Everything about modern classical music

Classic, timeless, traditional or epochal?

The concept of classical music is not entirely clear. "Classic" can be meant in the meaning of the epoch as well as in the sense of "traditional" or in the meaning of "timeless". Accordingly, you always have to differentiate whether you are talking about timeless music, traditional music or typical classical music from the epoch. All three partial meanings in one will seldom be meant. For example, a traditional artist does not necessarily have to have delivered timeless art. Similarly, the pieces of a classic epoch artist do not have to be traditional or timeless.

Frame of reference for classical music

When talking about classical in the sense of traditional music, it is usually about so-called "early music". This term refers to the medieval, renaissance and baroque epochs. Thus on the musical period between the 15th and the 17th Century.

• The classic epoch, on the other hand, applies to the period between the 17th and 18th centuries. and the 19th Century. The term “epoch” can refer to both the early classical period and the Viennese classical period.
• Central elements of the early classical period are the creation of harmony, three-note melodies and an orchestra with mixed sounds. Bach is an important representative.
• For Viennese Classicism, the focus is again on motif-thematic work and the combination of gallant and sensitive style. Beethoven, Haydn and Mozart are among the classics of the Viennese classic.


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• The term classical music also includes piano music by Schumann, for example. During the romantic epoch he recognized the lyrical intrinsic value of sound. This "romantic style" was not in the tradition of Viennese classicism. Nevertheless, romantic music can also be meant by "classical".
• Classical music is often equated with orchestral music. Although orchestral music can be classical music, it does not have to be in the tradition of the classical music era.

Modern classical music is even more complex

You can see for yourself how unclear the limits of the musical concept of classical music are. The characteristics that classical music must have also remain unclear.

• Even after the Romantic era, one can still speak of classical music. This "modern classical music" is even more complex than the "old".
• At first glance, "classical" is conceptually mutually exclusive with "modern" music. "Classical" in the sense of "timeless" can be modern music. Modern music can just as well refer back to old music and thus count as "classical".
• The fact that modern classical music is even more complex is also due to the limited concept of modernity. The "modern" can mean the period after the 19th Century and the dissolution of art epochs mean. With regard to music, however, the term can just as well describe innovative design.
• Innovative music can, for example, use modern technologies and still be part of the tradition of the musical classic epoch.
• An artist can also interpret classical music in a modern way or interpret modern music in a classical way. The possibilities are almost unlimited, as the mere reference to timeless, traditional or classic styles defines the name. How this reference should look like remains open.

The concept of "new music" 

The term "new music" is often used for modern classical music.

• The starting point for this style is directly related to the operas and operettas of the late 19th century. Century. At the beginning of the 20th Century.
• In the meantime, "New Music" stands for all compositional styles since the early 20th century. Century, which refer to the work of great composers from the classical and romantic epochs.
• But be careful, even this statement is misleading. On the one hand, modern classical music or "new music" is music that is based on the original classical music. On the other hand, "New Music" is also something that breaks with the classical and romantic epochs. The break is also a reference. Many composers, such as Lugeti, even took up both of these references in their oeuvre.

Impressionism, expressionism, minimalist music, and postmodernism are all modern classics.

Impressionism and its expressionist counter-movement

• Impressionism is part of "New Music", although or precisely because its composers designed pure sound compositions without any direct substantive statement. Debussy is an important exponent of this style. He wanted to create sounds as images using musical stylistic devices, such as melodies enriched with dissonances, detached rhythms and versatile timbres.
• Expressionism is also part of "New Music". It is a counter-movement to impressionism. One of his most important representatives is Schönberg, who is also to be understood as the "Second Viennese School". Atonality replaced tonality during this time. The aim was to break the boundaries between tones and sounds. Despite this radical novelty, Schönberg saw himself in a direct tradition with classical composers such as Brahms and Mahler.
• Irritation (rapid change of melodic directions), expression (fanning out the pitch space) and reduction (concentration on the essentials) were among his most important stylistic devices. This style was completed by abstraction, thanks to which chord connections were solved by alternation. Chords were no longer in harmonic relationship and pieces were no longer tied to a key.
• The twelve-tone technique developed on the basis of late Expressionism. Representatives of this direction no longer used atonality as accentuation, but rather as the center of entire compositions. The twelve notes of the chromatic scale, however, had to be in equilibrium. The conventional major and minor pitches were no longer used.

Serial music versus postmodern new simplicity

• Serial music, which emerged around 1950, was an increase in twelve-tone technology. In this direction, each note was given a mathematically calculated duration and dynamics allocated. This procedure formed the basis for the electronically processed compositions of the 1970s.
• As a countermovement to the twelve-tone technique, currents soon emerged that were again based on the classical music and its tonality. A stylistic device of this direction was the thematically unrelated stringing together of elements of different pieces. This style was widespread in Eastern Europe, with the artists sometimes making use of the folklore of their homeland. One of the most important composers based on such folklore was Bela Bartok.
• The answer to serial music, on the other hand, is postmodernism, which in turn represented an increase in the twelve-tone counter-movements during the 1960s. She made chance the focus of the composition. This style was called aleatoric and playfully broke all conventions. One of the basic ideas at the time was the assumption that everything newly created would necessarily refer to "early music".
• In the 80s and 90s, the so-called "New Simplicity" replaced postmodernism and made the emotional revival of music its main goal. Musical minimalism was one of the most famous sub-movements. Its centerpiece was a high level of stylistic diversity, the integration of Asian elements and low harmonic complexity. Karlheinz Stockhausen is one of the most important representatives of this style.

The demarcation of modern, classical movements is just as unclear as the definition of classical music itself. Several styles since the 19th Century are referred to as "modern classic". The imitation of the "old styles of music" is just as modern and classic as the break with them. You can therefore encompass almost any composition under this term. It is only important that you can justify this classification - either with the imitation or breakage argument.