1820-1950
 There
were no restrictions on the length of a
piece or instruments used
 Operas sometimes last 6 hours like those of
Richard Wagner
 Beethoven’s 9th Symphony had an oversized
orchestra, choir and vocal soloist (all new
the time period)
 Most
band instruments came in to being as
they are today
 Invention of valves on trumpets French
horns, tubas, baritones changed the
instrumental abilities
 Composers were now more interested in
composing for these instruments
3
main types of orchestral music were
developed:
 the Romantic symphony
 the tone poem
 the concert overture.
 Many
more instruments and a fleixble
number of movements than the Classical
Symphony
 They were examples of program music
 Program music is music that tells a story
 An example if Hector Berlioz’s Fantastic
Symphony
 Tone
poems are long, one movement works
that tell a story.
 An example would be Till Eulenspiegel’s
Merry Pranks by Richard Strauss
 Overtures
typically began operas and set the
mood for the audience
 Romantic period composers began writing
overtures and not attaching them to operas
known as concert overtures
 Until
now, composers always borrowed
musical styles from other countries
 Romantic composers started a new trend
called Nationalism: incorporate native folk
songs and styles into their music
 Russia was the leader in this new trend of
music.