Neoclassicism - Later "Neoclassicisms" - in Music

In Music

Neoclassicism in music is a 20th century movement; in this case it is the classical music of the late 18th and early 19th century that is being revived, not the music of the ancient world. It was ultimately a response to German Modernism in the first part of the 20th century. It was an anti-progress, anti-industrial and anti-innovative musical style. This was inspired by composers claiming that mankind is inherently "diatonic" and "tonal" ; the opposite of ultra-modernist musical influences and compositions at the time. Composers started to look back to historical musical influences. Although the practice of borrowing musical styles from the past has not been uncommon throughout musical history, art musics have gone through periods where musicians used modern techniques coupled with older forms or harmonies to create new kinds of works. Notable compositional characteristics are, the return to tonality, return to conventional forms (dance suites, concerti grossi, evident sonata forms, etc.), return to the idea of absolute music, the use of light musical textures, and the composers conciseness of musical expression. In classical music, this was most notably practiced between the 1920s and the 1950s. Igor Stravinsky is the most well known composer using this style; he effectively began the musical revolution with his Bach-like Octet for Wind Instruments (1923). A particular individual work that represents this style well is Prokofiev's Classical Symphony No. 1 in D, which is reminiscent of the symphonic style of Haydn or Mozart. Neoclassical ballet comes from the same period, and aimed to de-clutter the Russian Imperial style in terms of steps and narrative, while retaining its technical innovations.