Romantic Era
1810 - 1900s
Composers…
Johannes Brahms
1833 - 1897
 Vienna, Austria (German)
 Piano player, efficient choral and orchestral
conductor
 Never married – he was very attached to Schumann and his wife
 Fell ill of liver/pancreatic cancer
 Favoured variations, classical forms like the sonata, symphony
and concerto
 Wrote 260 songs
 German Requiem inspired by his mother’s death
 Was influenced by folk music and the development of the piano
 Was an extreme perfectionist (severely self-critical) – many of his
early works were destroyed…
 Brahms avoided technical displays
 Modeled his pieces after Beethoven and Schumann
Robert Schumann
1810 - 1856
 German composer and pianist
 Originally was going to study law…
 Began to study piano but in his attempt
to accelerate the process he permanantly
injured his hand. (Devoted himself to composition
because of this…)
 Married Clara Wieck, another composer
 Until 1840 his compositions were primarily for piano –
then he wrote 168 songs.
 He tended to write for one form at a time
 1844 – Bipolar disorder ~ imagined an “A” playing in his
ear constantly. Eventually he recovered in 1846.
 In 1854, his symptoms returned – he thought he heard
themes...
 Suffered from syphillis
Franz Schubert
1797 - 1828
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Austrian composer
Died at 31
Wrote approximately 600 lieder and 9 symphonies
Studied piano, violin, organ, and singing
It was assumed that he would become a teacher like his father,
he was eventually forced to teach at his father’s school.
He often had his friends in for evenings of music – they called
them “Schubertiads”.
Schubert’s fame is often limited to that of a song-writer but much
of his output was not published or performed until the late 19th
century.
He established the German leider as a new form in the 19th
century.
Schubert uses harmony to represent emotional change and the
accompaniment figuration used to illustrate poetic images (ie.
moving water, shimmering stars, a church bell)
Hector Berlioz
1803 - 1869
 A French composer
 Sent to study medicine at the age of 18
– was absolutely horrified by dissection
so he left to study music.
 Experienced deep emotions – apparent in his
compositions.
 More famous as a conductor than a composer.
 Influential in the development of the symphonic form,
instrumentation and programmatic ideas.
 Inspired by literary works, Beethoven and Chopin.
 Prolific writer as well, wrote musical criticism.
Frédérich Chopin
1810 - 1849
 Polish pianist and composer
 One of the most famous, influential and
admired composers for piano works
 Known for poetry and expressive depth
as well as technical displays for piano
 Forms: piano sonata, waltz, nocturne, etude, prélude,
ballade, and polanaise. He was the first to write ballades
and scherzi as individual pieces.
 Gained a reputation for being a “second Mozart”
 Extremely influential on other composers of the time.
 Died of tuberculosis at the age of 39
Franz Liszt
1811 - 1886
 Hungarian virtuoso pianist and composer
 Known for his showmanship and great skill.
 Liszt practiced approximately 10 hours a day… concerts were in
high demand – became a rock star! (“Lisztomania”)
 Invented the modern piano recital – by playing recitals from memory
and turning the piano so the audience could see the players hands.
 Wrote music for beginner to advanced… which is among the most
challenging piano works in keyboard repertoire.
 Liszt also composed leider and choral music, symphonic poems and
orchestral works.
 He is known for thematic transformation (a method of development)
and his development of the symphonic tone poem – a single
movement orchestral work.
Peter Illyick Tchaikovsky
1840 - 1893
 Russian composer
 Began a career as a civil servant before deciding to
study music seriously.
 Eventually, taught music, but found it difficult and
suffered a breakdown.
 His compositions were distinctly Russian in character, rich
harmonies and stirring melodies; he used international elements in
addition to national folk melodies.
 Tchaikovsky is well known for his ballets – Swan Lake, Sleeping
Beauty, the Nutcracker, etc.
 Completed 10 operas
 His symphonies are generally of nationalistic character
 1812 Overture – Russian victory over Napoleonic Wars.
 Included 16 cannon shots and church bells
Cèsar Franck
1822 - 1890
 Belgian origin
 Composer, organist and music teacher
 Known for composing with in a “cyclic form”
 achieving unity through several movements in
which all of the principal themes are generated from one motif.
 Much of his music is deeply serious, often joyful,
passionate/mysterious and rarely light-hearted/humorous.
