19th Century and Romanticism
Cult of Individual Feeling
Romanticism and Revolution
1. American Revolution (1776)
2. French Revolution (1789)
Political Composers
1. L. van Beethoven
2. F. Liszt
3. R. Wagner
4. G. Verdi
Social Revolution
Industrial Revolution
Romanticism and the Macabre
Literature
 · Grimms’ fairy tales
 · Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818)
 · Poetry and stories of Edgar Allan Poe
Magic, the Macabre and Music
 Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826), Der Freischütz (“The Magic Bullet”, 1821)

Giuseppe Verdi’s (1813-1901), Macbeth (1847)

Richard Wagner (1813-83), The Flying Dutchman (1843)

Hector Berlioz (1803-69), Symphonie fantastique (1830)
Example: H. Berlioz (1803-69), Symphonie fantastique, 5th movement (1830) [CD 3:9]
1st Movement: Dreams – Passions
2nd Movement: A Ball
3rd Movement: In the Country
4th Movement: March to the Scaffold
5th Movement: Dream of a Witches' Sabbath
Idée Fixe: A term coined by Berlioz for a theme which recurs, perhaps obsessively, in
different movements of a work.
Concert life in the 19th Century
The Virtuoso Violinist Nicolo Paganini (1782-1840)
Example: F. Liszt (1811-86), Transcendental Étude No. 3 (1848) [CD 4:5]
Style Features of Romantic Music
Rhythm:
Example: Frideric Chopin (1810-49), Nocturn in C-sharp minor, Op. 27, no. 1 (1835)
[CD 4:4]
Rubato = ‘robbed’ time, extended beyond the time mathematically available; thus slowed
down, stretched, broadened
Romantic Melody
Example: Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924), La bohème, “Che gelida manina” (“Ah, what a
frozen little hand”) from (1896)
[CD 4:10]
Romantic Harmony
Chromaticism
Example: Richard Wagner (1813-83), Tristan und Isolde, Prelude and Liebestod (1865)
[CD 4:9]
Expansion of Tone Colour
A TYPICAL LATE-ROMANTIC ORCHESTRA
Strings
1st vlns (12-16)
2nd vlns (12-16)
Violas (8-12)
Cellos (8-12)
Bass vln (6-10)
Woodwinds
2 Flutes
1 Piccolo
2 Oboes
1 Engl. horn
2 Clarinets
1 E-flat clarinet
1 Bass clarinet
2 Bassoons
1 Contrabassoon
Brass
4 French horns
2 Trumpets
3 Trombones
1 Bass tuba
Percussion
3 Timpani
Bass drum
Snare drum
Cymbals
Triangle
Tubular bells
Example: Gustav Mahler (1860-1911), Orchestral Lied, “I am Lost to the World”, Five
Rückert Songs (1901-02) [CD 5:2]
Problems with Form
A. Miniatures
Lied(er): Term generally used in English for the Romantic art song from Schubert
the early 20th century. Most often for voice and piano accompaniment
Example: Franz Schubert (1797-1828), “Die Forelle” (The Trout) (1817)
[CD 3:7]
Song cycle: A group of individually complete songs, unified by a narrative thread
or by some common descriptive or expressive theme.
Character pieces for Piano
Example: Robert Schumann,“Träumerei” (Dreaming), from Kinderszenen, Op. 15
(1838) [CD 4:1]
B. Grandiose Compositions
Richard Wagner, The Ring of the Nibelung, (1876) — The Ring Cycle
Das Rheingold (1869)
Die Walküre (1870)
Siegfried (1876)
Götterdämmerung (1876)
ROMANTIC OPERA
Early Romantic Opera Composers
1. Gioacchino Rossini (1792-1868)
2. Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848)
3. Vincenzo Bellini (1801-1835)
4. Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826)
Late Romantic Opera Composers
Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901)
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Commitment to the human voice and to good literature
Never lets the voice be overshadowed by the orchestra, though orchestra more
important than in earlier Italian opera
Orchestra plays throughout — whether the singers have recitative-like passages or
arias
Example: G. Verdi, “Un di felice”, La traviata, Act I, Scene 4 (1853) [CD 4:6]
Richard Wagner (1813-83)
Critical Writings
1. Kunstwerk der Zukunft (The Art Work of the Future), 1849
2. Oper und Drama (Opera and Drama), 1851
Wagner referred to his operatic compositions as “music dramas”
Gesamtkunstwerk = “Total art work”. Term used by Wagner to signify his music
dramas in which all the arts (music, poetry, movement, design) should combine to
the same artistic end.
Leitmotiv: A clearly defined theme or musical idea, representing or symbolizing a
person, object, idea, etc., which returns in its original or an altered form at appropriate
points in a dramatic work.
Example: R. Wagner, Tristan und Isolde, “Liebestod” (1865) [CD 4:9]