Romantic Declarative Knowledge
The Spirit of Romanticism
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The French Revolution fostered the rise of a middle- class, or bourgeois, society.
Romantic poets and artists turned to passionate and fanciful subjects; novels explored
deep human conflicts and exotic settings and subjects.
The Industrial Revolution spurred many technical advances in musical instruments,
making them more flexible and affordable.
Educational opportunities broadened as music conservatories appeared across Europe
and the Americas.
The orchestra grew in size and sound when new and improved instruments were
introduced; in response, composers demanded new levels of expression.
Romantic composers used nationalistic, folkloric, and exotic subjects.
Romantic music is characterized by memorable melodies, richly expressive harmony,
and broad, expanded forms.
Women musicians excelled as performers, teachers, composers, and music patrons.
Song in the Romantic Era
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Types of Song Structure
1. Strophic form: same melody with every stanza
1. hymns, carols, folk and popular songs
2. Through-composed: whole sections without repetitions
1. music follows story line
3. Modified strophic form: combines strophic and through-composed forms
The Lied
1. Romantic art song: German text, solo vocal, piano accompaniment
2. Composers: Franz Schubert, Robert Schumann, Johannes Brahms
3. Women composers: Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, Clara Schumann
4. Song cycle: Lieder (plural) grouped together
5. Poets: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832), Heinrich Heine (1797–1856)
1. favored short lyric poems
2. texts: tender sentiment
6. Emergence of the piano
1. amateurs and professionals, home and concert hall
Schubert and the Lied
1. Franz Schubert (1797–1828)
1. Vienna-born composer
2. member of Vienna Choir Boys
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rejected career as a schoolteacher
Schubertiads: salon gatherings of writers, artists, musicians
composed over 600 Lieder, three song cycles
music: confluence of Classical and Romantic styles
1. Lieder and piano music: more Romantic, lyric
2. symphonies, chamber music: more Classical
2. Elfking
1. written at age eighteen: instant public recognition
2. Elfking: king of the elves
1. whoever is touched by him must die
3. Romantic trends:
1. use of folklore
2. intense emotional expression
3. passionate and fanciful subjects
4. text: poem by Goethe
5. four characters (one singer): Narrator, Father, Son, Elfking
3. Listening Guide 40: Schubert, Elfking (Erlkönig) (1815)
1. through-composed
2. constant triplets in piano: horse’s hooves
3. fast, dramatic
4. Elfking lures child from father: shift from minor to major
5. child’s terror: dissonance, high vocal range
6. Father reassures, calms fears: rounded vocal line, low register
Robert Schumann and the Song Cycle
1. Robert Schumann (1810–1856)
1. German composer, critic
2. studied law, then piano with Friedrich Wieck
3. turned to composition and music criticism
1. established Neue Zeitschrift für Musik (The New Journal of Music)
4. 1840: married Wieck’s daughter, Clara
5. gradual mental collapse, entered asylum 1854
6. music: true Romantic style
1. impassioned melodies
2. novel harmonic changes
3. driving rhythms
7. composed over 100 Lieder, several song cycles, four symphonies, piano
music
2. Schumann’s Song Cycle: A Poet’s Love
1. A Poet’s Love (Dichterliebe): composed 1840, “year of song”
2. 16 poems from Lyriches Intermezzo, by Heinrich Heine
1. Heine: ironic, cynical, disillusioned hopes
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2. “In the lovely month of May” depicts fragility of new love
3. cycle follows psychological progression
1. freshness of love to complete despair
3. Listening Guide 41: Robert Schumann, “In the lovely month of May,” from A
Poet’s Love (Dichterliebe), No. 1 (1840)
1. melancholic mood: unrequited love
2. strophic with piano prelude, interlude, postlude
3. harmonic meandering between two keys
4. piano postlude: lack of resolution
PIECES:
Schubert, Elfking
Schumann: "In the lovely month of May," from A Poet's Love
Romantic Piano Music
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Popularity of the Piano
1. Amateurs: four-hand piano music
1. two performers at one piano
2. works composed or arranged
2. Virtuoso pianist: new class of virtuoso performer
1. developing concert industry
2. performers no longer composers
3. Technical improvements to the instrument
1. metal frame, increased string tension
2. extended range of notes
3. factory production: reduced cost
The Short Lyric Piano Piece
1. Compact form: melodious and dramatic works
1. instrumental equivalent to song
2. Fanciful titles: Prelude, Intermezzo, Impromptu, Nocturne
3. Dance inspired: Polish mazurka, polonaise; Viennese waltz, scherzo
4. Descriptive titles: Wild Hunt, Little Bell, Forest Murmurs
5. Composers: Schubert, Chopin, Liszt, Felix Mendelssohn, Fanny Mendelssohn
Hensel, Robert and Clara Schumann, and Brahms
Chopin and Piano Music
1. Frédéric François Chopin (1810–1849)
1. born in Warsaw, Poland; composer, pianist
2. French father, Polish mother
3. age twenty-one: moved to Paris, artistic center in 1830s
