaron Copland
N: American
C: Appalachian Spring
Music for the Theatre
C: Copland
G: Suite for small orchestra
El Salon Mexico
C: Copland
G: Orchestral suite
Billy the Kid
C: Copland
G: Ballet
The Second Hurricane
C: Copland
G: Opera
(Rodeo)
C: Copland
G: Ballet
Appalachian Spring
C: Copland
G: Ballet
(Twelve Poems of Emily Dickinson)
C: Copland
G: Song cycle
(The Tender Land)
C: Copland
G: Opera
Inscape
C: Copland
G: orchestral piece
William Grant Still
N: American
C: AFro-American Symphony
Afro-American Symphony
C: Grant Still
G: Symphony
Virgil Thomson
N: American
C: Four Saints in Three Acts
Four Saints in Three Acts
C: Thomson
G: Opera
The Mother of Us All
C: Thomson
G: Opera
Jean-Paul Sartre
French existentialist literature writer, who wrote in reaction to the horrors of war, the Holocaust, and nuclear weapons
Albert Camus
French writer who wrote in reaction to the horrors of war, the Holocaust, and nuclear weapons
country-and-western music
a type popular music with folk music roots which grew in popularity after WWII
bluegrass
a distinctive style of country music
Hank Williams
A country star of the postwar era
Johnny Cash
A country star of the postwar era
electric blues
After bluesmen moved from the rural south to urban north, they started to play electric guitars and developed this style
Muddy Waters
Also known as McKinley Morganfield, he was an important center for the development of electric blues
rhythm and blues
A genre that developed in urban areas after WWII, this included a vocalist and any combination of vocal quartet, piano, organ, electric guitar, bass, drums.
Elvis Presley
N: American
C: “Hound Dog”
“Hound Dog”
C: Elvis
G: Song
rock and roll
popular music genre that blended black and white traditions of popular music. It used the beat of R with country guitar elements.
Bill Haley and the Comets
This group started the launch of rock and roll in 1955 after they recorded the song Rock Around the Clock for the film, Blackboard Jungle
The Beatles
Popular Rock and Roll group, a quartet from Liverpool
John Lennon
one of the Band Leaders of the popular rock and roll group, The Beatles
Paul McCartney
One of the band leaders of the popular rock and roll group, The Beatles
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club
Album by the Beatles that used a wide variety of styles, from British music to Indian sitar music.
Jimi Hendrix
American guitar virtuoso
Eric Clapton
Guitar virtuoso and member of the band Creme
Led Zeppelin
English hard rock band that developed an individual sound to rock and roll
Frank Zappa
Avant-garde rock music artist
protest music
Songs that voiced the protests of the generation such as Civil Rights
Woody Guthrie
Prominent singer and songwriter of folk and protest songs
Pete Seeger
Prominent singer and songwriter of folk and protest songs
Bob Dylan
Folk musician that voiced his opinion through protest music during the 1960s struggle for civil rights
“Blowin’ In the Wind”
C: Bob Dylan
G: Song
soul
Descendant of R, where expression, melismas, and ecstatic vocalizations of gospel singing were brought over to songs on love, sex, and other secular subjects
Ray Charles
African American songwriter who popularized the new trend of soul
James Brown
“The Godfather of Soul”
Motown
A Detroit based record company founded and owned by African-American entrepreneur Berry Gordy – they dominated the soul charts of the 60s.
Aretha Franklin
African American woman soul singer, dubbed the “Queen of Soul”
Michael Jackson
Started his career with Motown and was dubbed the “King of Pop”
salsa
A mix of Cuban dance styles with jazz, rock, and Puerto Rican musical elements
Tito Puente
Championed the genre of Salsa in the New York music scene
Richard Rodgers
American composer who collaborated with lyricist Lorenz Hart & Oscar Hammerstein II (Rogers & Hammerstein)
Lorenz Hart
Lyricist who collaborated w/ Richard Rodgers
Oscar Hammerstein II
Librettist who collaborated w/ Richard Rodgers
Oklahoma!
Rodgers & Hammerstein produced this show in 1943
Carousel
Rodgers & Hammerstein produced this show in 1945
South Pacific
Rodgers & Hammerstein produced this show in 1949
Cole Porter
American song writer who was famous for the song Kiss me, Kate based off Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew
Kiss Me, Kate
Song by Cole Porter based off The Shakespeare play, The Taming of the Shrew
Leonard Berntein
N: American
C: West Side Story
West Side Story
C: Bernstein
G: Musical
Stephen Sondheim
Person who wrote the lyrics to West Side Story
Alex North
Composed the music for the film adaption of A Streetcar Named Desire
Bernard Herrmann
Film music composer famous for Citizen Kane, Vertigo, North by Northwest & Psycho
Orson Welles
Directed Citizen Kane
Citizen Kane
Directed BY Orson Welles
Alfred Hitchcock
Famous film director who directed Vertigo, North by Northwest, and Psycho, etc.
