The Romantic Era
French Revolution
o The Romantic era grew out of the social and political upheavals that followed the French Revolution and
came into full bloom in the second quarter of the nineteenth century.
o Signaled the transfer of power from the aristocracy to the middle class.
o Rooted in urban commerce and industry, which emerged from the Industrial Revolution was based on free
enterprise.
o The slogan of the French Revolution—”Liberty, Equality, Fraternity”—inspired hopes and visions to which
artists responded with zeal.
o Sympathy for the oppressed, interest in simple folk and in children, faith in humankind and its destiny, all
formed part of the increasingly democratic character of the Romantic period.
Romantic Writers
o Poets were drawn to the fanciful, the picturesque, and the passionate.
o Prime traits of all Romantic artists
intense emotional expression.
heightened awareness of themselves as individuals apart from all others.
• “I am different from all the men I have seen,” proclaimed Jean Jacques Rousseau. “If I am
not better, at least I am different.”
o Writer and Poets
In Germany, new kind of lyric poetry of Heinrich Heine.
In France, led by Victor Hugo, the country’s greatest prose writer, and Alphonse de Lamartine, its
greatest poet.
In England, emotional lyric poetry in the works of Byron, Shelley, and Keats.
o Artists felt more and more cut off from society.
A new type of artist emerged—the bohemian, a rejected dreamer who starved in an attic and who
shocked the establishment through peculiarities of dress and behavior.
Eternal longing, regret for the lost happiness of childhood, an indefinable discontent that gnawed at
the soul—these were the ingredients of the Romantic mood.
Despite the brave slogans, all people were not yet equal or free.
The new optimism gave way to doubt and disenchantment, a state of mind that was reflected in the
arts and in literature. Les Miserables Hugo
o Novelists
Memorable characters who exhibit the discontent of nineteenth-century society are
• Jean Valjean, the hero of Hugo’s novel Les Miserables,
• Heathcliff in Emily Brontë’s Wutliering Heights, and Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina.
• Sir Walter Scott did in Ivanhoe and Alexandre Dumas pére in The Three Musketeers.
• J. M. W. Turner and Eugene Delacroix.
• Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s poem Kubla Khan. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet
Letter and Edgar Allan Poe’s poem The Raven.
Romanticism in Music
o Thus Romantic music reflected the profound changes that were taking place.
o The Industrial Revolution
the means to create more affordable and responsive musical instruments,
technical improvements that strongly influenced the sound of Romantic music.
The addition of valves to brass instruments made them much more maneuverable.
Several new wind instruments including the tuba and the saxophone.
Improved manufacturing techniques provided the piano with a cast-iron frame and thicker strings,
giving it a deeper and more brilliant tone.
Broadened educational opportunities.
• Cities of Europe established new conservatories to train more and better musicians.
o The Orchestra
Music moved to the public concert hall, orchestras increased size and influenced the sound.
New instruments piccolo, English horn, and contrabassoon added varied timbres and extended the
extreme high and low ranges of the orchestra.
The dynamic range expanded such as (fff) and (ppp)
As orchestral music developed, so did the technique of writing for instruments.
Orchestration became an art in itself.
A central figure—the conductor—was needed to guide the performance.
Composers developed a vocabulary of highly expressive terms as Dolce, Cantibile, maestoso, etc.
o Nationalism
The interest in folklore and the rising tide of nationalism use of the folk songs and dances from their
native lands.
Hungarian. Polish, Russian. Bohemian, Scandinavian, and eventually American
Polish born Frédéric Chopin and New Orleans composer Louis Gottschalk, as well as in the
orchestral music of Bedrich Smetana.
o Exoticism
Nineteenth-century exoticism - warmth and color of the south, and then in the ‘West’s interest in the
fairy-tale splendors of Asia and the Far East.
In the works of German. French, and Russian composers who turned for inspiration to Italy and
Spain; these include Mendelssohn’s Italian Symphony and Bizet’s opera Carmen.
The glamour of the East was brought to international attention by the Russian national school, whose
music is pervaded by the fairy-tale background of Asia. Rimsky-Korsakov’s orchestrally resplendent
Scheherazade, Borodin’s colorful opera Prince Igor, and even several dances from Tchaikovsky’s
famous Nutcracker
A number of French and Italian opera composers also drew on exotic themes: Saint-Saëns in the
biblical story of Samson and Delilah: Verdi in Aida. set in Egypt: and Puccini in his Japaneseinspired opera Madame Butterfly.
