After the First World War (1914-18), the world was a different place. Europe's great empires had fallen apart into exhausted and squabbling nation states, dogged by political instability and mass unemployment. America was tipped by the Wall Street stock market crash of 1929 into economic depression.
But the 'Roaring Twenties' were also about having a good time, now that the war was over. Jazz caught the mood perfectly, and swept through America and Europe. Composers, like everyone else, found themselves trying to move on into a strange new age. They responded in different ways. Arnold Schoenberg and his followers explored controversial twelve- note (or 'serial') music. Stravinsky's neo-classical' works were inspired by music of the past. And the new influence of jazz on the classical concert hall was led by the genius of George Gershwin.