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4. affair with Aurore Dudevant (George Sand)
5. composed for Parisian salon, gathering of musicians, artists, and
intellectuals
6. output revolved around the piano
1. works central to piano repertoire
2. originated modern piano style
3. ornamented melodies: trills, grace notes, runs
4. widely spaced chords in bass line
5. ballads, sonatas, concertos, preludes, études, mazurkas, polonaises,
scherzos, waltzes, impromptus, nocturnes, chamber music, and
songs
2. A mazurka by Chopin
1. mazurka: Polish peasant dance
2. lively, triple meter
3. accents on 2nd or 3rd beat of measure
4. Chopin: transformed mazurka to art form
5. rubato (robbed time): liberties taken with rhythm
3. Listening Guide 42: Chopin, Mazurka in B-flat minor, Op. 24, No. 4 (1833)
1. moderate triple meter
2. A-B-A-C-D-A, long coda
3. dotted and double-dotted rhythms
4. subtle harmonic shifts: major, minor, modal
5. rich in chromaticism
6. accents on 3rd beat, later on 2nd beat
7. melody: chromatic lines, wide-ranging and disjunct
Liszt and the Rise of the Performer/Composer
1. Franz Liszt (1811–1886)
1. born in Hungary, studied in Paris
2. composer, conductor, noted teacher
3. legendary pianist
1. greatest pianist, showman of his day
2. turned piano sideways
3. creator of modern piano technique
4. composed highly virtuosic, difficult works
4. affair with novelist, Countess Marie d’Agoult, three children
5. Weimar period (1848–61), court conductor
1. composed orchestral works
2. advocated “music of the future”
3. conducted premiere performances of Wagner, Berlioz, and others
6. later years, entered church: Abbé Liszt
1. composed religious works
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7. created new genre: symphonic poem
1. one movement programmatic orchestral work
2. thematic transformation: transformed character of themes
2. The Little Bell
1. Liszt: fascinated with technical possibilities of the piano
2. drawn to the étude (study pieces)
3. influenced by violin virtuoso, Niccolò Paganini
4. Transcendental Etudes after Paganini
1. set of six technical pieces
2. based on Paganini’s Caprices for solo violin
3. The Little Bell (La campanella), third etude
3. Listening Guide 43: Franz Liszt, The Little Bell (La campanella) (1851)
1. fast and light Allegretto; grows faster
2. sectional variations, A-B-A'-B'-A"-B"-A"'
3. highly virtuosic, many embellishments
4. bell sound: high register, high-pitch pedal point
5. dramatic closing, forte octaves
Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel and the Piano Miniature
1. Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel (1805–1847)
1. raised in Berlin, sister of composer Felix Mendelssohn
2. composer, pianist
3. female in 19th century: discouraged from career in music
4. married court artist, Wilhelm Hensel
5. active as composer and pianist: salon concerts
6. composed chamber music, Lieder, piano music
7. compositions intended for family salon gatherings
2. A piano cycle: The Year
1. The Year (Das Jahr), set of twelve pieces/miniatures
1. suggest passage of time, seasons of one’s life
2. lost manuscript found in 1989
3. each piece on different colored paper, poetic epigram, and painting by
Wilhelm Hensel
4. cycle unified:
1. recurring motives
2. tonal schemes
3. references to other composers
5. September
1. drawing of barefooted woman
2. lines from Goethe, “Flow, flow, dear river, Never will I be happy.”
3. Listening Guide 44: Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, September: At the
River, from The Year (Das Jahr)(1841)
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A-B-A' with introduction and coda
melancholic, haunting, meandering melody
slow-paced melody against fast-moving lines and chords
daring, distant key areas, very chromatic
swelling and decrescendo dynamics: evokes flow of water
PIECES:
Chopin, Mazurka in B-flat minor Op.24 No.4
Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, September: At the Rover, from The Year (Das Jahr)
Music in Nineteenth-Century America
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Concert Music Imported from Europe
1. Protestant settlers, devotional psalms
1. early American publications: devotional
1. first American psalm book, printed in 1640
2. shape-note notation
Stephen Foster and American Popular Music
1. Stephen Foster (1826–1864)
1. composer, born outside Pittsburgh
2. worked as bookkeeper
3. composed for Christy Minstrels, black-faced minstrel show
4. Hit songs: Oh, Susanna!, Camptown Races, Old Folks at Home, My Old
Kentucky Home
5. died a penniless alcoholic
2. A song by Stephen Foster
1. Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair (1853–54)
2. love song, written for his wife, Jane Denny McDowell
3. two-verse poem by Foster
4. not popular during his lifetime
5. alternate title, I Dream of Jeannie
3. Listening Guide 45: Foster, Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair (1854)
1. strophic with brief cadenzas in each strophe
2. syllabic setting of text, descending melody
3. moderate tempo in quadruple meter
4. major key, simple block- and broken-chord accompaniment
Louis Gottschalk and Piano Music in America
1. Louis Moreau Gottschalk (1829–1869)
1. New Orleans native; composer, pianist
2. English-born Jewish father, French-Creole mother
3. first American to achieve international fame as classical composer
