Expressionism in music is ... Expressionism in 20th-century music

In the first quarter of the twentieth century, a new direction appeared in literature, visual arts, cinema, and music, which was contrary to the classical views on creativity, which proclaimed the main goal of art to express the subjective spiritual world of a person. Expressionism in music is one of the most controversial and complex trends.

How expressionism came about

Expressionism appeared and most clearly manifested itself in the culture of Austria and Germany. In 1905, in Dresden, at the Faculty of Technical Higher School, students formed a circle, which was called the "Bridge". Its participants were E. Nolde, P. Klee, M. Pichstein, E. Kirchner. Soon, foreign artists joined the German artists, including immigrants from Russia. Later, in 1911, another association appeared in Munich - The Blue Horseman, which included V. Kandinsky, P. Klee, F. Mark, L. Feininger.

It was these circles that became the progenitors of the artistic direction, after which literary associations began to appear, magazines (“The Tempest”, “Storm”, “Action”) began to appear in Berlin, and a direction appeared in fiction and music.

It is believed that the term "expressionism" was introduced in 1910 by a historian from the Czech Republic A. Matejcek. But long before that, in the late 15th - early 16th centuries, the Spanish artist El Greco and Matthias Grunewald from Germany already used the technique of exaltation and ultimate emotionality in their work. And the expressionists of the twentieth century began to consider themselves their followers and, relying on the works of Friedrich Nietzsche (treatise "The Birth of Tragedy") on the irrational ("Dionysian") beginning of art, began to develop directions of chaos of feelings and ways of expressing it in art.

What is expressionism

It is believed that expressionism arose because of the painful and complex reaction of the psyche of people to the horrors of modern civilization, such as war (World War I), revolutionary movements. Fear, disappointment, anxiety, pain, a mutilated psyche - all this did not allow artists to perceive the surrounding world objectively. And then a new principle was developed that completely rejected the naturalism and aesthetics inherent in previous generations of creators.

The aesthetics of expressionism in literature, painting and music is based on the expression of subjective feelings, demonstrations of the human inner world. It becomes more important not the image, but the expression of emotions (pain, screaming, horror). In creativity, the task is dominated not by reproducing reality, but by transmitting the experiences associated with it. I actively use various means of expression - exaggeration, complication or simplification, bias.

Expressionism in music is what?

Composers have always striven for new and unknown. In any era, there were musicians who kept up to date and, under the influence of new trends in art, discovered and invented their ways through musical means of expression.

Expressionism in music is a "psychogram of the human soul." So claimed the German philosopher Theodore Adorno. Expressionism in music rejects any traditions, classical forms of a musical work, tonality and other formal restrictions of styles (classicism, romanticism, rococo), this is its main distinguishing feature.

Fixed assets

• Extreme degree of dissonance in harmony.
• Lack of classical understanding of size and rhythm in music.
• Discontinuity, sharpness, torn melody line.
• Sharp and irregular intervals and chords.
• The variability of the tempo of music is sharp and unexpected.
• The absence of a standard major-minor fret is atonality.
• Replacing the vocal part with an instrumental one, and vice versa.
• Replacing singing with speech, whispering, screaming.
• Irregularity and unusual rhythm accents.

Expressionism in 20th Century Music

The appearance of a new direction in music at the beginning of the 20th century led to a strong change in the idea of ​​it. Expressionism in music is a rejection of the classical form of the work, size, tonalities and frets. New expressive means such as atonality (deviation from the logic of the classical major-minor fret), dodecafonia (a combination of twelve tones), new singing techniques in vocal works (speaking, whispering, screaming) made it possible to more directly “express your soul” "(T. Adorno).

The concept of musical expressionism in the twentieth century is associated with the Second Vienna School (Novovenskaya) and the name of the Austrian composer Arnold Schönberg. In the first and second decades of the twentieth century, Schoenberg and his students, Alban Berg and Anton Webern, lay the foundations of the direction and write a number of works in a new style. Also in 1910, such composers create their works with a tendency to impressionism:

• Paul Hindemith.
• Igor Stravinsky.
• Bela Bartok.
• Ernst Kshenek.

New music caused a storm of emotions and a wave of criticism among the public. Many considered the music of expressionist composers to be scary and scary, but still found in it a certain depth, self-will and mysticism.

Idea

Expressionism in music, composers found in a bright and sharp subjective experience, the emotions of one person. The themes of loneliness, depression, misunderstanding, fear, pain, longing and despair - these are the main things that the musicians wanted to express in their works. Speech intonations, lack of melody, dissonant moves, sharp and dissonant jumps, fragmented rhythm and pace, irregular accent, alternating weak and strong beats, non-standard use of instruments (in an unconventional register, in an unconventional ensemble) - all these ideas were created to express feelings and disclosure of the composer's soul content.

Composers - Expressionists

Representatives of expressionism in music are:

• Arnold Schoenberg (vocal cycle “Lunar Pierrot”, monodrama “Waiting”, cantata “Surviving in Warsaw”, opera “Aaron and Moses”, “Ode to Napoleon”).

• Ernst Kshenek (opera Orpheus and Eurydice, opera Johnny Strumming).

• Bela Bartok (“Sonata”, “First Concert for Piano”, “Third Piano Concert”, “Music for Strings, Percussions and Celesta”, “Sacred Spring”, “Wonderful Mandarin” and other compositions).

• Paul Hindemith (one-act opera “Killer, the hope of women”, piano suite “1922”).

• Igor Stravinsky ("The Tale of the Fox", "Wedding", "Nightingale", "Firebird", "Parsley" and many other works).

• Gustav Mahler (especially the later works “Song of the Earth” and the unfinished tenth symphony).

• Alban Berg (opera Wozzeck).

• Anton Webern (five orchestral pieces, string trio, “The Holy of Holies”, “Eye of the Light”).

• Richard Strauss (operas Electra and Solomei).

Chamber music in the style of expressionism

It so happened that Schoenberg’s school was gradually moving away from fundamental symphonic forms, and this can characterize expressionism in music. Images of chamber music (for one instrument, duets, quartets or quintets and small orchestras) in this style are much more common. Schoenberg believed that his invention - atonality - does not fit well with monumental and wide-format works.

Novovenskaya school is a different interpretation of music. Chaos, spirituality, a new sense of the truth of life without embellishment and fixation became the basis of artistic expression. The destruction of melodics, the invention of a different tonality - a revolt against the traditional view of art - have always caused criticism of indignation and controversy. However, this did not prevent the Novo-Novy composers from gaining worldwide recognition and a huge number of listeners.