Contemporary

Contemporary Composers

Krzysztof Penderecki

John Milton Cage Jr.

Milton Byron Babbitt

George Crumb

Phillip Glass

Steve Reich

Contemporary Styles

1. Serialism- is a method or technique of composition that uses a series of values to manipulate different musical elements

2. 12 Tone-The technique is a means of ensuring that all 12 notes of the

chromatic scale are sounded as often. This technique was developed by Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg (1874–1951)These 12 pitches perform as one another in a piece of music, while preventing the emphasis of any one note. They are ordered in 12 pitches.

3. Minimalism- The American Form of Serialism based on manipulating factors to ensure a change in elements.

Krzysztof Eugeniusz Penderecki

- Born 23 November 1933- Polish composer and conductor- Best known for Polish composer and conductor- Among his best known works are his -Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima, St. Luke Passion, Polish Requiem

Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima

A musical composition for 52 string instrumentscomposed in 1960Took third prize at the Grzegorz Fitelberg Composers' Competition in Katowice in 1960The piece swiftly attracted interest around the world and made its young composer famous

● John Milton Cage Jr.●

September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992 American composer, music theorist, writer, and artistCage was a pioneer of the prepared piano, Cage invented the Classical contemporary technique of using chance to determine the placements of notes in a piece.

4'33Cage is perhaps best known for this 1952 composition

Performed in the absence of deliberate sound;The content of the composition is not "four minutes and 33 seconds of silence," rather the sounds of the environment heard by the audience during performance

Milton Byron Babbitt

● May 10, 1916 – January 29, 2011

● American composer, music theorist, and teacher

● He is particularly noted for his serial and electronic music

● Soprano and vibraphone

● Setting of a poem by Stanley Kunitz

● Milton was alive from 1916-2011

A Waltzer in the House

George Crumb

Born October 24, 1929

American composer of contemporary classical music

He is noted as an explorer of unusual timbres, alternative forms of notation, and extended instrumental and vocal techniques

● He was born January 31, 1937● His music is also often controversially described as minimalist,● is an American composer. He is one of the most influential composers

of the late 20th century● Though his early mature music shares much with what is normally

called "minimalist", he has since evolved stylistically .● He still alive till date.

Philip glass

Koyaanisqatsi

● Koyaanisqatsi was one of his most famous film scores to date

● Some pieces which were not used in the film (such as Façades) eventually appeared on the album Glassworks

● He is one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century.

Steve Reich ● One of the earliest pioneers of minimal music

● This is the time where slow harmonic pieces and the use of cannons came into play in contemporary music

● Reich is still alive till date and is commonly referred to as a composer who legitimately altered the course of music history.

Piano PhaseHis early work Piano Phase has two pianos playing the same short phrase, with one piano very gradually speeding up until eventually it is one note

ahead — the effect is utterly mesmeric.

World Influences on Music

World War IIStravinsky, who rarely acknowledged outside inspirations for his music, referred to the composition as his 'war symphony'. He claimed the symphony as a direct response to events of the Second World War in both Europe and Asia.

Cold War

Political tension between the United States and the Soviet Union

HolocaustCompositions during this time did indeed break taboos by openly declaring their faith in the emotive power of music. The mass murder of Jews, 'undesirable people', and Gypsies evoked emotions and feelings never felt before.

Hiroshima

Penderecki composed the threnody for the victims of Hiroshima in 1960

Artists

Andy Warhol

Wassily Kandinsky

Jean-Michel Basquiat Roy Lichtenstein

Sigmar Polke

Artists

Andy Warhol ● Was born on August 6, 1928 and died on February 22, 1987

● Was not a composer during the time, but a famous pop artist

● His works explore the relationship between artistic expression, celebrity culture and advertisement that flourished by the 1960s

● After a experiencing a great time as a commercial illustrator, he became renowned and at times a controversial artist.

● He painted many pieces that people still critique today and he was one of the earliest pioneers in computer generated art using amiga computers which were introduced two years before he died.

Wassily Kandinsky ● Wassily was born on December 6, 1866 in Moscow, Russia. He spent his

childhood in Odessa.

● He enrolled at the University of Moscow, studying law and economics.

He was offered a professorship at the University of Dorpat

● He began painting studies (life-drawing, sketching and anatomy) at the

age of 30.

● He was best known for being an influential russian painter and an art

theorist.

● But most artist and modern day historians remember him as painting the first purely abstract painting. He used the term "inner necessity to describe his art. Which is what it really was.

● Wassily died on December 13, 1944.

Jean-Michel BasquiatWas born on December 22, 1960 and died August 12, 1988 was an American artist.

He began as an obscure graffiti artist in New York City in the late 1970s

But he evolved into an acclaimed Neo-expressionist and Primitivist painter by the 1980s.

Sigmar PolkeHe was born on February 13, 1941 He mostly known as a German painter and photographer.Polke experimented with a wide range of styles, subject matters and materialsIn the 1970s, he concentrated on photography, returning to paint in the 1980s when he produced abstract works created by chance through chemical reactions between paint and other products. In the last 20 years of his life, he produced paintings focused on historical events and perceptions of them.He died on June 10, 2010.

Roy Lichtenstein He died on September 29, 1997Was born on October 27, 1923Was most widely known as an american pop artist.He became a leading figure in the new art movement. His work defined the basic premise of pop art better than any other imitation.His work was heavily influenced by both popular advertising and the comic book style.