Contemporary classical music is Western art music composed close to the present day. At the beginning of the 21st century, it commonly referred to the post-1945 post-tonal music after the death of Anton Webern, and included serial music, electronic music, experimental music, and minimalist music. Newer forms of music include spectral music and post-minimalism.
History
Background
At the beginning of the 20th century, composers of
classical music were experimenting with an increasingly dissonant pitch language, which sometimes yielded
atonality pieces. Following World War I, as a backlash against what they saw as the increasingly exaggerated gestures and formlessness of late
Romanticism, certain composers adopted a neoclassic style, which sought to recapture the balanced forms and clearly perceptible thematic processes of earlier styles (see also
New Objectivity and
social realism). In the
post-war era, modernist composers sought to achieve greater levels of control in their composition process (e.g., through the use of the twelve-tone technique and later total
serialism). At the same time, conversely, composers also experimented with means of abdicating control, exploring indeterminacy or aleatoric processes in smaller or larger degrees. Technological advances led to the birth of electronic music. Experimentation with tape loops and repetitive textures contributed to the advent of
minimalism. Still other composers started exploring the theatrical potential of the musical performance (
performance art,
mixed media,
fluxus). New works of contemporary classical music continue to be created. Each year, the Boston Conservatory at Berklee presents 700 performances. New works from contemporary classical music program students comprise roughly 150 of these performances.
1945–75
To some extent, European and American traditions diverged after World War II. Among the most influential composers in Europe were
Pierre Boulez,
Luigi Nono, and Karlheinz Stockhausen. The first and last were both pupils of
Olivier Messiaen. An important aesthetic philosophy as well as a group of compositional techniques at this time was
serialism (also called "through-ordered music", "'total' music" or "total tone ordering"), which took as its starting point the compositions of Arnold Schoenberg and
Anton Webern (and thus was opposed to traditional twelve-tone music), and was also closely related to
Le Corbusier's idea of the
modulor. However, some more traditionally based composers such as Dmitri Shostakovich and
Benjamin Britten maintained a tonal style of composition despite the prominent serialist movement.
In America, composers like Milton Babbitt, John Cage, Elliott Carter, Henry Cowell, Philip Glass, Steve Reich, George Rochberg, and Roger Sessions formed their own ideas. Some of these composers (Cage, Cowell, Glass, Reich) represented a new methodology of experimental music, which began to question fundamental notions of music such as musical notation, performance, duration, and repetition, while others (Babbitt, Rochberg, Sessions) fashioned their own extensions of the twelve-tone serialism of Schoenberg.
Movements
Neoromanticism
The vocabulary of extended tonality, which flourished in the late 19th and very early 20th centuries, continues to be used by contemporary composers. It has never been considered shocking or controversial in the larger musical world—as has been demonstrated statistically for the United States, at least, where "most composers continued working in what has remained throughout this century the mainstream of tonal-oriented composition".
High modernism
Serialism is one of the most important post-war movements among the high modernist schools. Serialism, more specifically named "integral" or "compound" serialism, was led by composers such as
Pierre Boulez,
Luciano Berio,
Bruno Maderna,
Luigi Nono, and Karlheinz Stockhausen in Europe, and by
Milton Babbitt,
Donald Martino,
Mario Davidovsky, and
Charles Wuorinen in the United States. Some of their compositions use an ordered set or several such sets, which may be the basis for the whole composition, while others use "unordered" sets. The term is also often used for
dodecaphony, or twelve-tone technique, which is alternatively regarded as the model for integral serialism.
Despite its decline in the last third of the 20th century, there remained at the end of the century an active core of composers who continued to advance the ideas and forms of high modernism. Those no longer living include Pierre Boulez, Pauline Oliveros, Toru Takemitsu, Jacob Druckman, George Perle, Ralph Shapey, Franco Donatoni, Wolfgang Rihm, Jonathan Harvey,
Electronic music
Computer music
Between 1975 and 1990, a shift in the paradigm of
computer technology had taken place, making electronic music systems affordable and widely accessible. The personal computer had become an essential component of the electronic musician's equipment, superseding analog
and fulfilling the traditional functions of composition and scoring, synthesis and sound processing, sampling of audio input, and control over external equipment.
Music theatre
Spectral music
Polystylism (eclecticism)
Some authors equate polystylism with
eclecticism, while others make a sharp distinction.
[ OED, entry "Polystylistic", quoting Christian & Cornwall's Guide to Russian Literature (1998): "Zhdanov is eclectic; he mixes high poetic, archaic, scientific and everyday realities without imposing any hierarchy. His manner may be called ‘polystylistic’", and entry "Polystylist", quoting Musical America, November 1983: "An eclectic only passively collects material from different sources, but a polystylist puts together what he collects, consciously, in a new way."]
