20 Century

Musical Styles:
Electronic and
Chance Music
th

 New inventions and

discoveries of science and
technology lead to
continuing developments in
the field of music.
Technology has produced
These
devices
aredevices
used for
electronic
music
creating and recording music
to add to or to replace

Music that uses the tape

recorder is called musique
concrete, or concrete music. The
composer records different
sounds that are heard in the
environment. These sounds are
arranged by the composer in
different ways like by playing
the tape recorder in its fastest
mode or in reverse. In musique
concrete, the composer is able

GARD VARESE (1883196

Edgard (also spelled Edgar) Varse was

born on December 22, 1883. He was
considered an innovative French-born
composer. However, he spent the
greater part of his life and career in the
United States, where he pioneered and
created new sounds that bordered
between music and noise. The musical
compositions of Varese are
characterized by an emphasis on timbre
and rhythm. He invented the term
organized sound, which means that
certain timbres and rhythms can be
grouped together in order to capture a
whole new definition of sound. Although

Varses use of new instruments and electronic

resources made him the Father of Electronic
Music and he was described as the
Stratospheric Colossus of Sound. His musical
compositions total around 50, with his
advances in
tape-based sound proving
Orchestral
Works
revolutionary(1918-21)
during his *Hyperprism
time. He died on
*Amriques
November
6,1965.
(1923) *Octandre (1923) *Intgrales,

for woodwind and brass ensemble

(1924-25) *Arcana (1925-27)
*Ionisation, percussion (1929-31)
*Dserts, with optional tapes (195054)
Voice & Orchestra
*Offrandes, soprano (1921)

Instrumental
*Density 21.5, solo flute
(1936)
Electronic
*Good Friday procession in
Verges (1955-56) *Pome
lectronique (1957-58)

rlheinz Stockhaus

Karlheinz Stockhausen is a
central fi gure in the realm of
electronic music. Born in
Cologne, Germany, he had the
opportunity to meet the
principal innovators at the time.
Together with Pierre Boulez,
Stockhausen drew inspiration
from these composers as he
developed his style of total
S ERIALISM. Stockhausens music
was initially met with resistance
due to its heavily atonal content

Some of his works include :

*Gruppen (1957), a piece for three
orchestras that moved music
through time and space
*Kontakte (1960), a work that
pushed the tape machine to its
limits.
The epic Hymnen (1965), an
ambitious two-hour work of 40
juxtaposed songs and anthems from
around the world.
*The climax of his compositional
ambition came in 1977 when he
announced the creation of Licht

*His recent Helicopter

String Quartet, in which a
string quartet performs
whilst airborne in four
different helicopters,
develops his long-standing
fascination with music
which moves in space.
*It has led him to dream of
concert halls in which the
sound attacks the listener

STUDIE II

Chance
Music

Chance music refers to a style

wherein the piece always sounds
different at every performance
because of the random techniques of
production, including the use of ring
modulators or natural elements that
become a part of the music. Most of
the sounds emanate from the

O
J

N
H

E
G
A

1
(

1
9

9
1

2
9

He was known as one of the 20th

century composers with the
widest array of sounds in his
works. He was born in Los
Angeles, California, USA on
September 5, 1912 and became
one of the most original
composers in the history of
western music. He experimented
with what came to be known as
chance music. In one instance,
Cage created a prepared piano,

*The prepared piano style

found its way into Cages
Sonatas and Interludes (1946
1948), a cycle of pieces
containing a wide range of
sounds, rhythmic themes, and
a hypnotic quality.
*His involvement with Zen
Buddhism inspired him to
compose Music of Changes
(1951), written for

*He became famous for his

composition Four Minutes
and 33 Seconds (433"), a
chance musical work that
instructed the pianist to
merely open the piano lid
and remain silent for the
length of time indicated by
the title.
*He also advocated bringing

Cage influenced the development

of modern music since the 1950s.
He was considered more of a
musical philosopher than a
composer. His conception of what
music
can and
should
be has
had
CONCERT
FOR
PIANO
AND
a profound
impact 1958
upon his
ORCHESTRA,
contemporaries. He was active as
a writer presenting his musical
views with both wit and
intelligence. Cage was an
important force in other artistic

Cage influenced the development

of modern music since the 1950s.
He was considered more of a
musical philosopher than a
composer. His conception of what
music can and should be has had
a profound impact upon his
contemporaries. He was active as
a writer presenting his musical
views with both wit and
intelligence. Cage was an
important force in other artistic

THE END :*