 His fame rests on a small number of compositions written later in his
career:
 D minor symphony (1886-88) for example
 Franck was in a serious traffic accident – he wrote 3 chorals for
organ and died of complications shortly after finishing the chorals.
Jean Sibelius
1865 - 1957
 Finnish composer
 Originally studied law, once he began to
study music in Berlin and then Vienna.
 He settled outside of Helsinki and lived
there for the rest of his life with his wife and 6 daughters
 Sibelius suffered from stage fright and had sound-to-colour
synesthesia.
 He wrote a set of seven symphonies as a way to support the Finnish
national identity.
 Best known for his compositions called:
 Finlandia
 Valse Triste
 and his violin concerto
 Soon after completing his 7th symphony he went into a 30 year
period of silence (until his death).
Listening:
 Brahms:
 Ein Deutsches Requiem (German
Requiem)
 Selig sind da Leid tragen
 Trio for Piano, clarinet and cello,
Op. 114: Allegro
 Schumann:
 Fantasiestücke – clarinet and
piano (3rd mvt.)
 Phantasiestücke: Grillen and In
der Nacht
 Fairy Tales, Op. 132 ~ trio for
clarinet, viola & piano (1st mvt.)
 Schubert:
 Lied: Gretchen am Spinnrade
 Symphony No. 5 in B-flat major,
D. 485, mvt. 1 – Allegro
 Berlioz:
 Symphonie Fantastique – mtv.
4
 Chopin:
 Nocturne in E-flat Major, Op. 9,
No. 2
 Liszt:
 Nuages Gris
 Lovedream No. 3 in A-flat Major
 Tchaikovsky:
 Waltz of the Flowers
(Nutcracker)
 Symphony No. 6 in B minor
(“the Pathetique”)
 Franck:
 Symphony in D minor - Finale
The 19th century –
Historical Background
 Industrial Revolution
 Leveled off society
 Larger wealthier middle class
 Smaller, less important aristocracy
 No more patronage
• Composers wrote for the musically uneducated middle class
• Had to sell their music
 Not to be played by amateurs of aristocracy but to be listened
to and enjoyed by the middle class
• Had to be exciting to listen to
• Used more virtuosic playing
• Music critics became increasing popular
 Became a business – music critics, printing press and
publications and finding people to listen to their music
 Because they have to impress the public, their main purpose
is to express and invoke emotions – composers are in conflict
as to whom they are writing their music for.
Historical Background cont’d
 French Revolution brought…
 Liberty and individualism
 Which brought a parallel revolution in music
 Individualism – no patience with rules – people
want to be different – experimentation
 Liberty – express beliefs, interpretation of events
which allow the individual to form personal points of
view
 These ideas brought forth the main drive of
romantic music which was to express personal
emotions and convictions and evoke them in
others.
The Romantic “Arts” Movement
1810 – 1900s
 Arts reflect the ideas and events of the time.
 Nationalism
 Use of folk songs/dances and ethnic flavours
 Folk legends subject for opera and songs
 Freedom to Create
 broke away from patronage system
 Broke away from previous restrictions on style, form, etc.
 Amateurs were writing
 Individualism
 Expressed deepest emotions, dreams and fears
 Expressed as an individual and others can relate
 All so different – love the new!
 Virtuosity
“Arts” Movement cont’d…
 “Music as the best art”
 Music suited the Romantic expression because
expression of emotion is not limited to words or pictures
 Combinations of art forms in opera very popular
 Symphonies with choirs; music based on
themes, art, poetry
 Discussion among artists regarding value of arts
and criticizes the role of arts.
New Instruments:
(developments)
 The Piano
 The instrument was made heavier and sturdier
 Capable of a sustained, singing tone and wide dynamics
 The expressive nature of this instrument was tests and
exploited…
 It quickly became the favourite
 In homes… a large amount of music was written with the
amateur in mind.
 It also was the standard accompaniment instrument
 It set the mood with its range of colour and dynamics
New Musical Developments
 the Virtuoso Performer
 Displays of unheard of technical ability appealed to the
worshipping audiences
 Pioneers:
 Niccolo Paganni – a violinist who was suspected of being in
cohorts with the devil due to his astounding technical agility.
 Franz Liszt – the composer/pianist who turned the piano
sideways so the audience could see his hands.
