A TIMELINE OF WESTERN MUSIC

PAGE 5

1900 CE

1900 CE

- Freud, The Interpretation of Dreams.

- Radio, communication via electromagnetic radiation, develops for Navy use.

1903 CE

- Wright brothers fly Kitty Hawk in North Carolina.

1904 CE

- London Symphony Orchestra established.

1908 CE

- Arnold Schoenberg declares break with tonality. No key center, he uses pitch class set to determine sonorities, grows into twelve-tone serialism and Second Viennese School.

- Alexander Scriabin writes Poem of Ecstasy. A Russian pianist and composer, he uses "mystic chord" with whole-tone properties, attaches mystical significance to his music.

- James P. Johnson arrives in Harlem, becomes stride piano master, playing at rent parties and cutting contests with Willie "The Lion" Smith and Fats Waller. His piece "Carolina Shout" becomes a test piece for aspiring ragtime players.

1909 CE

- Sergei Rakhmaninov writes Piano Concerto No. 3, focus on melody, passionate aesthetic, demands great agility. A Russian composer, he is resented by the Mighty Five for his formal training.

1912 CE

- Schoenberg writes Pierrot Lunaire, using Sprechstimme, or speak-singing.

1913 CE

- Igor Stravinsky writes Le Sacre du Printemps for Diaghilev's Ballet Russo in Paris. A Russian composer, he employs Russian traditional tunes with aggressive rhythms, clean counterpoint, polytonality, bold orchestral color, blocks of static harmony and abrupt juxtapositions. Also known for Petrushka and the Firebird.

1916 CE

- Gustav Holst writes The Planets, programmatic orchestral music, exotic harmony, use of women's chorus, infuenced by Hinduism.

1917 CE

- First Jazz recording, Original Dixieland Jazz Band, "Livery Stable Blues," novelty piece, all white band from New Orleans.

1919 CE

- Sidney Bechet, New Orleans clarinetist known for control of timbre and phrasing, tours Europe as a teenager, cooler style, later records with Louis Armstrong.

- Charles Ives writes Concord, Mass. 1840-1860, piano sonata, postmodern, fragments of different kinds of music, polytonality, polyrhythm, dissonance, experimental form.

1920's

- Universities become site of musical progress, wave of Americans study with Nadia Boulanger in France.

- Rural blues players tour deep South, playing at Fish Fries and nightspots (Robert Johnson, Leadbelly, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Charlie Patton).

1921 CE

- Jean Sibelius writes Symphony No. 5. A Finnish composer, he crafts themes from short motives, experiments with the tritone and sets Finnish texts.

- Alban Berg writes Wozzeck, an opera about an isolated soldier, used leitmotifs, atonality. A pupil of Schoenberg, he tempers twelve-tone with more expressive and dynamic qualities than Schoenberg or Webern. Also known for Lyric Suite.

1922 CE

- Ralph Vaughan-Williams writes the Pastoral Symphony, free rhythm, solo soprano, unbarred. He is interested in English culture and literature, choral music and pedagogy.

- First Jazz Recording with black artists under Kid Ory.

- King Oliver Creole Jazz Band gig at Lincoln Gardens in Chicago, band features Louis Armstrong.

1923 CE

- Classic blues singer Bessie Smith records "Downhearted Blues," powerful voice, dominating stage presence, openly sexual themes, mentored by Ma Rainey.

- Arthur Honegger writes King David, oratorio, exemplifies Neo-Classicist movement in France with dynamic action and bold colors.

1924 CE

- George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue premiers in New York City, prolific composer and songwriter with jazz/ blues infuence, also notable for his folk opera Porgy and Bess.

- Darius Milhaud writes Le Creation du Monde. A prolific French composer, he uses polytonality, influenced by Latin American melodies and rhythms.

1925 CE

- First electronic recording of music, Philadelphia Orchestra.

- Henry Cowell, an experimental composer from California, writes The Banshee, using strumming inside of piano and clusters.

- Louis Armstrong plays first session as bandleader with Hot Fives in Chicago, Armstrong (cornet), Lil Hardin (piano), Kid Ory (trombone), Johnny St. Cyr (banjo), Johnny Dodds (clarinet), classic recordings of "Gut Bucket Blues" and "My Heart". Armstrong sets the standard for cornet solos, New Orleans hot sound, later distinctive vocalist, responsible for scat singing style.

1926 CE

- Jelly Roll Morten with Red Hot Peppers (including Kid Ory and Johnny St. Cyr) record "Sidewalk Blues" in Chicago, shows stop-time technique. Morten, New Orleans pianist, names himself "World's Greatest Hot Tune Writer."

1927 CE

- First "talkie" motion picture The Jazz Singer stars Al Jolson.