Romantic Style Traits
o The nineteenth century above all was the period when musicians tried to make their instruments “sing.”
o Since Romantic melody was marked by a lyricism that gave it an immediate appeal, tunes by composers such
as Chopin, Verdi, and Tchaikovsky have enjoyed an enduring popularity among the general public.
o Nineteenth-century music strove for a harmony that was emotionally charged and highly expressive.
o Composers such as Richard Wagner employed combinations of pitches that were more chromatic and
dissonant than those of their predecessors. Romantic composers expanded the instrumental forms they had
inherited from the Classical masters to give their ideas more time to play out.
o A symphony by Haydn or Mozart takes about twenty minutes to perform: one by Tchaikovsky Brahms, or
Dvorák lasts at least twice that long.
o As public concert life developed, the symphony became the most important genre of orchestral music,
comparable to the novel in Romantic literature.
o New orchestral forms emerged as well, including the one-movement symphonic poem, the choral symphony,
and works for solo voice with orchestra.
o Music in the nineteenth century drew steadily closer to literature and painting.
o The connection with Romantic poetry and drama is most obvious in the case of music with words, however,
even in their purely orchestral music, the Romantic composers responded to the mood of the time and
captured with remarkable vividness the emotional atmosphere that surrounded nineteenth-century poetry and
painting.
o Nineteenth-century music was linked to dreams and passions—to profound meditations on life and death,
human destiny, God and nature, pride in one’s country, desire for freedom, the political struggles of the age,
as well as to the ultimate triumph of good over evil.
o These intellectual and emotional associations, nurtured by the Romantic movement, brought music into a
commanding position as a link between the artist’s most personal thoughts and the realities of the outside
world.
The Musician in Society
o The emergence of a democratic society liberated the lives of composers and performers.
o Musical life reached the general populace, since performances were now in the public concert hall as well as
in the salons of the aristocracy.
o Where eighteenth- century musicians had relied on aristocratic patronage and the favor of royal courts,
nineteenth-century musicians were supported by the new middle-class audience and could make a living in
their profession. Indeed, as solo performers began to dominate the concert hall, whether as pianists, violinists,
or conductors, they became “stars” who were idolized by the public.
o With this expansion of musical life, composers and performing artists were called on to assume new roles as
educators.
o Felix Mendelssohn, active as composer, pianist, and conductor, founded the Leipzig Conservatory, whose
curriculum became a model for music schools all over Europe and America.
o Composer and conductor Robert Schumann became a widely read music critic.
o Franz Liszt, considered to be the greatest pianist of his time, taught extensively and trained a generation of
great concert pianists.
o And opera composer Richard Wagner directed his own theater at Bayreuth, thus helping the newly interested
public understand his music dramas.
WOMEN IN MUSIC
o We have already observed a handful of women who were recognized in their day as virtuoso performers.
o Nineteenth-century society saw women make great strides in establishing careers as professional musicians.
o This path was now possible through the broadening of educational opportunities: in public conservatories,
women could receive training as singers, instrumentalists, and even composers.
o Likewise, the rise of the piano as the favored chamber instrument—both solo and with voice or other
instruments—provided women of the middle and upper classes with a performance outlet that was socially
acceptable.
Although composition remained largely a mans province, some women broke away from tradition and
overcame social stereotypes to become successful composers.
o Among them were Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, known for her songs, piano music, and chamber works: Clara
Schumann, a talented performer and composer of piano, vocal, and chamber music; and the American Amy
Cheney Beach, one of the first female composers to be recognized in the field of orchestral music. We will
study all three.
o Women also exerted a significant influence as patrons of music or through their friendships with composers.
o Novelist George Sand played an important role in Chopin’s career, as did Princess Carolyne Sayn
Wittgenstein in that of Liszt’s. Nadezhda von Meck is remembered as the mysterious woman who supported
Tchaikovsky in the early years of his career and made it financially possible for him to compose.
o Several women of the upper class presided over musical salons where composers could gather to perform and
discuss their music.
o One such musical center was the home of the Mendelssohn family, where Fanny Mendelssohn organized
concerts that featured works by her more famous brother, Felix.
o All in all, women musicians made steady strides toward professional equality throughout the nineteenth
century and thereby laid the foundation for even greater achievements in the twentieth.
19th Century Art Song
o The art song met the nineteenth-century need for intimate personal expression.
o The form came into prominence in the early decades of the century and emerged as a favored example of the
new lyricism.
Types of Song Structure
o In the nineteenth century, two main song-structures prevailed.
o One already familiar is strophic form, in which the same melody is repeated with every stanza, or strophe of
the poem—hymns, carols, as well as most folk and popular songs are strophic.
o This form sets up a general atmosphere that accommodates all the stanzas of the text.
o The first may tell of a lover’s expectancy, the second of his joy at seeing his beloved, the third of her father’s
harshness in separating them, and the fourth of her
sad death, all sung to the same tune.
o The other song type, what the Germans call duchkomponiert, or through-composed form proceeds from
beginning to end, without repetitions of whole sections.
o Here the music follows the story line, changing according to the text.
o This makes it possible for the composer to mirror every shade of meaning in the words.
o There is also an intermediate type that combines features of the other two.
o The same melody may be repeated for two or three stanzas, with new material introduced
when the poem requires it, generally at the climax. This is a modified strophic form, of which The Trout, the
Schubert song we studied earlier, is a fine example.
