Ablinger, Peter (1960--)
Peter Ablinger has arguably done more to challenge what we mean by “music” than any composer since John Cage. His works include Sehen und Hören…
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Musique Concrète
Musique Concrète (concrete music) is a music genre that developed from the technology of radio broadcasting. The inventor of Musique Concrète, the Frenchman Pierre Schaeffer…
Boulez, Pierre (1925-2016)
French composer Pierre Boulez was one of the most influential composers of the second half of the twentieth century. His personal development mirrored the history…
Tenney, James (1934–2006)
American composer James Tenney produced a wide range of innovative works, including computer music, Fluxus-inspired text scores, and chance-based instrumental pieces founded on the overtone…
Lachenmann, Helmut (Friedrich) (1935--)
One of the most influential composers to emerge from Germany following the post-war avant-garde movement, Helmut Lachenmann has remained committed to the legacy of integral…
Jook House
The jook house (also juke joint), an African American institution found mainly in semiurban areas in the Southern United States, is an important cultural phenomenon…
Eurhythmics
Eurhythmics, a coined word meaning ‘good’ or ‘right rhythm’, is the English name for the interactive approach to music education developed in the early 1900s…
Zangwill, Israel (1864–1926)
Israel Zangwill was a British-Jewish author, journalist, and activist. Among his best-known literary works are the novel The Children of the Ghetto (1892), and the…
Lewis, (Percy) Wyndham 1882–1957
Wyndham Lewis is best known as the leader of Vorticism, due largely to his First World War paintings and the portraits he produced during the…
Eno, Brian (1948--)
Brian Eno was one of the foremost producers of electronic music in the latter half of the twentieth century. He is primarily known as the…
Serra, Richard (1939--)
The American artist Richard Serra emerged in the 1960s in association with the Minimalism art movement. Known primarily for his work as a sculptor, he…
Gould, Glenn (1932–1982)
Glenn Gould was a twentieth-century pianist born in Toronto in 1932. Among his major influences were the recordings of Artur Schnabel (1882–1951), who specialized in…
Parker, Charles ‘Charlie’ Jr. (1920-1955)
Charlie Parker, known as ‘Yardbird’ or ‘Bird,’ was a famous American jazz saxophonist. Parker is best known for developing the style of jazz known as…
Black Bottom
The Black Bottom dance began as an early twentieth-century African American social dance in the Southern United States. It later entered the American mainstream via…
Perle, George (1915–2009)
George Perle (1915–2009) was an American composer and scholar, awarded a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, a Pulitzer Prize (1986) for his Wind Quintet no. 4, and…
Modernism and Popular Music
Modernism has an uneasy relationship with popular music and popular culture in general. Many modernist music movements (e.g. the twelve-tone school of Schoenberg) are diametrically…
Buckler, Ernest (1908–1984)
Ernest Buckler (1908–1984) was a walking paradox. Born in the bookless society of poor, rural Nova Scotia, he earned a BA in mathematics and philosophy…
Messiaen, Olivier (1908–1992)
Olivier Messiaen was one of the foremost composers of the twentieth century, with a distinctive compositional style of great emotional intensity. This style drew on…
Villanueva, María Cecilia (1964--)
María Cecilia Villanueva was born in 1964 in La Plata, Argentina. She studied composition with Mariano Etkin at the Universidad Nacional de La Plata, where…
Bluvshtain (Sela), Rachel (1890–1931)
Rachel Bluvshtain was the most salient and recognizable symbol of Labour Zionism in the 20th century and remains one of the most popular Hebrew poets…
John Cage (1921–1990)
A leading figure in the twentieth-century avant-garde, John Cage was a prolific composer, writer, and artist. His early works show Schoenberg’s influence in their use…
Billone, Pierluigi (1960–)
Pierluigi Billone is an Italian composer. Following early studies in guitar and composition in Sienna and Milan, he studied with Salvatore Sciarrino before moving to…
One Step
In the years before the entry of the United States into World War I, the One Step replaced the Two Step as the common popular…
Boghossian, Alexander (Skunder) (1937–2003)
Alexander Boghossian, better known as Skunder, was one of the most prominent figures of African modernism. Born in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia in 1937 to…
Coleman, Ornette (1930–2015)
Ornette Coleman was an American jazz alto saxophonist and composer, considered one of the founders of the avant-garde movement in jazz, which he began performing…