Classical composers

The modern era began with Impressionist music from 1910 – 1920, which was dominated by French composers who went against the traditional German ways of art and music. Impressionist music by Erik Satie, Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel used pentatonic scales, long, flowing phrases and free rhythms. Modernism, 1905 – 1985, marked a period when many composers rejected certain values of the “common practice” period, such as traditional tonality, melody, instrumentation, and structure. Composers, academics, and musicians developed extensions of music theory and technique in this time. 20th century classical music, encompassing a wide variety of post-Romantic styles composed through the year 1999, includes late Romantic, Modern and Postmodern styles of composition. The term contemporary music is sometimes used to describe music composed in the late 20th century through present day.