Vertigo
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Ennio Morricone
N: Italian
C: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
David Raksin
Wrote the score to the film Laura (1944), he introduced a theme song in the movie that become a hit.
Laura
1944 film by Otto Preminger. Raksin wrote the score
bebop
A new style of jazz built around virtuosic soloists fronting small combos
Charlie Parker
Saxophonist nicknamed “Bird” who collaborated with Dizzy Gillespie
Dizzy Gillespie
Trumpeter who collaborated w/ Charlie Parker & Others
“Anthropology”
bebop chart that included Charlie Parker & Gillespie
rhythm changes
a new melody over the chord progression for Gershwin’s I got Rhythm
John Coltrane
prominent bebop saxophonist
Thelonious Monk
Prominent bebop pianist
Kenny Clark
prominent bebop drummer
Miles Davis
Prominent bebop & other jazz trumpeter
cool jazz
style of jazz that featured softer timbres, more relaxed pace, and rhythmic subtleties.
Ornette Coleman
Alto Saxophonist he and his ensemble introduced a more radically new jazz language known as free jazz.
free jazz (genre)
experimental style that moved away from jazz standards and familiar tunes, turning instead to a language built of melodic and harmonic gestures, innovative sounds, atonality, and free forms
Free Jazz (album)
album by Ornette Coleman that featured the new style of jazz called free jazz
“Who Cares If You Listen?”
Milton Babbitt’s essay that viewed music in the 20th C. as an autonomous art to be pursued for its own sake
Walter Piston
N: American
C: Tunbridge Fair
(Tunbridge Fair)
C: Piston
G: Concert band piece
Roger Sessions
He and his student Milton Babbbitt influenced a neoclassical approach to music as Princeton University
(Black Maskers)
C: Sessions
G: Suite
Olivier Messiaen
N: French
C: Quartet for the End of Time
Quartet for the End of Time
C: Messiaen
G: Chamber piece
Saint Francis of Assisi
C: Messiaen
G: Opera
Turangalila Symphony
C: Messiaen
G: Symphony
Crystal Liturgy
Opening movement of Quartet for the End of Time. shows examples of juxtaposing static ideas together
The Technique of My Musical Language
Olivier Messiaen’s book that features several of his characteristic devices such as juxtaposing static ideas, modes of limited transposition, etc.
modes of limited transposition
collection of notes, like the whole tone & octatonic scales that do not change when transposed by certain intervals
added values
Messiaen’s technique of emphasizing duration over meter, such as the dotted eighth note amid even even eighths or the lone sixteenth note, which add a small durational value to produced units of irregular length
nonretrogradable rhythms
Messiaen technique that featured rhythms that are the same backwards and forwards
Benjamin Britten
N: English
C: Peter Grimes
Peter Pears
Benjamin Britten’s life partner, a tenor who performed most of Britten’s famous tenor roles.
Peter Grimes
C: Britten
G: Opera
Billy Budd
C: Britten
G: Opera
Death in Venice
C: Britten
G: Opera
War Requiem
C: Britten
G: Requiem
Wilfrid Owen
English soldier and poet whom Britten borrowed his Latin mass text for his Requiem.
Samuel Barber
N: American
C: Adagio for Strings
Adagio for Strings
C: Barber
G: String orchestra
Knoxville: Summer of 1915
C: Barber
G: Voice & Orchestra
Hermit Songs
C: Barber
G: Song cycle
Alberto Ginastera
N: Latin American
C: Danza argentinas
Danzas argentinas
C: Ginastera
G: Solo piano
Bomarzo
C: Ginastera
G: Opera
Gunther Schuller
N: American
C: Transformation
Transformation
C: Schuller
G: jazz chart
Symphony No. 2 “Age of Anxiety”
C: Berstein
G: Symphony
Michael Tippett
N: English
C: Triple Concerto for violin, viola, & cello
John Cage
N: American
C: 4’33”
Third Construction in Metal
C: Cage
G: Percussion piece
square root form
Cage developed this structure in where the number of measures in each unit the square root of the total in the movement
prepared piano
various objects are inserted between the strings of a piano, resulting in delicate, complex percussive sounds.
Sonatas and Interludes
C: Cage
G: Work for prepared piano
Morton Feldman
A composer similar to Cage, they both met in 1950 and became a group of like-minded musicians in NY
Robert Rauschenberg
John Cage showed an interest in the art of this person
chance/indeterminacy
Creating opportunities for experiencing sounds as themselves, not through the intentions of the composer
Silence
John Cage’s first published book of writings. In it he articulates his views about music
Music of Changes
C: Cage
G: solo piano
4’33”
C: Cage
G: Indeterminate music
Musicircus
C: Cage
G: indeterminate music
Jackson Pollock
New York abstract expressionist painter who was closely associated w/ Morton Feldman.
