(An’-ton Va’-bern) 1883–1945 Austrian composer Webern was the most orthodox of Schoenberg’s pupils – more rigorous in his exclusive use of serialism than Schoenberg himself – and, after his sudden death (he was accidentally shot by an American soldier), the most influential upon the post-war avant-garde. Even before Schoenberg developed the 12-note system, his pieces tended towards crystalline formal ...
1895) and Die Büchse der Pandora (‘Pandora’s Box’, 1904). Following the composer’s death, controversy arose as to the fate of the incomplete third act. Berg’s widow asked Schoenberg, Webern and Alexander Zemlinsky (1871–1942) to complete the opera but they all refused. From this point on, she withheld all of Berg’s supporting materials. It was not until after her ...
member as a student of the Manchester New Music Group, says his juvenilia are pastiche Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872–1958). Study with Richard Hall opened his ears to Stravinsky, Webern and Varèse, altering his musical style radically. In many ways his music is utterly individual; Birtwistle has said that he was driven to compose in order to try to ...
No. 1, Belshazzar’s Feast, Thomas Hampson, Cleveland Orchestra Chorus, CBSO & Chorus (cond) Sir Simon Rattle (EMI/Warner) Introduction | Modern Era | Classical Personalities | Anton Webern | Modern Era | Classical ...
(Al’-ban Bârg) 1885–1935 Austrian composer Berg came from a cultured background, but had little serious musical training until, at 19, he began studying with Schoenberg. His progress was rapid, but although he was Schoenberg’s most naturally talented and most devoted pupil, Mahler’s influence on him remained strong. His first published work, the Piano Sonata op. ...
(1732–1809), Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827) are often referred to as the First Viennese School, the so-called Second Viennese School consists of Berg together with fellow student Anton Webern (1883–1945) and their teacher, Arnold Schoenberg. Schoenberg’s Student Berg was born in Vienna into a wealthy family, but he did not have a formal musical education. He wrote ...
for a time with Lennox Berkeley (1903–89) and then Klaus Huber (b. 1924), though he is essentially self-taught. Ferneyhough considers himself at the forefront of modern music, along with Webern, Boulez and Stockhausen. His works are often extremely difficult, and in the early 1970s some aleatory elements were included (Sieben Sterne, ‘Seven Stars’, 1970). From the 1980s ...
, rock musician Zappa, the anti-establishment rock musician and founder of The Mothers of Invention, was inspired as a teenager by the music of Varèse, Stravinsky and Webern, and wrote fully notated avant-garde-style pieces while still at school. In 1970 he performed material from his forthcoming film 200 Motels with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and in ...
(Guitar, vocals, 1940–93) In 1964, Zappa formed The Mothers Of Invention, whose albums resembled pop-Dada aural junk-sculptures made from an eclectic heap that, laced with outright craziness, included 1950s pop, jazz, schmaltz and the pioneering tonalities of Stravinsky, Varèse and Webern. However, Zappa’s intense concern over social issues was never so ...
, he became ‘the spiritual leader, the artistic ideal for those few inspired musicians who recognized his stature.…’. Schoenberg called him a martyr and a saint. For Anton Webern (1883–1945) and Alban Berg (1885–1935), he was the most influential figure apart from Schoenberg. One aspect of Mahler’s musical philosophy that made a particularly deep impression on these younger composers ...
for the entire liturgical year. This enormous project remained unfinished at his death; edited posthumously by his student Senfl, it was finally published in 1550–55. The twentieth-century composer Anton Webern (1883–1945) received his doctorate for his study of Isaac. Recommended Recording: Missa de apostolis, Motets, Tallis Scholars (dir) Peter Phillips (Gimell) Introduction | Renaissance | Classical Personalities | ...
of the avant-garde, teaching at Darmstadt and working at the Studio di fonologia, Milan, with Berio and Maderna. Influenced, like many of his generation, by Webern, he nonetheless saw the composer’s importance as lying not in his serial technique but in his creation of a balanced, almost weightless, harmonic field. Pousseur became interested ...
(K’zhesh’-tôf Pen-de-ret’-ske) b. 1933 Polish composer Following the early influence of Stravinsky and Webern, Penderecki joined the forefront of the avant-garde with Tern ofiarom Hiroszimy (‘Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima’, 1960), which uses tone-clusters, quarter-tones and graphic notation. His music of this time is searingly intense and passionate. His music softened during the late 1970s, becoming more ...
modern composers should not address the mass concert audience but, like scientists communicating research to their fellows, a specialist, almost private one. Strongly influenced by Schoenberg and Webern, he extended their principles of organization to areas other than pitch. His works are abstract and complex, but not without drama, wit (All Set, for jazz ...
(Pe-âr’ Boo-lez’) b. 1925 French composer and conductor A student of Messiaen and René Leibowitz (1913–72), Boulez is perhaps the arch-modernist of the twentieth century. His early piano works clearly show the influence of Schoenberg (Notations, 1945). A visit from Cage in 1949 sparked a friendship and correspondence that was to be central to the progress of twentieth-century music. He ...
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