The Lied
o Though songs have existed throughout the ages, the art song as we know it today
was a product of the Romantic era.
o The Lied (plural. Lieder), as the new genre was called, is a German-texted solo vocal song with piano
accompaniment.
o Among the great Romantic masters of this form of art song are Franz Schubert, Robert Schumann, Johannes
Brahms, and Hugo Wolf. Women composers who contributed significantly to the genre include Fanny
Mendelssohn Hensel, Clara Schumann, and Amy Cheney Beach.
o Some composers wrote groups of Lieder that were unified by a narrative thread or descriptive theme.
o Such a group is known as a song cycle: an example is Robert Schumann’s A Poet’s Love, which we will
study in Chapter 44.
o The rise of the Lied was fueled by the outpouring of lyric poetry that marked German Romanticism.
o Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749—1832) arid Heinrich Heine (1797—1856) were the two leading figures
among a group of poets who, like Wordsworth, Byron, Shelley, and Keats in English literature, favored short,
personal, lyric poems.
o The texts of the Lied range from tender sentiment to dramatic balladry; its universal themes are love, longing,
and the beauty of nature.
o Another circumstance that popularized the Romantic art song was the emergence of the piano as the preferred
household instrument of the nineteenth century.
o The piano accompaniment to a song translated its poetic images into music.
o Voice and piano together infused the short lyric form with feeling and made it suitable for amateurs and
artists alike, in both the home and the concert hall.
o Franz Schubert
Franz Schubert’s life has become a romantic symbol of the artist’s fate.
He was not properly appreciated during his lifetime, and he died very young, leaving the world a
musical legacy of some nine hundred works.
Franz Schubert (1797—1828) was born in a suburb of Vienna, the son of a schoolmaster.
o
As a boy, he learned the violin from his father and piano from an elder brother; his beautiful soprano
voice gained him admittance to the imperial chapel and school where the court singers were trained
(he was one of the Vienna Choir Boys).
His teachers were astonished at the musicality of the shy, dreamy lad.
One of them remarked that Franz “had learned everything from God.”
When his schooldays were over, the young Schubert tried to follow in his father’s footsteps, but he
was not cut out for the routine of the classroom.
He found escape by immersing himself in the lyric poetry of the budding German Romanticism.
As one of his friends said, “Everything he touched turned to song.”
Music came to him with miraculous spontaneity.
Er! king, set to a poem by Goethe, was written when Schubert was still a teenager.
The song, one of his greatest, won him immediate public recognition yet, incredibly, he had
difficulty finding a publisher.
Schubert was not as well known as some composers of his era (the virtuoso violinist Paganini, for
example. received much more critical attention), but he was appreciated by the Viennese public and
his reputation grew steadily.
Still, his musical world was centered in the home, in salon concerts amid a select circle of friends
and acquaintances.
Later years Schubert suffered deeply during his later years, largely owing to a progressive
debilitation believed to be from the advanced stages of syphilis.
He was often pressed for money, and sold his music for much less than it was worth.
As his youthful exuberance gave way to the maturity of a deeply emotional Romantic artist, he
perceived that he had lost the struggle with life.
“It seems to me at times that I no longer belong to this world.” he wrote.
This emotional climate also pervades his magnificent song cycle Winter’s Journey, in which the
composer introduced a somber lyricism new to music.
Overcoming his discouragement, he embarked on his last efforts.
To the earlier masterpieces he added, in the final year of his life, a group of profound works that
includes the Mass in E flat, the String Quintet in C, three piano sonatas (published posthumously),
and thirteen of his finest songs.
When he was already terminally ill, he managed to correct the proofs of the final part of Winter’s
Journey.
His dying wish was to be buried near the master he worshipped above all others—Beethoven.
Schubert was thirty-one years old when he died in 1828.
His wish was granted.
Schubert’s music marks the confluence of the Classical and Romantic eras.
His symphonies are Classical in their clear form: in his Lieder and piano pieces, however, he was
wholly the Romantic.
The melodies have a tender and longing quality that matches the tone of the poetry they set.
In his chamber music, Schubert was a direct descendant of Haydn and Mozart.
His string quartets, piano trios, and the familiar Trout Quintet, all masterworks, end the line of
Viennese Classicism.
In his impromptus and other short piano pieces, the piano sings with a new lyricism.
Finally, there are the songs, more than six hundred of them.
Many were written down at breakneck speed, sometimes five, six, seven in a single morning.
