Romantic Time
Period
(1820-1900)
Romanticism was an artistic, literary,
and intellectual movement that
originated in Europe toward the end of
the 18th century
Romantic Time Period (1820-1910)
• Confusion in dates?
• There
is a transition time between time
periods. You can see characteristics from
both time periods
• The Romantic era grew out of the social and
political upheavals that followed the French
Revolution
• This new society placed a lot of emphasis on
the individual (individualism)
What was Romanticism?
 The movement placed strong emphasis on emotions
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such as apprehension and terror
It elevated folk art and ancient customs
It made spontaneity a desirable characteristic
Romanticism reached beyond the Classicist ideas
It attempted to embrace the exotic and unfamiliar
It harnessed the power of the imagination
• Slogan: “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity”
•
What do each of these words mean?
Liberty?
• Equality?
• Fraternity?
•
• Slogan: “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity”
•
What do each of these words mean?
Liberty-right to choose, Freedom
• Equality – State of being equal; equal to all others
in a specific group
• Fraternity – brotherly love; feelings of friendship
and mutual support between people
•
Romanticism in Music
The Arts mirror the profound
changes that were taking place
during this time period
Improvements to Instruments
• The industrial revolution brought about means to
create better instruments.
1. The cost to make the instruments was cheaper
2. More responsive instruments
3. Technical improvements
•
The addition of valves to brass instrumentsmade playing the instruments much easier
4. New instruments created
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Tuba
Saxophone
Piano
• Golden age of the piano
• Most households had a piano
• Originally called the pianoforte
because it had the ability to play both
loud (forte) and soft (piano).
Later shorted to just piano.
• Piano had a cast-iron frame
• Thicker strings gave it a deeper and more brilliant tone
• Easier to tune. More tension on the strings.
• Steinway piano company was very popular. Still is today.
Broadening Educational Opportunities
• New conservatories were established
•
Conservatory-an institution or school
where students are taught one of the arts,
most commonly music or drama, to a
professional standard
• As a result of more conservatories,
composers could count on having
performers with greater capabilities and
higher skill levels.
•
Could write more difficult music.
Orchestras
• Increased in size.
• This gave composers a more
varied and colorful means of
expression
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New instruments (different timbres)
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Piccolo
English horn
Contrabassoon
• These instruments expanded the range
of the orchestra. They could play
extremely high and also extremely low
notes
• Dynamic range increased
• Added drama
Musical Language
 Helped composers communicate their exact
intentions of how the music should be played
 Dolce – sweetly
 Cantabile – songful
 Dolente – weeping
 Mesto – Sad
 Maestoso – Majestic
 Con Amore – with love, tenderly
Romantic Music Traits
1. Tried to make the instruments “sing”
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Lyrical Melodies
2. Emotional and Expressive
3. Expanded instrumental forms
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A symphony by Haydn or Mozart takes about 20 minutes to
perform. One by a Romantic composer may take twice as long
4. There was meaning behind the music
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Meditations of life and death
Human destiny
God and nature
Pride in one’s country
Political struggles
Ultimate triumph over good and evil
Franz Schubert
 Born in a suburb of Vienna
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Son of a schoolmaster
Learned to play the violin from his
father and the piano from an older
brother
Beautiful singing voice
Was a Vienna Choir boy
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His teacher were astonished at his
musical abilities, especially since he
was very shy
 He tried to follow in his father’s
footsteps and become a teacher,
but teaching was not for him
 He found his escape through
music
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One of his friends commented
“Everything he touched turned to song.”
Franz Schubert
 He had a very difficult life. Suffered from syphilis
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and was usually pressed for money. He sold a lot of
his music for less than what it was worth.
He died when he was only 31.
His dying wish was to be buried near the master he
worshipped above all others –Beethoven. His wish
was granted.
He wrote over 600 songs
He could write these songs very quickly. Sometimes
he would write 5, 6 or 7 in a single morning.
Erlking
 Franz Schubert’s most famous song was “Erlking”
 This song gave him immediate public recognition
 This song is based on the legend of the “Elf King”
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If the Elf King touches a human, they will die.
The Elf King seeks vengeance on humans to get revenge for his daughter.
 The eerie atmosphere of the poem is immediately established
by the piano.
 The poem has 4 characters: the narrator, the father, the child,
and the Elf King
 It is all sung with the same voice. He changes his voice for
each character.
 The boy is terrified and the father is trying to calm him, and
the Elf King is scary and dark.
Erlking
Who rides, so late, through night and wind?
It is the father with his child.
He has the boy well in his arm
He holds him safely, he keeps him warm.
