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Debussy, Schoenberg, Stravinsky An Analysis Essay

Schoenberg developed a kind of experimental method of music composition that was completely relativistic: the free use of 12 tones, in which the relationships are merely one-on-one and not related to a whole (in the traditional sense), mirrored the philosophical modern worldview of the times. This method was meant by Schoenberg to follow in the Germanic tradition of greatness. However, his break from traditional methods of composition (and even from revolutionary methods, such as Wagner's), served to effect a kind of musical equivalent to the future architectural methods of Breuer, who was renowned for Brutalism. Stravinsky, like the other two, was an innovator who played with rhythm and harmony in an effort to devise an original style. Stravinsky would add or take away notes from a motif without addressing the ways in which this would affect meter. There was a spontaneity to Stravinsky's work, like the...

Stravinsky was not afraid to contort, bend, warp and alter familiar melodies to fit what might be called the warping societal structures of the 20th century.
In conclusion, Debussy, Schoenberg, and Stravinsky each helped change the face of modern music by breaking with the traditions of the past -- Debussy first with his impressionism, followed by Schoenberg and Stravinsky. Each embraced innovative methods and composed in styles that ignored the old world rules -- such as the importance of key and/or meter; and each had significant influence on 20th century compositional styles. Atonality, polyphony, discordance, and impressionism were reflected in other contemporaries such as Mahler and Ives -- but they all set the stage for future compositions.

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