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4. heard ethnically diverse music
1. Afro-Caribbean folk music, West Indian and African-American dances
and songs
5. child prodigy, piano debut at age eleven
6. studied in Paris: charmed Chopin and Berlioz
7. toured Europe, United States, Cuba, Puerto Rico
8. promoted education, classical and popular music
9. remembered for solo piano music
1. highly syncopated: anticipated Ragtime
2. assimilated traditional music with virtuosos piano compositions
3. exploited dance forms
4. accessible music: quoted Stephen Foster tunes
2. The Banjo
1. banjo: popular African-American instrument
2. subtitled Grotesque Fantasy: An American Sketch
3. Listening Guide 46: Gottschalk, The Banjo (Le banjo: Fantasie grotesque) (1854–
55)
1. solo piano, imitates banjo strumming and picking
2. two varied sections
1. first: rhythmic, low range
2. second: banjo-style tune, high range
3. highly syncopated
4. coda: quotes Camptown Races
5. accelerando to end, ff chord
PIECES:
Foster, Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair
Romantic Program Music
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Program Music
1. Instrumental music with literary or pictorial associations
1. program supplied by composer
2. suggests story, or mood
3. composers relate music to moral and political issues
2. Absolute music: no literary or pictorial associations
Varieties of Program Music
1. Concert overture: originated in opera house
1. single-movement concert piece for orchestra
2. based on literary ideas
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2. Incidental music: overture and pieces between acts of a play
1. arranged into suites
2. important today: film, television
3. Program symphony: multimovement orchestral work
1. Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique; Liszt: Faust and Dante Symphonies
4. Symphonic poem (tone poem): one-movement orchestral work
1. freer structure than concert overture
2. most widely used
Berlioz and the Program Symphony
1. Hector Berlioz (1803–1869)
1. French composer, conductor
2. first proponent of musical Romanticism in France
3. left medical school to study music
4. influenced by Beethoven and Shakespeare
5. infatuated with Shakespearean actress, Harriet Smithson
6. orchestral works: overtures, program symphonies
1. daring originality, bold innovator
2. huge orchestral forces, master of orchestration
2. Symphonie fantastique
1. five-movement program symphony
2. program by Berlioz: autobiographical
1. infatuation with Harriet Smithson
2. meeting the beloved; ultimate demise of the artist
3. Romantic era: fascinated with grotesque and supernatural
3. recurring theme: idée fixe (fixed idea)
1. symbolizes the beloved
2. unifying musical thread
3. thematic transformation
4. March to the Scaffold, mvt. 4
1. opium-induced dream
2. artist dreams he has killed the beloved
3. witnesses his own execution
5. Dream of a Witches’ Sabbath, mvt. 5
1. witches’ sabbath, spirits gathered for his funeral
2. beloved comes to infernal orgy
3. Listening Guide 47: Berlioz, Symphonie fantastique, Fourth and Fifth
Movements (1830)
1. mvt. 4: March to the Scaffold; Allegretto non troppo
1. sonata-like form, minor mode
2. theme 1: downward minor scale
3. theme 2: diabolical march tune, brass and woodwinds
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4. idée fixe at end, clarinet: “last thought of love”
5. ff chord: guillotine blade falls
2. mvt. 5: Dream of a Witches’ Sabbath; Larghetto, Allegro assai
1. slow and eerie opening: muted strings, chromatic scales
2. Allegro: idée fixe in high clarinet
1. “a vulgar tune”; trills, grace notes
3. dissonant, chromatic harmonies
4. Dies irae quoted, first slow, then twice as fast
5. “Dance of Witches”: builds to fugal setting
6. dance and Dies irae combined, builds to final cadence
Musical Nationalism
1. Political unrest in Europe: stimulated nationalism
2. Music based on folk songs and dances
1. Chopin: mazurkas, polonaises
2. Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsodies
3. Dvorák: Slavonic Dances
3. Programs: folklore or peasant life, national hero, historic event, scenic beauty
4. Love of homeland: powerful symbolism
A Czech Nationalist: Bedřich Smetana
1. Bedřich Smetana (1824–1884)
1. first prominent Bohemian composer
2. joined 1848 revolutionary uprising
3. revolution failed: accepted conducting position in Sweden
4. returned to Prague: composed operas in native tongue
5. best known for My Country (Má vlast)
1. cycle of six symphonic poems
2. The Moldau
1. second from My Country
2. Moldau: Bohemian river
3. poetic symbol of homeland
4. program: scenes along shore of the river
1. varied instrumentation for each scene
3. Listening Guide 48: Smetana, The Moldau (1874–79)
1. begins with flute: source of the river
2. river theme: stepwise melody in violins, minor mode
3. hunting scene: fanfare in French horns and trumpets
4. peasant dance: folk tune, staccato strings, shift to duple meter
5. nymphs in moonlight: double reeds, muted strings
6. ancient castle: brass
7. ending, flows out to sea: two forceful closing chords
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A Scandinavian Nationalist: Edvard Grieg
1. Edvard Grieg (1843–1907)
1. Norwegian composer, pianist
2. studied in Leipzig: influenced by Mendelssohn and Schumann