"Do you want to come with me, pretty boy?
My daughters shall wait on you finely;
My daughters will lead the nightly dance,
And rock and dance and sing you to sleep."
"My son, why do you hide your face so
anxiously?"
"Father, do you not see the Elfking?
The Elfking with crown and tail?"
"My son, it's a wisp of fog."
"My father, my father, and don't you see there
The Elfking's daughters in the gloomy place?"
"My son, my son, I see it clearly:
There shimmer the old willows so grey."
"You dear child, come, go with me!
Very lovely games I'll play with you;
Some colourful flowers are on the beach,
My mother has some golden robes."
"My father, my father, and don't you hear
What the Elfking quietly promises me?"
"Be calm, stay calm, my child;
The wind is rustling through withered leaves."
"I love you, your beautiful form entices me;
And if you're not willing, then I will use force."
"My father, my father, he's grabbing me now!
The Elfking has done me harm!"
It horrifies the father; he swiftly rides on,
He holds the moaning child in his arms,
Reaches the farm with trouble and hardship;
In his arms, the child was dead
Robert Schumann
 Born in Germany
 His mother insisted that he attend law school. While
he was in law school he decided he had a passion for
music, and his ambition was to become a pianist.
 He had a very late start with piano lessons and
practiced intensively to make up for the missed time.
 He never became the great pianist he had hoped to
become. Possibly because of his late start, but he
also had some physical handicap with his right hand.
 Instead of becoming a pianist, he turned to
composition.
Robert Schumann
 Married Clara who was a pianist
 The 2 musicians worked side by
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side.
Clara was part of the reason he
became so popular. Robert would
write the music and Clara would
play it on the piano.
Robert was very ill suited for public
life.
He had a lot of problems such as
hallucinations
In a fit a depression, he attempted
suicide by throwing himself into
the Rhine River.
He died at the age of 46.
Frederic Chopin
 Nickname “Poet of the Piano”
 National composer of Poland
 Fell in love with a novelist named
George Sand
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He was most productive while married to
her
 Eventually their relationship ran its
course and they parted ways
 He died of tuberculosis at the age of
39.
 They played his very own “Funeral
March” at his funeral.
 Best known work : Nocturne in C
minor
Musical Nationalism
 Nationalism – Patriotism, proud loyalty or devotion to a
nation
 Nationalism in music was expressed in many ways
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Songs and dance of their culture
Folklore or peasant life
Celebration of national heroes, historic events
Scenic beauty of their country
 Nationalistic music was so important to the people that
often times if a country had been capture or was run by
another nation, they were forbidden to play their
nationalistic music.
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Nazi’s in WWII forbade the people of Warsaw to play Chopin’s music
because of the powerful symbolism behind the words.
Bedrich Smetana (1824-1884)
 Nationalistic composer from Bohemia
(Czech Republic)
 Lived while Bohemia was struggling under
Austrian rule
 Wrote “Ma Vlast” (My Country)
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This work was inspired by the beauty of
Bohemia’s countryside
Second Movement “The Moldau” – one of Bohemia’s rivers
Rippling streams that flow through the forest to the mighty river
Hunting scene with French horns
Peasant wedding
Fairy-tale setting
Finally approaches the capital city of Prague, it flows past the castles
and fortresses
Goes out to the sea and fades away
Richard Wagner
 Most important figure in the
German opera
 He was mostly self-taught. He only
received about 6 months of
instruction in music theory
 When he was 20 he abandoned his
academic studies and obtained a
position as chorus master in a
small opera house.
 Wagner did away with the old
opera. He wanted to create a
“continuous fabric of melody that
would never allow the emotions to
cool.”
Giuseppe Verdi
 Italian Romantic composer
primarily known for his operas
 Guiseppe Verdi -- "Joe Green," in
Italian
 Born during a time of war in Italy
(Napolean Bonaparte was gaining
control of the area of Italy)
 Italian patriot. His music became
part of the Italian fight for
independence and unity.
Peter Tchaikovsky
 Russian
 Son of government official and also
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pursued a career in the government.
He resigned at age 23. Entered the
Conservatory at St. Petersburg
He completed his music courses in 3
years and was immediately
recommended for a teaching post in
the new Moscow Conservatory.
He was a very sensitive man.
Suffered a lot from depression.
Music was his outlet
He considered himself a nationalistic
composer. He said “I am Russian
through and through!”
Peter Tchaikovsky
 Best known work is The Nutcracker
 Includes many dances, especially the waltz
 Many performers complained that the music was too
complicated to dance to
Dance of Sugar Plum Fairy
 Russian Dance
 Arabian Dance
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Full Ballet