The accompaniments are especially descriptive: a measure or two can conjure up images of a
rustling brook (in Time Trout) or a horse riding through the night (in Erlking).
The two superb song cycles, The Lovely Maid of the Mill and Winter’s Journey, both on poems by
Wilhelm Muller, convey impassioned feelings of love and despair.
Robert Schumann
The turbulence of German Romanticism, its fantasy and subjective emotion, found its voice in
Robert Schumann.
His music is German to the core yet transcends national styles.
Robert Schumann (1810—1856) was born in Zwickau, a town in southeastern Germany, the son of a
bookseller whose love of literature was passed on to the boy.
At his mother’s insistence, he studied law, first at the University of Leipzig, then at Heidelberg.
More and more he surrendered to his passion for music; it was his ambition to become a pianist.
At last he won his mother’s consent and returned to Leipzig to study with Friedrich Wieck, one of
the foremost teachers of the day.
The young man practiced intensively to make up for his late start.
Unfortunately, physical difficulties with the fingers of his right hand ended his hopes as a pianist.
He then turned his interest to composing, and in a burst of creative energy produced, while still in his
twenties, his most important works for piano.
o
At the same time, Schumann’s literary talent found expression in an important publication he
established, Neue Zeitschrift für Musik (The New Journal for Music); under his direction, this
became one of the leading journals of music criticism in Europe.
The hectic quality of the 1830s, rife with political uprisings across Europe, was intensified by
Schumann’s courtship of the gifted pianist and composer Clara Wieck (see Chapter 47), daughter of
his teacher Friedrich.
When Schumann first came to study with her father, Clara was an eleven-year-old prodigy.
Five years later, Robert realized he loved her, but her father opposed their marriage with a
vehemence that bordered on the psychopathic.
At length, the couple ultimately appealed to the courts.
The marriage took place in 1840, when Clara was twenty-one and Robert thirty.
This was his “year of song,” when he produced over a hundred of the Lieder that represent his lyric
gift at its purest.
The two musicians settled in Leipzig, pursuing their careers side by side.
Clara became the foremost interpreter of Robert’s piano works and, in the ensuing decade,
contributed substantially to the spread of his fame.
Yet her devotion could not ward off Robert’s increasing withdrawal from the world.
His moodiness and nervous exhaustion culminated, in 1844, in a severe breakdown.
The couple moved to Dresden, where Robert seemed to recover, but then the periods of
depression returned even more frequently.
In 1850, Schumann was appointed music director at Düsseldorf, but he was ill-suited for public life
and was forced to relinquish the post.
Schumann continued to experience auditory hallucinations.
One story tells of him rising in the middle of the night to write down a theme that he imagined had
been brought him by the spirits of Schubert and Mendelssohn.
It was his last melody.
A week later, in a fit of depression, he threw himself into the Rhine River.
He was rescued by fishermen, and Clara had no choice but to place him in a private asylum near
Bonn.
His psychotic behavior gave way to advanced dementia, brought on by syphilis, from which he died
two years later at the age of forty-six.
o His Music
Schumann’s music reveals him as a true Romantic.
His piano pieces overflow with impassioned melody, novel changes of harmony, and driving
rhythms.
The titles are characteristic: Fantasiestücke (Fantasy Pieces), Romances, Scenes from Childhood.
He often attached literary meanings to his music and was especially fond of cycles of short pieces
connected by a literary theme or musical motto.
Schumann’s four symphonies are thoroughly Romantic in feeling.
These works, Symphonies especially the first and fourth, communicate a lyric freshness that has
preserved their appeal.
As a composer of Lieder, Schumann ranks second only to Schubert.
A common theme in his songs is love, particularly from a woman’s point of view.
His favored poet was Heine, for whom he had an affinity like Schubert’s for Goethe.
Especially notable are his several song cycles, the best known of which are A Poet’s Love, on “In
the lovely month of May” poems by Heine, and A Woman’s Love and Life, on poems by Chamisso.
UNIT 17: The Piano and Its Literature
The piano was both a popular instrument for home use and a favored solo instrument for virtuosos
o Four-hand piano music (two people playing the same keyboard) was popular with amateurs
o This era also saw the rise of the virtuoso pianist
o Technical improvements to the nineteenth-century piano led to the development of the modern concert-grand
piano
o Steinway won a top award at the Paris Exhibition in 1867 for its fine pianos
The Short Lyric Piano Piece
o Instrumental equivalent to the song
o Titles often suggest free forms
"Prelude," "Intermezzo," "Impromptu," "Nocturne"
o Dances also inspired composers
Mazurka, polonaise, waltz, scherzo
o 19th-century masters of the short lyric piano piece include: Schubert, Chopin, Liszt, Felix Mendelssohn,
Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, Robert and Clara Schumann, Brahms
Chopin and Piano Music
o Frédéric François Chopin (1810-1849): His Life
Half French (father), half Polish (mother) composer and pianist
Studied music from an early age
At 21, began career in Paris
Was a close friend with leading composers, artists, poets, writers
Doomed romantic friendship with George Sand (Aurore Dudevant)
Suffered from tuberculosis
Early death from the disease at age 39
o Chopin's Music
Creative life centered on the piano
Credited with originating the modern piano style
Taught his pupils that "everything must be made to sing"
His works are central to a pianist's standard repertory
Smaller forms: nocturnes, preludes, impromptus, waltzes, mazurkas, études, etc.
