Music History
Romantic Period
1825 - 1900 AD
Music History
Romantic --- 1825 - 1900 AD
Romantic does not necessarily refer to love. It refers to
all emotions (love, anger, fear, joy, etc…)
-- Vocal Music
a. Romantic Opera
-larger, louder, more dramatic than Classical Opera
-very realistic, sometimes violent
b. Lieder
-German for “songs”
-short musical piece for voice and piano
-based on poetry
-usually written in groups of lieder called song cycles
Music History
Romantic --- 1825 - 1900 AD
Instrumental Music
a. Romantic Symphony
-larger, louder, and more dramatic than the Classical
Symphony.
-4 movements
-French Horn, English Horn, harp, bass clarinet, and
trombone were added to the orchestra at this time
b. Tone Poem
-a piece for symphony orchestra that only had one
movement.
-usually only expressed a single emotion
--During this time the piano became louder and more powerful--
Music History
Romantic --- 1825 - 1900 AD
Important Composers
a. Robert Schumann
-from Germany
-wrote lieder and several symphonies
-made a living as a music critic
b. Franz Schubert
-from Germany
-wrote mostly lieder (sometimes as many as 6
in one day)
c. Clara Schumann
-wife of Robert Schumann
-great piano player and composer
Music History
Romantic --- 1825 - 1900 AD
Important Composers (continued)
Johannes Brahms
-from Germany
-wrote lieder, symphonies, and chamber music
-his first symphony was nicknamed “Beethoven’s
10th” because it was considered as good as
Beethoven’s symphonies
-third of the “Three B’s” (along with Bach and
Beethoven)
Music History
Romantic --- 1825 - 1900 AD
Important Composers (continued)
Camille Saint-Saens
- From France
- Also an organist and conductor
- One of the most talented child prodigies of his time
had perfect pitch at age of 2 and started playing piano
at this time, where he immediately began composing
- Wrote first symphony at age 16
- Most known pieces:
The Carnival of the Animals
Danse Macabre
Symphony No. 3
Music History
Romantic --- 1825 - 1900 AD
Important Composers (continued)
• Age of the Virtuoso
-a virtuoso is someone who is the best at their
particular instrument
-there were several virtuosos at this time:
Franz Lizst - Hungary - piano
Frederic Chopin - Poland - piano
Nicolo Paganini - Italy - violin
Performers who show personality and extraordinary
ability on their instrument are virtuosos
Music History
Romantic --- 1825 - 1900 AD
Important Composers (continued)
Opera Composers
Wagner – from Germany; transformed opera and
sometimes wrote operas that were 6 hours long!
- Puccini - Italy
- Verdi - Italy
- Rossini - Italy
 Nationalism
-glorify your homeland (composers would often
use folk songs and folk lore in their music)
Tchaikovsky - Russian Nationalistic Composer
- wrote very famous ballet music (The Nutcracker)
Music History
H. 20th Century --- 1900 - 1991 AD
Paris, France
1. Claude Debussy was from _____________.
Wagner was Debussy’s hero.
2. The composer, _________,
3. Since the late 1700s, German music had been dominated by
tonality
The principal of __________.
4. Debussy developed a new type of music that was called
impressionistic/impressionism
_________________________.
relaxed feeling
5. Debussy’s use of scales created a more __________
in his music.
6. Schoenberg began to write music in which the sense of
eliminated
tonality was virtually ______________.
7. In the 1920s, Schoenberg developed a technique for writing
12-tone system
music without a tonal center that was called the
__________________.
Music History
H. 20th Century --- 1900 - 1991 AD
No
8. Did the public like Schoenberg’s new sound? ________
9. A new ballet troupe was being formed in Paris. The new
inexperienced composer that was assigned to write a score for a
full ballet was _______________________.
Igor Stravinsky
puppets
10. His second ballet, Petrouchka, was the story of 3 _________.
11. What happened in Paris in 1913 when his third ballet,
a riot broke out
“The Rite of Spring” was premiered? ______________________.
12. The controversy surrounding the performance of
famous
“The Rite of Spring” made Stravinsky ____________.
Finland was among those composers
13. Jean Sibelius of __________
Interested in fostering a national musical style.
Music History
H. 20th Century --- 1900 - 1991 AD
14. Name the first English composer who gained fame during
Elgar
this period. ________
folk
15. Ralph Vaughan-Williams was fascinated by English ______
Songs and traveled the English countryside to collect them.
Hungary
16. Bela Bartok was from __________.
17. Composers in the US generally modeled themselves after
European composers.
well-known ____________
Connecticut
18. Charles Ives was from the state of _____________.
19. When Ives realized that he could not make a living
insurance
composing experimental music, he went into the ____________
business.
Music History
H. 20th Century --- 1900 - 1991 AD
No
20. Was Charles Ives a famous composer in his lifetime? _____
21. What was happening with audiences at the time-how were
they reacting to the new music that was being performed?
_________________________________________________
They rejected it in favor of the music of the 18th and 19th
_________________________________________________
centuries.