- Duke Ellington Orchestra plays Black and Tan Fantasy, focuses on mastery of tone, caters to abilities of specific players. Band moves from Kentucky Club to Cotton Club at this time, including Bubber Miley (trumpet), Tricky Sam Nanton (trombone), Harry Carney (sax), Barney Bigard (clarinet), Johnny Hodges (sax), Sonny Greer (drums), and later Cootie Williams replacing Miley. Productive period of "Solitude," "Sophisticated Lady," "Mood Indigo," and "It Don't Mean a Thing," begins.

- Jerome Kern writes music for Show Boat, Broadway musical. An American songwriter of Broadway and Hollywood tunes, he writes witty lyrics, beautiful melodies, many songs recorded by popular singers.

1928 CE

- Fritz Pfleumer introduces magnetic tape for recording.

- Pianist Earl Hines records with Louis Armstrong, Hines forges trumpet style approach to piano, "King Porter Stomp." This recording fully sets jazz apart as different genre from ragtime and dancehall music.

- Maurice Ravel writes Bolero. An Impressionist composer and brilliant orchestrator, he uses bold color and modal folk melodies. Also known for Pavane for a Dead Princess, Le Tombeau de Couperin and Jeux d'eau.

- Anton Webern writes Symphony Op.21. A pupil of Shoenberg, he exemplifies cool, constructive side of twelve- tone music, bare canonic counterpoint, pointillism, very specific notation, unorthodox instrumentation.

- Kurt Weill writes The Three-Penny Opera, based on Gay's Beggar's Opera, adapted by Bertholdt Brecht, paradied American hit songs, juxtaposition of different styles.

1930 CE

- Stravinsky writes Symphony of Psalms, moving toward Neo-Classism, balance, objectivity, absolute music, allusions to Western tradition, ostinato bass, pandiatonicism.

1931 CE

- George Beauchamp and Adolph Rickenbacker create the first electric guitar, inspired by the guitar melodies of Hawaiian music.

- Ruth Crawford Seeger writes String Quartet, serialist, inspired by folk melodies.

1933 CE

- Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young face off as two titans of tenor sax in Kansas City. Hawkins' full-bodied sound and unbridled energy meets Young's cooler style, pure tone and subtle harmonic implications.

- Edgard Varese writes Ionisation, early all percussion piece, unusual timbres, experimental French composer, pioneer of electronic resources.

1934 CE

- Dmitri Shostakovich writes Lady Macbeth of the Mtensk District, an opera that offends ruling Soviets with sex and violence. A Russian composer, he writes 10 symphonies, chromatic, dotted rhythms, disjunct.

1935 CE

- Paul Hindemith writes Mathis der Mahler, an opera based on the life of artist Matthias Grunewald, explores role of artist in time of stress, scrutinized by Nazis. An influential teacher, he teaches at Yale, Berlin and Zurich, violinist, writes The Craft of Musical Composition, coins term "Gebrauchsmusik" (music for use) to bridge widening gulf between composer and audience.

- "Birth of the Swing Era" when Benny Goodman's band plays at the Palomar Ballroom in Los Angeles, swinging band with tight arrangements and hot style soloists, use new advent of radio to become superstars, band features at various times, Benny Goodman (clarinet), Mary Lou Williams (piano), Fletcher Henderson (arr.), Gene Krupa (drums), Lionel Hampton (vibes), Teddy Wilson (piano) and Charlie Christian (guitar).

1936 CE

- Samuel Barber writes Adagio for Strings, embraced by mainstream western academic music, also known for his operas.

- Sergey Prokoviev writes Peter and the Wolf and Romeo and Juliet. A Soviet composer, he is resented by the Mighty Five (composers) for being inaccessible to the proletariat; uses tonal melody with wide interval gaps, triadic harmony with interesting inversions, writes ballets for Diaghilev.

- Carl Orff writes Carmina Burana, choral work based on medieval forms.

1937 CE

- Snow White and the Seven Dwarves becomes the first film to release a soundtrack album, music by Frank Churchill, Paul J. Smith and Leigh Harline.

- Lester Young and Billie Holiday collaborate on classic sides "Mean to Me," "He's Funny that Way," and others. Delicate intimacy between the two creates emotionally expressive interpretations of Tin-Pan Alley tunes.

1938 CE

- Vocalist Billie Holiday begins stint at Cafe Society in Greenwich Village where she sings many of her landmark songs, "Lover Man," "I Cover the Waterfront," "Don't Explain," "God Bless the Child," and "Strange Fruit," a haunting ballad about lynching that gives political character to her career.

1939 CE

- Count Basie Band records "Clap Hands, Here Comes Charlie" and "Tickle Toe," Kansas City big band lead by Basie (piano), including big names like Lester Young (sax), Walter Page (bass) and Jo Jones (drums).

- Coleman Hawkins records "Body and Soul," considered most celebrated sax solo in jazz history, 64 bars long, rich harmonic implications, fluid articulation.

- Goodman sextet plays at Carnegie Hall featuring Charlie Christian, pioneer of electric guitar, helps define bebop idiom, known for chromaticism and unusually fast tempos.

