EXPRESSIONISM

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EXPRESSIONISM
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What is Expressionism?

• Expressionism is a label applied to a style of
  music written in the first quarter of the 20th
  Century.
• Like many 20th Century genres, it can be linked
  to the artistic and literary movements which were
  happening at the same time.
• Expressionist artists aimed to express internal
  emotions, often using bold colours and distorted
  images.
• The opposite of expressionism is impressionism.

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Expressionism in Art
The Scream by Edvard Munch
Self-portrait with a Model by Ernst Ludwig
Kirchner
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Expressionist Music

• Expressionist music sounds very odd to most
  people!
• Characteristics include extremes of dynamics
  (very quiet to very loud), lots of dissonant
  chords (clashing) and unusual combinations of
  instruments, at times playing the very lowest and
  very highest notes of their range.
• The music is described as being atonal (not set
  in key).
• Melodies tend to be disjunct (lots of leaps) and
  tunes are always avoided (you can never whistle
  a piece of expressionistic music!).
• Composers were more concerned with sound colour
  (combination of instrumental sounds) as oppose to
  a good melody.
• Textures vary greatly throughout a piece of
  expressionist music, from solo sections to full
  passages for orchestra.

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Arnold Schoenberg

• Arnold Schoenberg was the most important
  expressionist composer. Incidentally, he was also
  a painter.
• He began experimenting with atonal music (music
  not written in a key) and was more concerned with
  combinations of timbre (instrumental sounds) than
  with melody and harmony.
• His two students, Webern and Berg, were also
  composers of Expressionist music before they
  delved into the world of Serialism.