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Neue Musik (English ''new music'', French ''nouvelle musique'') is the collective term for a wealth of different currents in composed Western art music from around 1910 to the present. Its focus is on compositions of 20th century music. It is characterised in particular by – sometimes radical – expansions of tonal, harmonic, melodic and rhythmic means and forms. It is characterised by the search for new sounds, new forms or new combinations of old styles, which is partly a continuation of existing traditions, partly a deliberate break with tradition and appears either as ''progress'' or as ''renewal'' (neo- or post-styles). Roughly speaking, Neue Musik can be divided into the period from around 1910 to the Second World War – often referred to as "modernism" – and the reorientation after the Second World War, which is perceived as "radical" – usually apostrophised as ''avant-garde'' – up to the present. The latter period is sometimes subdivided into the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, whereby the last three decades have not yet been further differentiated (the summary term "postmodernism" has not become established). In order to describe contemporary music in a narrower sense, the term ''Zeitgenössische Musik'' (English ''contemporary music'', French ''musique contemporaine'') is used without referring to a fixed periodisation. The term "Neue Musik" was coined by the music journalist
Paul Bekker Max Paul Eugen Bekker (11 September 1882 – 7 March 1937) was a German music critic and author. Described as having "brilliant style and ..extensive theoretical and practical knowledge," Bekker was chief music critic for both the '' Frankfu ...
in 1919. Representatives of Neue Musik are sometimes called neutoners.


Compositional means and styles

The most important step in the reorientation of musical language was taken in the field of
harmony In music, harmony is the process by which individual sounds are joined together or composed into whole units or compositions. Often, the term harmony refers to simultaneously occurring frequencies, pitches ( tones, notes), or chords. However ...
, namely the gradual abandonment of
tonality Tonality is the arrangement of pitches and/or chords of a musical work in a hierarchy of perceived relations, stabilities, attractions and directionality. In this hierarchy, the single pitch or triadic chord with the greatest stability is call ...
– towards free atonality and finally towards
twelve-tone technique The twelve-tone technique—also known as dodecaphony, twelve-tone serialism, and (in British usage) twelve-note composition—is a method of musical composition first devised by Austrian composer Josef Matthias Hauer, who published his "law o ...
. Towards the end of the 19th century, the tendency to use increasingly complex chord formations led to harmonic areas that could no longer be clearly explained by the underlying major-minor tonality – a process that had already begun with
Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...
and
Liszt Franz Liszt, in modern usage ''Liszt Ferenc'' . Liszt's Hungarian passport spelled his given name as "Ferencz". An orthographic reform of the Hungarian language in 1922 (which was 36 years after Liszt's death) changed the letter "cz" to simpl ...
. From this,
Arnold Schönberg Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (, ; ; 13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian-American composer, music theorist, teacher, writer, and painter. He is widely considered one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. He was as ...
and his students
Alban Berg Alban Maria Johannes Berg ( , ; 9 February 1885 – 24 December 1935) was an Austrian composer of the Second Viennese School. His compositional style combined Romantic lyricism with the twelve-tone technique. Although he left a relatively sma ...
and
Anton Webern Anton Friedrich Wilhelm von Webern (3 December 188315 September 1945), better known as Anton Webern (), was an Austrian composer and conductor whose music was among the most radical of its milieu in its sheer concision, even aphorism, and stea ...
drew the most systematic consequence, which culminated in the formulation (1924) of the method of "composition with twelve tones related only to one another" (dodecaphony). These
atonal Atonality in its broadest sense is music that lacks a tonal center, or key. ''Atonality'', in this sense, usually describes compositions written from about the early 20th-century to the present day, where a hierarchy of harmonies focusing on a ...
rules of composition provide composers with a toolkit that helps to avoid the principles of tonality. The designation as "
Second Viennese School The Second Viennese School (german: Zweite Wiener Schule, Neue Wiener Schule) was the group of composers that comprised Arnold Schoenberg and his pupils, particularly Alban Berg and Anton Webern, and close associates in early 20th-century Vienna. ...
" in analogy to the "
First Viennese School The First Viennese School is a name mostly used to refer to three composers of the Classical period in Western art music in late-18th-century to early-19th-century Vienna: Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven. Sometimes, ...
" (
Haydn Franz Joseph Haydn ( , ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions to musical form have led ...
,
Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his ra ...
,
Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...
) already betrays the special position that this group of composers has as a mediating authority. The principle of using all twelve tones of the tempered scale equally, without favouring individual tones, seems to have occupied various composers in the first two decades of the 20th century, who simultaneously, but independently of Schönberg, advanced to similarly bold results. Among these experimenters, in whose works twelve-tone and serial approaches can be discerned, is first of all
Josef Matthias Hauer Josef Matthias Hauer (March 19, 1883 – September 22, 1959) was an Austrian composer and music theorist. He is best known for developing, independent of and a year or two before Arnold Schoenberg, a method for composing with all 12 notes of the ...
, who publicly argued with Schönberg about the "copyright" to twelve-tone music. Also to be mentioned is
Alexander Scriabin Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin (; russian: Александр Николаевич Скрябин ; – ) was a Russian composer and virtuoso pianist. Before 1903, Scriabin was greatly influenced by the music of Frédéric Chopin and composed ...
, whose atonal sound-centre technique, based on quartal layering, subsequently paved the way for remarkable experiments by a whole generation of young Russian composers. The significance of this generation of composers for New Music, which emerged in the climate of the revolutions of 1905 and 1917, could only penetrate into consciousness in the second half of the century, as they were already systematically eliminated by the Stalinist dictatorship in the late 1920s. Here,
Nikolai Roslavets Nikolai Andreevich Roslavets (russian: link=no, Никола́й Андре́евич Ро́славец; in Surazh, Chernigov Governorate, Russian Empire – 23 August 1944 in Moscow) was a significant Ukrainian modernist composer of Beloruss ...
,
Arthur Lourié Arthur-Vincent Lourié, born ''Naum Izrailevich Luria'' (russian: Наум Израилевич Лурья), later changed his name to ''Artur Sergeyevich Luriye'' (russian: Артур Серге́евич Лурье) (14 May 1892 in Propoysk � ...
,
Alexander Mossolov Alexander Vasilyevich MosolovMosolov's name is transliterated variously and inconsistently between sources. Alternative spellings of Alexander include Alexandr, Aleksandr, Aleksander, and Alexandre; variations on Mosolov include Mossolov and Mossol ...
and
Ivan Vyshnegradsky Ivan Alekseyevich Vyshnegradsky (russian: Ива́н Алексе́евич Вышнегра́дский, 1 January 1832 – 6 April 1895) was a Russian Imperial financial adviser, priest and scientist who specialized in mechanics. He served as ...
should be mentioned as representatives. A major shortcoming of the abandonment of major-minor tonality, however, was the extensive loss of the form-forming forces of this harmonic system. Composers countered this deficiency in very different ways. In order to avoid the classical-romantic musical forms, they now chose for the new music partly free (
rhapsody Rhapsody may refer to: * A work of epic poetry, or part of one, that is suitable for recitation at one time ** Rhapsode, a classical Greek professional performer of epic poetry Computer software * Rhapsody (online music service), an online m ...
,
fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...
), or neutral (concert, orchestral piece) designations, or self-chosen, sometimes extremely short,
aphoristic An aphorism (from Greek ἀφορισμός: ''aphorismos'', denoting 'delimitation', 'distinction', and 'definition') is a concise, terse, laconic, or memorable expression of a general truth or principle. Aphorisms are often handed down by tra ...
forms (Webern, Schönberg). Others adhered to traditional forms, even though their works themselves took this concept ad absurdum, or filled the traditional ideas of form with new content (Scriabin's single-movement
piano sonata A piano sonata is a sonata written for a solo piano. Piano sonatas are usually written in three or four movements, although some piano sonatas have been written with a single movement ( Scarlatti, Liszt, Scriabin, Medtner, Berg), others with t ...
s, Schoenberg's
sonata form Sonata form (also ''sonata-allegro form'' or ''first movement form'') is a musical form, musical structure generally consisting of three main sections: an exposition, a development, and a recapitulation. It has been used widely since the middle ...
s with the abandonment of the tonality that founded them in the first place). Even the fundamental idea of a continuous, purposeful processing of musical thoughts within a work loses its primacy, parallel to the loss of the 19th century's belief in progress. New possibilities of shaping form, beyond parameters of music, which had previously been treated rather stepmotherly, such as
timbre In music, timbre ( ), also known as tone color or tone quality (from psychoacoustics), is the perceived sound quality of a musical note, sound or musical tone, tone. Timbre distinguishes different types of sound production, such as choir voice ...
,
rhythm Rhythm (from Greek , ''rhythmos'', "any regular recurring motion, symmetry") generally means a " movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions". This general meaning of regular recu ...
, dynamics, systematic resp. Free montage techniques in
Igor Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (6 April 1971) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, later of French (from 1934) and American (from 1945) citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of the ...
or
Charles Ives Charles Edward Ives (; October 20, 1874May 19, 1954) was an American modernist composer, one of the first American composers of international renown. His music was largely ignored during his early career, and many of his works went unperformed f ...
, the rejection of the time directionality of music, as well as an increasing individualism claim their place. A musical source whose potential was also used for experimentation is
folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...
. While previous generations of composers had repeatedly chosen exotic subjects in order to legitimise structures that deviated from the prevailing rules of composition, it was in the work of
Claude Debussy (Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influential composers of the ...
that a stylistic and structural adaptation of javanese gamelan music, which he had become acquainted with in 1889 at the Paris 1889 World's Fair, can be observed for the first time. In this context, the work of
Béla Bartók Béla Viktor János Bartók (; ; 25 March 1881 – 26 September 1945) was a Hungarian composer, pianist, and ethnomusicologist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century; he and Franz Liszt are regarded as H ...
, who had already explored most of the fundamental characteristics of his new style by means of a systematic study of Balkan folklore in 1908, is to be regarded as exemplary. In the course of this development, Bartók arrived at the treatment of the "piano as a percussion instrument" with his '' Allegro barbaro'' (1911), which subsequently had a decisive influence on composers' treatment of this instrument. The rhythmic complexities peculiar to Slavic folklore were also appropriated by Igor Stravinsky in his early ballet compositions written for
Sergei Diaghilev Sergei Pavlovich Diaghilev ( ; rus, Серге́й Па́влович Дя́гилев, , sʲɪˈrɡʲej ˈpavləvʲɪdʑ ˈdʲæɡʲɪlʲɪf; 19 August 1929), usually referred to outside Russia as Serge Diaghilev, was a Russian art critic, pat ...
's ''
Ballets Russes The Ballets Russes () was an itinerant ballet company begun in Paris that performed between 1909 and 1929 throughout Europe and on tours to North and South America. The company never performed in Russia, where the Revolution disrupted society. A ...
''. Significantly, Stravinsky uses a given "barbaric-pagan" stage plot for his most revolutionary experiment in this respect (''
The Rite of Spring ''The Rite of Spring''. Full name: ''The Rite of Spring: Pictures from Pagan Russia in Two Parts'' (french: Le Sacre du printemps: tableaux de la Russie païenne en deux parties) (french: Le Sacre du printemps, link=no) is a ballet and orchestral ...
'' 1913). It was also Stravinsky who, in the further course of the 1910s, developed his compositional style in a direction that became exemplary for
Neoclassicism Neoclassicism (also spelled Neo-classicism) was a Western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity. Neoclassicism was ...
. In France, various young composers appeared on the scene who devoted themselves to a similar emphatically anti-romantic aesthetic. The
Groupe des Six "Les Six" () is a name given to a group of six composers, five of them French and one Swiss, who lived and worked in Montparnasse. The name, inspired by Mily Balakirev's '' The Five'', originates in two 1920 articles by critic Henri Collet in '' ...
was formed around
Erik Satie Eric Alfred Leslie Satie (, ; ; 17 May 18661 July 1925), who signed his name Erik Satie after 1884, was a French composer and pianist. He was the son of a French father and a British mother. He studied at the Paris Conservatoire, but was an und ...
, whose leading theoretician was
Jean Cocteau Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau (, , ; 5 July 1889 – 11 October 1963) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, filmmaker, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost creatives of the su ...
. In Germany,
Paul Hindemith Paul Hindemith (; 16 November 189528 December 1963) was a German composer, music theorist, teacher, violist and conductor. He founded the Amar Quartet in 1921, touring extensively in Europe. As a composer, he became a major advocate of the ''Ne ...
was the most prominent representative of this movement. The proposal to use the canon of musical forms, such as the Baroque, to renew the musical language had already been put forward by
Ferruccio Busoni Ferruccio Busoni (1 April 1866 – 27 July 1924) was an Italian composer, pianist, conductor, editor, writer, and teacher. His international career and reputation led him to work closely with many of the leading musicians, artists and literary ...
in his ''Draft of a New Aesthetic of Musical Art''. In the spring of 1920, Busoni formulated this idea again in an essay entitled ''Young Classicism''. Furthermore, the radical experiments devoted to the possibilities of
microtonal music Microtonal music or microtonality is the use in music of microtones—intervals smaller than a semitone, also called "microintervals". It may also be extended to include any music using intervals not found in the customary Western tuning of tw ...
are exceptional. These include
Alois Hába Alois Hába (21 June 1893 – 18 November 1973) was a Czech composer, music theorist and teacher. He belongs to the important discoverers in modern classical music, and major composers of microtonal music, especially using the quarter-tone scal ...
, who, encouraged by
Busoni Ferruccio Busoni (1 April 1866 – 27 July 1924) was an Italian composer, pianist, conductor, editor, writer, and teacher. His international career and reputation led him to work closely with many of the leading musicians, artists and literary f ...
, found his preconditions in Bohemian-Moravian musicianship, and on the other hand
Ivan Wyschnegradsky Ivan Alexandrovich Wyschnegradsky; Is also transliterated as Vïshnegradsky, Wyshnegradsky, Wischnegradsky, Vishnegradsky, or Wishnegradsky (after he emigrated to France, he used "Wyschnegradsky" as spelling for his surname)., group=n ( ; Septe ...
, whose microtonality is to be understood as a consistent further development of the sound-centre technique of
Alexander Scriabin Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin (; russian: Александр Николаевич Скрябин ; – ) was a Russian composer and virtuoso pianist. Before 1903, Scriabin was greatly influenced by the music of Frédéric Chopin and composed ...
. In the wake of the Italian
Futurism Futurism ( it, Futurismo, link=no) was an artistic and social movement that originated in Italy, and to a lesser extent in other countries, in the early 20th century. It emphasized dynamism, speed, technology, youth, violence, and objects such ...
around
Filippo Tommaso Marinetti Filippo Tommaso Emilio Marinetti (; 22 December 1876 – 2 December 1944) was an Italian poet, editor, art theorist, and founder of the Futurist movement. He was associated with the utopian and Symbolist artistic and literary community Abbaye d ...
and
Francesco Balilla Pratella Francesco Balilla Pratella (Lugo, Italy February 1, 1880 – Ravenna, Italy May 17, 1955) was an Italian composer, musicologist and essayist. One of the leading advocates of Futurism in Italian music, much of Pratella's own music betrays little o ...
, which was based in the visual arts,
Luigi Russolo Luigi Carlo Filippo Russolo (30 April 1885 – 4 February 1947) was an Italian Futurist painter, composer, builder of experimental musical instruments, and the author of the manifesto ''The Art of Noises'' (1913). He is often regarded as one of ...
in his manifesto ''The Art of Noises'' (1913, 1916) designed a style called Bruitism, which made use of newly constructed sound generators, the so-called
Intonarumori Intonarumori are experimental musical instruments invented and built by the Italian futurist Luigi Russolo between roughly 1910 and 1930. There were 27 varieties of intonarumori built in total, with different names. Background Russolo built ...
. The spectrum of musical expression is extended by another interesting experiment that also enters the realm of the musical application of sounds, namely the tone cluster by
Henry Cowell Henry Dixon Cowell (; March 11, 1897 – December 10, 1965) was an American composer, writer, pianist, publisher and teacher. Marchioni, Tonimarie (2012)"Henry Cowell: A Life Stranger Than Fiction" ''The Juilliard Journal''. Retrieved 19 June 202 ...
. Some of the early piano pieces by
Leo Ornstein Leo Ornstein (born ''Лев Орнштейн'', ''Lev Ornshteyn''; – February 24, 2002) was an American experimental composer and pianist of the early twentieth century. His performances of works by avant-garde composers and his own innovative ...
and
George Antheil George Johann Carl Antheil (; July 8, 1900 – February 12, 1959) was an American avant-garde composer, pianist, author, and inventor whose modernist musical compositions explored the modern sounds – musical, industrial, and mechanical – of t ...
also tend towards quite comparable tone clusters. With
Edgar Varèse Edgar is a commonly used English given name, from an Anglo-Saxon name ''Eadgar'' (composed of ''wikt:en:ead, ead'' "rich, prosperous" and ''Gar (spear), gar'' "spear"). Like most Anglo-Saxon names, it fell out of use by the later medieval per ...
and
Charles Ives Charles Edward Ives (; October 20, 1874May 19, 1954) was an American modernist composer, one of the first American composers of international renown. His music was largely ignored during his early career, and many of his works went unperformed f ...
, two composers should be mentioned whose works, which are exceptional in every respect, cannot be attributed to any larger movement and whose significance was only fully recognised in the second half of the century. The increasing industrialisation, which slowly began to take hold of all areas of life, is reflected in an enthusiasm for technology and (compositional) machine aesthetics, which was initially carried by the Futurist movement. Thus, the various technical innovations, such as the invention of the
vacuum tube A vacuum tube, electron tube, valve (British usage), or tube (North America), is a device that controls electric current flow in a high vacuum between electrodes to which an electric voltage, potential difference has been applied. The type kn ...
, the development of
radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...
technology, the
sound film A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades passed before ...
and tape technology, moved into the musical field of vision. These innovations also favoured the development of new electric playing instruments, which is also significant with regard to the original compositions created for them. Lew Termen's
Theremin The theremin (; originally known as the ætherphone/etherphone, thereminophone or termenvox/thereminvox) is an electronic musical instrument controlled without physical contact by the performer (who is known as a thereminist). It is named afte ...
, Friedrich Trautwein's
trautonium The Trautonium is an electronic synthesizer invented in 1930 by Friedrich Trautwein in Berlin at the Musikhochschule's music and radio lab, the Rundfunkversuchstelle. Soon afterwards Oskar Sala joined him, continuing development until Sala's de ...
and the
Ondes Martenot The ondes Martenot ( ; , "Martenot waves") or ondes musicales ("musical waves") is an early electronic musical instrument. It is played with a keyboard or by moving a ring along a wire, creating "wavering" sounds similar to a theremin. A player ...
of the Frenchman
Maurice Martenot Maurice Louis Eugène Martenot (; October 14, 1898 – October 8, 1980) was a French cellist, a radio telegrapher during the first World War, and an inventor. Born in Paris, he is best known for his invention of the ondes Martenot, an instrument ...
should be highlighted here. The partly enthusiastic hope for progress that was attached to the musically useful application of these early experiments was, however, only partially fulfilled. Nevertheless, the new instruments and technical developments possessed a musically inspiring potential that, in the case of some composers, was reflected in extraordinarily visionary conceptions that could only actually be technically realised decades later. The first compositional explorations of the musical possibilities of pianola also belong in this context. The medial dissemination of music by means of records and radio also made possible the enormously accelerated exchange or reception of musical developments that had been almost unknown until then, as can be seen from the rapid popularisation and reception of
jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
. In general, it can be said that the period from around 1920 onwards was one of general "departure for new shores" – with many very different approaches. Essentially, this pluralism of styles has been preserved until today or, after a short period of mutual polemics between
Serialism In music, serialism is a method of Musical composition, composition using series of pitches, rhythms, dynamics, timbres or other elements of music, musical elements. Serialism began primarily with Arnold Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique, thou ...
and adherents of traditional compositional styles (from about the mid-1950s onwards), has ceased again.