• Études crown the literature of the study piece
Larger forms: ballades, polonaises, a fantasy, sonatas, piano concertos
Liszt and the Rise of the Performer/Composer
o Franz Liszt (1811-1886): His Life
Hungarian-born composer Franz Liszt was a noted teacher, conductor, and virtuoso pianist
Close friends with reigning intellectuals and artists
Possessed personal magnetism on stage and with women
Never married, many unhappy endings to relationships
Doomed relationship with Daniel Stern (Countess Marie d'Agoult)
At height of fame, turned from stage performance to composition
Court conductor to grand duke of Weimar (1848-61)
Furthered the "music of the future" (music of Wagner, Berlioz)
• Last affair was with Princess Carolyne Sayn-Wittgenstein
• She assisted with his literary efforts
In his final years he entered the church
• Composed his major religious works as Abbé Liszt
Died at age 75 during a trip to see his daughter Cosima (Richard Wagner's widow)
o Liszt's Music
Characterized by pure lyric expression
Credited with creating symphonic poem and technique of thematic transformation
Wrote highly virtuosic, technically difficult works
Wrote symphonies, concertos, symphonic poems, sacred music, piano music
Clara Schumann: Pianist and Composer
o Clara Wieck Schumann (1819-1896): Her Life
German pianist, composer, and interpreter
Studied music from an early age
First public concert at age nine
Wife of Robert Schumann, and lifelong friend of Johannes Brahms
Parent to seven children with Robert
More famous in her lifetime than her husband
Dedicated her talents to advancing Robert's music
Concertized after Robert's death to support herself and her children
Last public concert at age of 72
o Clara Schumann's Music
Known for songs, piano music, chamber music
Works are technically difficult and deeply introspective
Two large-scale works: piano concerto and trio for piano and strings
Louis Gottschalk and Piano Music in America
o Louis Moreau Gottschalk (1829-1869): His Life
A native of New Orleans, son of an English-born Jewish father and French-Creole mother
Considered the first internationally acclaimed American composer of classical music
Had an affinity for the Afro-Caribbean folk music of his heritage
Assimilated popular traditional music into his virtuoso piano works
Was trained in Paris
• Charmed Berlioz and Chopin with his music
• Paris Conservatory turned him down as an American "barbarian"
Popular in the U.S., South America, and the Caribbean
Operas in Cuba
Piano works in Puerto Rico
South America, organizing "monster" concerts in Brazil
Died in Brazil, in 1869 from an overdose of quinine to treat malaria
Gottschalk's Music
Remembered today for his piano music
Composed operas, orchestral works, American patriotic tunes
Exploited all manner of dance and song forms
Syncopated rhythms anticipate ragtime
Unit 18: The Nature of Program Music
Romantic composers cultivated program music in the 19th century
o Program music: instrumental music with a literary or pictorial association, as opposed to absolute music
o Program indicated by title or explanatory note—the "program"—provided by the composer
Varieties of Program Music
o Four main types of program music:
Concert overture: not associated with an opera, a single-movement concert piece based on a literary
idea
Incidental music: an overture and series of pieces to be played between the acts of a play and during
important scenes. Also applies to film music and background music in television today
Program symphony: multi-movement orchestral work
Symphonic poem: one-movement work for orchestra in which contrasting sections develop a poetic
idea, suggest a scene, or create a mood; also called tone poem
Berlioz and the Program Symphony
o Hector Berlioz (1803-1869): His Life
French composer and conductor
The first proponent of musical Romanticism in France
Left medical school to study music in Paris
Befriended group of artists and writers called "young France"
Developed affection for works of Beethoven and Shakespeare
Doomed love affair with Shakespearean actress, Harriet Smithson
1830 won coveted composition competition, Prix de Rome
Married Smithson against wishes of both families
Success in capitals of Europe, except Paris
o Berlioz's Music
