Music of the 1900's

Music in the 1900's was influenced by upcoming modern styles. these included many operas, symphonies, and soloists. Some of the more popular operas included Madama Butterfly and Tosca by Giacomo Puccini, and The Merry Widow by Franz Lahar. Operas during the early 1900's was headed in a modern direction with many changes being made to the traditional art thast it was. Operas began to shrink in size and have one act to cut back on costs.



Just as operas were decreasing in size, so were symphonies. Being unable to afford the large string orchestras with bountiful musicians, symphonies altered their style to prepare for the modern world. With more compact sizes, as few as 25 musicians, symphonies still stayed extremely popular and were now more affordable. Some well known from the time period include Asrael by Josef Suk, and Symphony No. 2 by Elgar.



Solo artists became big during the time era with names such as Vladimir Horowitz, and Claude Debussy, solo was often the way to go. Most artists, such as Debussy himself, were also composers who wrote their own music.