Post-modernism
Minimalism and post-minimalism
Historicism
Musical historicism—the use of historical materials, structures, styles, techniques, media, conceptual content, etc., whether by a single composer or those associated with a particular school, movement, or period—is evident to varying degrees in minimalism, post-minimalism, world-music, and other genres in which tonal traditions have been sustained or have undergone a significant revival in recent decades. Some post-minimalist works employ medieval and other genres associated with early music, such as the "Oi me lasso" and other
laude of
Gavin Bryars.
The historicist movement is closely related to the emergence of musicology and the early music revival. A number of historicist composers have been influenced by their intimate familiarity with the instrumental practices of earlier periods (Hendrik Bouman, Grant Colburn, Michael Talbot, Paulo Galvão, Roman Turovsky-Savchuk). The musical historicism movement has also been stimulated by the formation of such international organizations as the Delian Society and Vox Saeculorum.
Art rock influence
Some composers have emerged since the 1980s who are influenced by
art rock, for example,
Rhys Chatham.
New Simplicity
New Complexity
New Complexity is a current within today's European contemporary avant-garde music scene, named in reaction to the New Simplicity. Amongst the candidates suggested for having coined the term are the composer
Nigel Osborne, the Belgian musicologist
Harry Halbreich, and the British/Australian musicologist
Richard Toop, who gave currency to the concept of a movement with his article "Four Facets of the New Complexity".
Though often atonal, highly abstract, and dissonant in sound, the "New Complexity" is most readily characterized by the use of techniques which require complex musical notation. This includes extended techniques, microtonality, odd Musical tuning, highly disjunct Melodic motion, innovative , complex polyrhythms, unconventional instrumentations, abrupt changes in loudness and intensity, and so on.
Ambient music and its crossovers
Modern ambient music blends classical, electronic, and minimalism, driven by artists like
Jon Hopkins,
Erland Cooper,
Max Richter,
Aphex Twin,
Ludovico Einaudi,
Nils Frahm, Ólafur Arnalds, Lambert,
Joep Beving, and
Hania Rani.
Influenced by
Brian Eno and
Steve Reich, this genre, sometimes called "neo-classical" or "indie classical", merges cinematic orchestration with electronic textures, appealing to a broader audience.
Labels like Erased Tapes Records, New Amsterdam Records, and FatCat Records have played a key role in this movement, while BBC Radio 3 and BBC Radio 6 Music have promoted its popularity. Programs by Ólafur Arnalds and Mary Anne Hobbs highlight the fusion of ambient, classical, and experimental soundscapes.
Developments by medium
Opera
Notable composers of operas since 1975 include:
Cinema and television
Notable composers of post-1945 classical film and television scores include:
[Goldmark, Daniel. 2019. The Grove Music Guide to American Film Music. Oxford University Press ][Craggs, Stewart R. 2020 Soundtracks. International Dictionary of Composers of Music for Film ]
Contemporary classical music originally written for the concert hall can also be heard on the music track of some films, such as Stanley Kubrick's (1968) and Eyes Wide Shut (1999), both of which used concert music by György Ligeti, and also in Kubrick's The Shining (1980) which used music by both Ligeti and Krzysztof Penderecki.
Chamber
Some notable works for chamber orchestra:
-
Composition for Twelve Instruments (1948, rev. 1954) – Milton Babbitt
-
Concerto for seven wind instruments, timpani, percussion, and string orchestra (1949) – Frank Martin
-
Drei Lieder (1950) – Karlheinz Stockhausen
-
Nummer 2 (1951) – Karel Goeyvaerts
-
Oiseaux exotiques (1956) – Olivier Messiaen
-
Requiem for strings (1957) – Tōru Takemitsu
-
Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima (1960) – Krzysztof Penderecki
-
Double Concerto for harpsichord and piano with two chamber orchestras (1961) – Elliott Carter
-
Stop (1965) – Karlheinz Stockhausen
-
Fantasia for Strings (1966) – Hans Werner Henze
-
Ojikawa (1968) – Claude Vivier
-
Concerto for clarinet and vibraphone with six instrumental formations (1968) – Jean Barraqué
-
Ramifications (1968–69) – György Ligeti
-
Compases para preguntas ensimismadas (1970) – Hans Werner Henze
-
Recital I (for Cathy) (1972) – Luciano Berio
-
Trois airs pour un opéra imaginaire (1982) – Claude Vivier
-
Guitar Concerto No. 2 for guitar and strings (1985) – Alan Hovhaness
-
Invocation for Oboe and Guitar (1993) – Apostolos Paraskevas
-
Kol-Od (1996) – Luciano Berio
-
Asko Concerto (2000) – Elliott Carter
-
Dialogues for piano and chamber orchestra (2003) – Elliott Carter
-
Fünf Sternzeichen (2004) – Karlheinz Stockhausen
-
Fünf weitere Sternzeichen (2007) – Karlheinz Stockhausen
-
Diário das Narrativas Fantásticas (2019) – Caio Facó
Concert bands (wind ensembles)
In recent years, many composers have composed for
