Modernism in Music

by Patty Bissig

          May 28, 1913 in Paris marks a date in history. The Russian Composer Igor Stravinsky shocks his audience with his ballet “Le Sacre du Printemps” (“The Rite of Spring”). The performance – a primal, loud portrayal of fertility rites - caused a riot because of its dissonance, harsh rhythm, and violent dance steps. It can be seen as the beginning of modern music, since the audience was not accustomed hearing or seeing such an innovative, provocative and challenging ballet. The seemingly chaotic performance shook the music to its foundations. Little did anyone know that this burst of creative power was a defining moment for the history of music (Pasler).

          With his “The Rite of Spring,” Stravinsky attempted to depict the barbarism of pagan Russia; this inspired the violent motifs that recur all over the work. The scenario is primitive and the composer uses asymmetrical rhythm, percussive dissonance, polyrhythm, polytonality, and melodic fragments to construct his complex composition – while being influenced by West African tribal art. Despite the protests and intense criticism, “The Rite of Spring” became an icon of musical modernism, and is seen as one of the greatest musical works of the 20th century, having influenced many other musicians (Wikipedia / Composers).

          Igor Stravinsky was always looking for new methods and techniques of musical expression – following Ezra Pound’s modernist slogan: “Make it new.” Musical trends of the 20th century like Jazz, neoclassicism, bitonality, atonality, serialism, and Nationalism were reflected and influenced by the Russian composer. He never stopped reinventing himself or modern music – which is a typical feature of modernism (Pannain / Stravinsky).

          Generally, modernism in music is characterized by breaking free of the styles and traditions of the preceding periods. Composers explored new ways to produce music. As mentioned before, rhythmic patterns became more boundless and happened to change frequently throughout a work. Melody and harmony became more dissonant – harsher – than the audience was used to in earlier works and polytonality occurred more frequently. Atonal, or twelve tone music, (also called serial music), as well as Nationalism – which told the listener where the music was from – were also significant features of the first half of the century (Naxos). Leon Botstein asserts that musical modernism is characterized by "a conception of modernity dominated by the progress of science, technology and industry, and by positivism, mechanization, urbanization, mass culture and nationalism", a reaction "reflected not only enthusiasm but ambivalence and anxiety" (Wikipedia).

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