 As you can guess, this performer needed a new style of
music to “amaze and thrill” the audiences.
 Music was written for technical display and not the musical
value.
 Many performers wrote their own.
 The virtuosi toured Europe throughout the 19th c. and
into the “New World”
Romanticism…
 Expression of feeling became more intense and personal as the
1800s progressed.
 Form and tonal relationships were experimented with; Imagination
was explored and used to “recapture a cherished past or to reach a
wonderful future.”
 Music, especially instrumental, was free from the burden of words
and could perfectly communicate pure emotion.
 Important genres:
 Instrumental music
 Orchestral
 Piano
 Chamber
 Art Song (or Lieder)
 Program Music
Romantic Forms…
 Form – the shape or structure of a piece of
music.
 Set forms – have a specific structure with defined styles
and sections.
 Free forms – do not have set sections and are through
composed.
 Composite forms – are forms of pieces made up of 2 or
more movements.
 Single-movement forms – pertain to individual
movements of a larger piece or a piece that is only one
movement.
Lied (plural - Lieder) German for Song
 Definition: A German poem usually lyric and
strophic, also a song having such a poem for its
text; most commonly, a song for solo voice and
piano accompaniment in German-speaking
countries during the Classical and Romantic
periods.
 In Germany, any song is called a lied - whether it be
a folk, work, children’s or political.
 But when discussing lied in English and more
specifically referring to the Classical and Romantic
eras, lied refers to “art song” (Kunstlied) of the 19th
and late 18th centuries.
Lied continued…
 Initially, these songs were composed as a social pastime for
amateurs, but later became more musically significant and a
strong part of the concert repertoire of the professional singer.
 Franz Schubert composed over 600 lieder and through his
compositions he was able to establish this genre, or style, into a
more serious artistic level.
 Schubert performed lieder at private social gatherings with
amateur and professional singers, and very few were performed
in public concerts or published during his lifetime.
 Many other composers wrote several hundred lieder, drawing
from both major poets and lesser known ones.
Programmatic Music
 Definition: Program music is a form of art music
intended to evoke extra-musical ideas, images
in the mind of the listener by musically
representing a scene, image or mood.
 Romantic composers were especially fond of
associating music with literature, landscape, or
the visual arts.
 Programmatic music was also used as a means
to gain respect for instrumental music.
Programmatic music continued…
 Also, this type of music was a way for the “uneducated”
listeners to understand a piece of music by reading the
program and letting their imaginations roam.
 Not every piece of music came with a program, but many
would have interesting titles assigned to them.
 The symphony orchestra was an excellent medium for
this style of music, because of its rich variety of
instrumental colours and colour combinations that aid in
characterizing and distinguishing between states of
mind, events, or even individual characters.
Hector Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique (1830)
 A five movement piece, representing the various images
of the musician’s fevered brain…
 Mvt. 1: The Musician is unhappy and melancholy before he one
day meets his beloved and the volcanic love she inspires in him.
 Mvt. 2: At the scene of a ball, during which he meets his new
love again…
 Mvt. 3: A pastoral scene of great tranquility, however, he
becomes agitated as he worries about losing her.
 Mvt. 4: A march to the scaffold; the Musician dreams he has
killed his beloved and is being marched to the guillotine.
 Mvt. 5: The “Dream of the Witches Sabbath”, the Musician’s
version of a hellish punishment after his death. The beloved and
a troop of grotesque spirits torture and mock him.
Symphonie Fantastique…
 All of the great Romantic themes are encased in
this one piece – Love, Melancholy and Horror
 The melody representing the beloved is found in
all movements, but is changed radically.
 This piece has brilliant orchestration and
requires a HUGE orchestra.
Assignment: Romantic Composition…
 Hector Berlioz and many other composers from the Romantic Era
wrote pieces of instrumental music based on a “program” or a story.
 The audience would be given the background story so that they
understood what was going on.
 Also at that time, composers were writing leitmotifs for each of the
main characters. Those leitmotifs were the musical ideas to be
associated with a character or scene throughout the piece (think
Darth Vader).
 Your assignment is to choose (minimum) three characters and write
a short story about them (no shorter than a page). Then, write music
– a motif – for each character.
 Each motif should be no shorter than 8 bars. They don’t have to be
fancy, but they should portray the character well.
 Due: Monday, May 25th