Historical preconditions

In the 20th century, a line of development of musical progress continued; every composer still known today has contributed something to it. This old longing for progress and
modernity Modernity, a topic in the humanities and social sciences, is both a historical period (the modern era) and the ensemble of particular socio-cultural norm (social), norms, attitudes and practices that arose in the wake of the Renaissancein the " ...
– through conscious separation from tradition and convention – can, however, take on a fetish-like character in Western society, which is shaped by science and technology. The appearance of the "new" is always accompanied by a feeling of uncertainty and scepticism. At the beginning of the 20th century, the use of music and the discussion of its meaning and purpose was still reserved for an infinitesimally small, but all the more knowledgeable part of society. This relationship – the small elite group of privileged people here and the large uninvolved masses there – has only changed outwardly through the increasing dissemination of music through the media. Today, music is accessible to everyone, but as far as understanding "Neue Musik" is concerned, there is a lack of education in many cases, including that of the ear. The changed relationship between man and music has made aesthetic questions about the nature and purpose of music a public debate. In the history of music, transitional phases (epoch boundaries) arose in which the "old" and the "new" appeared simultaneously. The traditional period or epoch was still cultivated, but parallel to this a "Neue musik" was introduced which subsequently replaced it. These transitions were always understood by contemporaries as phases of renewal and were described accordingly. The Ars Nova of the 14th century, for example, also has "new" in its name, and
Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...
also characterises a consciously chosen new beginning. The transitional phases are usually characterised by an increase in stylistic means, in which these – in the sense of
mannerism Mannerism, which may also be known as Late Renaissance, is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Italy, ...
– are exaggerated to the point of absurdity. The stylistic change to the "new" music then takes place, for example, through the removal of one of the traditional stylistic means, on the basis of which a compositional-aesthetic progress can then be systematically striven for and realised, or on the gradual preference for alternatives introduced in parallel. In this sense, the classical
Romantic music Romantic music is a stylistic movement in Western Classical music associated with the period of the 19th century commonly referred to as the Romantic era (or Romantic period). It is closely related to the broader concept of Romanticism—the ...
of the 19th century can be understood as an intensification of Viennese classicism. The increase in means is most noticeable here in the quantitative aspect – the length and instrumentation of Romantic orchestral compositions increased drastically. In addition, the composers' increased need for expression and extra-musical (poetic) content came more into focus. The attempts to create musical national styles must also be seen as a reaction to the various revolutionary social events of the century. Furthermore, the economic conditions for musicians, based on patronage and publishing, changed. Social and political circumstances affected the composition of the audience and the organisation of concert life. In addition, there was a strong individualisation (personal style) of the Romantic musical language(s).


Historical overview

The following overview provides only a keyword-like orientation about the corresponding periods, outstanding composers, rough style characteristics and masterpieces. Corresponding in-depth information is then reserved for the main articles. * Any periodisation is a shortening. In many cases, the sometimes seemingly contradictory styles not only took place simultaneously, but many composers also composed in several styles – sometimes even in one and the same work. * Even if one composer appears to be outstanding for a style or period, there has always been a multitude of composers who have also written exemplary works in a sometimes very independent manner. The following applies: every successful work deserves its own consideration and classification – regardless of the framework in which it is usually placed for stylistic reasons. * Basically, the dictum of
Rudolf Stephan Rudolf Stephan (3 April 1925 – 29 September 2019) was a German musicologist. Life Stephan was born in Bochum. After studying violin at the conservatory, he entered the Institute of Heidelberg, where he studied musicology at the University unde ...
applies to the classification of works into styles: "If, however, stylistic criteria ..are presupposed, then ..such orksby numerous other, mostly younger composers ..can also be counted ..But in the case of works ..(which can certainly be named in this context), boundaries then become perceptible which perhaps cannot be fixed exactly, but which are nevertheless (to speak with Maurice Merleau-Ponty) quickly noticed as having already been crossed. " A fixed stylistic or epochal scheme does not exist and is in principle impossible. All attributions of similarities or differences are interpretations that require precise explanation. The fact that works are classified partly according to stylistic terms (for example "expressionism") and partly according to compositional criteria (e.g. "atonality") inevitably leads to multiple overlaps.


