Maverick Voices of the 20th Century

Redefining and reimagining music and the concert experience

Arnold Schoenberg1874-1951 (76)

Reimagining Tonality

Developed 12-tone method of composition (sometimes called Serialism)

Traditional western harmony (chords based on a scale) is reimagined

Portrait by Man Ray, 1927

The 12-Tone Row

What’s so different about 12-tone

music? All 12 pitches are

regarded as equal

No tonal center or sense of “home”

Music can be “atonal” or strict 12-tone (see matrix to left)

Vienna => Berlin => Los Angeles

Moved to LA in 1935 to teach at USC, then UCLA

First full-time professor salary ($5,100), 1936

Bought a house in Brentwood for $18,000 (116 N. Rockingham, Zillow est. 4.5 million)

John Cage

1912 (Los Angeles) – 1992 (New York City)

The “Inventor”

Los Angeles High School (Valedictorian)

Pomona College (dropped out after 2 years)

Traveled around Europe after college

Later studied composition with Schoenberg

“I was shocked at college to see one

hundred of my classmates in the library all reading copies of the same book. Instead of doing as they did, I went into the stacks and read the first book written by an author whose name began with Z. I received the highest grade in the class. That convinced me that the institution was not being run correctly. I left (Cage).”

On Pomona College:

In an interview, Schoenberg stated

that none of his American pupils were interesting, but added in reference to Cage, “There was one…of course he’s not a composer, but he’s an inventor – of genius.”

Schoenberg on Cage:

Composer or inventor?

Prepared Piano (right) Studied with Arnold

Schoenberg Felt he had “no

feeling for harmony.” Believed all sounds

are music Influenced by Zen

Buddhism and Eastern Philosophy

Preparing a piano

“I could not accept the academic idea that the

purpose of music was communication, because I noticed that when I conscientiously wrote something sad, people and critics were often apt to laugh. I determined to give up composition unless I could find a better reason for doing it than communication. I found this answer from Gira Sarabhai, an Indian singer and tabla player: The purpose of music is to sober and quiet the mind, thus making it susceptible to divine influences.”

What is the purpose of music?

“Collaborations”

Met Merce Cunningham at Cornish College of the Arts (Seattle) in late 1930s

John dissolved his marriage and the 2 became life-long partners

Continued collaborations with dancers, visual artists, and musicians

Philip Glass

Born 1937 (Baltimore)The Voice of Minimalism

A composer of “repetitive structures”

Education: Peabody Prep. (flute) University of

Chicago(age 15)

Julliard (piano, composition) Fulbright to Paris (Boulanger ‘64-’66)

Eastern Influence

Ravi ShankarBuddhism and Indian

Classical Music

Glass met Shankar and Rakha in 1965-66

Indian classical music is also based on repetitive structures (additive)

Visited northern India in 1966

Major Works

26 Operas 13 Concertos 10 Symphonies Films: (selected)

Bent Kundun Koyaanisqatsi The Hours The Truman Show

Numerous other instrumental and choral works

Of note: Recent opera (2013)

on scenes from the end of the life of Walt Disney entitled: “The Perfect American.”

Einstein on the Beach (1976)