3. promoted Scandinavian music
4. composed smaller-scale works, many piano works
1. A minor Piano Concerto, arrangements of Norwegian folk tunes
5. style: lyricism, nationalistic use of folk music and dances
2. Peer Gynt suite
1. Peer Gynt: play by Henrik Ibsen
2. based on Norwegian folk tale
3. Grieg’s Peer Gynt: originally incidental music for the play
4. final version: eight movements in two orchestral suites
3. Listening Guide 49: Grieg, Peer Gynt, Suite No. 1, Op. 46, excerpts (1874–75)
1. Morning Mood
1. dreamy, flowing melody: flute and oboe
2. A-B-A' form
3. grows to loud climax, then dies away
4. pastoral instruments (flute, oboe, horn)
2. In the Hall of the Mountain King
1. march for the wild daughters of the Mountain King
2. minor mode theme repeated six times, coda
3. duple-meter march, staccato notes, offbeat accents
4. huge crescendo and accelerando, dramatic ending
5. conceived as “grotesque” ballet music
Other Nationalists
1. England
1. Edward Elgar
2. Ralph Vaughan Williams
2. Scandinavia
1. Edvard Grieg
2. Jean Sibelius
3. Spain
1. Isaac Albéniz
2. Manuel de Falla
4. Czech Republic
1. Bedřich Smetana
2. Antonín Dvořák
5. Russia
1. Alexander Borodin
2. Modest Musorgsky
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3. Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
4. Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
PIECES:
Berloiz, Symphonie fantastique, IV
Smetana, The Moldau
Grieg, Peer Gynt, Suite No.1, Op.46
Absolute Music in the Nineteenth Century
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Absolute Music: no literary or pictorial associations
1. Multimovement genres: concerto, symphony, chamber music
1. form: organizing element
2. Romantic era composers took freedoms with the structures
Clara Schumann: Pianist and Composer
1. Clara Schumann (1819–1896)
1. German pianist, composer
2. daughter of Friedrich Wieck
3. appeared publicly at age nine, toured extensively
4. married to composer Robert Schumann
5. lifelong friendship with Johannes Brahms
6. limited by restrictions to women
7. music: miniatures, piano concerto, piano trio
8. style: technically difficult, serious and introspective
2. Piano Trio in G minor
1. written after birth of fourth child
2. four movements: inverted pattern of middle movements
3. Listening Guide 50: Clara Schumann, Piano Trio in G minor, III (1847)
1. A-B-A' with coda
2. lilting 6/8 meter, major key
3. melody introduced by piano: lyrical, decorative turns
4. texture: melody predominates, some counterpoint
5. middle section: minor mode, moves quicker
6. wide dynamic range, delicate closing
The Romantic Concerto
1. Favored genre of the 19th century
2. 18th-century forms maintained
3. Increased size of orchestra, virtuosic performers
4. Composers wrote for particular artist
1. Mendelssohn Violin Concerto: Ferdinand David
2. Brahms Violin Concerto: Joseph Joachim
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Mendelssohn and the Romantic Concerto
1. Felix Mendelssohn (1809–1847)
1. German pianist, conductor, educator, composer
2. spurred revival of J. S. Bach’s music
3. founded Conservatory of Leipzig
4. traveled extensively throughout his career
5. composed with speed and facility
6. preferred Classical era forms
7. 1847, sister Fanny died suddenly, he died six months later
8. large- and small-scale works
2. Violin Concerto in E minor
1. Mendelssohn’s last orchestral work
2. clarity of form, subtlety of orchestration, sentimental expression
3. three movements played without pause
4. cyclical: reference of first movement in second movement
3. Listening Guide 51: Mendelssohn, Violin Concerto in E minor, First Movement
(1844)
1. Allegro molto appassionato: first-movement concerto form
2. brilliant violin writing: double and triple stops
3. theme 1: introduced by solo violin
1. wide range, lyrical, balanced phrases
4. theme 2: introduced by woodwinds over violin pedal point
5. cadenza: not improvised, end of development
6. shorter recapitulation; faster tempo to end of movement
V.
The Romantic Symphony
1. Music moved from palace to concert halls
1. much larger orchestra
2. Longer, more expansive structure
1. composers: less prolific
3. The 19th-century symphony form
1. multimovement scheme not always followed
2. mvt. 1: sonata-allegro form
1. optional slow introduction
2. long, expressive development
3. mvt. 2: typically ternary form
1. greater range of mood
4. mvt. 3: scherzo form
1. lively pace
2. sometimes as second movement
3. variety of moods
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5. mvt. 4: sonata-allegro form, rondo
1. fast tempo
Brahms and the Late Romantic Symphony
1. Johannes Brahms (1833–1897)
1. German composer, conductor
2. son of musician and seamstress
3. recognized by Schumann as a great composer
4. moved to Vienna
5. traditionalist: absolute music, Classical forms
6. affection for folk music
7. age forty, began composing symphonic works
8. output: four symphonies, major contributions to chamber music, piano,
and song repertoire
2. Symphony No. 3 in F Major
1. 1883, Brahms age fifty
2. shortest of his four symphonies
3. most Romantic in tone
4. Classical era forms
5. three-note motive
1. (F-A flat-F) “Frei aber froh” (Free but happy)
2. permeates entire symphony
6. mvt. 3: melancholy waltz replaces scherzo
