- Morgan, Robert P., ed.

Twentieth-Century Music: A
History of Musical Style in Modern Europe and America.
New York: W.W. Norton, 1991.

Introduction: The Nineteenth-Century

Musical Background

It is impossible to say precisely when twentieth-century music, as a

stylistic and esthetic phenomenon, began. Even the year 1900, despite
obvious advantages, is not a particularly satisfactory candidate. Among
other possible choices, perhaps the most appealing is 1907, the year
Arnold Schoenberg made a final break with the traditional tonal system
that the new century had inherited from the previous two. The collapse
of traditional tonality, 1 particularly emphatic in Schoenberg but evident
in all the major younger composers of the century's first decade, was
from a technical point of view the single most significant factor in shap­
ing modem music. After a two-hundred-year period of relative agree­
ment about basic technical matters, Western music was suddenly
confronted with a radically new set of compositional possibilities, with
basic new compositional decisions, and it is by no means farfetched to
see subsequent music in the large as a series of conscious stratagems
designed to compensate for tonality's loss.
Yet traditional tonality did not collapse at once. The entire nineteenth
century-arguably even the common-practice period as a whole-had
witnessed a progressive weakening of its constructive force, along wirh
corresponding shifts in compositional esthetic. Any effort to under-

I. In this lntroducrion the word "tonality" is used in a restricted sense to encompass

only the so-ca.lied "common practice" period of the cigbteenth and nineteenth cen­
turies. The term ..funcrion:il tonality" is sometimes used co disanguish th.is p:ntic­
ular form of tonality from others, such as those encountered in other cultures or m
earlier European music.

1
2 MUSICAL BACKGROUND MUSICAL BACKGROUND 3

stand twentieth-century music must consider its relationship to these as, for example, Gluck, Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven, all active in
earlier developments out of which it grew, in part as their extension, in the 1arter part of the eighteenth century. Despite thei:c many differeuces,
part as a set of new departures. To this extent the history of twentieth­ how �ver, these compose� were all, in an essential way, speaking a shared
century music and its nineteenth-century back.ground are inseparable, musical tongue.
and can be thought ef as two links within a single, more encompassing Indeed, it is just because the sense of a mutual musical framework
chain of musical evolution. was preserved to such a degree throughout the two centuries in which
Before discussing some of these nineteenth-century developments, it tonality flourished, from c. 1700 to c. 1900, that we refer to them as the
shouJd be pointed out that when we speak of"common-practice tonal­ "common practice" period. Nevertheless, the main currents of musical
ity," we- mean more than just a system in which pitches are o:cgani.zed development in the nineteenth century considerably undermined this
so that one pa:rticuJar pitch pred.ominates, for.ming a "center' in rela­ commo � foundation. Perhaps the most important reason for this grad­
tionship to which all che others have their own unique position and ual turnmg away from an essentially "universal" style lay in a growing
from which they acquire their own particular meaning. We also mean preference for a more personal kind of musical expression. As the nine-
the kind of rhychrnic and formal structures that developed in conjunc­ ., -- .teenth century progressed and the esthetics of musical Romanticism
tion with this system. One ofthe most characteristic features otronality became more fully established, a new emphasis--one unthinkable in the
is its ability co invest extended spans of music with a sense of clearly eighteenth century, with its Classical concern for universality-was placed
defined, goal-directed motion. The property of modnJation, of tem­ upon the unique as opposed to the general. Interestingly, the tonal sys­
porarily replacing the original center with a new one whose ultimate tem proved to be remarkably adaptable to this spreading desire for per­
meaning still depends upon its evencu:iJ resolution to the original tonic, sonalism; although originally evolved as a set of shared conventions, it
enabled composers to conceive long and autonomous musical struc- could be modified to produce effects that were strikingly individual and
1:urcs that were 1ogical in construction and thus meaningful in effect. thus intensely expressive in nature. Already in the later works of Haydn
A number of generalized formal types, such as the sonata form, the and Mozart and the earlier works of Beethoven, a tendency to treat the
song form, and the rondo developed in conjunction with tonality. Bue system in a highly personal way was evident, but in the nineteenth
common to all these fo.r:ms is a hierarchical system of relationships in century it became much more pronounced. From Beethoven on, one
which shorter musical units combine to produce longer ones, such as feels a growing determination to give each composition its own unmis­
phrases; phrases combine to form periods; periods c.ombine to produce takable expressive stamp, distinct from that of all others.
sections; and so on until a complete movement evolves, which irself is This striving for individuality is evident in virtually all aspects of
a single and ultimately indivisible unit held together by the dynamfr nineteenth-century music. Thematic material became more strikingly
system of relationships provided by functional tonality. That is, rhe profiled in rhythmic and melodic contour (an example is Beethoven's
smaller units do not simply connect up with one another in an additive Fifth Symphony). Compositions frequently began in distinctive regis­
sc.nse; they balance and complete one another i:11 a complex network of ters (e.g., unusually high, as in the Prelude to Wagner's Lohengrin, or
delayed and eventually fulfilled expectations. Such music has a remark­ unusually low, as in the Prelude to his Das Rheingold). A characteristic
_abJy strong 'syntactic" component a logical pattern of founal connec­ instrumental color was chosen to lend an arresting quality to a particu­
tions that makes sense to a listener not unlike the way1:be succession of lar passage (the unison horn statement of the melody that announces
clauses, sentences, paragraphs, and chapters does to the reader of a novel. �he ope�ing of Schubert's Ninth ·Symphony). But the most striking
Of course the tonal sysrem, and the kinds of extended formal struc­ mnovat10ns were encountered within the tonal system itself, which was
tures associated with it, did not. develop at once, any more than it dis­ similarly exploited to produce "special effects" of various kinds. By the
solved at once; it evolved gradually over a considerable span of music middle of the century chromaticism and dissonance, always associated
history. But by the end of the eighteenth century, its evolution had with expressivity in Western music, were stressed to a point where it
made it a sort of "universal musical language," commonly accepted became difficult to ascertain the consonant and diatonic basis from which
throughout Europe despite minor-though often significant and inrer­ they represented a departure. What this meant, in fact, was that both
esting-vaciarions atccibucable to personal and geogrnphical differences. chromaticism and dissonance were no longer really thought of as
The flexibility of this language, and the power and range of its appli­ "departures," but rather as norms.
cability, is evident in its accommodation of such diverse personalities Moreover, if dissonance is conceived as applying not only to individ-
 MUSICAL BACKGROUND 5