The turn from the 19th to the 20th century

The traditional compositional means of the classical period were only able to cope with these increasing tendencies to a certain extent. Towards the end of the 19th century, the musical development began to take shape in which
Paul Bekker Max Paul Eugen Bekker (11 September 1882 – 7 March 1937) was a German music critic and author. Described as having "brilliant style and ..extensive theoretical and practical knowledge," Bekker was chief music critic for both the '' Frankfu ...
then retrospectively recognised "New Music" (as a term it was only later written with a capital  "N"). His attention had initially been particularly focused on
Gustav Mahler Gustav Mahler (; 7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911) was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th-century Austro-German tradition and the modernism ...
, Franz Schreker,
Ferruccio Busoni Ferruccio Busoni (1 April 1866 – 27 July 1924) was an Italian composer, pianist, conductor, editor, writer, and teacher. His international career and reputation led him to work closely with many of the leading musicians, artists and literary ...
and
Arnold Schönberg Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (, ; ; 13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian-American composer, music theorist, teacher, writer, and painter. He is widely considered one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. He was as ...
. Overall, the turn of the century had come to be understood as
fin de siècle () is a French term meaning "end of century,” a phrase which typically encompasses both the meaning of the similar English idiom "turn of the century" and also makes reference to the closing of one era and onset of another. Without context ...
. In any case, it was under the auspices of
modernity Modernity, a topic in the humanities and social sciences, is both a historical period (the modern era) and the ensemble of particular socio-cultural norm (social), norms, attitudes and practices that arose in the wake of the Renaissancein the " ...
, as the radicalisation of which the "new music" can be regarded and whose manifold consequences influenced the entire 20th century. The qualitative difference of this epochal transition from the earlier ones is essentially that now some composers saw their historical mission in developing the "new" out of tradition and consistently searching for new means and ways to replace the outdated classical-romantic aesthetics would be able to completely replace. The deliberate break with tradition is the most striking feature of this transitional phase. The will to renew gradually encompasses all stylistic means (
harmony In music, harmony is the process by which individual sounds are joined together or composed into whole units or compositions. Often, the term harmony refers to simultaneously occurring frequencies, pitches ( tones, notes), or chords. However ...
,
melody A melody (from Greek language, Greek μελῳδία, ''melōidía'', "singing, chanting"), also tune, voice or line, is a Linearity#Music, linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most liter ...
,
rhythm Rhythm (from Greek , ''rhythmos'', "any regular recurring motion, symmetry") generally means a " movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions". This general meaning of regular recu ...
, dynamics, form,
orchestration Orchestration is the study or practice of writing music for an orchestra (or, more loosely, for any musical ensemble, such as a concert band) or of adapting music composed for another medium for an orchestra. Also called "instrumentation", orc ...
, etc.). The new musical styles of the turn of the century, however, still clearly stand in the context of 19th century tradition. Early
Expressionism Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...
inherits Romanticism and increases its (psychologised) expressive will,
Impressionism Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating ...
refines timbres, etc. But soon those parameters were also taken into account and used for musical experiments that had previously had only marginal importance, such as rhythm, or – as a significant novelty - the inclusion of sounds as musically formable material. The progressive mechanisation of urban living conditions found expression in
Futurism Futurism ( it, Futurismo, link=no) was an artistic and social movement that originated in Italy, and to a lesser extent in other countries, in the early 20th century. It emphasized dynamism, speed, technology, youth, violence, and objects such ...
. Another significant aspect is the equal coexistence of very different procedures in dealing with and in relation to tradition. In any case, "Neue musik" cannot be understood as a superordinate style, but can only be identified on the basis of individual composers or even individual works in the various styles. The 20th century thus appears as a century of polystylistics. At first, the "new" was neither accepted without comment nor welcomed by the majority of the audience. The premiere of particularly advanced pieces regularly led to the most violent reactions on the part of the audience, which in their drastic nature seem rather alienating today. The vivid descriptions of various legendary scandalous performances (e.g. Richard Strauss' '' Salome'' 1905, Stravinsky's ''
The Rite of Spring ''The Rite of Spring''. Full name: ''The Rite of Spring: Pictures from Pagan Russia in Two Parts'' (french: Le Sacre du printemps: tableaux de la Russie païenne en deux parties) (french: Le Sacre du printemps, link=no) is a ballet and orchestral ...
'' 1913) with scuffles, key whistles, police intervention etc., as well as the journalistic response with blatant polemics and crude defamations testify to the difficult position that the "neutöners" had from the beginning. After all, "new music" still seems to have met with a surprisingly high level of public interest at this early stage. However, with increasing acceptance by the public, a certain ("scandalous") expectation also set in. This in turn resulted in a discreet compulsion for originality, modernity and novelty, which entailed the danger of fashionable flattening and routine repetition. The composers of New Music did not make it easy for themselves, nor for their listeners and performers. Regardless of the nature of their musical experiments, they seem to have quickly found that audiences were helpless and uncomprehending in the face of their sometimes very demanding creations. This was all the more disappointing for many, since it was the very same audience that unanimously applauded the masters of the classical-romantic tradition, whose legitimate heirs they saw themselves as. As a result, the need to explain the new was recognised. Many composers therefore endeavoured to provide the theoretical and aesthetic underpinnings needed to understand their works. In particular, musicological and music-theoretical writings, such as Schönberg's or Busonis visionary ''Entwurf einer neuen Ästhetik der Tonkunst'' (1906) are of great influence on the development of New Music. Also noteworthy in this context is the almanac ''
Der Blaue Reiter ''Der Blaue Reiter'' (The Blue Rider) is a designation by Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc for their exhibition and publication activities, in which both artists acted as sole editors in the almanac of the same name, first published in mid-May ...
'' (1912) edited by
Kandinsky Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky (; rus, Василий Васильевич Кандинский, Vasiliy Vasilyevich Kandinskiy, vɐˈsʲilʲɪj vɐˈsʲilʲjɪvʲɪtɕ kɐnʲˈdʲinskʲɪj;  – 13 December 1944) was a Russian painter a ...
and
Marc Marc or MARC may refer to: People * Marc (given name), people with the first name * Marc (surname), people with the family name Acronyms * MARC standards, a data format used for library cataloging, * MARC Train, a regional commuter rail system o ...
, which contains, among other things, an essay on ''Free Music'' by the Russian Futurist
Nikolai Kulbin Nikolai Ivanovich Kulbin (russian: Николай Иванович Кульбин; 1868, Helsinki – 6 March 1917, Petrograd) was a Russian Futurist Futurists (also known as futurologists, prospectivists, foresight practitioners and horiz ...
. This willingness to engage intellectually and technically with the unsolved problems of tradition, as well as the sometimes unbending attitude in the pursuit of set compositional goals and experimental arrangements, are further characteristic features of Neue Musik. The stylistic pluralism that emerged under these conditions continues into the present. In this respect, the term "Neue Musik" is suitable neither as a designation for an epoch nor as a style. Rather, it has a qualitative connotation that is related to the degree of originality (in the sense of novel or unheard-of) of the production method as well as the final result. Expressionism and
Impressionism Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating ...
, but also styles of visual art such as
Futurism Futurism ( it, Futurismo, link=no) was an artistic and social movement that originated in Italy, and to a lesser extent in other countries, in the early 20th century. It emphasized dynamism, speed, technology, youth, violence, and objects such ...
and
Dadaism Dada () or Dadaism was an art movement of the European avant-garde in the early 20th century, with early centres in Zürich, Switzerland, at the Cabaret Voltaire (in 1916). New York Dada began c. 1915, and after 1920 Dada flourished in Paris ...
provide aesthetic foundations on which new music can be created. Perhaps the composers and works that have been able to establish themselves as "classics of modernism" in the concert hall in the course of the last century and whose innovations have found their way into the canon of compositional techniques can best be understood under the heading of "new music": Thus, in addition to
Arnold Schoenberg Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (, ; ; 13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian-American composer, music theorist, teacher, writer, and painter. He is widely considered one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. He was as ...
and
Anton Webern Anton Friedrich Wilhelm von Webern (3 December 188315 September 1945), better known as Anton Webern (), was an Austrian composer and conductor whose music was among the most radical of its milieu in its sheer concision, even aphorism, and stea ...
,
Igor Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (6 April 1971) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, later of French (from 1934) and American (from 1945) citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of the ...
, Phillipp Jarnach,
Béla Bartók Béla Viktor János Bartók (; ; 25 March 1881 – 26 September 1945) was a Hungarian composer, pianist, and ethnomusicologist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century; he and Franz Liszt are regarded as H ...
and
Paul Hindemith Paul Hindemith (; 16 November 189528 December 1963) was a German composer, music theorist, teacher, violist and conductor. He founded the Amar Quartet in 1921, touring extensively in Europe. As a composer, he became a major advocate of the ''Ne ...
. The depiction and assessment of historical development on the basis of an assumed "rivalry" between Schoenberg and Stravinsky is a construct that can be traced back to
Theodor W. Adorno Theodor W. Adorno ( , ; born Theodor Ludwig Wiesengrund; 11 September 1903 – 6 August 1969) was a German philosopher, sociologist, psychologist, musicologist, and composer. He was a leading member of the Frankfurt School of criti ...
. The Second World War represents a clear caesura. Many of the early stylistic, formal and aesthetic experiments of New Music then pass into the canon of compositional tools taught from mid-century onwards and passed on to a younger generation of composers of (again) New Music. In this respect, the technical innovations of
sound recording Sound recording and reproduction is the electrical, mechanical, electronic, or digital inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording te ...
and
radio technology Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...
are also causally linked to New Music. First of all, they contributed significantly to the popularisation of music and also brought about a change in audience structure. Furthermore, they provided – for the first time in the history of music – an insight into the history of the interpretation of old and new music. They ultimately made possible the (technically reproduced) presence of all music. Moreover, this technique itself is a novelty, whose musical potential was systematically explored from the beginning and used by composers in corresponding compositional experiments.


Moderne (1900–1933)