3. Listening Guide 52: Brahms, Symphony No. 3 in F major, Third Movement
(1883)
1. A-B-A' form, C minor
2. moderate triple meter
3. opens with yearning cello melody
4. rhythmically complex; syncopations
5. alternates major and minor keys
6. chromatic middle section
7. last chord: pizzicato strings
Dvořák as a Symphonist
1. Antonín Dvořák (1841–1904)
1. Bohemian composer, born near Prague
2. violist in Czech National Theater: Smetana conducting
3. composition professor: Conservatory of Prague
4. three years in United States
1. interested in spirituals, Creole songs and dances
2. encouraged American originality
5. gift for melody, love of native folk tunes
6. large output: all genres of music; operas based on Czech tunes
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2. The New World Symphony
1. Symphony No. 9: composed in United States, premiered in New York
2. middle movements influenced by Longfellow’s Song of Hiawatha
3. modal flavorings, richly colored orchestrations
3. Listening Guide 53: Dvořák, Symphony No. 9 in E minor, From the New
World, First Movement (1893)
1. sonata-allegro form, three themes
2. somber introduction
3. folklike, lyrical melodies
4. sudden dynamic contrasts, sweeping crescendos
5. theme 3: suggestive of Swing Low, Sweet Chariot
6. recapitulation: themes in unexpected keys
7. fff full orchestra turbulent closing
PIECES:
Brahms, Symphone No.3 in F major
National Schools of Romantic Opera
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Women in Opera
1. Allowed women visibility
2. Prominent perfomers
1. Jenny Lind, “Swedish nightingale” (1820–1887)
2. Maria Malibran (1808–1836)
3. Pauline Viardot (1821–1920)
Verdi and Italian Opera
1. Opera seria and opera buffa: continued into 19th century
1. bel canto style (beautiful singing)
1. florid melodic lines, great agility, purity of tone
2. composers: Rossini, Donizetti, Bellini
2. Giuseppi Verdi (1813–1901)
1. Italian opera composer
2. 1839, tragic loss of wife and children in short time span
3. 1842, Nabucco: chorus became Italian patriotic song
1. Verdi became national hero
4. wrote 28 operas
5. literary sources: Shakespeare, contemporary plays and novels
6. music: profound emotion, prized melody above all else
3. Verdi’s Rigoletto
1. based on Victor Hugo’s The King Is Amused
2. Renaissance-era ducal court at Mantua
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3. main characters:
1. Duke, womanizer
2. Rigoletto, hunchbacked jester
3. Gilda, Rigoletto’s daughter
4. Sparafucile, assassin
5. Maddalena, Sparafucile’s sister
4. plot summary:
1. curse put on Rigoletto for making light of the Duke’s seductions
2. Gilda becomes the Duke’s next conquest
3. Rigoletto plots to murder the Duke
4. Gilda sacrifices herself for the Duke
5. Gilda dies in her father’s arms: fulfillment of the curse
4. Listening Guide 54: Verdi, Rigoletto, Act III, excerpts (1851)
1. “La donna è mobile” (Woman Is Fickle)
1. sung by the Duke
2. triple meter
3. strophic aria with refrain
4. guitarlike orchestral strumming
2. “Un dì,” quartet
1. quartet sung by Duke, Maddalena, Gilda, Rigoletto
2. dialogue between characters
3. Duke: bel canto style
4. Maddalena: laughing, short notes
5. Gilda: heartbroken, laments
6. Rigoletto: swears vengeance for his daughter
7. second part: characters sing together
8. “Bella figlia” opening melody sung by Duke
1. Allegro, agitated movement
Wagner and the Music Drama in Germany
1. Richard Wagner (1813–1883)
1. German composer
2. began serious composition at age twenty-three
3. wrote his own librettos: exercised total control
4. age thirty, Rienzi, huge success
5. active in 1849 failed Dresden uprising: fled to Switzerland
6. Zurich: theories of music drama
1. integrated theater and music completely
7. Ring of the Nibelung: cycle of four music dramas
1. Das Rheingold
2. Die Walküre
3. Siegfried
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4. Götterdämerung
8. Festival Theater at Bayreuth: built for performance of Wagner’s works
9. married Franz Liszt’s daughter, Cosima
10. Wagner’s music:
1. idealized folk legend
2. subjects: medieval German epics
3. profound feeling for nature
4. supernatural as element of drama
5. glorified German land and people
2. Die Walküre
1. second in Ring of the Nibelung
2. cycle follows the possession of the ring
1. Norse mythology and medieval German epic sagas
2. cursed powerful ring: death and misfortune to those who possess it
3. ring returned to Rhine Maidens in Götterdämerung
3. Die Walküre
1. Siegmund and Sieglinde: twin brother and sister, incestuous and
adulterous relationship
2. Valkyries: nine daughters of Wotan, carry fallen heroes from
battlefield to Valhalla
3. Siegmund is wounded in battle
4. Brünhilde, a Valkyrie, carries Siegmund to Valhalla
5. end of music drama, Brünhilde, punished by Wotan, becomes a
mortal
4. opera as total artwork: Gesamtkunstwerk
1. endless melody by singers; no arias
2. orchestra as focal point, unifying element
3. leitmotifs “leading motives”: concise themes, recur throughout a
work
4. chromatic harmonies, dissonance
3. Listening Guide 55: Wagner, Die Walküre (The Valkyrie), Act III, opening and
Finale (1856)
1. Opening: Ride of the Valkyries, Brünhilde carries Siegmund to Valhalla
1. swirling strings and woodwinds
2. “Ride” leitmotif ascends, repeats
3. battle cries from soloists: “Hojoho! Heiaha!”
