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The 20th century's 3 greatest composers Essay

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The 20th century's 3 Greatest Composers

The 20th century has watched many musicians break through their generation's bounds of normalcy to creat a completely new music. Musicians who initiated revolutions so grandiose that the impact—like an earthquake’s aftershocks—would reverberate for decades and influence scores of musicians to come. Such influences can be traced back to three specific composers. Igor Stravinsky, Aaron Copland, and Nadia Boulanger: the triumvirate of 20th century music.

Igor Stravinsky, remains the century’s most shocking and versatile composer. Born in Russia in 1882, Stravinsky enjoyed a musically wealthy childhood. He was the son of a famous opera singer and well-educated in piano performance and …show more content…

The opening of Dance of the Adolescent Girls is a prime example of Stravinsky’s dizzying rhythmic trickery. Lower strings play an ostinato E major triad, while upper strings play a first inversion 7th chord on Eb. All instruments play 4 quarter notes per measure. However, Stravinsky’s placement of accents causes listeners to hear the notes in groups of 9, 2, 6, 3, 4, 5, and 3 (Hanning 483-4). Such rhythmic manipulations were a very radical theory in Stravinsky's day. Add to that the fact that this music was intended as dance accompaniment, and one can clearly see how Stravinsky broke the mold as a composer. Unfortunately, audiences were not always receptive to his efforts.

During Rite’s May 28, 1913 evening premiere at Theatre des Champs-Elysees, the prelude’s opening measures “evoked derisive laughter” from the audience (Harrington). Composer, Camille Saint-Saens stormed out immediately, appalled by Stravinsky’s audacious writing for bassoon.

Fights erupted between audience members. Stravinsky fled to the wings where choreographer, Nijinsky, frantically shouted counts to the dancers. The choreographer was so enraged, Stravinsky literally had to hold his shirt to prevent Nijinsky's attacking of the irreverent crowd (Glass). Members of that evening's audience could hardly fathom the ballet would later be hailed as one of the century's greatest works. Above image shows Stravinsky (left) posing with Nijinsky (right).

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