defined that they seem to melt almost imperceptibly into one another.
The balance between tonal stability and instability, a distinction fun­
damental to the functional definition of formal segments in the Classical
style, tipped precariously toward the latter. Even in works written rel­
atively early in the century (e.g., Chopin's Piano Sonata in B minor),
one finds opening thematic material that is motivically developmental
Nowhere is the nineteenth­ and tonally uncertain from the outset, obscuring the traditional distinc­
century view of the artist as tion between what is expositional and what is developmental or tran­
individualist more evident sitional.
than in this sculpture of Such innovations undermined the foundation of Classical form, the
Beethoven (1897-1902) by counterpoising of key-defining passages with modulatory ones in a
the German artist, Max carefully controlled system of tensions and resolutions designed to pro­
Klinger. The variety of duce ultimate tonal confirmation. As nineteenth-century composers
materials-marble, alabas­ exploited ever more exaggerated levels of chromaticism and tonal
ter, ivory, bronze, amber, ambiguity, music approached a condition.of almost unbroken flux, within
and semi-precious stones­ which formal boundaries wereJargely eradicated. Composition became
reaches new heights of
an "art of transition," as Wagner proclaimed of his work. In place of
extravagance. (Museum
der bildenden Kiinste,
the Classical ideal of form as an interaction among well-defined and
Leipzig) functionally differentiated units (thematic, transitional, developmental,
closing, etc.) a new Romantic ideal emerged of form as process, of
music as a continuum of rm.interrupted growth and evolution. Form
thereby acquired a more "open" quality, quite different from the "closed '
character of Classical musical structure. This can be seen with special
ual notes but also to secondary keys at varying distances from the tonic, clarity in openings and closings: instead of beginning with a definite
an equally radical extension of earlier practice can be observed. Whereas thematic statement, compositions often seem to emerge only gradually
in the eighteenth century only those keys most closely associated with out of the preceding silence, as if putting themselves together bit by bit
the tonic (i.e., the dominant and, in minor, the relative major) were (e.g., Liszt's Piano Sonata jn B minor); or, xather than ending with a
commonly exploited for prolonged modulations, in the nineteenth cen­ definite cadence, they drift off imperceptibly into .final extinction (e.g.,
tury more remote tonal regions appeared with ever greater frequency Tchaikovsky's Sixth Symphony). Clarity is no longer necessarily a
and emphasis. Already in compositions dating from the earliest years desideratum; ambiguity, even obscurity, is embraced as the countersign
of the century, Beethoven showed an interest in choosing a particular of a new formal sensibility.
set of unusual-and therefore "characteristic"-key relationships for a Supporting these technical innovations was the nineteenth century s
specific work (as in the String Quartet in E minor, Op. 59, No. 2, embrace of "program music"-the idea that music was not a purely
especially its final movement), a practice developed and extended by absrracc, "absolute" an, but one related to and reflective of various
virtually all later tonal composers. Key relations, no longer conven­ extramusical concerns. Program music contributed to the breakup of
tional, took on a "motivic" aspect; they contributed to what was sin­ tonality in at least rwo important ways. First, it led to musical concep­
gular in a given composition. rions that were essentially dramatic, coloristic, or descriptive in namre
Another important development in nineteenth-century tonality conceptions that would have been literally 'unthinkable" within a strictly
(exemplified especially in Wagner's Tristan und Isolde) is that key centers abstract musical context. Second, it provided composers with jusrifi­
came to be defined more by implication than by actual statement. cation for writing passages that could not have been adequately explained
Although tonal motion was still directed toward a goal, the goal itself in traditional theoretica.l or purely musical terms. It is no coincidence,
might never actually appear; producing a sort of "suspended" tonality certainly, that the most radical musical developments of the century
regulated primarily by cadences of a "deceptive" nature. This produced took place, almost without exception, in the area of prog-ram music and
a more fluid type of harmonic motion, with key centers so tenuously opera (the latter being a kind of explicit program music).
6 MUSICAL BACKGROUND