4. polyphonic/lively dotted rhythm 9/8 meter
5. huge dynamic contrasts
6. huge orchestra, huge and varied brass section
7. dense orchestral texture
2. Closing of Scene 3: Wotan and Brünhilde
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1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
IV.
three recurring themes
endless melody
rich, chromatic harmony
forceful trombone passage; Wotan invokes Loge (god of fire)
“magic fire,” full orchestra
“magic sleep,” descending chromatic woodwinds
“slumber” motive: woodwinds
Wotan sings to “Siegfried” motive (next in the cycle)
1. brass, ff announcement of “Siegfried” motive
9. long orchestral closing
Georges Bizet and Exoticism in French Opera
1. 19th-century French opera
1. Paris, opera center
2. grand opera, new genre
1. serious historical themes
2. suited bourgeoisies’ taste
3. huge choruses, crowd scenes, ornate costumes and scenery,
elaborate dance episodes
3. opéra comique
1. smaller performing forces
2. simpler compositional style
3. spoken dialogue instead of recitative
4. not always comic
2. Exoticism
1. Romantics: yearn for far-off lands
2. Verdi: Aida, Egypt under the pharaohs
3. Puccini: Turandot, ancient China; Madame Butterfly, late 19th-century
Japan
4. Bizet: Carmen, Spain
3. Georges Bizet (1838–1875)
1. composer, born and raised in Paris
2. student at Paris Conservatory
3. won Prix de Rome
4. composed operas with exotic atmosphere
5. died shortly after poor reception of Carmen
4. Bizet’s Carmen
1. opéra comique based on Gypsy life in Spain
2. portrayed realities of lower classes and their suffering
3. naturalism: new literary theme
4. characters: smugglers, bandits
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5. lyric drama: strong emotions, love hate, desire, disintegration of a
personality
6. plot summary:
1. Carmen, Gypsy girl, works in cigarette factory in Seville
2. Don José, simple soldier, becomes obsessed with Carmen
3. Carmen seduces Don José
4. in fit of jealousy, Don José attacks his superior officer
5. Don José joins a band of smugglers
6. final act, Carmen refuses to go with Don José
7. Don José stabs Carmen: Toreador Song
5. Listening Guide 56: Bizet, Carmen, Act I, Scenes 4 and 5 (1875)
1. Scene 4: young men wait for cigarette girls to exit the factory
1. orchestra crescendo: excitement builds
2. large orchestra (with harp and bells)
3. men’s and women’s choruses
4. gentle mood until Carmen arrives
2. Scene 5: Habanera
1. Carmen and chorus
2. seductive verse/chorus structure
3. dotted Spanish dance rhythm, ostinato in bass
4. descending chromatic melody
PIECES:
Verdi, Rigoletto
Wagner, Die Walkure
Bizet, Carmen
Late Romantic and Post-Romantic Music
I.
Romantic Choral Music
1. Expansion of audience: amateur musicians
1. choral music: artistic outlet for amateurs
2. composers: Schubert, Berlioz, Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn, Robert and
Clara Schumann, Liszt, Verdi, Brahms, and Dvořák
2. Secular choral pieces: part songs
1. lyric poems, variety of mood and styles
2. three or four voice parts
3. short, melodious works
3. Sacred choral forms: Mass, the Requiem Mass, and oratorios
1. concert setting
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II.
2. monumental works
4. Verdi’s Requiem
1. began as tribute to Gioachino Rossini
2. completed after death of Alessandro Manzoni (revered poet and
humanist)
3. Libera me (Deliver me, O Lord): prayer recited over coffin
1. uses Dies irae (Day of Wrath)
2. uses Requiem aeternam (Grant them eternal rest)
5. Listening Guide 57: Verdi, Requiem, Libera me, excerpt (1874)
1. Libera me: Dies irae
1. soprano solo, chorus, large orchestra, strong percussion and brass
2. choral declamation of themes, pounding chords in minor key
3. agitated allegro: accented chords, timpani offbeats
4. loud, forceful mood; shifts to soft and mysterious
5. dramatic mood
2. Libera me: Requiem aeternam
1. soprano solo with a cappella chorus
2. slow-paced duple meter, peaceful mood
3. soprano; angelic, expressive, soaring line
4. ends with soprano’s octave leap toward the heavens, pppp
5. minor, shifts to major, very chromatic
6. marked dolcissimo (very sweetly)
Tchaikovsky and the Ballet
1. Ballet: important to European culture for centuries
1. historical antecedents
1. Italy, intermedio
2. England, masque
3. France, ballet de cour and divertissements
2. 18th century, ballet as independent art form
3. early 19th century, France and Russia preeminent
1. Marius Petipa: structure for pas de deux (dance for two)
2. Serge Diaghilev (1872–1929), Russian impresario
1. Ballets Russes: Russian ballet company, performed in Paris
3. Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Russian composer of ballet music
2. Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840–1893)
1. Russian composer
2. son of government official
3. at age twenty-three, entered Conservatory of St. Petersburg
4. taught twelve years at Moscow Conservatory
5. extremely sensitive nature, prone to depression
6. social pressures, homosexual, married a student
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III.
IV.
7. Nadezhda von Meck: wealthy widow, became his patron
8. fame in Europe and United States
1. 1891: conducted opening of Carnegie Hall
9. output includes: seven symphonies, four concertos, three ballets: Swan
Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, and The Nutcracker
III.
