Era: Modernist

ANTHEIL, George

Born in Trenton, NJ, July 8, 1900
Died in New York, Feb 12, 1959

George Anthiel [AN-tile / pronunciation] was an American pianist and composer of German descent. Part of the avant-garde arts scene in 1920s Paris, he was friends with Erik Satie, Ezra Pound, William Butler Yeats, and Pablo Picasso.
In his late teens, Anthiel studied composition under Ernest Bloch in New York.
During his early career, Anthiel composed music influenced by Stravinsky and cubism; later, he was drawn to the use of American folk music idioms. Eventually he settled in Hollywood and composed film scores, symphonies, and ballets.
- Fun fact – while living in Hollywood, Anthiel befriended actress Hedy Lamarr. During the Second World War, the two develop the concept of frequency hopping for radio-controlled torpedoes, for which they were granted a US Patent in 1942.
- Additional fun fact – Antheil was something of a polymath. In addition to his interest in science, he also wrote murder mysteries and newspaper articles on various topics, from contemporary music to human anatomy.¹

Learn More
Short biography

George Antheil climbing into his Parisian apartment above Shakespeare and Company (image source)

Pieces

A Jazz Symphony

20th Century Modernist American

CAGE, John

Born in Los Angeles, Sept 5, 1912
Died in New York, Aug 12, 1992

“[John Cage] had a greater impact on music in the 20th century than any other American composer.”¹

Biography

Pieces

20th Century Modernist American

CARTER, Elliott

Elliott Carter in the 2000s

Born in New York, NY, Dec 11, 1908
Died in New York, NY, Nov 5, 2012

Carter was mentored as a young man by Charles Ives.
He studied with Nadia Boulanger after earning an MA in music at Harvard.
Carter taught at numerous American colleges and music schools, including Julliard.
Carter’s music is influenced both by European modernism of Schoenberg, Stravinsky and others, and by American “ultra-modernism” of Cowell and Ives.¹

Short biography

Pieces

Elegy (1952), for string orchestra

20th Century Modernist Mexican

CHÁVEZ, Carlos

Born in Mexico City, June 13, 1899
Died in Mexico City, Aug 2, 1978

Chávez’s musical career spanned more than 50 years. As a composer, Chávez wrote over 200 works, including ballets, symphonies, concertos, a cantata and opera, and many pieces for voice, piano, and chamber ensemble.
- As a conductor, he led nearly every major orchestra in the US, Latin America, and Europe.
Chávez’s coming of age coincided with the end of the Mexican Revolution in 1921, after which a new cultural nationalism emerged with particular emphasis on the pre-Conquest era indigenous Indian cultures. This cultural shift greatly impacted Chávez’s music, fusing native Mexican music and instruments with modernist techniques.
Chávez was an invaluable advocate for increased access to the arts in Mexico. As founder and head of the Orquesta Sinfónica de México (OSM), Chávez organized concerts for workers and children and even took the orchestra out to Mexican provinces, bringing music to many audiences experiencing classical music for the first time.¹

“As a composer, Chávez is often linked in the United States to his good friend and contemporary, iconic American musician Aaron Copland. Both composers worked to create a distinct musical sound world that spoke to their home countries at a time when Europe was seen as the only serious and legitimate contributor to classical music.”
L. A. Phil²

Learn More
Short biography via Wise Music Classical

Pieces

Piano Concerto

20th Century Modernist American

COWELL, Henry

Born in Menlo Park, CA, March 11, 1897
Died in Shady, NY, Dec 10, 1965

Cowell rose from an impoverished childhood to become a leading composer of “ultramodernist” music, using experimental techniques like prepared pianos and tone clusters. He also supported other avant garde composers, especially as a writer/editor of New Music Quarterly.
Composers who benefitted from his support include Edgard Varése and Charles Ives, who was also Cowell’s friend and mentor. His students included John Cage and Lou Harrison.
His wife, and frequent writing collaborator, was folk song scholar Sidney Robertson Cowell.¹

Short biography

Pieces

20th Century Modernist Polish

LUTOSLAWSKI, Witold

Born in Warsaw, Jan 25, 1913
Died in Warsaw, Feb 9, 1994

Witold Lutosławski (pronunciation) began formal music training at six years old. In 1932, he enrolled in the Warsaw Conservatory, studying piano and composition. Fun fact: at this time, Lutosławski was simultaneously enrolled in Warsaw University for mathematics.
Lutosławski’s burgeoning compositional career was quickly interrupted by the outbreak of WWII. During the Nazi occupation, he made a living playing piano in cafes.
The composer rose to prominence in his native Poland following the premiere of his Concerto for Orchestra in 1954. As the years passed, he became more active in conducting his own works as well.¹
As a composer, Lutosławski “never belonged to any composing ‘school,’ did not yield to any trends or fashions, did not uphold a tradition, nor did he take part in avant-garde revolutions. He was, however, both an avant-garde artist and a follower of tradition.”
- He is best known today for his orchestral works, though he also wrote choral works, songs, chamber music, and pieces for solo piano.²
Quote from Lutosławski’s obituary in the NY Times:
- “Mr. Lutoslawski prized beauty in music and made a point of saying so even when beauty in new music was out of fashion. His works are distinguished by long-lined melodies, an ingenious use of orchestral structure and harmonies that vary from comfortable lushness to pungent acidity. Yet it would be wrong to think of them as neo-Romantic. In creating what he called his ‘sound language,’ Mr. Lutoslawski drew freely on avant-garde techniques, spicing his works with a light atonality and limited improvisation.”

