Influence of English and Continental Culture on 20th Century European Music, Schemi e mappe concettuali di Lingua Inglese

Scarica Influence of English and Continental Culture on 20th Century European Music e più Schemi e mappe concettuali in PDF di Lingua Inglese solo su Docsity! ENGLISH CULTURE AND MUSIC In the 20th century in Europe there was such a great variety of artistic personalities and experiences that are impossible to classify exactly, so would be better talking about “experiences” rather than “currents/trends” or “schools”. This is true only of the European music because English music was very different from the so-called “continental music” so we can express the differences between English music and that of the rest of Europe trough the dichotomy INSULAR/CONTINENTAL. In the continent, music expressed artist’s difficulty in living and his torment caused also by war experiences. This favoured the rise and development of avant-garde movements that put the past tradition in a difficult position. In England, on the contrary, also because of their geographical isolation, musicians preferred keeping away from experimental music directing their steps towards traditional music, such as the so-called “folk music”. The most representative musician of the 20th century was BENJAMIN BRITTEN: founder of the English Opera Group, Britten is considered the father of the modern English Opera and one of the few world-famous English composers. Britten has often set to music and put on literary texts such as the Peter Grimes, the Albert Herring and his masterpiece: The Turn of the Screw, based on the short story by Henry James. Between Britten’s works, we can also remember the War Requiem, about the Second World War that struck him who was an earnest pacifist.
ENGLISH LIGHT MUSIC The postwar period of the reconstruction is marked by the rise of numerous orchestras that widely contributed to spread the so-called English light music. During these years, it was very important the advent of the radio as the favourite way of listening to light music. One of the most important exponent of English light music is ERIC COATES who became popular thanks to his piece London Suite and other works employed as signature tunes by BBC or theme songs in films. With regard to English light music, we can also remember FREDERIC CURZON, with his famous March of the Bowmen (inspired by the legend of Robin Hood), VIVIAN ELLIS, HAYDN WOOD, ROBERT FARNON (who composed a waltz dedicated to Westminster Abbey) TREVOR DUNCAN, ANTHONY COLLINS, etc.
EXOTICISM AND ORIENTALISM Inside English light music, two musicians distinguished themselves for their taste for (the) exotic: ARTHUR BENJAMIN and ALBERT KETELBEY. The most famous piece of the Australian ARTHUR BENJAMIN is the Jamaican Rumba (inspired by the Caribbean environment), while in the work of ALBERT KETELBEY, who composed mostly for the silent screen/films, prevail oriental undertones, like in his most popular piece, called In a Persian Market.
FIRST JAZZ INFLUENCES IN ENGLAND Inside the English ragtime [American syncopated genre whose major exponent was Scott Joplin] the most important composer is BILLY MAYERL, who invented/created a new music genre standing between ragtime and jazz, with English features.