The Nutcracker
1. based on E. T. A. Hoffman story
1. Christmas party
2. Clara receives Nutcracker from her godfather
3. Clara dreams Nutcracker becomes her Prince
4. they travel through magical realm: exoticism
2. choreographed by Petipa
IV. Listening Guide 58: Tchaikovsky, The Nutcracker, Three Dances (1892)
1. March: guests arrive to party
1. A-B-A, sprightly march
2. A section: trumpet announces march theme
3. B section: staccato runs by woodwinds and strings
2. Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy
1. A-B-A, bouncy duple meter (andante tempo)
2. introduction: pizzicato strings
3. A section: celesta, bell-like timbre
4. closes with loud pizzicato chord
3. Trepak (Russian Dance)
1. A-B-A, molto vivace
2. A section: full orchestra, lively dance tune
3. lively peasant dance, heavy accents
4. descending melody with sfz staccato note
5. accelerando to end, trumpet fanfare, syncopations
The Post-Romantic Era
1. Post-Romanticism: influenced by Wagner’s chromatic language
2. Composers: Giacomo Puccini, Gustav Mahler
Puccini and Verismo Opera
1. Verismo movement: realism, subjects from everyday life
2. Giacomo Puccini (1858–1924)
1. Italian composer
2. father was a church organist
3. attracted to theater and opera
4. early success followed by misfortune
5. major works: La bohème, Tosca, Madame Butterfly, Turandot
6. music: soaring melodies, rich orchestral timbres, recurring melodies
3. Madame Butterfly
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V.
1. based on Pierre Loti’s tale, Madame Chrysanthème
2. exoticism: takes place in Japan
3. plot summary:
1. American naval officer, Pinkerton, marries geisha, Cio-Cio-San
(Madame Butterfly)
2. Pinkerton returns to United States, Butterfly awaits his return
3. Pinkerton returns with his American wife
4. Butterfly takes her life
4. exoticism in the music:
1. traditional Japanese melodies
2. whole-tone and pentatonic scales
3. sounds evoking Japanese gagaku orchestra: harp, flute, piccolo, bells
4. quotes American National Anthem
5. disastrous premiere
4. Listening Guide 59: Puccini, “Un bel dì,” from Madame Butterfly, Act II (1904)
1. “One lovely day we’ll see”: Butterfly sings of Pinkerton’s return
2. opening: ethereal voice accompanied by solo violin
3. rich accompaniment, orchestra in unison with voice
4. rising dynamics, emotional level builds, “l’aspetto” (I will wait for him),
orchestra plays fff
The Post-Romantic Voice of Gustav Mahler
1. Gustav Mahler (1860–1911)
1. Bohemian composer, conductor
2. worked in Budapest, Hamburg, Vienna
3. three years in New York
1. Metropolitan Opera
2. New York Philharmonic Society Orchestra
4. grief-stricken by death of his daughter
5. suffered serious heart condition
6. compositions: nine symphonies, song cycles with orchestra
7. music: long flowing melodies, rich expressive harmonies, innovative
orchestration
II.
III.
The Song of the Earth
1. song cycle, six songs, with orchestra
2. written during Mahler’s spiritual rebirth
3. work reflects beauty of earthly things and resignation of death
4. text: German translation of Chinese Tang dynasty poetry by Li T’ai-Po
1. eloquent images of joy and despair
Listening Guide 60: Mahler, The Song of the Earth (Das Lied von der Erde), Third
Movement (1908–9)
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VI.
1. Of Youth (Von der Jugend)
2. tenor and orchestra, no brass
3. A-B-A', mirrors text
4. text strophes separated by orchestral interlude
5. pentatonic theme
Looking Ahead to Modernist Trends
1. 19th-century composers fully exploited tonal system
2. 20th-century composers
1. suppressed Romanticism
2. influenced by popular music trends
3. developed new pitch organization
PIECES:
Verdi, Reqium
Tchaikovsky, The Nutcracker
Tchaikovsky, Symphony No.5 in E minor
Puccini, Madame Butterfly, "Undel di"
Comparison between Classical and Romantic
Classical
Melody
Rhythm
Harmony
Sound
Texture
Form
Romantic
Simple melodies, often in four or
eight measure phrases
Mainly stepwise motion
Consistent rhythms and regular
tempos
More complex melodies, phrasing
not as regular
Dramatic leaps in motion
Varied and unpredictable rhythm
More extremes of tempo
Richer, more varied harmonies, more
Triadic, little chromaticism
chromaticism
Major/minor tonality
Distinction between major and minor
blurs
Wider variety of colours
Wider range of colors
Homogenous orchestral color
New instruments introduced
Use of crescendo and diminuendo
Traditional instruments given wider
dynamic range
Homophonic texture prevails
More use of counterpoint
Binary and ternary forms, sonata Same forms, expanded and modified,
allegro
often reflected programmatic ideas
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Comparison between Romantic and Twentieth Century
Melody
Rhythm
Harmony
Sound
Texture
Form
Twentieth Century
Romantic
Melodies range from long,
luxurious or abstract to short,
almost disconnected gestures
Rhythmic language expands, no
longer based on groupings of
twos and threes
Any grouping is possible, and
composers are free to mix
rhythms and meters
In some styles, rhythm is a
primary element
Any combination of notes is
possible
Nothing too dissonant, including
microtones
Major/minor tonality is
abandoned by many composers,
replaced by atonality, twelvetone composition or bitonality
All sounds are possible (including
no sound or the sounds of the
past)
Sounds of popular and nonWestern music part of the
twentieth century
New instruments are created,
and old instruments are usesd in
bold, experimental ways
Polyphonic textures prevail, often
nonimitative
Older forms continue, but are
more abstract
New forms and formal principles
arise, including forms that freely
grow out of spontaneous
improvisation and chance
More complex melodies, phrasing
not as regular
Dramatic leaps in motion
Varied and unpredictable rhythm
More extremes of tempo
Richer, more varied harmonies, more
chromaticism
Dissonance kept within bounds of
tonality
Distinction between major and minor
blurs
Wider variety of colours
Wider range of colors
New instruments introduced
Traditional instruments given wider
dynamic range
Sounds of etnic Western music
incorporated, such as that of
Hungarian Gypsies
Textures often contrapuntal
Same forms, expanded and modified,
often reflected programmatic ideas
Binary and ternary forms and sonata
allegro
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
The Romantic Era (1830-1900)
o The Era
 The wake of the French Revolution: Napolean (Beethoven’s 3rd)
 “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity
 American Revolution
 “Nationalism”
 Acendency of the Middle Class
 Inspiration in the Dark Ages, Arthur Legend;
 Nature
 Literature:
 Poets: Heine (Germany), Hugo, Lamartine (France) Gray, Cowper,
Burns, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelley, Keats (Enland).
