ques. Baroque dances like the gavotte and gigue and h)nns like the passacaglia and concerto giosst~ arc being used again. The long-forgotten harpsicluoid has been puL to new use in compositions such as Elliott Carter's Sonata for Flute, Oboe, Cello, and Harpsichord (1952), which we'll study. In the Classical Si~m- phony (1917) by the Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev (1891 ••- 1953), a classical orchestra is used, and tBe texture is light and transparent like much late eighteenth-century music. Occasionally a twentieth-century composer uses themes of earlier composers, as Benjamin Britten did in
             I (wiry I'uneII ~t~ntt l~) I~95). - __________________________ Modern compositions may be inspired by older music, hut t~
             not mean that they simply imitate past styles. Instead, a traditim1,. form might be used with harmonies, rhythms, melodies, and tone col- ors that would have been inconceivable before the twentieth century.
             Modern composers were also influenced by the music of the imnmnedi- ate past. Nineteenth-century composers such as Wagner, Ihaluns, Mahier, Richard Strauss, and Mussorgsky were musical points ol departure for composers of the early twentieth century. Wagner's music, in particular, was as potent an influence as Beethoven's was for romantic musicians. Composers took Wagner's style as a depa itume 1)oiuit, or else they violently reacted against all he stood for.
             I laying reviewed some of the sources of inspimation for twentieth century music, let's 110W examine SOfllL' (if its musical characteristics.
             CHARACTERISTICS OF TWENTIETH-CENTURY MUSIC
             During the twentieth century, tone color has become a more important element of music than it ever was before. It often has a major role, creating variety, continuity, and mood. In Weberii's ( )rches(ral l'iece, Op. 10, No. 3 (1913), for example, the use of eerie, bell-like sounds at the beginning and end is vital...