Mark Rothko
New York abstract expressionist painter who was associated w/ Feldman
Projection I
C: Feldman
G: solo cello
Earle Brown
N: American
C: December 1952
December 1952
C: Brown
G: Indeterminate music
Witold Lutoslawski
N: Polish
C: String Quartet
performance art
performing an action in a public place constitutes a work of art.
total serialism
Applying the concept of serialism to other aspects of music besides tone rows such as pitch, duration, timbres, etc.
Pierre Boulez
N: French
C: Le marteau sans maitre
Karlheinz Stockhausen
N: German
C: Kreuzspiel
Milton Babbitt
N: American
C: Three Compositions for piano
Three Compositions for Piano
C: Babbitt
G: solo piano
Kreuzspiel
C: Stockhausen
G: chamber piece
Kontakte
C: Stockhausen
G: electronic music
moment form
formal units of contrasting character follow each other without necessarily suggesting a process, direction, or narrative, creating a sense of timelessness.
Structures
C: Boulez
G: Two pianos
Le marteau sans maitre
C: Boulez
G: Contralto & 6 instruments
Rene Char
Surrealist poet. Boulez set Le marteau sans maitre to some of them.
Luciano Berio
N: Italian
C: Sequenza
Sequenza III
C: Berio
G: Sequenza
Cathy Berberian
Berio’s former wife whom he wrote Sequenza III for
Elliott Carter
N: American
C: Cello Sonata
metric modulation
transition is made from one tempo and meter to another through an intermediary stage that shares aspects of both, resulting in a precise proportional change in the value of a durational unit.
(Double Concerto for piano, harpsichord, and 2 chamber orchestras)
C: Carter
G: Double concerto
Harry Partch
N: American
C: Oedipus-A Music-Dance Drama
George Crumb
N: American
C: Ancient Voices of Children
Ancient Voices of Children
C: Crumb
G: song cycle
Black Angels
C: Crumb
G: electric string quartet
Colin McPhee
N: Canadian-American
C: Tabuh-tabuhan
Tabuh-tabuhan
C: McPhee
G: orchestral piece
Toru Takemitsu
N: Japanese
C: Requiem for Strings
November Steps
C: Takemitsu
G: double concerto
Akira Kurosawa
Directed the film Ran (1985) which Takemitsu composed the score for
Pierre Schaeffer
N: French
C: Symphonie pour un homme seul (Symphony for one man)
Pierre Henry
N: French
C: Symphonie pour un homme seual
Symphony for Only Man
C: Schaeffer & Henry
G: Symphony
musique concrete
working concretely with the sound of musicas opposed to actual music notation
Theremin
first successful electronic instrument invented around 1920 by Lev Termen. It changed pitch according to distance between the antenna & performer’s hand
Ondes Martenot
electric instrument controlled by a wire, ribbon, or keyboard. invented by Maurice Martenot (1928)
Gesang der Junglinge
C: Stockhausen
G: electronic
Le Corbusier
architect that designed the Philip Pavilion for the performance of Varese’s Poem electronique
Moog synthesizer
More compact synthesizers than those before 1966, they reduced the time needed to make electronic music and were much less expensive
Silver Apples of the Moon
C: Morton Subotnick
G: Electronic piece
Philomel
C: Babbitt
G: soprano soloist w/ pre-recorded tape
Iannis Xenakis
N: Greek
C: Metastaseis
Metastasis
C: Xenakis
G: Orchestral work
(stochastic music)
method of composition in 20th century classical music developed by Iannis Xenakis and described in his book Formalized Music
Krzysztof Penderecki
N: Polish
C: Threnody: to the Victims of Hiroshima
Threnody: to the Victims of Hiroshima
C: Penderecki
G: for strings
Gyorgy Ligeti
N: Hungarian
C: Etude no 9. Vertige
Atmospheres
C: Ligeti
G: Full orchestra
Stanley Kubrick
Film director who was famous for 2001: A Space Odyssey
micropolyphony
cannons with many lines moving at different rates to create the effect of a mass of sound slowly moving through space
Peter Maxwell Davies
N: English
C: Taverner
Taverner
C: Davies
G: Opera
Goerge Rochberg
N: American
C: contra mortem et tempus
Nach Bach
C: Rochberg
G: solo harpsichord
Lukas Foss
N: American
C: Baroque Variations
Baroque Variations
C: Lukas Foss
G: Variations
Sinfonia (Berio)
C: Berio
G: Symphony
Samuel Beckett
Wrote the monologue, The Unnamable about a man who has just died. Berio draws most of his spoken text of his Sinfonia from Beckett’s monologue
Edwin Franko Goldman
A famous bandmaster after Sousa’s era. continued the traditions of outdoor concerts & Goldman Band Summer series
Frederick Fennell
Founder of the Eastman Wind Ensemble at the Eastman school in Rochester.
