Music in transition : a study of tonal expansion and atonality, 1900-1920 / Jim Samson.

Author/creator Samson, Jim
Format Book
Edition1st American ed.
Publication InfoNew York : Norton, 1977.
Description242 pages : music ; 25 cm
Subjects
Music--20th century. --History and criticism.
Tonality.

Contents Part one. Tonality: its expansion and reinterpretation. The nineteenth-century background. Tonal expansion in the nineteenth century ; Sources of new methods ; The later music of Liszt -- The significance of Busoni. Towards atonality ; Neo-tonality -- New tonal languages. Debussy ; Bartok and Stravinsky -- Part two. Paths to atonality. 'A pull within the art'. The first decade ; The second decade -- Skryabin. The early music ; The evolution of a method -- Schoenberg. The first string quartet, op. 7 and first chamber symphony, op. 9 ; The second string quartet, op. 10 -- Berg and Webern. Berg's early songs and piano sonata, op. 1 ; Berg's four songs, op. 2 ; A note on Webern's tonal music -- Szymanowski. The early music ; 'Impressionist' works -- Cross-currents -- Part three. Early atonality. Concept and terminology -- Atonality and tradition. Residual tonal elements ; Traditional forms and constructive methods ; Traditional phraseology -- 'Free' atonality. Fore and genre ; Pitch content ; Rhythm ; Other parameters -- Rappel a l'ordre. Neo-tonality: a theme in Szymanowski ; The 'Mystic chord': a theme in Skryabin ; Towards the twelve-note method: a theme in Schoenberg, Berg and Webern.
Abstract The decades from 1900 to 1920 saw important changes in the very language of music. Traditional tonal organization gave way to new forms of musical expression and many of the foundations of modern music were laid. Samson first explores tonal expansion in the music of such nineteenth-centurycomposers as Liszt and Wagner and its reinterpretation in the music of Debussy, Busoni, Bartok, and Stravinsky. He then traces the atonal revolution, revealing the various paths taken by Schoenberg and his followers and describing their very different stylistic development.
Bibliography noteIncludes bibliographical references (page 235) and index.
LCCN 76049786
ISBN0393021939 ($12.95)

Availability

Library Location Call Number Status Item Actions
Music Closed Stacks - Ask at Circulation Desk ML197.S184 M8 1977B ✔ Available Place Hold