neoclassicism (music)

Neoclassicism in music was instigated by Igor Stravinsky, according to himself, but attributed by others to composers including Ferruccio Busoni (who wrote "Junge Klassizitt" or "New Classicality" in 1920), Sergei Prokofiev, Maurice Ravel, and others. Neoclassicism was a 20th century development, particularly popular in the period between the two World Wars, in which composers drew inspiration from music of the 18th century, though some of the inspiring canon was drawn as much from the Baroque period as the Classical period - for this reason, music which draws influence specifically from the Baroque is sometimes termed neo-baroque. Busoni wrote in a letter to Paul Bekker, "By 'Young Classicalism' I mean the mastery, the sifting and the turning to account of all the gains of previous experiments and their inclusion in strong and beautiful forms." (p.20) Roman Vlad has constrasted the "classicism" of Stravinsky, external forms and patterns used in works, with the "classicality" of Busoni, internal disposition and attitude of the artist towards works (Samson 1977). Neoclassicism can be seen as a reaction to the prevailing trend of 19th century Romanticism to sacrifice internal balance and order in favour of more overtly emotional writing. Neoclassicism makes a return to balanced forms and often emotional restraint, as well as 18th century compositional processes and techniques. However, in the use of modern instrumental resources such as the full orchestra, which had greatly expanded since the 18th century, and advanced harmony, neoclassical works are distinctly 20th century. However, interest in 18th century music was fairly well sustained through the 19th, with pieces such as Franz Liszt's la Chapelle Sixtine (1862), Edvard Grieg's Holberg Suite (1884), Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's divertissement from The Queen of Spades (1890), and Max Reger's Concerto in the Old Style (1912), "dressed up their music in old clothes in order to create a smiling or pensive evocation of the past." (Albright, 2004). Sergei Prokofiev's Symphony N 1 (1917), which remained one of his most popular works, is generally considered as the composition that first brought this renewed interest in the classical music era in audible form to a wide public. In the 20th century Igor Stravinsky composed some of the best known neoclassical works — in his ballet Pulcinella, for example, he used themes which he believed to be by Giovanni Pergolesi (it later transpired that many of them were not, though they were by contemporaries). Paul Hindemith was another neoclassicist (and New Objectivist), as was Bohuslav Martinů, who revived the Baroque concerto grosso form in his works. See also Ottorino Respighi.

Sources

Albright, Daniel (2004). Modernism and Music: An Anthology of Sources. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0226012670.
Samson, Jim (1977). Music in Transition: A Study of Tonal Expansion and Atonality, 1900-1920. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0393021939.

Busoni; trans. Roasamond Ley (1957). The Essense of Music and Other Papers. London.

<< Previous

Word Browser

Next >>

kazuki yao
babaschess
dokkalfar
hans stuck
french revolutionary wars: campaigns of 1797
oleg kalugin
mary ann oatman (1844 1851)
pallet
arthur chichester, 3rd earl of donegall
stockholm city centre
french revolutionary wars: campaigns of 1798

shitai expressway
quivira national wildlife refuge
50th national hockey league all star game
south stockholm
olean business institute
dayun expressway
rush (song)
keith relf
the thumb
western michigan
lsl

ham house
west stockholm
the globe (song)
king in prussia
warkworth
arthur chichester, 2nd earl of donegall
warkworth, new zealand
nitta, gunma
kasakake, gunma
omama, gunma
saint ludmila

yamada district, gunma
itakura, gunma
meiwa, gunma
mirek's cellebration
fred ottman
swat kats: the radical squadron
shendan expressway
chiyoda, gunma
oizumi, gunma
oura district, gunma
oura, gunma