- Max Steiner lends a memorable theme and lush orchestration to Gone With the Wind.

1941 CE

- First television production.

- Olivier Messiaen writes Quartet for the End of Time in prison camp in WWII, for piano, clarinet, violin and cello which becomes a standard quartet instrumentation. A French composer, he often alludes to Catholic ideas and evokes nature with bird sounds or water-like textures, unique style drew from pitch class sets, tonality, modality, used mysticism, isorhythm, idea of slow tempo as ecstasy, teachers Boulez and Stockhausen.

- Duke Ellington Band plays Black, Brown and Beige concert at Carnegie Hall, an extended work for jazz band and voice, telling story of African American history, Ellington's attempt to help America see jazz as serious music, controversial with classical and jazz fans. Additions to band - Jimmy Blanton (bass), Ben Webster (sax), Billy Strayhorn (arr.)

- Alan Lomax records Muddy Waters, Mississippi Delta bluesman, playing "I Be's Troubled."

1942 CE

- Hollywood musical Holiday Inn premiers, featuring songs by Irving Berlin, most successful songwriter of the 20th century, memorable, seemingly inevitable melodies, charming, heartfelt lyrics, songs used in musicals, as well as recorded by popular singers.

- Erich Korngold sets conventions for heroic film score in Kings Row with swashbuckling brass and soaring strings.

- AFM (musician's union) places ban on recording, lasts into 1943, giving vocalists a boost, as only they are allowed to record during this time.

1943 CE

- Bela Bartok writes Concerto for Orchestra. A Hungarian composer, pianist and teacher interested in folk music of Eastern Europe, he pushes tonality toward ambiguity, stretching dissonance, contrapuntal texture, powerful rhythms with unexpected accents, irregular meter, secondary consideration of vertical sonorities as harmony results from scales, often modal or pentatonic, uses added seconds, quartel harmony and clusters, tonal center obscured. Also known for Music for Strings, Percussion and Celeste, Sonata for 2 Pianos and Percussion, six string quartets, and Violin Concerto No.2.

- Alfred Newman wins an Oscar for his work on The Song of Bernadette, with poignant chorales and religious references.

- Aaron Copland writes Appalacian Spring, a ballet for Martha Graham. He studies coposition with Boulanger, employs spaced octaves and fifths, diatonicism, jazz idioms, American traditional tunes and, above all, simplicity. Also known for Our Town, Rodeo and Symphony No.3.

1944 CE

- Frank Sinatra records "I'll Be Seeing You." A popular singer with a distictive, expessive voice, he is often backed by big band or string orchestra, lush arrangements.

- David Raksin creates one of the most memorable love themes in Hollywood in his film score for Laura.

- "Bebop's Arrival" when trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie's combo gigs at Onyx Club in New York City with bassist Oscar Pettiford and drummer Max Roach, complex melody lines, fast tempos.

1945 CE

- Benjamin Britten writes opera Peter Grimes. A British composer, his works are mostly of choral and vocal music, largely tonal, modal and chromatic. Also known for Ceremony of Carols and War Requiem.

- Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis record in New York City. Gillespie's landmark solo on "Ko Ko" set the standard for bebop piano solos; Davis gives thoughtful, blues inflected solo, very early in his career.

- Sarah Vaughn records "Night in Tunisia." A jazz singer with Earl Hines' big band and Billy Eckstine's Orchestra with Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker, she is known for vocal control and scat singing, bop influence.

1946 CE

- Hugo Friedhofer exemplifies the leitmotif style of filmscoring in The Best Years of Our Lives; his warm and nostalgic score earns him an Oscar.

- Django Reinhardt, gypsy influenced Belgian guitarist, tours U. S. with Ellington Band.

1947 CE

- Charlie Parker records with Davis, Roach, Bud Powell (piano) and J.J. Johnson (bass), classic recordings of Parker originals, "Scrapple from the Apple" and "Dexterity," said to be Bird's best ballad playing on "Embraceable You."

- Milton Babbit writes Three Compositions for Piano using "total serialism," which applies serialist ideas to aspects other than pitch.

1948 CE

- Kiss Me Kate premeires with music by Cole Porter, Tin Pan Alley songsmith, clever lyrics, memorable melodies, songs used in musicals and recorded by popular singers.

- John Lee Hooker records "Boogie Chillen." He is a Mississippi Delta bluesman, heavily amped boogie guitar and dark, ruminative vocals.

- 33 1/3 rpm record introduced (Long Playing).

- 45 rpm record introduced.

1949 CE

- B. B. King releases first set of singles including "B. B. Boogie," classic blues sound, emphasis on guitar playing.

Fats Domino records "The Fat Man," boogie-woogie piano, easygoing vocal style, widely popular New Orleans rhthm and blues.

- Harlem pianist Art Tatum gives concert at Shrine Auditorium, plays "I Know that You Know" at tempo over 400bpm, virtuoso player, stride master.