Affinity for vividly dramatic or pictorial programs
Instrumental music: program symphonies, concert overtures
Vocal music: operas, sacred works (including Requiem, Te Deum, oratorio)
Love of huge orchestral and choral forces
Considered a master of orchestration
Scores call for the largest orchestras ever used
Berlioz is called "the creator of the modern orchestra"
Musical Nationalism
o Political unrest in Europe stimulated nationalism
o Nationalism in music expressed in a number of ways
o Inclusion of folk dance
o Reference to folklore or peasant life
o Programs based on a national hero, historic event, scenic beauty of the region
o Censors monitored political implications
o Powerful symbolism behind the works
o A Czech Nationalist: Bedřich Smetana (1824-1884)
Bohemian composer
Early music studies in Prague
Joined nationalists against Austrian rule
Involvement in a failed revolution led to his accepting a position in Sweden
Resumed career in Prague, wrote operas in native tongue
Cycle of symphonic poems My Country (Má vlast) gained him notoriety
Works were inspired by beauty of Bohemia's countryside
In his later years his health declined because of syphilis, and he grew deaf
o Other Nationalists
Czech national school: Antonín Dvořák
Norway: Edvard Grieg
Finland: Jean Sibelius
Russia: "The Mighty Five," Alexander Borodin, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Modest Musorgsky
England: Edward Elgar, Ralph Vaughan Williams
Spain: Isaac Albéniz, Manuel de Falla
Unit 19: Absolute Music
The Romantic Symphony
o The symphony continued as a favored genre throughout the Romantic era
o
The Romantic Symphony Form
19th-century composers often altered the number and tempo scheme of the movements
First movement: generally follows basic sonata-allegro form, may have a slow introduction, often
features a long, expressive development section
Second movement: tends to be slower and more lyrical, but ranges in mood, oftena loose ternary
form
Third movement: often an energetic scherzo, but can vary in tempo and mood
Sometimes the scherzo is the second in the cycle
Fourth movement: designed to balance the first movement in scope and drama, form varies, tends to
close with note of triumph or pathos
Brahms and the Late Romantic Symphony
o Johannes Brahms (1833-1897): His Life
German musician and composer
Born to a musical family
Studied music from an early age
Increased family income with lessons and dance-hall gigs
Developed an affection for folk music
Recognized by his teacher Robert Schumann as a leader of absolute music composition
Made famous by R. Schumann's article in his music journal
Lived in the home of Robert and Clara Schumann
After his mother's death in 1865, he settled in Vienna
Became the director of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde
At age 40 began writing his great symphonic works
Died at 64, from complications due to cancer
o Brahms's Music
Traditionalist, favored forms of the Classical masters
Known for 4 symphonies, solo piano and chamber music, Lieder
Romantic tendencies emerged in his chamber music and songs
First symphonic attempt was made after he was 40 years old
Third Symphony is Classical in structure but Romantic in tone
Dvorak as a Symphonist
o Dvořák often found inspiration in nationalist themes
o Along with Smetana, was a founder of the Czech national school
o Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904): His Life
Bohemian composer, born near Prague
Studied music in Prague
Played viola in the Czech National Theater
Encouraged to compose by Brahms
Gained an international reputation
1891 invitation from Jeannette Thurber to become the director of the National Conservatory of
Music, in New York City
His three-year stay in the U.S. inspired a symphony, several chamber pieces, and a cello concerto
An opera based on The Song of Hiawatha never materialized
A summer was spent in the Czech colony in Spillville, Iowa
Returned to Prague
Died at 63 as a revered national artist
o Dvořák's Music
Enriched the international language of German Classicism with personal gift for melody and love of
folk music
Large output, including opera, symphonies and orchestral music, cello concerto, and chamber music
Encouraged the study of native musical heritage while in the U.S.