Learn More

Biography via USC’s Polish Music Center

Pieces

Concerto for Orchestra

20th Century Late Romantic Modernist French

SATIE, Erik

Born in Honfleur, May 17, 1866
Died in Paris, July 1, 1925

Article on Satie from The Guardian

Selection of Satie facts from France Musique

List of Weird Satie Facts from Soundfly

Pieces

20th Century Modernist Austrian

SCHOENBERG, Arnold

Portrait of Arnold Schoenberg by Richard Gerstl (1906)

Born in Vienna, Sept 13, 1874
Died in Los Angeles, July 13, 1951

Arnold Schoenberg was one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. He introduced serialism, particularly 12-tone technique, to Western music methodology and taught notable composers such as Alban Berg and Anton Webern.
Schoenberg came from a Jewish family of Hungarian and Czech descent. He began studying violin and composition at age eight. Due to his modest family circumstances, he never studied formally at a renowned institution. However, when the composer was in his early 20s, he met Alexander Zemlinsky, who would become Schoenberg’s mentor.
- Fun fact – In 1901, Schoenberg married Zemlinsky’s sister, Mathilde, making the two brothers-in-law.
In 1933, amid the rise of Nazism, Schoenberg emigrated to the US. At first, he took on a teaching position at the Malkin Conservatory in Boston. About a year later, he moved to Los Angeles, where he would remain for the rest of his life. In 1936, he became a professor at UCLA.¹
Additional fun fact – In addition to music, Schoenberg further fostered his creativity by painting self-portraits and designing games, toys, and playing cards. Read more about interesting composer hobbies here.

Learn More:

Biography from The British Library
Biographical overview from Britannica

Pieces

20th Century Late Romantic Modernist Austrian

SCHREKER, Franz

Born in Monaco, March 23, 1878
Died in Berlin, March 21, 1934

Schreker was a conductor, Berlin Conservatory professor, and composer, notably of opera.
Schreker’s style was influenced by late Romanticism as well as by an eclectic mix of early 20^th C. modernist styles, ranging from Impressionism to Expressionism.¹

Pieces

Valse lente (1908)

20th Century Modernist Czech

SCHULHOFF, Erwin

Born in Prague, June 8, 1894
Died in Wülzburg, Aug 18, 1942

Erwin [pronounced “air-vin”] Schulhoff was a Jewish Czech composer and pianist of German descent.
- Schulhoff was a piano prodigy who, upon the recommendation of Dvořák, was encouraged to pursue a musical career. In his formal studies, Schulhoff encountered many established composers of the day and was inspired by everyone from Schumann and Brahms to Debussy and Scriabin. His overall training was varied and thorough, setting Schulhoff up for what should have been a long, fruitful career.
In 1914, Schulhoff was conscripted into the Austrian army, where he spent four years. The experience proved to be one of significant disillusionment for the composer, not only shifting his political sentiment (he soon after became a passionate socialist) but also shifting his musical style.
- Before WWI, Schulhoff wrote in a late romantic style. After his experience on the battlefront, he turned toward Expressionism, Dadaism, and neo-classical style, eventually embracing avant-garde.
  - Fun fact – Schulhoff was one of the first European composers to embrace Jazz.
- Schulhoff wrote many works for unusual combinations, such as Hot Sonata for saxophone and piano, Sonata Erotica for solo voice “imitating coital sighs and cries,” and a concertino for flute, viola, and double bass.
Schulhoff’s tragic demise played a large role in nearly erasing the composer’s music from history. Despite (unsuccessfully) attempting to emigrate to the Soviet Union, Schulhoff was arrested and imprisoned in 1941, eventually being deported to a concentration camp in Wülzburg, Bavaria, where he died only a few months later.¹

Learn More
Biography via The OREL Foundation

Pieces

20th Century Modernist Russian

SCRIABIN, Aleksandr

Born in Moscow, Jan 6, 1872 (O.S. Dec 25, 1871)
Died in Moscow, April 27, 1915 (O.S. April 14, 1915)

Russian composer Aleksandr Scriabin studied composition with Sergey Taneyev and Anton Arensky at the Moscow Conservatory. A few years after graduating, Scriabin taught at the Conservatory himself, a position he held until 1903 when he decided to devote himself to composing full-time.
Scriabin is best known for his orchestral music and piano pieces. His music became increasingly theosophical and modern, and while he had a devoted following of listeners during his lifetime, his music has only undergone proper analysis since the 1960s.¹
Fun/macabre fact – Scriabin died at the height of his career… from a pimple. The pimple turned into a sore which became septic, killing the composer at the young age of 43.²

Biography from the Scriabin Association

Pieces

20th Century Modernist Austrian

WEBERN, Anton

Born in Vienna, Dec 3, 1883
Died in Mittersill, Sept 15, 1945¹

Short biography
More extended biography

Pieces

Five Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 10