Primitivism and Neo-

Classicism
Group 3
 Primitivism
• This music is tonal through the asserting of one note as more important
than the others. New sounds are synthesized from old ones by juxtaposing
two simple events to create a more complex new event.
• Primitivism has links to Exoticism through the use of materials form other
cultures. Nationalism through the materials indigenous to specific countries,
and Ethnicism through the use of materials from European ethnic groups.
Two well-known proponents of this style were Stravinsky and Bela Bartok. It
eventually evolved into Neo-classicism.
 • Béla Bartók was born in Macrch 25, 1881,
to musical parents
• He was a Hungarian composer, pianist, an
ethnomusicologist. He is considered one
of the most important composers of the
20th century.
• Through his collection and analytical
study of folk music, he was one of the
founders of comparative musicology,
Béla Bartók
which later became ethnomusicology.
• He admired the musical styles of Lizst, Strauss, Debussy, and Stravinsky, and
with that he shed their influences in favor of Hungarian folk and peasant
themes.
• Bartok is most famous for his Six String Quartets (1908-1938).
• Duet for Pipes, Bela Bartok.
 • Igor Stravinksy was a Russian-born
composer, pianist, and conductor. He is
widely considered one of the most
important and influential composers of
the 20th century.
• Stravinsky's compositional career was
notable for its stylistic diversity. He first
achieved international fame with three
ballets commissioned by the impresario
Serge Diaghilev and first performed in
Paris by Diaghilev's Ballets Russes: The
Igor Stravinsky Firebird (1910), Petrushka (1911), and
The Rite of Spring (1913).
Russian Dance from “Petrouchka”
Igor Stranvinsky
 Neo-Classicism
• Neo-classicism was a moderating factor between the emotional excesses of
the Romantic period and the violent impulses of the soul in expressionism.
It was, in essence, a partial return to an earlier style of writing particularly the
tightly-knit form of the Classical period, while combining tonal harmonies
with slight dissonances.
• It also adopted a modern, freer use of the seven-note diatonic scale.
• Examples of neo-classicsm are Bela Bartok’s Song of the Bagpipe and Piano
Sonata.
 • Today, he is regarded as a combination of
neo-classicist, nationalist, and avant garde
composer. His style is uniquely
recognizable for its progressive technique,
pulsating rhythms melodic directness, and
a resolving dissonance.
• He was born in Ukraine in 1891, and his
early compositions were branded as avant
garde and were not approved by his elders
but still continued to follow his stylistic
Sergei Prokofiev path and went to other places to search
for acceptance of his creactivity.
Concerto in C Major, OP. 26, NO. 3
Sergei Prokofiev
 • One of the relatively few composers born
into wealth and a privileged social
position, he was a member of the group
young French composers known as “Les
Six”.
• He rejected the heavy romanticism of
Wagner and the so-called imprecision of
Debussy and Ravel. His compositions had
Francis Poulenc a coolly elegant modernity, tempered by a
classical sense of proportion.
Perpetual Motion, No. 1
Francis Poulenc