In the first quarter of the twentieth century in literature,visual art, cinema and music have a new, opposite to classical views on creativity direction, proclaimed the main purpose of art is the expression of the subjective spiritual world of man. Expressionism in music is one of the most controversial and complex currents.
How did expressionism appear
Expressionism appeared and most vividlymanifested in the culture of Austria and Germany. In 1905, in Dresden, a group of students was formed at the technical college of the Higher School, which was named “The Bridge”. The participants were E. Nolde, P. Klee, M. Pihshteyn, E. Kirchner. Soon, foreigners, including people from Russia, joined the German artists. Later, in 1911, another association appeared in Munich - “The Blue Rider”, which included V. Kandinsky, P. Klee, F. Mark, L. Feininger.
These circles became the progenitorsartistic direction, followed by literary associations began to appear, magazines published in Berlin (“Storm”, “Sturm”, “Action”), a trend appeared in fiction and music.
It is believed that the term "expressionism" was introducedin 1910, a historian from the Czech Republic A. Mateychekom. But long before that, at the end of the 15th and the beginning of the 16th centuries, the Spanish artist El Greco and Matthias Grunewald from Germany had already used the technique of exaltation and extreme emotionality in their work. And the expressionists of the twentieth century began to consider themselves to be their followers and, relying on the works of Friedrich Nietzsche (the treatise “The Birth of Tragedy”) about the irrational (“Dionysian”) beginning of art, began to develop directions of chaos of feelings and ways of its expression in art.
What is expressionism
Expressionism is believed to have originated fromthe painful and complex reaction of the psyche of people to the horrors of modern civilization, such as war (World War I), revolutionary movements. Fear, disappointment, anxiety, pain, disfigured mind - all this did not allow artists to perceive the world around them objectively. And then a new principle was developed, which completely rejected the naturalism and aesthetics inherent in previous generations of creators.
The aesthetics of expressionism in literature, painting andmusic is based on the expression of subjective feelings, demonstration of the inner world of man. It is not the image that becomes more important, but the expression of emotions (pain, cry, horror). In art, the task is not the reproduction of reality, but the transfer of experiences associated with it. I actively use various means of expression - exaggeration, complication or simplification, bias.
Expressionism in music is what?
Composers have always sought for new andthe unknown. In any of the epochs there were musicians who went "in step with the times" and, under the influence of new art movements, discovered and invented their ways through musical means of expression.
Expressionism in music is "psychogramthe human soul. " So claimed the German philosopher Theodore Adorno. Any traditions, classical forms of musical composition, tonality and other formal limitations of styles (classicism, romanticism, rococo) expressionism in music rejects, this is its main distinguishing feature.
The main means of expression
- Extreme dissonance in harmony.
- Lack of a classic understanding of size and rhythm in music.
- Intermittent, sharpness, torn melodic line.
- Sharp and non-standard intervals and chords.
- The changeability of the tempo of the music is abrupt and unexpected.
- The absence of the standard major minor key is atonality.
- Replacing the vocal with an instrumental part and vice versa.
- Replacing singing speech, whisper, cry.
- Irregularity and unusual alignment of rhythm accents.
Expressionism in the music of the 20th century
The appearance in the music of a new direction at the beginning of XXcentury led to a strong change in its perception. Expressionism in music is a rejection of the classical form of the work, size, key and frets. Such new means of expressiveness as atonality (a departure from the logic of the classical major minor key), dodecaphony (a combination of twelve tones), new methods of singing in vocal works (speaking, whispering, shouting) led to the possibility of a more direct “expression of one’s soul (T. Adorno).
The concept of musical expressionism in the twentiethcentury is associated with the Second Vienna School (Novovenskoy) 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, the following composers create their works with a tendency to impressionism:
- Paul Hindemith.
- Igor Stravinsky.
- Bela Bartok.
- Ernst Kshenek.
New music caused a storm of emotions and a wave of criticismamong 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 composers found inbright and acute subjective experience, the emotions of one person. The themes of loneliness, depression, misunderstanding, fear, pain, sadness and despair - these are the main things that musicians wanted to express in their works. Speech intonation, lack of melody, dissonant moves, abrupt and irresponsible leaps, disconnected rhythm and tempo, irregular accentuation, alternation of weak and strong beats, non-standard use of instruments (in an unconventional register, in an unconventional ensemble) - all these ideas were created to express feelings and disclosing the contents of the soul of the composer.
Expressionist composers
Representatives of expressionism in music are:
- Arnold Schoenberg (vocal cycle "Lunar Piero", monodrama "Waiting", cantata "Surviving in Warsaw", opera "Aaron and Moses", "Ode to Napoleon").
- Ernst Kshenek (opera "Orpheus and Eurydice", opera "Johnny plays along").
- Bela Bartok (Sonata, First Piano Concerto, Third Piano Concerto, Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta, Sacred Spring, Miraculous Mandarin, and other compositions).
- Paul Hindemith (one act opera “The Killer, Hope for Women”, piano suite “1922”).
- Igor Stravinsky (“Bike about the fox”, “Weddings”, “Nightingale”, “The Firebird”, “Petrushka” and many other works).
- Gustav Mahler (especially the late works “The Song of the Earth” and the unfinished tenth symphony).
- Alban Berg (opera "Wozzeck").
- Anton Webern (five orchestral pieces, string trio, “The Holy of Holies”, short “Light of Eyes”).
- Richard Strauss (operas "Electra" and "Solomeya").
Expressionist Chamber Music
It so happened that the school of Schoenberg graduallydeviated 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 more common in this style. Schoenberg believed that his invention - atonality - does not fit well with monumental and widescreen works.
Novovenskaya school is a different interpretation of music.Chaos, spirituality, a new sense of the truth of life without embellishment and obsession became the basis of artistic expression. The destruction of melody, the invention of a different tonality - a revolt against the traditional view of art - has always provoked resentment and controversy among critics. However, this did not prevent Novovensky composers from receiving worldwide recognition and a huge number of listeners.
