Composer Notes

Introduction to Twentieth Century Music Part 1

Some of the factors that led to the developments in twentieth century music include

• Rise of nationalism
• Loss of dominance of Austro-German music
• Use of folksong and non-Western sources of inspiration
• European contact with Asia

Composers who changed the landscape in the nineteenth century

Richard Wagner (1813 – 1883)

• German
• Late romantic
• Influenced by the philosophy of Schopenhauer
• His opera Tristan und Isolde (1857) through its highly chromatic language and lack of tonal resolution

Gustav Mahler (1860 – 1911)

• Austrian
• Late romantic

Alexander Scriabin (1871 – 1915)

• Russian
• Symbolist/mystic

Significant composers and their works at the turn of the century

Claude Debussy (1862 – 1918)

• Prélude l’àprès-midi d’un faune [Prelude to the afternoon of a faun] (1895)