Expressionism

Expressionism, a stylistic tendency in music, which crested around the time of World War I, and gave voice to the anxieties, inner terrors, and cynicism of human life in the 20th century through emotionally intense, musically complex, and carefully structured works. Conventional techniques were distorted, and “pretty” harmonies were avoided in favour of dissonant, complex ones used with great power. The music is often atonal or distorts traditional tonality. Polyphony (interweaving of melodic lines) is often dense, and melody in the traditional sense is often unrecognizable.

Like Impressionism, Expressionism in music was a term applied by analogy with a movement in the visual arts and, to a certain extent, literature—see Expressionism (art); Expressionism (literature and film). The roots of Expressionism in music can be seen in the works of late-Romantic composers such as Richard Wagner of Germany and the Austrian composer Gustav Mahler. Examples include two early operas by the German composer Richard Strauss, Salome (1905) and Elektra (1909); certain works of the Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg, such as the dramatic scenes Erwartung (Expectation, 1909) and Die Glückliche Hand (The Lucky Hand, 1913), and the song cycle Pierrot Lunaire (1912); and the operas of Alban Berg, Wozzeck (1917-1922) and Lulu (1935; first full performance, 1979). The mood of angst and psychological darkness also showed itself in the instrumental music of the Second Viennese School: Schoenberg's 5 Orchestral Pieces, Op. 16 (1909), 6 Pieces by Webern, Op. 4 (1910), and Berg's 3 Pieces, Op. 6 (1914)—all brief, fleeting works, but scored for very large orchestras. Other composers with Expressionist elements include Paul Hindemith of Germany, Béla Bartók of Hungary, and Sergei Prokofiev of Russia.