Review of Musical Elements
Rhythm
Harmony
Instrumentation
Pitch
Texture
Duration
Dissonant
Tone color
Melody
Intervals
Modality
Form
Chromatic
Climax
Dynamics
Tempo
Timbre
Sequence
Chapter 18:
The Late
Romantics
Late Romantic
Program Music
Key Terms
Realism
Symphonic poem
Theme
transformation
Late Romantic Timeline
The Late Romantics
1848 a year of failed revolutions
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In France, Italy, & various German states
Hopes for political freedom seemed to die
Many Romantic aspirations died as well
Romanticism lived on, but as nostalgia
1848 a convenient point of demarcation
• Early Romantics were dying – Mendelssohn,
Chopin, & Schumann died 1847-1856
• Revolution & exile transformed Wagner’s
career
Late Romantic Program Music
Liszt wrote a series of symphonic poems
in the 1850s
• A new genre – a one-movement orchestral
work with a program in a free musical form
• Word “poem” emphasized literary connection
• Could be based on a poem, play, or other work
• Liszt’s works include Les préludes & Hamlet
• Gave new impetus to late Romantic music
• Genre was used by Smetana, Chaikovsky,
Musorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Strauss,
Sibelius, and others
Pyotr Ilyich Chaikovsky
(1840-1893)
Music not a “respectable” Russian career
• Chaikovsky was fortunate to study at the
brand-new St. Petersburg Conservatory
• Professor at Moscow Conservatory at 26
• Long subsidized by wealthy recluse Nadezhda
von Meck – though they never met!
A prolific composer
• 6 symphonies, 11 operas, symphonic poems,
chamber music, songs, concertos, ballets
• One of the best-loved melodists in music
history
Chaikovsky, Romeo and Juliet
One of several of his symphonic poems
• Lengthy pieces in one movement
• He uses free forms that adopt features of
sonata form, rondo, & so on
Romeo and Juliet followed outlines of the
original play in a general way
Easy to link themes to aspects of the play
• Surging, Romantic melody for the two lovers
• Angry, agitated theme for families’ enmity
• Hymnlike theme for kindly Friar Laurence
Romeo and Juliet
Slow Introduction
Introduction already heavy with drama
Somber, solemn Hymn theme statements
• In low clarinets & bassoons
Anguished strings answer
• Forecasting an unhappy outcome
High woodwind announcement
• Punctuated by strumming harp
The above repeats & builds to a climax
• Over dramatic drum roll
Romeo and Juliet
Allegro (1)
Begins with fast Vendetta (Fate) theme
• Short, vigorous rhythmic motives
• Climax punctuated by cymbal claps
Romeo and Juliet
Allegro (2)
Shifts to highly romantic Love theme
• First heard in English horn & violas
• Interrupted by a gentle sighing figure
• Returns to Love theme in woodwinds
Romeo and Juliet
Allegro (3)
Lively development section follows
• Reminiscent of sonata form development
• Battle between Vendetta & Hymn themes
Romeo and Juliet
Free Recapitulation (1)
Vendetta theme returns in original form
• Reminiscent of sonata form recapitulation
Sighing motive & Love theme also return
• Big, ecstatic statement of Love theme
Romeo and Juliet
Free Recapitulation (2)
• Ending broken up & interrupted – a reference
to the drama’s tragic outcome
Vendetta & Hymn themes combine once
more
• They build to a huge climax & die down
unwillingly
Romeo and Juliet
Coda
Introduces transformations of Love theme
Begins with broken version of Love theme
• Over funeral drum taps in timpani
Woodwinds sound an optimistic note
• Transformation of sighing motive
Harp strumming introduces Love theme
• Beautiful new cadential version surges upward
ecstatically
• Suggestion that their love transcends death?