NEOCLASSIC music: characteristics and examples

Human beings are constantly evolving, seeking to discover the world around them and its disciplines. Thanks to curiosity, we find new ways of doing things, of expressing ourselves and when communication is successful, trends are created. As we are in constant movement, these trends come and go changing chapters in history, however It is the case that eventually we believe we have left something pending and visit ideas from the past to return. In music this is no exception.

In this lesson from a TEACHER we will talk about neoclassical music: characteristics and examples, where you can meet this artistic movement that sought to bring back the beauty of classical music in the twentieth century.

"Neo" is a word of Greek origin that means "new", so we understand that neoclassical music is the "new" version of classical music. Neoclassicism developed during the 20th and 21st centuries, between the 1920s and 1940s, as a current part of the contemporary music. Neoclassicism is preceded by Romanticism.

The basic concept of neoclassicism is to rescue mainly certain characteristics of music during the classicism(developed in Europe during the 18th and early 19th centuries, by musicians such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven and Joseph Haydn) and also some music during the period Baroque (17th century, with musicians such as Johann Sebastian Bach, Georg Friedrich Händel and Antonio Vivaldi), for blending the excellence of academic classical music with the advancements of classical music contemporary.

Although the neoclassical music movement emerged in Europe, it eventually spread to America as well, reaching countries such as Argentina and Brazil.

Some Neoclassic composers and musicians They were: Igor Stravinsky, Paul Hindemith, Manuek de Falla, Erick Satie, Maurice Ravel, Arnold Schoenberg, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Zoltán Kodàly and Nadia Boulnager.

• Apollon musagète (1928), Persephone (1933) and Orpheus (1947) - Igor Stravinsky
• Op. 23, 24 and 25 - Arnold Schoenberg
• Three Pieces for Orchestra Op. 6 - (1913) Alban Berg
• Mathis der Malher - (1938) Paul Hindemith
• Kammermusik (chamber music) - (1921 - 1927) Paul Hindemith
• Wozzeck (Rosen 1975, 87) - Alban Berg
• Rosen 1975, 102 - Anton Webern
• Ma Mere L’Oye (My mother, the goose) - (1908) Maurice Ravel
• Concerto for Calve, flute, oboe, clarinet, violin and cello - (1926) Manuel de Falla
• The altarpiece of master Pedro - (1919) Manuel de Falla
• Psyché - Pedro Calderón de la Barca, the great theater of the world - (1927) Manuel de Falla
• Scarlattiana of 1926 - Alfredo Casella
• Piano Sonata No. 1 and the Concertant Variations - (1950) Alberto Finastera

Precursor works of Neoclassicism:

• Le Bourgeois gentilhomme Op.60 - (1917) Richard Strauss
• Symphony No.1 - (1917) Sergei Prokofiev
• Concerto in the Old Style - (1912) Max Reger
• Divertimento from The Queen of Spades Op.68 - (1890) Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

With this trend you will realize that in art and in history in general there is so much knowledge to explore that sometimes it is necessary to take a couple of steps back, bring back the jewels of the past to rediscover the wonders within a new temporal context and merge them to continue evolving. We recommend that you take a moment to listen to some works of the examples that we have given you, so that you have a better approach to this style.