Impressionism or: Debussy – Ravel – Dukas

''Impressionism'' is the transfer of the term from the visual arts to a music from about 1890 to the First World War in which tonal "atmosphere" dominates and colourful intrinsic value is emphasised. It differs from the late Romanticism that took place at the same time, with its heavy overloading, by Mediterranean lightness and agility (which does not exclude spooky or shadowy moods) and by avoiding complex counterpoint and excessive chromaticism in favour of sensitive tone colouring, especially in orchestral instrumentation. The centre of this movement is France, the main representatives being
Claude Debussy (Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influential composers of the ...
,
Maurice Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composers rejected the term. In ...
(who, however, also composed many works that cannot be described as impressionistic) and
Paul Dukas Paul Abraham Dukas ( or ; 1 October 1865 – 17 May 1935) was a French composer, critic, scholar and teacher. A studious man of retiring personality, he was intensely self-critical, having abandoned and destroyed many of his compositions. His b ...
. The moment of colour, freedom of form and a penchant for
exoticism Exoticism (from "exotic") is a trend in European art and design, whereby artists became fascinated with ideas and styles from distant regions and drew inspiration from them. This often involved surrounding foreign cultures with mystique and fantas ...
are what musical works have in common with those of painting. Through the Paris World's Fair of 1889, Claude Debussy learned the sound of Javanese
gamelan Gamelan () ( jv, ꦒꦩꦼꦭꦤ꧀, su, ᮌᮙᮨᮜᮔ᮪, ban, ᬕᬫᭂᬮᬦ᭄) is the traditional ensemble music of the Javanese, Sundanese, and Balinese peoples of Indonesia, made up predominantly of percussive instruments. T ...
ensembles, which strongly influenced him, as did the
chinoiserie (, ; loanword from French '' chinoiserie'', from '' chinois'', "Chinese"; ) is the European interpretation and imitation of Chinese and other East Asian artistic traditions, especially in the decorative arts, garden design, architecture, lite ...
of his time. In addition to the use of pentatonics (for example in ''Préludes I, Les collines d'Anacapri'') and whole-tone scales (for example in ''Préludes I, Voiles''), Debussy made use of the
salon music Salon music was a popular music genre in Europe during the 19th century. It was usually written for solo piano in the romantic style, and often performed by the composer at events known as "Salons". Salon compositions are usually fairly short and ...
of the time. (for example, ''Préludes I, Minstrels'') and harmonies borrowed from early
jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
music (as in ''
Children's Corner ''Children's Corner'', L. 113, is a six-movement suite for solo piano by Claude Debussy. It was published by Durand in 1908, and was first performed by Harold Bauer in Paris on 18 December that year. In 1911, an orchestration by André Caple ...
'' and '' Golliwogg's Cakewalk''). Like Ravel, Debussy loved the colour of Spanish dance music. The fact that some of Debussy's works, which satisfy the characteristics of Impressionism, can also be attributed to
Art nouveau Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...
,
Jugendstil ''Jugendstil'' ("Youth Style") was an artistic movement, particularly in the decorative arts, that was influential primarily in Germany and elsewhere in Europe to a lesser extent from about 1895 until about 1910. It was the German counterpart of ...
or Symbolism for good reasons only shows that the pictorial/literary parallels do bear some common stylistic features, but that no clear stylistic attribution can be derived from them. The characteristics of impressionist music are: * Melodic: coloured by pentatonic, church keys, whole tone scales and exotic scales; their core form is closely related to the chordal; often rambling, meandering, without a clear internal structure. * Harmonics: dissolution of the cadence as a structure-forming feature; concealment of tonality; transition to bitonality and polytonality. Change in attitude to dissonance: no more compulsion to resolve dissonant chords. Preference for altered chords; layering of chords (dominant and tonic at the same time) in thirds up to the undecimal; layering of fourths and fifths. * Rhythm: tendency to veil bars and even to abolish bar patterns; metre becomes unimportant, accents are set freely; frequent bar changes, frequent syncopations. * Instrumentation: differentiation of colour nuances; search for new sound effects with a preference for blending sounds; shimmering, iridescent, blurring sound surfaces with rich inner movement. Pointillism (setting of sound spots). Preference for harp. Differentiated pedal effects in piano music. In many cases,
Arnold Schönberg Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (, ; ; 13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian-American composer, music theorist, teacher, writer, and painter. He is widely considered one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. He was as ...
's idea of a timbre melody is already realised. * Form: Loosening up and abandoning traditional forms; no rigid formal schemes. Often repetition of a phrase two or more times. The works that have become famous are: * Debussy: ''
Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune ''Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune'' ( L. 86), known in English as ''Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun'', is a symphonic poem for orchestra by Claude Debussy, approximately 10 minutes in duration. It was composed in 1894 and first performed ...
'' for orchestra (1892–94) * Debussy: '' Pelléas et Mélisande'', lyric drama in five acts and twelve pictures with orchestra after a text by
Maurice Maeterlinck Maurice Polydore Marie Bernard Maeterlinck (29 August 1862 – 6 May 1949), also known as Count (or Comte) Maeterlinck from 1932, was a Belgian playwright, poet, and essayist who was Flemish but wrote in French. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in ...
(1893–1902) * Dukas: ''L'Apprenti sorcier'' (
The Sorcerer's Apprentice "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" (german: "Der Zauberlehrling", link=no, italic=no) is a poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe written in 1797. The poem is a ballad in 14 stanzas. Story The poem begins as an old magician (fantasy), sorcerer departs his ...
) for orchestra (1897) * Ravel: ''
Pavane pour une infante défunte ''Pavane pour une infante défunte'' (''Pavane for a Dead Princess'') is a work for solo piano by Maurice Ravel, written in 1899 while the French composer was studying at the Conservatoire de Paris under Gabriel Fauré. Ravel published an orche ...
'' (for piano 1899; orchestral version 1910) * Ravel: ''
Jeux d'eau ''Jeux d'eau'' (Italian ''giochi d'acqua'') or "water games", is an umbrella term in the history of gardens for the water features that were introduced into mid-16th century Mannerist Italian gardens. History Pools and fountains had been a f ...
'' for piano (1901) * Debussy: ''Pour le piano'' (1901–02) * Debussy: '' La Mer'' for orchestra (1903–05) * Ravel: ''Daphnis et Chloé'', ballet music for orchestra (1909–1912) * Debussy: '' Préludes – Livre I'' (1909–10) and '' Préludes – Livre II'' for piano (1910–12)


Vienna School or Schönberg – Webern – Berg

The so-called ''Viennese School'', considered as such since 1904 and more rarely called the ''Second'' or ''New Viennese School'' or ''Viennese Atonal School'', refers to the circle of Viennese composers with
Arnold Schönberg Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (, ; ; 13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian-American composer, music theorist, teacher, writer, and painter. He is widely considered one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. He was as ...
and his pupils
Anton Webern Anton Friedrich Wilhelm von Webern (3 December 188315 September 1945), better known as Anton Webern (), was an Austrian composer and conductor whose music was among the most radical of its milieu in its sheer concision, even aphorism, and stea ...
and
Alban Berg Alban Maria Johannes Berg ( , ; 9 February 1885 – 24 December 1935) was an Austrian composer of the Second Viennese School. His compositional style combined Romantic lyricism with the twelve-tone technique. Although he left a relatively sma ...
as its centre. Due to Schönberg's strong appeal as a teacher, who attracted students from many countries, and due to his teaching activities in changing cities, the term transferred from the designation of a 'school' to the style that this school produced. The term is narrowly applied mostly to compositions worked in twelve-tone technique. The composers of the ''Viennese School'' were, although not exclusively, stylistically influential for the ''Late Romanticism'' with the main work ''Verklärte Nacht Op. 4'', a string sextet by Schönberg from 1899. Alongside this is Webern's ''Piano Quintet'' (1907), which, however, did not have any impact, as it was not published until 1953. Alban Berg's "Jugendlieder" also belong to this corpus.. The school had a style-defining effect on so-called musical ''expressionism'', which was joined by some – mostly early – works by other composers. Under the keyword ''atonality'', which refers less to a style than to a compositional technique subsequently designated as such, the ''Viennese School'' is "leading the way". The compositional development then leads on to the ''twelve-tone technique'', which also designates a compositional technique and not a style. It should not be overlooked that Schoenberg and Berg also developed a number of intersections with ''neoclassicism'' – mainly on the level of form and less in terms of composition and adopted stylistic elements.


= Expressionism

= Expressionism in music was developed in direct contact with the currents of the same name in the visual arts (''Die Brücke'', Dresden 1905; ''Der Blaue Reiter'', Munich 1909; Galerie ''Der Sturm'', Berlin 1910) and literature (Trakl, Heym, Stramm, Benn, Wildgans, Wedekind, Toller and others) from around 1906. As a style, it was completed around 1925, but the musical characteristics and many of the expressive gestures have endured to the present day. The main representatives are the composers of the Second Viennese School:
Arnold Schönberg Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (, ; ; 13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian-American composer, music theorist, teacher, writer, and painter. He is widely considered one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. He was as ...
,
Anton Webern Anton Friedrich Wilhelm von Webern (3 December 188315 September 1945), better known as Anton Webern (), was an Austrian composer and conductor whose music was among the most radical of its milieu in its sheer concision, even aphorism, and stea ...
and
Alban Berg Alban Maria Johannes Berg ( , ; 9 February 1885 – 24 December 1935) was an Austrian composer of the Second Viennese School. His compositional style combined Romantic lyricism with the twelve-tone technique. Although he left a relatively sma ...
as well as, against a different background of the history of ideas,
Alexander Scriabin Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin (; russian: Александр Николаевич Скрябин ; – ) was a Russian composer and virtuoso pianist. Before 1903, Scriabin was greatly influenced by the music of Frédéric Chopin and composed ...
. Composers have sought a subjective immediacy of expression, drawn as directly as possible from the human soul. To achieve this, a break with tradition, with traditional aesthetics and the previous, hackneyed forms of expression was unavoidable. Stylistically, the changed function of dissonances is particularly striking; they appear on an equal footing with consonances and are no longer resolved – what was also called the "emancipation of dissonance". The
tonal system The tonal system is a base 16 system of notation (predating the widespread use of hexadecimal in computing), arithmetic, and metrology proposed in 1859 by John W. Nystrom.Nystrom, John W.''Project of a New System of Arithmetic, Weight, Measur ...
is largely dissolved and expanded into
atonality Atonality in its broadest sense is music that lacks a tonal center, or key. ''Atonality'', in this sense, usually describes compositions written from about the early 20th-century to the present day, where a hierarchy of harmonies focusing on a s ...
. Musical characteristics include: extreme pitches, extreme
dynamic Dynamics (from Greek δυναμικός ''dynamikos'' "powerful", from δύναμις ''dynamis'' "power") or dynamic may refer to: Physics and engineering * Dynamics (mechanics) ** Aerodynamics, the study of the motion of air ** Analytical dyna ...
contrasts (from whispering to screaming, from ''pppp'' to ''ffff''), jagged
melody A melody (from Greek language, Greek μελῳδία, ''melōidía'', "singing, chanting"), also tune, voice or line, is a Linearity#Music, linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most liter ...
lines with wide leaps; metrically unbound, free rhythm and novel
instrumentation Instrumentation a collective term for measuring instruments that are used for indicating, measuring and recording physical quantities. The term has its origins in the art and science of scientific instrument-making. Instrumentation can refer to ...
. Form: asymmetrical period structure; rapid succession of contrasting moments; often very short "aphoristic" pieces. Rudolf Stephan: "Expressionist art, wherever and in whatever form it first appeared, was alienated, fiercely rejected and publicly opposed, but also enthusiastically welcomed by individuals. It had abandoned the traditional ideal of art being 'beautiful' in favour of a (claimed) claim to truth; it was probably not infrequently even deliberately 'ugly'. It was thus the first deliberate 'no-longer-beautiful art'." Main works: * Scriabin: ''
The Poem of Ecstasy ''The Poem of Ecstasy'' (''Le Poème de l'extase''), Op. 54, is a symphonic poem by Russian composer and pianist Alexander Scriabin written between 1905 and 1908,From the essay by Bernard Jacobson (1991) in the booklet accompanying the recording is ...
op. 54'' for orchestra (1905–1908) * Webern: ''Five movements for string quartet op. 5'' (1909) * Webern: ''Six Pieces for Large Orchestra Op. 6'' (1909) * Schoenberg: ''Three Piano Pieces op. 11'' (1909) * Schönberg: ''Five orchestral pieces op. 16'' (1909, revised 1922) * Schönberg: ''
Erwartung ' (''Expectation''), Opus number, Op. 17, is a one-act monodrama in four scenes by Arnold Schoenberg to a libretto by . Composed in 1909, it was not premiered until 6 June 1924 in Prague conducted by Alexander von Zemlinsky, Alexander Zemlinsky wi ...
op. 17'', monodrama (1909, not performed until 1924) * Schoenberg: ''
Sechs kleine Klavierstücke ', Op. 19 (''Six Little Piano Pieces'') is a set of pieces for solo piano written by the Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg, published in 1913 at Universal Edition in Vienna. History After having written large, dense works such as '' Pelleas ...
op. 19'' (1911) * Webern: ''
Five Pieces for Orchestra The ''Five Pieces for Orchestra'' (''Fünf Orchesterstücke''), Op. 16, were composed by Arnold Schoenberg in 1909, and first performed in London in 1912. The titles of the pieces, reluctantly added by the composer after the work's completion upo ...
op. 10'' (1911) * Schoenberg: ''
Pierrot Lunaire ''Dreimal sieben Gedichte aus Albert Girauds "Pierrot lunaire"'' ("Three times Seven Poems from Albert Giraud's 'Pierrot lunaire), commonly known simply as ''Pierrot lunaire'', Op. 21 ("Moonstruck Pierrot" or "Pierrot in the Moonlight"), is a m ...
op. 21'' for one speaking voice and ensemble (1912) * Berg: ''Five orchestral songs after poems by Peter Altenberg op. 4'' (1912) * Stravinsky: ''
The Rite of Spring ''The Rite of Spring''. Full name: ''The Rite of Spring: Pictures from Pagan Russia in Two Parts'' (french: Le Sacre du printemps: tableaux de la Russie païenne en deux parties) (french: Le Sacre du printemps, link=no) is a ballet and orchestral ...
'' (1913) * Berg: ''Three orchestral pieces op. 6'' (1914) * Scriabin: ''Vers la flamme, poème op. 72'' for piano (1914) * Webern: ''Songs for voice and ensembles opp. 14–18'' (1917–1925) * Berg: ''
Wozzeck ''Wozzeck'' () is the first opera by the Austrian composer Alban Berg. It was composed between 1914 and 1922 and first performed in 1925. The opera is based on the drama ''Woyzeck'', which the German playwright Georg Büchner left incomplete at h ...
op. 7'', opera (1917–1922, first performance 1925) * Bartók: ''
The Miraculous Mandarin ''The Miraculous Mandarin'' ( hu, A csodálatos mandarin, translit= ˈt͡ʃodaːlɒtoʃ}, ; german: Der wunderbare Mandarin) Op. 19, Sz. 73 (BB 82), is a one act pantomime ballet composed by Béla Bartók between 1918 and 1924, and based on the ...
'' for orchestra (1918–1923, rev. 1924 and 1926–31)