Another significant factor was the rise of nationalism during the

nineteenth century. The traditional tonal system, though generally
adhered to throughout Europe, was above all a creation of the Ger­
manic countries, Italy, and, to a lesser extent, France. The principal line
of development within these countries was mainly an "internal" one:
the musical properties inherent in the system itself were extended­
through increased cbi:omaticism, more distant modularion, etc. But a
second, and largely independent, way of enriching tonal relationships
was discovered by composers in countries on the edges of Europe, who
drew upon the very different musical qualities found in the folk and
ethnic music of their own lands. Modal relationships, essentially for­
eign to the tonal system, were exploited, producing new melodic and
harmonic effects that, although not dependent upon increased chro­
maticism, also called into question the basic organizational principles of
traditional tonality (especially the uniquely privileged role of the dom­
inant chord as the basic key-defining agent). Moreover, non-European
composers, such as Musorgsky in Russia began to model their music's Aubrey Beardsley's. grotesque
rhythmic structure on the speech rhythms of their native languages, pen and ink illustration for
Oscar Wilde's play, Salome
creating a freer, more plastic kind of phrase structure, quite different
(1893), was a strange mixture
from the largely balanced metrical types of EuropeanClassicism. of many of the aspects of art
The inevitable combined result of these tendencies was to weaken the in the 1890s: the fusion of
structural foundations of traditional tonality. In place of the basic major words and images, the
and minor scales of tonality, the nationalists offered a complex set of embracing of obscure and
modal possibilities, while the chromatic composers of central Europe ambiguous symbols, and the
moved toward a single twelve-note scale that made available all pos­ refinement of abstract decora­
sible types of triadic chord fo.rmarions on all possible scale degrees. By tive patterns. Salome with the
the end of the cenrury it was often difficult, if not impossible, to deter­ Head ofjohn the Baptist.
mine the key of an ostensibly tonal work. The relationships might be (Princeton University Library)
so ambiguous, as in Debussy, that the key center only barely emerges
as a last tenuous resting point; or, as in Strauss and Mahler, two (or
more) keys might compete on substantially equal terms, raising the
possibility that either one could eventually assume final control. The
last movement of Mahler's Symphony No. 4, completed in 1900, closes and more as "free agents." As their ties to social, political, and religious
in E major after having begun in G major, and the two centers, E and institutions loosened, they could increasingly fashion their work solely
G, alternate throughout the movement to form a sort of"paired" tonal­ according to the dictates of their own consciences. Beholden to no higher
ity seemingly capable of resolution in either direction. Similarly, in authority than creative imagination, the progressive composer could
Strauss's Also sprach Zarathustra the keys ofC and B compete through­ experiment at will, following the inclination of the age to pursue the
out, their tonics juxtaposed right up to the last bar. unique and unusual at the expense of the conventional and accepted.
A final matter, equally contributory to the breakup of traditional This new artistic freedom went hand in hand with the period's overall
musical form, was the increasingly autonomous position occupied by esthetic orientation, for the more music was able to follow an indepen­
music, as well as the other arts, during the nineteenth century. Music's dent course, without concern for the comprehension and receptivity of
gradual separation from the larger social and cultural framework, pro­ a broadly based public, the more it was able to serve as a vehicle for
duced by the dissolution of the old patronage system under which church personal expression and to assume its new role as a symbol of individ­
and court had given it specific functions, enabled composers to act more uality or, eventually, of open revolt.
8 MUSICAL BACKGROUND

As an outcome of these tendencies, music had at the close of the

nineteenth century reached a position fundamentally different from the
one it occupied at the beginning. A musical language once dominated
by an international style that, despite significant geographical and per­
sonal variants, was solidly based upon common esthetic principles and
shared compositional conventions was now fragmented into many
divergent compositional tendencies. And whereas composers of 1800 PART I
had been closely linked to the social milieu within which they worked
and were thus significantJ.y bound by accepted stylistic norms, their 1900
counterparts were autonomous creators committed to the musically
exceptional, who defined a purely personal milieu by breaking away Beyond Tonality: From 1900
from what had preceded them.
The repercussions were decisive for the future course of music. The
twentieth century inherited a tonal system shaken to its foundations and
to World War I
already well on its way to total collapse. A final rupture was inevitable,
and it was both the achievement and burden of the new century to
complete the break and shoulder its consequences. Of course, many
composers continued to write tonal music of a traditional sort (as many
continue to do right up to the present). But the single most important
and encompassing feature of twentieth-century music has unquestion­
ably been its move beyond functional tonality, and to a lesser extent
beyond the traditional musical forms associated with it, either to new
!cinds of tonal or�tion achieved through novel means, or to non- _
tonal systems based upon entirely new compositional methods.