20th Century Movements

Neoclassicism in music (c.1910–1950) was a 20th‑century movement that looked back to the clarity, balance and formal restraint of the 18th‑century Classical style while employing modern harmonic language and orchestration.

Serialism, emerging in the early 1920s and flourishing through the mid‑20th century, is defined by the systematic organization of musical parameters—most famously pitch—using ordered series. The era reshaped compositional practice with twelve‑tone rows and total serialization.

The Second Viennese School refers to the early‑20th‑century circle of composers centered on Arnold Schoenberg and his pupils Alban Berg and Anton Webern, active roughly from 1908 to the mid‑1930s. It is defined by the systematic abandonment of tonal harmony in favor of atonality and the twelve‑tone method.

Impressionism in music, flourishing roughly between 1880 and 1920, is defined by innovative orchestration, ambiguous tonality, and a focus on atmosphere over formal development.