= Atonality

= The term "atonal" appeared in music theory literature around 1900 and from there migrated into music journalistic usage – usually used in a negative, combative manner. It is usually used to describe music with a harmony that does not establish any binding keys or references to a fundamental, i.e. to
tonality Tonality is the arrangement of pitches and/or chords of a musical work in a hierarchy of perceived relations, stabilities, attractions and directionality. In this hierarchy, the single pitch or triadic chord with the greatest stability is call ...
. "Atonality", although often used in this way, is not a stylistic term, but belongs to the field of compositional techniques; the works written atonally belong predominantly to ''expressionism''. In addition to the main works mentioned there, the following were important, especially for the transitional phase from extended tonality to atonality: * Schoenberg: '' Chamber Symphony No. 1 op. 9'' (1906). * Schoenberg: ''String Quartet No. 2 op. 10'' (1907–08), still in the key of F-sharp minor, but already freitonal, especially in the two vocal movements (soprano) "Litanei" and "Entrückung". * Schoenberg: ''Das Buch der hängenden Gärten op. 15'', 15 poems by Stefan George for one voice and piano. (1908–1909)


Rupture through fascism or: The Second World War

During the
National Socialist Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...
era, most forms of ''new music'', as well as
jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
music, were designated as ''degenerate'' and their performance and dissemination banned or suppressed. The exhibition ''
degenerate music Degenerate music (german: Entartete Musik, link=no, ) was a label applied in the 1930s by the government of Nazi Germany to certain forms of music that it considered harmful or decadent. The Nazi government's concerns about degenerate music were a ...
'' on the occasion of the Reichsmusiktage in Düsseldorf in 1938 denounced the work of composers such as Paul Hindemith, Arnold Schönberg, Alban Berg,
Kurt Weill Kurt Julian Weill (March 2, 1900April 3, 1950) was a German-born American composer active from the 1920s in his native country, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for his fru ...
and others, as well as all Jewish composers. Instead, in the spirit of the "NS-Kulturpolitik", harmless untertainment and
Gebrauchsmusik () is a German term, meaning "utility music", for music that exists not only for its own sake, but which was composed for some specific, identifiable purpose. This purpose can be a particular historical event, like a political rally or a militar ...
such as
operetta Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs, and dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, length of the work, and at face value, subject matter. Apart from its s ...
,
dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...
and
March music A march, as a musical genre, is a piece of music with a strong regular rhythm which in origin was expressly written for marching to and most frequently performed by a military band. In mood, marches range from the moving death march in Wagner's ...
, especially also
Folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...
, were promoted and included in the propaganda. Numerous composers and musicians were persecuted or murdered by the National Socialists, often because of their Jewish origins. Many went into exile. Those who remained in Germany were partly attributed an "inner exile". An important source on the position of New Music during the National Socialist era was the annotated reconstruction of the above-mentioned exhibition ''
Degenerate Music Degenerate music (german: Entartete Musik, link=no, ) was a label applied in the 1930s by the government of Nazi Germany to certain forms of music that it considered harmful or decadent. The Nazi government's concerns about degenerate music were a ...
'', which was first shown in Frankfurt from 1988 onwards, thus gradually beginning a reappraisal of this topic.see: Albrecht Dümling, Peter Girth (ed.): ''Entartete Musik. Dokumentation und Kommentar zur Düsseldorfer Ausstellung von 1938'', Düsseldorf: der kleine verlag, 1st/2nd edition 1988, 3rd revised and expanded edition 1993 .


