Do Now: Dec. 9
 Thinking
back to your Romantic unit in
English, what do you think are
characteristics of Romantic period music?
Give at least two ideas and use sentences
on your Do Now notecard.
Romantic Period
 The
Romantic period began around 1830
and ended around 1900.
 Yes, there was some overlap between the
classical period and romantic period.
 In fact, Beethoven bridged the two periods
during his lifetime.
Romantic Music: Features

Music is very passionate and dramatic.
 It’s emotional. Composers used music to
overwhelm listeners with emotion, writing sad,
sweeping pieces about love and heartbreak and
magical fantasies about goblins, witches, and
swans.
Romantic Instruments &
Ensembles

The orchestra is a full orchestra and arranged as
we know it and was led by a conductor with a
baton.
 The most popular instrument was the piano.
Romantic Form & Composers
 Program
music tells a story or describes
something.


So, when you were at the concert, you would imagine
the story while listening to the music.
Sometimes, they create musical themes to fit
characters, like Yoda from Star Wars or Hedwig from
Harry Potter each have their own themes. These
themes musically describe the characters.
 Composers:
Beethoven (later in his life)
Mussourgsky
Tchaikovsky
Can you answer these?
 Who
bridged the Classical and Romantic
time periods?
 What
is program music?
 What
was the most popular instrument?
Romantic Listening Example
 “March,”
from The Nutcracker
 By Tchaikovsky
Video Clip - Fantasia
Sorcerer’s Apprentice by Paul Dukas
Dukas used a poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
The poem begins as an old sorcerer departs his workshop,
leaving his apprentice with chores to perform. Tired of
fetching water by pail, the apprentice enchants a broom to do
the work for him, using magic in which he is not fully trained.
The floor is soon awash with water, and the apprentice
realizes that he can’t stop the broom because he doesn’t
know how.
 The apprentice splits the broom in two with an ace, but each
of the pieces becomes a whole new broom. The poem
continues and you’ll see it portrayed soon.
 Disney took this program music and turned it into a cartoon.
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ait_Fs6UQhQ



Creating Program Music!!!
 Each

student will work by themselves.
Make up a character and write 3 descriptions
about them using sentences on your Do Now
notecard.
• For example: My character is Freddie the fish. My
fish is fast, happy, and energetic.

Go to the piano and quickly create and play
the theme by ear.
• For example, my theme would be something fast,
in a happy mood, and probably an upbeat rhythm
to match my description of my fish.