Exploring Twentieth-Century Music
Subtitle: Tradition and Innovation
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: March 24, 2003
Language: eng
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 250
ISBN-13: 9780521016681
Subjects: 20th century music; History and criticism; Music/Songbooks; Music; History & Criticism - General; Music / General; Music / History & Criticism; General; 20th century
First sentence: 'Cereal music for the weed-killers.
Description: "Arnold Whittall considers a group of important composers of the twentieth century, including Debussy, Webern, Schoenberg, Stravinsky, Bartok, Janacek, Britten, Carter, Birtwistle, Andriessen and Adams. He moves skillfully between the cultural and the technical, the general and the particular, to explore the various contexts and critical perspectives which illuminate certain works by these composers. Considering the extent to which place and nationality contribute to the definition of musical character, he investigates the relevance of such images as mirroring and symmetry, the function of genre and the way types of identity may be suggested by such labels as classical, modernist, secular, sacred, radical, traditional. These categories are considered as flexible and interactive and they generate a wide-ranging series of narratives delineating some of the most fundamental forces which affected composers and their works within the complex and challenging world of the twentieth century."--Jacket.