Institutionalisation and the new musical beginning after 1945

The harsh rejection of New Music by concert audiences, which has gone down in history in a series of spectacular premiere scandals, has significantly promoted the literary discussion of New Music. Thus, first of all, the critics of the relevant journals took up their positions, but composers also found themselves increasingly called upon to comment on their creations or to take up the cause of their colleagues' works. Parallel to this, an increasingly extensive body of musical literature emerged that also sought to describe the philosophical, sociological and historical dimensions of New Music. Another subsequent phenomenon was the creation of specialised forums for the performance of New Music. Schönberg's "
Society for Private Musical Performances The Society for Private Musical Performances (in German, the ) was an organization founded in Vienna in the Autumn of 1918 by Arnold Schoenberg with the intention of making carefully rehearsed and comprehensible performances of newly composed mus ...
" (1918) is an early consistent step, which, however, slowly removes "Neue Musik" from the field of vision of the (quantitatively large) concert audience and turns it into a matter of specialists for specialists. The establishment of regular concert events, such as the
Donaueschingen Festival The Donaueschingen Festival (german: Donaueschinger Musiktage, links=no) is a festival for new music that takes place every October in the small town of Donaueschingen in south-western Germany. Founded in 1921, it is considered the oldest festiva ...
and the founding of
Internationale Gesellschaft für Neue Musik The International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM) is a music organization that promotes contemporary classical music. The organization was established in Salzburg in 1922 as Internationale Gesellschaft für Neue Musik (IGNM) following th ...
are a further reaction to the significantly changed sociological situation in which composers of New Music and their audiences found themselves. The caesura in the development of New Music brought about by the catastrophe of the Second World War is attempted to be compensated for by the progressive institutionalisation of musical life after 1945. The conscious new beginnings of the reopened or newly founded music academies attempted to pick up the thread of the interrupted development. The founding of the public broadcasting companies gave composers a new forum for their works, and the awarding of composition commissions additionally stimulated their production. After the end of the Second World War, the '' Kranichsteiner Ferienkurse für Neue Musik'', organised every two years by the , became the most influential international event for new music in Germany. The dominant compositional techniques there were those of
serialism In music, serialism is a method of Musical composition, composition using series of pitches, rhythms, dynamics, timbres or other elements of music, musical elements. Serialism began primarily with Arnold Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique, thou ...
. Anton Webern became the leading figure.
Olivier Messiaen Olivier Eugène Prosper Charles Messiaen (, ; ; 10 December 1908 – 27 April 1992) was a French composer, organist, and ornithologist who was one of the major composers of the 20th century. His music is rhythmically complex; harmonically ...
, who uses in his works among others musical techniques of non-European musical cultures, but also methods of serial music, is the teacher of some of the composers who cause the most sensation there. Among them are: *
Pierre Boulez Pierre Louis Joseph Boulez (; 26 March 1925 – 5 January 2016) was a French composer, conductor and writer, and the founder of several musical institutions. He was one of the dominant figures of post-war Western classical music. Born in Mont ...
(also working as a conductor of "Neue Musik") * Karlheinz Stockhausen (among others composer of
electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...
and active at the
Studio for Electronic Music (WDR) The Studio for Electronic Music of the West German Radio (German: ) was a facility of the Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR) in Cologne. It was the first of its kind in the world, and its history reflects the development of electronic music in the second ...
in Cologne) *
Luciano Berio Luciano Berio (24 October 1925 – 27 May 2003) was an Italian composer noted for his experimental work (in particular his 1968 composition ''Sinfonia'' and his series of virtuosic solo pieces titled ''Sequenza''), and for his pioneering work ...
*
Mauricio Kagel Mauricio Raúl Kagel (; 24 December 1931 – 18 September 2008) was an Argentine-German composer. Biography Kagel was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, into an Ashkenazi Jewish family that had fled from Russia in the 1920s . He studied music, his ...
(experimental music theatre) *
Iannis Xenakis Giannis Klearchou Xenakis (also spelled for professional purposes as Yannis or Iannis Xenakis; el, Γιάννης "Ιωάννης" Κλέαρχου Ξενάκης, ; 29 May 1922 – 4 February 2001) was a Romanian-born Greek-French avant-garde ...
(Important in this context are also the Institute for New Music and Music Education (INMM) Darmstadt with its annual spring conference and the Darmstadt International Music Institute (IMD), which has an extensive archive of rare recordings, especially of earlier events of the ''International Summer Courses for New Music''. The recordings are available on various media; since at least 1986 also on digital media). While in the pre-war period the main impulses for the development of New Music came from Central Europe, primarily from the German-speaking countries, and other avant-gardists, for example Charles Ives in the US, received little attention, the development now became increasingly international. Traditionally strong musical countries such as France (with Olivier Messiaen, Pierre Boulez and Iannis Xenakis), Italy (
Luciano Berio Luciano Berio (24 October 1925 – 27 May 2003) was an Italian composer noted for his experimental work (in particular his 1968 composition ''Sinfonia'' and his series of virtuosic solo pieces titled ''Sequenza''), and for his pioneering work ...
,
Luigi Nono Luigi Nono (; 29 January 1924 – 8 May 1990) was an Italian avant-garde composer of classical music. Biography Early years Nono, born in Venice, was a member of a wealthy artistic family; his grandfather was a notable painter. Nono beg ...
) made important contributions, others such as Poland (
Witold Lutosławski Witold Roman Lutosławski (; 25 January 1913 – 7 February 1994) was a Polish composer and conductor. Among the major composers of 20th-century classical music, he is "generally regarded as the most significant Polish composer since Szyman ...
,
Krzysztof Penderecki Krzysztof Eugeniusz Penderecki (; 23 November 1933 – 29 March 2020) was a Polish composer and conductor. His best known works include ''Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima'', Symphony No. 3, his '' St Luke Passion'', ''Polish Requiem'', ''A ...
) or Switzerland with
Heinz Holliger Heinz Robert Holliger (born 21 May 1939) is a Swiss virtuoso oboist, composer and conductor. Celebrated for his versatility and technique, Holliger is among the most prominent oboists of his generation. His repertoire includes Baroque and Classic ...
and Jacques Wildberger joined in. In the US, the circle around
John Cage John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American composer and music theorist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading fi ...
and
Morton Feldman Morton Feldman (January 12, 1926 – September 3, 1987) was an American composer. A major figure in 20th-century classical music, Feldman was a pioneer of indeterminate music, a development associated with the experimental New York School ...
was significant for Europe. It was not atypical for post-war developments in Germany that the emigrated musicians could contribute little, but rather that the "new generation" (especially
Karlheinz Stockhausen Karlheinz Stockhausen (; 22 August 1928 – 5 December 2007) was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. He is known for his groun ...
) became influential – with considerable support for example from France: as a teacher of Stockhausen and Boulez, Messiaen was a regular guest at the International Summer Courses in Darmstadt. In this sense, music may even have helped in the post-war peace process. Last but not least, some important representatives of New Music found their way from elsewhere to their places of work in Germany, such as
György Ligeti György Sándor Ligeti (; ; 28 May 1923 – 12 June 2006) was a Hungarian-Austrian composer of contemporary classical music. He has been described as "one of the most important avant-garde composers in the latter half of the twentieth century" ...
from Hungary,
Isang Yun Isang Yun, also spelled Yun I-sang (17 September 1917 – 3 November 1995), was a Korean-born composer who made his later career in West Germany. Early life and education Yun was born in Sancheong (Sansei), Korea under Japanese rule, Chōsen ...
from Korea and
Mauricio Kagel Mauricio Raúl Kagel (; 24 December 1931 – 18 September 2008) was an Argentine-German composer. Biography Kagel was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, into an Ashkenazi Jewish family that had fled from Russia in the 1920s . He studied music, his ...
from Argentina. The most important (albeit controversial) theoretician of New Music in the German-speaking world is
Theodor W. Adorno Theodor W. Adorno ( , ; born Theodor Ludwig Wiesengrund; 11 September 1903 – 6 August 1969) was a German philosopher, sociologist, psychologist, musicologist, and composer. He was a leading member of the Frankfurt School of criti ...
(1903–1969), a student of Alban Berg. In his ''Philosophy of New Music'', published in 1949, Adorno argues in favour of Schoenberg's
atonal Atonality in its broadest sense is music that lacks a tonal center, or key. ''Atonality'', in this sense, usually describes compositions written from about the early 20th-century to the present day, where a hierarchy of harmonies focusing on a ...
compositional style and contrasts it with Stravinsky's neoclassical style, which was seen as a relapse into already outdated compositional techniques. For Adorno, the atonal revolution around 1910 by Schönberg meant the liberation of music from the constraints of tonality and thus the unhindered development of musical expression qua free atonality with the full impulse life of the sounds. In the German-speaking world, Adorno's thinking was then taken up by others
Heinz-Klaus Metzger Heinz-Klaus Metzger (6 February 1932 – 25 October 2009) was a German music critic and theorist. Born in Konstanz, Metzger studied piano under Carl Seemann in Freiburg im Breisgau and composition under Max Deutsch in Paris. Later, he met Theod ...
. The first turning point was the period around 1950, when the critic Karl Schumann summed up that the
economic miracle Economic miracle is an informal economic term for a period of dramatic economic development that is entirely unexpected or unexpectedly strong. Economic miracles have occurred in the recent histories of a number of countries, often those undergoing ...
had also led to a "cultural miracle". From the 1950s onwards, various developments took place, among others: *
Aleatoric music Aleatoric music (also aleatory music or chance music; from the Latin word ''alea'', meaning "dice") is music in which some element of the composition is left to chance, and/or some primary element of a composed work's realization is left to the ...
(''dice coincidence''):
John Cage John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American composer and music theorist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading fi ...
,
Earle Brown Earle Brown (December 26, 1926 – July 2, 2002) was an American composer who established his own formal and notational systems. Brown was the creator of "open form," a style of musical construction that has influenced many composers since� ...
, "moderate aleatoricism":
Witold Lutosławski Witold Roman Lutosławski (; 25 January 1913 – 7 February 1994) was a Polish composer and conductor. Among the major composers of 20th-century classical music, he is "generally regarded as the most significant Polish composer since Szyman ...
*
Neo-Dada Neo-Dada was a movement with audio, visual and literary manifestations that had similarities in method or intent with earlier Dada artwork. It sought to close the gap between art and daily life, and was a combination of playfulness, iconoclasm, a ...
(from about 1968) * Expansion of traditional playing techniques:
Helmut Lachenmann Helmut Friedrich Lachenmann (born 27 November 1935) is a German composer of contemporary classical music. His work has been associated with "instrumental musique concrète". Life and works Lachenmann was born in Stuttgart and after the end of ...
,
Friedrich Goldmann Friedrich Goldmann (27 April 1941 – 24 July 2009) was a German composer and conductor. Life Born on 27 April 1941 in Siegmar-Schönau (since July 1951 incorporated into Chemnitz), Goldmann's music education began in 1951 when he joined the Dr ...
and the young
Krzysztof Penderecki Krzysztof Eugeniusz Penderecki (; 23 November 1933 – 29 March 2020) was a Polish composer and conductor. His best known works include ''Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima'', Symphony No. 3, his '' St Luke Passion'', ''Polish Requiem'', ''A ...
*
micropolyphony Micropolyphony is a kind of polyphonic musical texture developed by György Ligeti which consists of many lines of dense canons moving at different tempos or rhythms, thus resulting in tone clusters vertically. According to David Cope, "micropol ...
, timbre music:
György Ligeti György Sándor Ligeti (; ; 28 May 1923 – 12 June 2006) was a Hungarian-Austrian composer of contemporary classical music. He has been described as "one of the most important avant-garde composers in the latter half of the twentieth century" ...
, * Polystylistic, collage:
Bernd Alois Zimmermann Bernd Alois Zimmermann (20 March 1918 – 10 August 1970) was a German composer. He is perhaps best known for his opera ''Die Soldaten'', which is regarded as one of the most important German operas of the 20th century, after those of Berg. As a ...
,
Alfred Schnittke Alfred Garrievich Schnittke (russian: Альфре́д Га́рриевич Шни́тке, link=no, Alfred Garriyevich Shnitke; 24 November 1934 – 3 August 1998) was a Russian composer of Jewish-German descent. Among the most performed and re ...
, the Sinfonia of
Luciano Berio Luciano Berio (24 October 1925 – 27 May 2003) was an Italian composer noted for his experimental work (in particular his 1968 composition ''Sinfonia'' and his series of virtuosic solo pieces titled ''Sequenza''), and for his pioneering work ...
. *
Minimal music Minimal music (also called minimalism)"Minimalism in music has been defined as an aesthetic, a style, and a technique, each of which has been a suitable description of the term at certain points in the development of minimal music. However, two o ...
in America: among others.
Terry Riley Terrence Mitchell "Terry" Riley (born June 24, 1935) is an American composer and performing musician best known as a pioneer of the minimalist school of composition. Influenced by jazz and Indian classical music, his music became notable for it ...
;
Steve Reich Stephen Michael Reich ( ; born October 3, 1936) is an American composer known for his contribution to the development of minimal music in the mid to late 1960s. Reich's work is marked by its use of repetitive figures, slow harmonic rhythm, a ...
,
Philip Glass Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimal music, minimalism, being built up fr ...
,
John Adams John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Befor ...
. * Low-event, meditative and single-sound-oriented music, also mainly in the USA, close in thought to minimal music, but using other compositional principles (no pattern formation):
Morton Feldman Morton Feldman (January 12, 1926 – September 3, 1987) was an American composer. A major figure in 20th-century classical music, Feldman was a pioneer of indeterminate music, a development associated with the experimental New York School ...
,
George Crumb George Henry Crumb Jr. (24 October 1929 – 6 February 2022) was an American composer of avant-garde contemporary classical music. Early in his life he rejected the widespread modernist usage of serialism, developing a highly personal musical ...
, in Germany
Peter Michael Hamel Peter Michael Hamel (born 15 July 1947 in Munich) is a German composer. His works have been associated with the minimalist style of composition, and in the late 1970s with the New Simplicity movement. He is the son of the film director Peter ...
and
Walter Zimmermann Walter Zimmermann (born 15 April 1949) is a German composer associated with the Cologne School. Born in Schwabach, Germany, Zimmermann studied composition in Germany with Werner Heider and Mauricio Kagel, the theory of musical intelligence at ...
. * in Germany:
New Simplicity New Simplicity (in German, ''Neue Einfachheit'') was a stylistic tendency amongst some of the younger generation of German composers in the late 1970s and early 1980s, reacting against not only the European avant garde of the 1950s and 1960s, but al ...
; among its representatives are.
Hans-Jürgen von Bose Hans-Jürgen von Bose (born 24 December 1953 in Munich) is a German composer. Life After an unsettled adolescence, Bose entered the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt in 1969, where he received instruction in piano and music theory. Upon graduati ...
, Peter Michael Hamel,
Wolfgang Rihm Wolfgang Rihm (born 13 March 1952) is a German composer and academic teacher. He is musical director of the Institute of New Music and Media at the University of Music Karlsruhe and has been composer in residence at the Lucerne Festival and the Sa ...
,
Manfred Trojahn Manfred Trojahn (born 22 October 1949) is a German composer, flautist, conductor and writer. Career Trojahn was born Cremlingen in Lower Saxony and began his musical studies in 1966 in orchestra music at the music school of Braunschweig. After gra ...
,
Detlev Müller-Siemens Detlev Müller-Siemens (born 30 July 1957) is a German composer and conductor. Life and career Born in Hamburg, Müller-Siemens began with piano lessons at age six and began composing. He was invited to a composition class at the Musikhochschul ...
* New complexity : continuation of serial and constructive procedures; often emphasis on the performative. Main representatives:
Brian Ferneyhough Brian John Peter Ferneyhough (; born 16 January 1943) is an English composer. Ferneyhough is typically considered the central figure of the New Complexity movement. Ferneyhough has taught composition at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg and ...
as well as his student
Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf (born 22 October 1962) is a German composer, editor and author. Career Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf was born in Mannheim, Germany, and studied composition with Brian Ferneyhough, Klaus Huber and Emanuel Nunes and music theory ...
*
Spectral music Spectral music uses the acoustic properties of sound – or sound spectra – as a basis for composition. Definition Defined in technical language, spectral music is an acoustic musical practice where compositional decisions are often inform ...
, especially in France:
harmony In music, harmony is the process by which individual sounds are joined together or composed into whole units or compositions. Often, the term harmony refers to simultaneously occurring frequencies, pitches ( tones, notes), or chords. However ...
and
melody A melody (from Greek language, Greek μελῳδία, ''melōidía'', "singing, chanting"), also tune, voice or line, is a Linearity#Music, linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most liter ...
are derived from the
acoustics Acoustics is a branch of physics that deals with the study of mechanical waves in gases, liquids, and solids including topics such as vibration, sound, ultrasound and infrasound. A scientist who works in the field of acoustics is an acoustician ...
Gérard Grisey was the initiator, and
Tristan Murail Tristan Murail (born 11 March 1947) is a French composer associated with the "spectral" technique of composition. Among his compositions is the large orchestral work ''Gondwana''. Early life and studies Murail was born in Le Havre, France. His fa ...
is a main representative and repeatedly cited model. Another important representative of spectral music is the Austrian Georg Friedrich Haas. * Conceptual music:
Peter Ablinger Peter Ablinger (born 15 March 1959) is an Austrian composer. Ablinger was born in 1959 in Schwanenstadt in Upper Austria. He attended the graphic HTL Linz and studied jazz piano from 1977 to 1982 in Graz. He also studied composition with Gösta ...
, Antoine Beuger,
Johannes Kreidler Johannes Kreidler (born 1980) is a German composer, performer, conceptual and media artist. He is the principal theorist and exponent of the New Conceptualism movement in 21st-century music. Career Johannes Kreidler was born in Esslingen, Ge ...
, Hannes Seidl, Martin Schüttler, Trond Reinholdtsen, Anton Wassiljew. *
Electroacoustic music Electroacoustic music is a genre of popular and Western art music in which composers use technology to manipulate the timbres of acoustic sounds, sometimes by using audio signal processing, such as reverb or harmonizing, on acoustical instrumen ...
: collective term for various conceptions of electronic sound production or transformation: :*
Electronic Music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...
: music composed with synthetically generated sounds that originated in Cologne and initially emanated from
Serialism In music, serialism is a method of Musical composition, composition using series of pitches, rhythms, dynamics, timbres or other elements of music, musical elements. Serialism began primarily with Arnold Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique, thou ...
. Its pioneers include
Herbert Eimert Herbert Eimert (8 April 1897 – 15 December 1972) was a German music theorist, musicologist, journalist, music critic, editor, radio producer, and composer. Education Herbert Eimert was born in Bad Kreuznach. He studied music theory and compo ...
,
Karlheinz Stockhausen Karlheinz Stockhausen (; 22 August 1928 – 5 December 2007) was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. He is known for his groun ...
and
Gottfried Michael Koenig Gottfried Michael Koenig (5 October 1926 – 30 December 2021)"In Memoriam Got ...
. *
Musique concrète Musique concrète (; ): " problem for any translator of an academic work in French is that the language is relatively abstract and theoretical compared to English; one might even say that the mode of thinking itself tends to be more schematic, ...
: Electronic transformation of recorded sounds or noises, representatives include.
Pierre Schaeffer Pierre Henri Marie Schaeffer (English pronunciation: , ; 14 August 1910 – 19 August 1995) was a French composer, writer, broadcaster, engineer, musicologist, acoustician and founder of Groupe de Recherche de Musique Concrète (GRMC). His innov ...
, Pierre Henry,
Luc Ferrari Luc Ferrari (February 5, 1929 – August 22, 2005) was a French composer of Italian heritage and a pioneer in musique concrète and electroacoustic music. He was a founding member of RTF's Groupe de Recherches Musicales (GRMC), working alongsid ...
and
Michel Chion Michel Chion (born 1947) is a French film theorist and composer of experimental music. Life Born in Creil, France, Chion teaches at several institutions in France and currently holds the post of Associate Professor at the University of Paris III ...
:*
Acousmatic music Acousmatic music (from Greek ἄκουσμα ''akousma'', "a thing heard") is a form of electroacoustic music that is specifically ''composed'' for presentation using speakers, as opposed to a live performance. It stems from a compositional trad ...
: Music produced electronically in the form of sound objects whose means of sound production are not identifiable. The term became widespread mainly through
François Bayle François Bayle (born 27 April 1932, in Toamasina, Madagascar) is a composer of Electronic Music, Musique concrète. He coined the term ''Acousmatic Music''. Career In the 1950s he studied with Olivier Messiaen, Pierre Schaeffer and Karlheinz S ...
and
Francis Dhomont Francis Dhomont (born 2 November 1926) is a French composer of electroacoustic / acousmatic music. Biography Born in Paris, Dhomont studied composition under Ginette Waldmeier, Charles Koechlin and Nadia Boulanger. In 1963 he decided to dedic ...
. :*
Algorithmic composition Algorithmic composition is the technique of using algorithms to create music. Algorithms (or, at the very least, formal sets of rules) have been used to compose music for centuries; the procedures used to plot voice-leading in Western counterpoin ...
: composition using computer-generated structures –
Jean-Claude Risset Jean-Claude Raoul Olivier Risset (; 13 March 1938 – 21 November 2016) was a French composer, best known for his pioneering contributions to computer music. He was a former student of André Jolivet and former co-worker of Max Mathews at Bell L ...
,
Orm Finnendahl Orm Finnendahl (born in 1963) is a German composer. Life Born in Düsseldorf, von 1983 bis 1990 Finnendahl studied music composition and musicology with Frank Michael Beyer, Carl Dahlhaus and Gösta Neuwirth in Berlin. He then studied from 1 ...
,
Hanspeter Kyburz Hanspeter Kyburz (born 8 July 1960) is a contemporary Swiss composer of classical music, known for applying electronic music techniques to his productions. Career Kyburz was born in Lagos, Nigeria to Swiss parents. In 1980, he began studying m ...
,
Enno Poppe Enno Poppe (born 30 December 1969 in Hemer, North Rhine-Westphalia) is a German composer and conductor of classical music, and an academic teacher. Career Enno Poppe studied composition and conducting at the Hochschule der Künste Berlin with ...
. Among the pioneers of this field are the o. g. Gottfried Michael Koenig and Iannis Xenakis. Another dimension in the case of some composers is the addition of an ideological or political (as a rule, "left-wing") orientation, which is particularly noticeable in vocal compositions. The quasi father of the idea is
Hanns Eisler Hanns Eisler (6 July 1898 – 6 September 1962) was an Austrian composer (his father was Austrian, and Eisler fought in a Hungarian regiment in World War I). He is best known for composing the national anthem of East Germany, for his long artisti ...
, later Luigi Nono,
Hans Werner Henze Hans Werner Henze (1 July 1926 – 27 October 2012) was a German composer. His large oeuvre of works is extremely varied in style, having been influenced by serialism, atonality, Stravinsky, Italian music, Arabic music and jazz, as well as t ...
, Rolf Riehm, Helmut Lachenmann,
Nicolaus A. Huber Nicolaus A. Huber (born 15 December 1939) is a German composer. Education Huber was born in Passau. From 1958 to 1962 he studied music education at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München and subsequently composition with Franz Xaver Lehn ...
and
Mathias Spahlinger Mathias Spahlinger (born 15 October 1944 in Frankfurt) is a German composer. His work takes place in a field of tension between the most diverse musical influences and styles: between Renaissance music and Jazz, between musique concrète and Web ...
. Especially from the 1970s onwards, a trend towards individualisation sets in, in particular a definitive detachment from serial composing. In the music of our time, one can therefore speak of a stylistic pluralism. In György Ligeti's music for example, musical influences from different cultures and times can be observed. The Italian improviser and composer
Giacinto Scelsi Giacinto Francesco Maria Scelsi (; 8 January 1905 – 9 August 1988, sometimes cited as 8 August 1988) was an Italian composer who also wrote surrealist poetry in French. He is best known for having composed music based around only one pitch, ...
, the Englishman
Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji (born Leon Dudley Sorabji; 14 August 1892 – 15 October 1988) was an English composer, music critic, pianist and writer whose music, written over a period of seventy years, ranges from sets of miniatures to wor ...
, the Estonian
Arvo Pärt Arvo Pärt (; born 11 September 1935) is an Estonian composer of contemporary classical music. Since the late 1970s, Pärt has worked in a minimalist style that employs tintinnabuli, a compositional technique he invented. Pärt's music is in pa ...
and the Mexican by choice
Conlon Nancarrow Samuel Conlon Nancarrow (; October 27, 1912 – August 10, 1997) was an American- Mexican composer who lived and worked in Mexico for most of his life. Nancarrow is best remembered for his ''Studies for Player Piano'', being one of the first ...
represent completely independent positions. The American
Harry Partch Harry Partch (June 24, 1901 – September 3, 1974) was an American composer, music theorist, and creator of unique musical instruments. He composed using scales of unequal intervals in just intonation, and was one of the first 20th-century com ...
represents a special extreme case: the dissemination of his music was opposed by the fact that it depended on its own microtonal instrumentation. A fixed classification of composers into currents and "schools" cannot be compelling, since many contemporary composers have dealt with several styles in their lifetime (best example: Igor Stravinsky, who, although treated for decades as the antipode of Schoenberg, switched to the serial technique in his old age). In addition, alongside the respective
avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...
, there is a large number of composers who integrate new techniques more or less partially and selectively into their compositional style, which is determined by tradition, or who attempt a synthesis between the two worlds, which is not quite adequately described by the keyword moderate modernism or "naive modernism", because it is too one-sided.