Student Henry T. Burleigh introduced him to African-American spirituals
The Romantic Concerto
o Virtuosity and the Concerto
Based on 18th-century models, 19th-century artists brought the genre to new heights of success
Like the symphony, new resources add size and depth to genre
Concertos are often a vehicle for virtuosic display (Paganini, Liszt)
Many concertos written for specific soloist
Often the soloist was consulted during creation of the work
o The Romantic Concerto Form
The Classical three-movement form is maintained
More dramatic Allegro, usually sonata form
Lyrical slow movement
Brilliant finale
o
Cadenzas appear in a variety of positions, showcasing performer's skills
Felix Mendelssohn and the Concerto
o Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847): His Life
His work represents the classicist trend within the Romantic movement
German composer, pianist, conductor, music festival organizer, educator
Born into a cultured family
Grandson of philosopher Moses Mendelssohn
Sister Fanny a gifted pianist and composer
Thorough and well-rounded education
Instigated a revival of J. S. Bach's choral music
Orchestral conductor in Leipzig, founded the Leipzig Conservatory
Died at an early age (38) from a stroke, soon after sister Fanny's death
o Mendelssohn's Music
Dedicated to preserving the tradition of the Classical forms
Traits of Romanticism (tenderness, melancholy) are evident
Composed with speed and facility
Wrote large-scale and small-scale music for voice and instrumental ensembles
Amy Beach and Classical Composition in America
o Musicians in the United States sought to voice independence from the dominant European tradition
Americans such as German-born conductor Theodore Thomas devoted their energy to bringing
classical music to Americans
New York, Boston, Chicago and Philadelphia supported orchestras
Late-19th-century New England School of composition sought originality
Boston composer Lowell Mason did much to promote music in public schools
The Second New England School continued the tradition
John Knowles Paine (Harvard) had the country's first music professorship
Student Arthur Foote taught at the New England Conservatory of Music
George Whitefield Chadwick was a composer and director at the New England Conservatory
Edward MacDowell held the first professorship of music at Columbia University
Amy Cheney Beach was recognized as the leading American woman composer
o Amy Cheney Beach (1867–1944): Her Life and Music
American composer, educator
Child prodigy
Studied music from an early stage, first recital at age seven
First composition published in 1883
At age 18, she performed a Chopin concerto (as the soloist) with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in
1885
Married Henry Harris Aubrey Beach in 1885
Husband requested she limit her performances
Henceforth she focused on composition
Used name Mrs. H. H. A. Beach
Wrote large-scale and small-scale works
Performed by prestigious groups
Gained an international reputation
After husband's death in 1910, embarked on a European tour
Gave yearly U.S. tours
Held leadership positions in the:
• Music Educators National Conference
• Music Teachers National Association
• Society of American Women Composers: cofounder and first president
Early compositions show influence of Brahms and Wagner
Later works reflect French Impressionism
Looked to folk music (Irish, Scottish, English) for inspiration
Gaelic Symphony (also inspired by Dvořák's New World Symphony)
Unit 20: Romantic Choral and Dramatic Music
Choral music grew in popularity during the Romantic era
Choral music societies were an artistic outlet for the middle classes
Members enjoyed the social aspect and were a pride to their community
Prominent 19th-century composers wrote for the chorus
Favored genres include part songs (songs with three or four voice parts), the oratorio, the Mass, and the Requiem
Mass
Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel and the Romantic Part Song
o Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel (1805-1847): Her Life
Older sister of Felix
Raised in Berlin, trained on the piano and in composition
Encouraged (as a female) not to pursue music as a career
Recognized as a gifted artist
Goethe wrote to Felix in 1825 to "give my regards to your equally talented sister"
Several of her works were published with Felix's
After marriage in 1829 she participated in regular salon concerts at her parent's home
After her mother's death in 1842 Fanny took over the concerts
Died suddenly of a apoplectic stroke in 1847
o Fanny Mendelssohn's Music
Dominated by Lieder, choral part songs and piano music
Some large-scale works
Piano Trio, Op. 11
String Quartet
Cantatas, and an oratorio
Most works were composed for the family's Sunday musical gatherings
Keyboard music reflects her interest in Bach's contrapuntal procedures
In her Lieder she favored the poetry of Goethe
Romantic Opera
o Opera remains a popular art form in the nineteenth century
A special glamour is attached to everything connected with it
superstar performers, extravagant scenery, opening night
Opera demands a suspension of disbelief
Drama is delivered via music
Opera uses the human voice to project basic emotions with an elemental force
Logic of reality gives way to the power of music and imagination
o The Development of National Styles
France:
• Grand opera (serious historical drama with spectacular effects)
• Giacomo Meyerbeer's Robert le diable, Les Huguenots
• Opéra comique (sung portions with spoken dialogue)
• Jacques Offenbach's Orphée aux enfers (Orpheus in the Underworld), Georges Bizet's
Carmen
Germany:
• Singspiel (light, comic drama with spoken dialogue)
• Carl Maria von Weber's Der Freischütz
• Music drama, Richard Wagner's genre that integrated theater and music completely
Italy:
• Opera seria and opera buffa were favored; marked the pinnacle of bel canto (beautiful
singing) style
• Consummate master of nineteenth-century Italian opera was Giuseppe Verdi