 Conflict between the individual and society: Tess of the Durbervilles,
Les Miserables, Anna Karenina, Oliver Twist.
 The illness of the century: hope and optimism give way to doubt and
disenchantment (all people were not free and equal after all)
 A related theme: escapism; strangeness and wonder; “anywhere but here,
anytime but now...” (Dumas, Hawthorne, Poe)
 Visual Art:
 The same themes as literature
 Delacroix, Goya
 Impact on music and musicians: end of patronage/court composers,
transition to public patronage (and poverty and suffering of artists)
 Individuality, originality important! (Note the musical voice of Beethoven,
Brahms, etc.)
o Style
 There is more continuity than contrast between the Classical and Romantic
eras; the difference is one of degree ; Romantic music is more individual in
expressing feelings and transcending convention.
 In many ways composers were in the shadow of Beethoven, his legacy and
influence were deep.
 Form: Expanded forms, and miniatures; asymetrical phrases
 Melody: Singable melody
 Tone Color : Expanded orchestration, emphasis on timbre, solo instruments,
explorations of extremes of range and dynamics.
 Harmony: Expressive -- more dissonance and chromaticism than before
 Rhythm: Rubato, or “robbed time”, cross-rhythms and macro-rhythms,
accelerandi and ritardandi
 *Nationalism:
o Composers
 Franz Schubert (1797-1828), Austrian
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
o
almost 1000 works in his short (31yr) life, including 600 lieder.
 Robert Schumann (1820-56), German
 Was going to be a concert pianist, but injured his right hand (on a
contraption he designed to improve his finger strength, the story goes).
 Wrote about music in his Neue Zeitschrift für MusiK using the imaginary
characters of Florestan, Eusebius and Raro to reflect different sides of
his own personality.
 Wanted to marry Clara, daughter of his piano teacher, but Weick
opposed it vehemently. They did marry, however.
 Brahms a close friend (?) esp. to Clara after Robert went insane.
 Johannes Brahms (1833-97), German
 Frederec Chopin (1810-49), Polish/French
 Franz Liszt ((1811-86), Hungarian
 symphonic poems (he was the 1st to use the term) His symphonies are
also programmatic
 Influenced Wagner
 Clara Schumann (1819-96), German
 Felix Mendelssohn (1809-47), German
 adhered to Classic forms, with themes reminiscent of foreign lands
(Italian and Scottish Symponies)
 Hector Berlioz (1812-69), French
 Symphonie Fantasique(1830)
 a musical drama, whose words are written in a program handed
out to the audience
 central theme: idee fixe --fixation) stands for the woman with
whom the artist is infatuated and appears in every movement.
 colorful orchestration: influenced later composers
 Richard Strauss (1856-1949), German
 Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901), Italian
 Richard Wagner (1813-83), German
 Peter Tshaikovsky (1840-93), Russian
 Anton Dvorak (1841-1904),
Genres
 Vocal
 Song: The Lied
 Strophic form
 Through composed
 Modified strophic
 The song cycle
 Large Choral Works
 Romantic Opera
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
o
o
Instrumental
 Symphony
 Concerto
 Form:
 1st Movement: Allegro
 Sonata Form, with double exposition
 Exposition: themes 1 and 2, orchestra
 Themes 1 and 2, solo instrument
 Development
 Recapitiulation
 Cadenza (solo instrument alone)
 Coda
 2nd Movement: Slow and lyrical
 ABA form most common
 3rd Movement: Very fast
 Sonata or Rondo, usually
 Ballet
 Program Music esp the Symphonic Poem
Instruments / The orchestra
 The piano: better, (improved soundboard, overstringing - bass strings cross
over others) stronger, faster (double escapement)
 Chopin
 Liszt
Vocabulary
 absolute music - (not programmatic)
 bi-modal - draws upon major and minor modes of the same tonic
 cross-rhythm - simultaneous use of conflicting rhythmic patterns or accents
 cyclic principal - unification of a large scale work by recurring themes (as in
Beethoven 5)
 leitmotif - theme or motive which represents a character, emotion, idea, or
object. Compare to Baroque Doctine of Affections. Wagner.
 nationalism - regional melodies, themes, flavors appearing in musical
composition
 nocturne - lyrical character piece for piano (Chopin)
 polonaise - festive Polish dance in moderate triple meter (Chopin)
 rubato - melody freedom over fixed accompaniment
 thematic transformation - the recurring theme changes its mood and
character.
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