(also called wind ensembles). Notable composers include:
Festivals
The following is an incomplete list of contemporary-music festivals:
-
Ars Musica, Brussels, Belgium
-
Bang on a Can Marathon
-
Big Ears Festival
-
Darmstädter Ferienkurse
-
Donaueschingen Festival
-
in Caracas, Venezuela
-
Gaudeamus Foundation Music Week in Amsterdam
-
Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival
-
Lucerne Festival in Switzerland
-
MATA Festival in New York
-
Music Biennale Zagreb
-
Musica (French music festival)
-
New Music Gathering
-
November Music in 's Hertogenbosch (the Netherlands)
-
Other Minds in San Francisco
-
Peninsula Arts Contemporary Music Festival, Plymouth
-
Warsaw Autumn in Poland
-
George Enescu Festival in Romania
-
Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music in Santa Cruz, California
See also
-
List of contemporary classical ensembles
Notes
Sources
Further reading
-
Cardoso-Firmo, Ana. 2011. "La Cantatrice Chauve de Jean-Philippe Calvin". In Dramaturgies de l'Absurde en France et au Portugal, , pp. 199–203. Paris: Université de Paris 8.
-
Chute, James. 2001. "Torke, Michael." The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan.
-
Cross, Jonathan. 2001. "Turnage, Mark-Anthony". The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan.
-
Hermann Danuser. 1984. Die Musik des 20. Jahrhunderts: mit 108 Notenbeispielen, 130 Abbildungen und 2 Farbtafeln. Neues Handbuch der Musikwissenschaft 7. Laaber: Laaber-Verlag.
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. 1998. Moderne Musik Nach 1945. Munich: Piper Verlag. (pbk.)
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Du Noyer, Paul (ed.) (2003), "Contemporary" in The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Music. London: Flame Tree,
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Duckworth, William. 1995. Talking Music: Conversations with John Cage, Philip Glass, Laurie Anderson, and Five Generations of American Experimental Composers. New York: Schirmer Books; London: Prentice-Hall International. Reprinted 1999, New York: Da Capo Press.
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Dufallo, Richard. 1989. Trackings: Composers Speak with Richard Dufallo. New York: Oxford University Press.
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Gagne, Cole. 1990. Sonic Transports: New Frontiers in Our Music. New York: de Falco Books.
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Gagne, Cole. 1993. Soundpieces 2: Interviews with American Composers. Metuchen, New Jersey: The Scarecrow Press.
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Gagne, Cole and Tracy Caras. 1982. Soundpieces: Interviews with American Composers. Metuchen, New Jersey: Scarecrow Press.
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Gagne, Nicole V. 2019. Historical Dictionary of Modern and Contemporary Classical Music, second edition. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield.
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Kyle Gann. 1997. American Music in the Twentieth Century. New York: Schirmer Books; London: Prentice Hall International. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning .
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Griffiths, Paul. 1995. Modern Music And After: Directions Since 1945. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. (cloth) (pbk.) Rev. ed. of: Modern Music: The Avant Garde Since 1945 (1981)
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Alvin Lucier, ed. 2018. Eight Lectures on Experimental Music. Middletown, Connecticut: Wesleyan University Press.
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Morgan, Robert P. 1991. Twentieth-century Music: A History of Musical Style in Modern Europe and America. New York: Norton.
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New Music: Music since 1950. 1978. Vienna: Universal Edition. N.B.: Biography-bibliography dictionary. Without ISBN
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Nyman, Michael. 1999. Experimental Music: Cage and Beyond. Second edition. Music in the 20th century. Cambridge University Press. (pbk.)
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Rockwell, John. 1984. All American Music. New York: Vintage Books. (pbk)
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Elliott Schwartz, and Barney Childs (eds.), with Jim Fox. 1998. Contemporary Composers on Contemporary Music. Expanded edition. New York: Da Capo Press.
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Smith Brindle, Reginald. 1987. The New Music: The Avant-Garde since 1945. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. (cloth) (pbk.)
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Arnold Whittall. 1999. Musical Composition in the Twentieth Century. New York: Oxford University Press. (cloth) (pbk.)
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Whittall, Arnold. 2003. Exploring Twentieth-Century Music: Tradition and Innovation. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press. (cloth) (pbk)
External links