o Women in Opera
Opera allowed women musicians a good deal of visibility
Few women attempted opera composition
Louise Bertin, La Esmeralda (based on Victor's Hugo's novel)
Prominent singers included
Jenny Lind (1820-1887), the "Swedish nightingale"
Daughters of Spanish tenor Manuel García
Maria Malibran (1808-1836)
Pauline Viardot (1821-1910)
Verdi and Italian Opera
o Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901): His Life
Italian composer
Studied music in Milan
Best known for his 28 operas
Married benefactor's daughter
Tragic loss of two children and his wife in 1839
Unhappy living under Austrian Hapsburg rule
Works were interpreted as patriotic, for the nationalist cause
Composed successful operas until he was nearly 80 years old
Died at 87
Revered as national hero
o Verdi's Music
Epitome of Romantic drama and passion
Prized melody above all
Career is divided into three compositional periods
Early period operas: Macbeth, Rigoletto, Il trovatore, La traviata
Middle period: A Masked Ball, The Force of Destiny, Don Carlos
These operas show the influence of French grand opera
Final period: Aida (commissioned by the rule or Egypt to mark the opening of the Suez Canal), and
the Shakespeare operas Otello and Falstaff
Elton John and Tim Rice's Broadway show Aida is based on Verdi's work
Wagner and the Music Drama
o Richard Wagner (1813-1883): His Life
German composer, mostly self-taught
Abandoned studies at the University of Leipzig for a music career
Gained practical experience conducting on provincial theaters
Produced his early operas
Wagner wrote his own librettos
Composed grand operas, nationalistic operas
After the success of Rienzi moved to Dresden
After failed revolution in 1849, fled to Switzerland
Wrote literary works Art and Revolution, The Art Work of the Future, and Opera and Drama while
in exile
Developed theory of music drama, an opera that integrated theater and music completely
Most famous work is the four-opera cycle, The Ring of the Nibelung
Ludwig II summoned Wagner back to Germany
Festival Theater at Bayreuth was built specifically for presentation of music dramas
Married Cosima Liszt (daughter of Franz Liszt)
Last work, Parsifal, was based on the legend of the Holy Grail
Died at age 70, buried at Bayreuth
o Wagner's Music
Music dramas are not sectional but continuous
"Endless melody" was molded to the natural inflections of the German language
His concept was that of a total artwork, Gesamtkunstwerk, in which music, poetry, drama, and visual
spectacle were fused
Orchestra is the unifying element in the music drama
Unified by leitmotifs, or recurring themes that represent a person, place, or thing
Emotional quality is heightened by his extensive use of chromatic dissonance
The story of the cycle of music dramas, The Ring of the Nibelung, centers on the gold that lies in the
Rhine River, guarded by three Rhine Maidens
The gold is powerful and is made into a ring
The cycle follows the path of the ring and its eventual return to the Rhine Maidens
Wagner adapted the story from Norse sagas and the medieval German epic poem, the
Nibelungenlied
Four part cycle: Das Rheingold, Die Walküre, Siegfried, and Götterdämmerung
Exoticism in Opera
o Many Romantic composers turned to exotic plots for their operas
Verdi's Aida, Saint-Saëns's Samson and Delilah, Richard Strauss's Salome are examples of exotic
plots in opera
The music (melody, harmony, rhythm) suggests a faraway locale
Bizet's Carmen looks to Spain
o Georges Bizet (1838-1875): His Life and Music
French opera composer, trained at the Paris Conservatory
Won the Prix de Rome
His reputation was based on opera composition
His lyric opera Carmen romanticizes Roma (Gypsy) culture in Spain
Based on Merimée's story
Tale reflects new realism in opera
The opera premiered to a lukewarm reception
Today it is one of the world's best-loved operas
Puccini and Late Romantic Opera
o Post-Romantic Italian composers were associated with a movement known as verismo (realism)
o Primary composers included: Pietro Mascagni, Ruggero Leoncavallo, and Giacomo Puccini
o Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924): His Life and Music
Italian composer, studied at the Milan Conservatory
Wrote some of the best-loved operas in the verismo tradition including La bohème and Tosca
International premieres required extensive travel
Personal life riddled with questions of infidelity
Last work, Turandot, was left unfinished at his death
Died in 1924 of a heart attack
Tchaikovsky and the Ballet
o Ballet—Past and Present
Ballet has been an adornment of European culture for centuries
Central to lavish festivals and theatrical entertainments
Staged dancing was a part of intermedio, masque, French operas (Lully and Rameau),
divertissements of Mouret
Became an independent art form in the 18th century
Centers of dance appeared in France and Russia
Czar's choreographer Marius Petipa was renowned
Invented the pas de deux (dance for two)
Serge Diaghilev (1872-1929) was influential
Genius Russian impresario, brought his dance company, the Ballets Russes, to Paris
Greatest dancers in the group were Vaslav Nijinksy and Tamara Karsavina
Scenery painted by such painters as Picasso and Braque
Commissioned scores for three ballets from Igor Stravinsky
o Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893): His Life and Music
Russian composer, trained at the Conservatory of St. Petersburg
First trained in law, left career in law for music
His music captures the mood of end-of-the-century pessimism
Struggled with sexual identity
Disastrous marriage to student, Antonina Milyukova
Career subsidized by patron Nadezhda von Meck (recluse)
Stipulated that she and Tchaikovsky were never to meet
Correspondence between the two is revealing of his compositional methods
Invited to participate in the opening ceremonies of Carnegie Hall in New York (1891)
Was troubled by a lukewarm reception of his sixth symphony
Died suddenly at the age of 53