Vincent Persichetti
N: American
C: Divertimento
William Schuman
N: American
C: George Washington Bridge
George Washington Bridge
C: Schuman
G: Concert band piece
Karel Husa
N: Czech
C: Music for Prague
Music for Prague 1968
C: Husa
G: Programmatic work for Symphonic Band
fusion/jazz fusion
A new trend launched by Miles Davis. it joined elements of fusion with jazz such as the electric guitar & rock rhythms.
Bitches Brew
One of Miles Davis’ best selling albums, his greatest commercial success. it includes elements of fusion jazz.
Company
A plotless social commentary by Sondheim
Sweeney Todd
melodramatic musical by Sondheim
Sunday in the Park with George
musical by Sondheim about Georges Seurat
Andrew Lloyd Webber
N: American
C: Jesus Christ Superstar
Jesus Christ Superstar
C: Webber
G: musical
Evita
C: Webber
G: Musical
Claude-Michel Schonberg
N: French
C: Les Miserables
Les Miserables
C: Schonberg
G: Musical
sampling
process of creating new compositions by patching together digital chunks of pre-recorded music
Institute for Acoustic and Musical Research and Coordination (IRCAM)
An institute founded by Boulez in Paris. It is one of the premier centers for computer music in Europe
mixed media
Characterizing music in the late 20th C as being closer to other performance arts
John Williams
N: American
C: Star Wars soundtrack
Star Wars
Film series by George Lucas
George Lucas
American film director who directed American Graffiti & Star Wars
Howard Shore
Composer who arranged a Lord of the Rings symphony (2004)
The Lord of the Rings
Book and film series
disco
Style of dance music that featured disk jockeys.
punk
hard-driving style of music developed in the 1970s.
rap
style of music with rhymed lyrics chanted over repeated dance beats developed in the 1970s
minimalism
style of music in which materials are reduced to a minimum and procedures simiplied so that what is going on in the music is immediately apparent
Terry Riley
N: American
C: In C
In C
C: Riley
G: Minimalism
tape loops
short segments of magnetic tape spliced into loops that when fed through a tape recorder play the same recorded sounds again and again
Steve Reich
N: American
C: Come out
Come Out
C: Reich
G: minimalism
Piano Phase
C: Reich
G: Minimalism
Tehillim
C: Reich
G: Chamber music
postminimalist
Music that reflects the influence of minimalist procedures while moving beyond the original aesthetic to include traditional methods.
Different Trains
C: Reich
G: string quartet & tape
John Adams
N: American
C: Short Ride in a Fast Machine
Phrygian Gates
C: Adams
G: solo piano
gates
technique that changes from one set of notes to another
Nixon in China
C: Adams
G: opera
Short Ride in a Fast Machine
C: Adams
G: orchestral fanfare
Doctor Atomic
C: Adams
G: Opera
Jean-Claude Risset
French composer known for developing new electronic music concepts
Ellen Taaffe Zwilich
N: American
C: symphony no 1
Arvo Part
N: Estonian
C: Seven Magnificat Antiphons
Seven Magnificat Antiphons
C: Part
G: choral piece
Sofia Gubaidulina
N: Russian
C: Rejoice!
Rejoice!
C: Gubaidulina
G: sonata
John Tavener
N: English
C; The protecting Viel
The Protecting Veil
C: Tavener
G: for cello and strings
R. Murray Schafer
N: Canadian
C: Manitou
environmental music
Musical genre created by Schafer, it includes pieces that require more than passive attention from listeners and usually performed outside
Joan Tower
N: American
C: Silver Ladders
postmodernism
A period after modernism, it incorporated elements of earlier styles into modern designs
Alfred Schnittke
N: Russian
C: Concerto Grosso No. 1
poststylism
a combination of new & older styles created through quotation or stylistic allusion
John Corigliano
N: American
C: The Ghost of Versailles
The Ghosts of Versailles
C: Corigliano
G: Opera
Peter Schickele
N: American
C: Iphigenia in Brroklyn
David Del Tredici
N: American
C: Final Alice
Final Alice
C: Tredici
G: amplified soprano & orchestra
Astor Piazzolla
N: Argentinian
C: Libertango
Osvaldo Golijov
N: Argentinian
C: Ainadamar: Fountain of Tears
Ainadamar: Fountain of Tears
C: Golijov
G: Opear
Michael Daugherty
N: American
C: Dead Elvis
Dead Elvis
C: Daugherty
G: solo bassoon & chamber ensemble
Bright Sheng
N: Chinese
C: Seven Tunes Heard in China
Seven Tunes Heard in China
C: Sheng
G: solo cello suite