Forums

* Acht Brücken, Cologne * Aspekte Salzburg, Salzburg * chiffren – Kieler Tage für Neue Musik, Kiel *
Donaueschingen Festival The Donaueschingen Festival (german: Donaueschinger Musiktage, links=no) is a festival for new music that takes place every October in the small town of Donaueschingen in south-western Germany. Founded in 1921, it is considered the oldest festiva ...
, Donaueschingen * Dresdner Tage der zeitgenössischen Musik, Dresden * Eclat (Musikfestival), Stuttgart *
Ensemble intercontemporain The Ensemble intercontemporain (EIC) is a French music ensemble, based in Paris, that is dedicated to contemporary music. Pierre Boulez founded the EIC in 1976 for this purpose, the first permanent organization of its type in the world. Organi ...
, Paris * Festival Archipel, Geneva * Festival L’art pour l’Aar, Bern * Hallische Musiktage *
Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik "The Internationale" (french: "L'Internationale", italic=no, ) is an international anthem used by various communist and socialist groups; currently, it serves as the official anthem of the Communist Party of China. It has been a standard of th ...
, Darmstadt * Internationale Weingartener Tage für Neue Musik, Weingarten * ISCM World (New) Music Days * Klangwerkstatt Berlin *
MaerzMusik MaerzMusik is a festival of the Berliner Festspiele and has been held annually since 2002 in March at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele and other venues. It is the successor festival to the Musik-Biennale Berlin and is considered one of the most im ...
, Berlin * Musicarama, Hongkong * Randspiele, Zepernick bei Berlin * Tage für Neue Musik Zürich * Ultraschall Berlin *
Warsaw Autumn Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officiall ...
* Weimarer Frühjahrstage für zeitgenössische Musik, Weimar *
Wien Modern Wien Modern is a modern music festival in Vienna, Austria that was founded by Claudio Abbado in 1988. It was created with the intent of revitalizing the traditional music scene of Vienna. Friedrich Cerha, Johannes Maria Staud, Mark Andre, Wolfgan ...
, Wien *
Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik The Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik (Witten Days for New Chamber Music) is a music festival for contemporary chamber music, jointly organised by the town Witten in the Ruhr Area and the broadcasting station Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR). The con ...
* Zeit für Neue Musik, Bayreuth


Ensembles

One of the first ensembles for New Music was the
Domaine Musical The Domaine musical was a concert society established by Pierre Boulez in Paris, which was active from 1954 to 1973. Composers represented at its concerts included Boulez, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Olivier Messiaen, Luciano Berio, John Cage, Sylva ...
initiated by Pierre Boulez. In 1976, he founded the
Ensemble intercontemporain The Ensemble intercontemporain (EIC) is a French music ensemble, based in Paris, that is dedicated to contemporary music. Pierre Boulez founded the EIC in 1976 for this purpose, the first permanent organization of its type in the world. Organi ...
, on whose model numerous ensembles of new music with similar instrumentation were subsequently formed, such as the Ensemble Modern in Frankfurt, the Klangforum Wien, the musikFabrik NRW, the Asko Ensemble, the London Sinfonietta and the KammarensembleN in Stockholm. *
Alter Ego An alter ego (Latin for "other I", " doppelgänger") means an alternate self, which is believed to be distinct from a person's normal or true original personality. Finding one's alter ego will require finding one's other self, one with a differen ...
*
Arditti Quartet The Arditti Quartet is a string quartet founded in 1974 and led by the British violinist Irvine Arditti. The quartet is a globally recognized promoter of contemporary classical music and has a reputation for having a very wide repertoire. T ...
* AuditivVokal Dresden *
Basel Sinfonietta The Basel Sinfonietta is a Swiss orchestra, based in Basel. History The Basel Sinfonietta was founded in 1980, as a self-governing ensemble, by a group of young musicians with a focus on contemporary classical music. The orchestra has presented ...
, Basel/CH * Collegium Novum Zürich, CH * Contrechamps, Genf/CH * CQ – Cologne Contemporary Ukulele Ensemble, Cologne (one of the few
ukulele The ukulele ( ; from haw, ukulele , approximately ), also called Uke, is a member of the lute family of instruments of Portuguese origin and popularized in Hawaii. It generally employs four nylon strings. The tone and volume of the instrumen ...
orchestras in Germany dedicated to Neue Musik) *
Ensemble Modern Ensemble Modern is an international ensemble dedicated to performing and promoting the music of modern composers. Formed in 1980, the group is based in Frankfurt, Germany, and made up variously of about twenty members from numerous countries. Hi ...
, Freiburg * Ensemble Dal Niente, Chicago/USA * ensemble für neue musik zürich * Ensemble Interface, Frankfurt *
Ensemble Modern Ensemble Modern is an international ensemble dedicated to performing and promoting the music of modern composers. Formed in 1980, the group is based in Frankfurt, Germany, and made up variously of about twenty members from numerous countries. Hi ...
, Frankfurt * Ensemble Phoenix, Basel/CH * Ensemble Phorminx, Darmstadt * Ensemble Proton Bern, CH *
ensemble recherche The ensemble recherche is a German classical music ensemble of nine soloists, especially dedicated to contemporary music. Founded in Freiburg im Breisgau in 1985, they premiered some 500 works. They were awarded the Schneider-Schott Music Prize ...
, Freiburg *
Ensemble Sortisatio Ensemble Sortisatio is a quartet (viola, oboe/cor anglais, bassoon and guitar) founded by violist Matthias Sannemüller in 1992 in Leipzig, Germany. Its members are mostly soloists at the MDR Symphony Orchestra. They have specialized in contempo ...
, Leipzig * Ensemble Vortex, Genf/CH *
Gruppe Neue Musik Hanns Eisler Gruppe Neue Musik Hanns Eisler was an ensemble of musicians founded in 1970 in Leipzig with a focus on contemporary classical music, which played several world premieres and toured internationally. The ensemble disbanded in 1993. History The ens ...
, Leipzig * Interzone perceptible, Essen * Kairos Quartet, Berlin *
Klangforum Wien The Klangforum Wien is an Austrian chamber orchestra, based in Vienna at the Konzerthaus, which specialises in contemporary classical music. Founded by composer and conductor Beat Furrer in 1985, it is run on collective principles, having no o ...
, Vienna *
Kronos Quartet The Kronos Quartet is an American string quartet based in San Francisco. It has been in existence with a rotating membership of musicians for almost 50 years. The quartet covers a very broad range of musical genres, including contemporary classic ...
, San Francisco *
Ensemble intercontemporain The Ensemble intercontemporain (EIC) is a French music ensemble, based in Paris, that is dedicated to contemporary music. Pierre Boulez founded the EIC in 1976 for this purpose, the first permanent organization of its type in the world. Organi ...
, Paris * Le NEC, La Chaux-de-Fonds/CH * LUX:NM, Berlin *
Ensemble Musikfabrik The Ensemble Musikfabrik (music factory ensemble) is an ensemble for contemporary classical music located in Cologne. Their official name is Ensemble Musikfabrik Landesensemble NRW e.V. (Ensemble Musikfabrik of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia ...
, Cologne * Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart * Österreichisches Ensemble für Neue Musik, Salzburg * Pegnitzschäfer-Klangkonzepte, Nürnberg * piano possibile, Munich * Remix Ensemble Casa da Música, Porto


