Expressionism in music is ... Expressionism in the music of the 20th century

In the first quarter of the twentieth century, literature, fine arts, cinematography and music appeared in a new direction, the opposite of classical views on creativity, which declared the expression of the subjective spiritual world of man to be the main goal of art. Expressionism in music is one of the most controversial and complex currents.

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, a circle was formed by students, which was named "Most". Its participants were E. Nolde, P. Klee, M. Pichstein, E. Kirchner. Soon, the German artists joined and foreigners, including natives of Russia. Later, in 1911, another union appeared in Munich - "The Blue Horseman", to which V. Kandinsky, P. Klee, F. Mark, L. Feininger belonged.

It was these circles that became the ancestors of the artistic direction, followed by the emergence of literary associations, the publication of journals in Berlin ("Storm", "Storm", "Action"), 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. Mateichek. But long before that, in the late 15th and early 16th centuries, the Spanish artist El Greco and Matthias Grünewald from Germany already used the technique of exaltation and extreme emotionality in their work. And the expressionists of the twentieth century began to consider themselves their followers and, basing on the works of Friedrich Nietzsche (the treatise "The Birth of Tragedy") on the irrational ("Dionysian") beginning of art, began to develop the 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 people's psyche to the horrors of modern civilization, such as war (First World War), revolutionary movements. Fear, disappointment, anxiety, pain, disfigured psyche - all this did not allow artists to perceive the world around them objectively. And then a new principle was worked out, which completely rejected naturalism and aesthetics peculiar to previous generations of creators.

Aesthetics of expressionism in literature, painting and music is based on the expression of subjective feelings, a demonstration of the inner world of man. It becomes more important not an image, but an expression of emotions (pain, screaming, horror). In creativity, the task is not the reproduction of reality, but the transmission of experiences associated with it. I actively use various means of expression - exaggeration, complication or simplification, displacement.

Expressionism in music is what?

Composers have always striven for a new and unexplored. In any of the epochs there were musicians who went "in step with the times" and, under the influence of new art trends, 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. Any expression of classical music, tonality and other formal style restrictions (classicism, romanticism, rococo), expressionism in music rejects, this is its main distinguishing feature.

The main means of expressiveness

• The extreme degree of dissonance in harmony.
• The lack of a classical understanding of size and rhythm in music.
• Intermittence, sharpness, torn melodic line.
• Sharp and non-standard intervals and chords.
• The changeability of the music's pace is sharp and unexpected.
• The absence of a standard major major minor is atonality.
• Replacement of the vocals by instrumental, and vice versa.
• Replacing singing with speech, whispering, shouting.
• Irregularity and unusual arrangement of accents in rhythm.

Expressionism in the music of the 20th century

The appearance in music of a new trend in the early 20th century led to a strong change in the notion of it. Expressionism in music is a rejection of the classical form of work, size, tonalities and frets. Such new means of expressiveness as atonality (departing from the logic of the classical major-minor mode), dodecaphony (a combination of twelve tones), new techniques of singing in vocal works (chanting, whispering, crying) led to the possibility of a more direct "expression of one's soul "(T. Adorno).

The concept of musical expressionism in the twentieth century is associated with the Second Viennese School (Novovenkaya) and the name of the Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg. 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, composers create their own works with a tendency to impressionism:

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

The new music caused a storm of emotions and a wave of criticism among the public. Many considered the music of Expressionist composers frightening and terrible, but still found in it a certain depth, self-will and mysticism.

Idea

Expressionism in music was found by the composers in a bright and sharp subjective experience, the emotions of one person. The themes of loneliness, depression, misunderstanding, fear, pain, anguish and despair are the main things that the musicians wanted to express in their works. Speech intonations, lack of melody, dissonant moves, sharp and disingenuous jumps, fragmentation of rhythm and tempo, irregular accentuation, alternation of weak and strong lobes, non-standard use of instruments (in the unconventional register, in an unconventional ensemble) - all these ideas were created to express feelings and Disclosure of the soul of the composer.

Composers - Expressionists

Representatives of expressionism in music are:

• Arnold Schoenberg (vocal cycle "Lunar Pierrot", monodrama "Expectation", cantata "Survivor in Warsaw", opera "Aaron and Moses", "Ode to Napoleon").

• Ernst Kshenek (opera "Orpheus and Eurydice", the opera "Johnny is playing").

• Bela Bartok (Sonata, First Piano Concerto, Third Piano Concerto, Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta, Sacred Spring, Wonderful Mandarin and other works).

• Paul Hindemith (one-act opera "Assassin, Hope of Women", piano suite "1922").

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

• Gustav Mahler (especially the late works "Song of the Earth" and unfinished tenth symphony).

• Alban Berg (opera "Wozzeck").

• Anton Webern (five orchestral pieces, string trio, "Holy of Holies", contact "Light of the eyes").

• Richard Strauss (opera Elektra and Solomeya).

Chamber music in the style of expressionism

It so happened that Schoenberg's school gradually departed from the fundamental symphonic forms, and this can characterize expressionism in music. The images of chamber music (for one instrument, duets, quartets or quintets and small orchestras) are much more common in this style. Schoenberg believed that his invention - atonality - does not work well with works of monumental and large-format.

The Novoven school is a different interpretation of music. Chaos, spirituality, a new sense of the truth of life without embellishment and obsession have become the basis of artistic expression. The destruction of melodies, the invention of another tonality - a rebellion against the traditional view of art - always caused criticism of indignation and contradictions. However, this did not stop the Novo-Novgorod composers from gaining worldwide recognition and a huge number of listeners.