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"The art of music above all other arts is the expression of the soul of a nation. The composer must love the tunes of his country and they must become an integral part of him." —RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS

Key Points

  • Twentieth-century composers used more authentic folk and traditional elements in their nationalistic music than nineteenth-century composers.
  • National "schools" of composition developed across Europe in France, Russia, England, Germany, Spain, Scandinavia, and in various Eastern European countries.
  • Hungarian composer Béla Bartók collected traditional songs and dances from his native land, and incorporated many of these elements into his compositions.
  • Bartók's music displays new scales and rhythmic ideas and a modern, polytonal harmonic language, all set in Classical forms.
  • His Concerto for Orchestra is a programmatic work that uses the whole ensemble as the "soloist."

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