Organisations and institutions

* ''
Centre de documentation de la musique contemporaine The Centre de documentation de la musique contemporaine (Cdmc) is a French association based in Paris. Founded in 1977, it is an important resource centre for contemporary music. Introduction The Centre is a public documentation centre for con ...
'' (Cdmc), Paris * '' Deutsche Gesellschaft für Elektroakustische Musik'' (DEGEM) – ''Vereinigung zur Verbreitung und Förderung elektroakustischer Musik'' * ''
Forum Zeitgenössischer Musik Leipzig The Forum Zeitgenössischer Musik Leipzig ZML'' ''(Forum of Contemporary Music Leipzig)'' is a non-profit organisation situated in Leipzig and an independent cultural organisation for the project-based communication of contemporary music. Descr ...
'' (FZML) * '' Gare du Nord (Basel) – Bahnhof für Neue Musik'' * '' Gesellschaft für Neue Musik'' (GNM) – deutsche Sektion der IGNM bzw. ISCM * '' IGNM-Sektion Österreich'' * '' Institut für Computermusik und Elektronische Medien'' (ICEM) * ''Institut für kulturelle Innovationsforschung – new classical e. V.'' (IKI) * ''Institut für Neue Musik und Musikerziehung'' (INMM), Darmstadt * ''
International Society for Contemporary Music The International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM) is a music organization that promotes contemporary classical music. The organization was established in Salzburg in 1922 as Internationale Gesellschaft für Neue Musik (IGNM) following th ...
'' (IGNM) bzw. ''International Society for Contemporary Music'' (ISCM) – organisiert die von Mitgliedsland zu Mitgliedsland jährlich wechselnden Weltmusiktage * '' Internationales Musikinstitut Darmstadt'' (IMD), Darmstadt *
IRCAM IRCAM (French: ''Ircam, '', English: Institute for Research and Coordination in Acoustics/Music) is a French institute dedicated to the research of music and sound, especially in the fields of avant garde and electro-acoustical art music. It is ...
, Paris/F * '' Netzwerk Neue Musik'' * '' Sächsischer Musikbund'' * '' Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Neue Musik'' (SGNM) * '' Gesellschaft für Zeitgenössische Musik Aachen'' (GZM)


Journals

* ' * ''Dissonance. Schweizer Musikzeitschrift für Forschung und Kreation'' (Published in a bilingual version: German and French, discontinued in 2018) * ''KunstMusik. Schriften zur Musik als Kunst'' * '' MusikTexte. Zeitschrift für neue Musik'' * '' nmz'' '' Neue Musikzeitung'' * ''
Neue Zeitschrift für Musik 'Die'' (; en, " heNew Journal of Music") is a music magazine, co-founded in Leipzig by Robert Schumann, his teacher and future father-in law Friedrich Wieck, and his close friend Ludwig Schuncke. Its first issue appeared on 3 April 1834. His ...
'' * '' Positionen. Texte zur aktuellen Musik'' * ''Seiltanz. Beiträge zur Musik der Gegenwart''


See also

*
Electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...
*
Electroacoustic music Electroacoustic music is a genre of popular and Western art music in which composers use technology to manipulate the timbres of acoustic sounds, sometimes by using audio signal processing, such as reverb or harmonizing, on acoustical instrumen ...
*
Computer music Computer music is the application of computing technology in music composition, to help human composers create new music or to have computers independently create music, such as with algorithmic composition programs. It includes the theory and ap ...
* Sonart


Further reading

chronological; see also under each of the main articles


Overall presentations

*
Christoph von Blumröder Christoph von Blumröder (born 18 July 1951) is a German musicologist. Career Born in Northeim, Blumröder studied musicology at the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg in Breisgau with Hans Heinrich Eggebrecht, philosophy and history of the ...
: ''Neue Musik'', 1980, 13 pages., in
Hans Heinrich Eggebrecht Hans Heinrich Eggebrecht (5 January 1919 – 30 August 1999) was a German musicologist and professor of historical musicology at the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität in Freiburg. Life Eggebrecht was born in Dresden. His father was a Protestant mini ...
and
Albrecht Riethmüller Albrecht Riethmüller (born 21 January 1947) is a German musicologist. Life Born in 1947 in Stuttgart, Riethmüller studied musicology, philosophy and modern German literature at the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, where he received his do ...
(ed.): ''Handwörterbuch der musikalischen Terminologie'', Loseblatt-Sammlung, Wiesbaden: Steiner 1971–2006. Zur Geschichte des Begriffs, keine Musikgeschichte. * Hanns-Werner Heister, Walter-Wolfgang Sparrer (ed.): ''
Komponisten der Gegenwart The ''Komponisten der Gegenwart'' (KDG) is a music encyclopedia in German language about composers of the 20th and 21st century. It is a looseleaf service with information on currently about 900 composers. Editors Hanns-Werner Heister and Walter ...
(KDG)''. Loseblatt-Lexikon, edition text+kritik, Munich 1992 ff., . Biographisches Lexikon mit großen Lücken, aber auch detaillierten Artikeln. *
Hermann Danuser Hermann Danuser (born 3 October 1946) is a Swiss-German musicologist. Life Born in Frauenfeld, Danuser studied piano, oboe, musicology, philosophy and German language and literature at the Musikhochschule and the University of Zurich from 1965; ...
(ed.): ''Die Musik des 20. Jahrhunderts'' (Neues Handbuch der Musikwissenschaft vol. 07), Laaber 1984, 465 pages. * Paul Griffiths: ''Modern Music and after''. Oxford University Press, 1995, * Helga de la Motte-Haber et al. (ed.): ''Handbuch der Musik im 20. Jahrhundert''. 13 volumes, Laaber 1999–2007, * Anton Haefeli: ''IGNM. Die Internationale Gesellschaft für Neue Musik. Ihre Geschichte von 1922 bis zur Gegenwart''. Atlantis, Zürich 1982, .


Moderne

*
Paul Bekker Max Paul Eugen Bekker (11 September 1882 – 7 March 1937) was a German music critic and author. Described as having "brilliant style and ..extensive theoretical and practical knowledge," Bekker was chief music critic for both the '' Frankfu ...
: ''Neue Musik'' orträge 1917–1921(volume 3 der Gesammelten Schriften), Berlin: Deutsche Verlagsanstalt 1923, 207 pages. * Adolf Weißmann: ''Die Musik in der Weltkrise'', Stuttgart 1922; English translation 1925: ''The Problems of Modern Music'' * Hans Mersmann: ''Die moderne Musik seit der Romantik'' (Handbuch der Musikwissenschaft hne Bandzählung, Potsdam: Akademische Verlagsanstalt 1928, 226 pages. *
Theodor W. Adorno Theodor W. Adorno ( , ; born Theodor Ludwig Wiesengrund; 11 September 1903 – 6 August 1969) was a German philosopher, sociologist, psychologist, musicologist, and composer. He was a leading member of the Frankfurt School of criti ...
: Philosophie der neuen Musik, Tübingen: J.C.B. Mohr 1949; 2nd edition Frankfurt: Europäische Verlagsanstalt 1958; 3rd ed. 1966, last edition. *
Hans Heinz Stuckenschmidt Hans Heinz Stuckenschmidt (1 November 1901 – 15 August 1988) was a German composer, musicologist, and historian and critic of music. Life Stuckenschmidt was born in Strasbourg. At as early an age as 19, he was the Berlin-based music criti ...
: ''Neue Musik zwischen den beiden Kriegen'', Berlin: Suhrkamp 1951, 2nd edition as ''Neue Musik'', Frankfurt: Suhrkamp 1981, latest edition * Hans Heinz Stuckenschmidt: ''Schöpfer der neuen Musik – Porträts und Studien'', Frankfurt: Suhrkamp 1958 * Hans Heinz Stuckenschmidt: ''Musik des 20. Jahrhunderts'', Munich: Kindler 1969 * Hans Heinz Stuckenschmidt: ''Die Musik eines halben Jahrhunderts – 1925 bis 1975 – Essay und Kritik'', München: Piper 1976 * Stephan Hinton: ''Neue Sachlichkeit'', 1989, 12 S., in
Hans Heinrich Eggebrecht Hans Heinrich Eggebrecht (5 January 1919 – 30 August 1999) was a German musicologist and professor of historical musicology at the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität in Freiburg. Life Eggebrecht was born in Dresden. His father was a Protestant mini ...
and
Albrecht Riethmüller Albrecht Riethmüller (born 21 January 1947) is a German musicologist. Life Born in 1947 in Stuttgart, Riethmüller studied musicology, philosophy and modern German literature at the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, where he received his do ...
(ed.): ''Handwörterbuch der musikalischen Terminologie'', Loseblatt-Sammlung, Wiesbaden: Steiner 1971–2006 * Martin Thrun: ''Neue Musik im deutschen Musikleben bis 1933''. Orpheus, Bonn 1995,


Avantgarde

* Josef Häusler: ''Musik im 20. Jahrhundert – Von Schönberg zu Penderecki'', Bremen: Schünemann 1969. 80 pages Überblick, 340 pages „Portraitskizzen moderner Komponisten“. * Ulrich Dibelius: ''Moderne Musik nach 1945'', 1966/1988, 3rd extended new edition Munich: Piper 1998, 891 pages. * Hans Vogt: ''Neue Musik seit 1945'', 1972, 3rd extended edition Stuttgart: Reclam 1982, 538 pages. * Dieter Zimmerschied (ed.): ''Perspektiven Neuer Musik. Material und didaktische Information'', Mainz: Schott 1974, 333 pages.


References


External links


Themenportal Neue Musik in Deutschland des Deutschen Musikinformationszentrums

BabelScores
BabelScores Förderung und Verbreitung Neuer Musik

des
Goethe-Institut The Goethe-Institut (, GI, en, Goethe Institute) is a non-profit German cultural association operational worldwide with 159 institutes, promoting the study of the German language abroad and encouraging international cultural exchange and ...
s
www.neue-musik.fm
Internetradio mit ausschließlich Neuer Musik.
Walther Erbacher
Komponist und Experte für Neue Musik {{authority control Music schools