Part V
The Nineteenth Century
The Enjoyment of Music 11th, Shorter Edition
Prelude 5: The Spirit of Romanticism
“Music, of all the liberal arts, has the
greatest influence over the passions.”
—Napoleon Bonaparte
The Enjoyment of Music 11th, Shorter Edition
Prelude 5: The Spirit of Romanticism
French Revolution
•
French Revolution,
bourgeois society
– “Liberty, Equality,
Fraternity”
Liberty Leading the People, by Eugène Delacroix
•
Sympathy for the
oppressed
•
Works of art centered
around peasants,
workers, children,
and faith in
humankind and its
destiny.
The Enjoyment of Music 11th, Shorter Edition
Prelude 5: The Spirit of Romanticism
Romantic Writers and Artists
The Burden, Honoré Daumier
•
Romantic poets and artists turned to the
passionate and fanciful.
•
Individuality: “I am different from all the men I
have seen.” —Jean Jacques Rousseau
•
The “Bohemian artist”
•
Novelists, writers, and poets:
•
Hugo
–
•
Heine
–
•
De Lamartine
–
•
Emily Brontë
–
•
Tolstoy
–
•
Poe
–
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Dumas
Coleridge
Byron
Shelley
Keats
Hawthorne
Prelude 5: The Spirit of Romanticism
Romanticism in Music
•
Industrial Revolution
Valves added to brass instruments
Cast-iron frame and thicker strings in piano
The Enjoyment of Music 11th, Shorter Edition
Prelude 5: The Spirit of Romanticism
Romanticism in Music
•
Music conservatories in Europe
and the Americas
•
Orchestral size
•
Music moved from palace and
church to concert hall
•
New levels of expression
– Art of orchestration
– Vocabulary of expressive
terms increased
The Enjoyment of Music 11th, Shorter Edition
Prelude 5: The Spirit of Romanticism
Romanticism in Music
•
Nationalistic folklore and exotic subjects
–Folk songs and dances
•
Exoticism
Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsody, No. 2
Smetana: The Moldau
Grieg: Peer Gynt Suite, No. 1, “Ase’s Death”
The Enjoyment of Music 11th, Shorter Edition
Prelude 5: The Spirit of Romanticism
Romantic Style Traits
•
Memorable melodies
•
Make instrument
“sing”
•
Expressive harmony
•
Expanded forms
•
Chromaticism and
dissonance
•
Verdi: “La donna è mobile”
Wagner: Prelude to Tristan and Isolde
Longer symphonies
Dvořák: Symphony No. 9, II
Wagner: Die Walküre, Act I
The Enjoyment of Music 11th, Shorter Edition
Prelude 5: The Spirit of Romanticism
The Musician in Society
•
Rise of the virtuoso
soloist and amateur
music making
•  Public concert hall
and salons
•  Musicians and
audience as equals
•  Soloists and
conductors idolized
•
Mendelssohn, Liszt,
Paganini
Mendelssohn: Piano Trio No. 1
Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsody, No. 2
The Enjoyment of Music 11th, Shorter Edition
Prelude 5: The Spirit of Romanticism
Women in Music
•
Women were able to have careers in music
as performers, teachers, composers.
Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel
The Enjoyment of Music 11th, Shorter Edition
Prelude 5: The Spirit of Romanticism
Women in Music
•
Patrons
•
George Sand (Aurore Dudevant)
•
•
Carolyne Sayn-Wittgenstein
•
•
Patron of Chopin
Patron of Liszt
Nadezhda von Meck
•
Patron of Tchaikovsky
The Enjoyment of Music 11th, Shorter Edition
27. Song in the Romantic Era
“Out of my great sorrows I make my little songs.”
—Heinrich Heine
The Enjoyment of Music 11th, Shorter Edition
27. Song in the Romantic Era
Types of Song Structure
•
Strophic form
Schumann: “Die Soldatenbraut”
•
Through-composed form
Schubert: “Gretchen am Spinnrade”
•
Modified strophic form
The Enjoyment of Music 11th, Shorter Edition
27. Song in the Romantic Era
The Lied
•
German art song
Lied, Lieder
•
German text
•
Voice and piano
Schubert, “Gretchen am Spinnrade”
Schumann, “Die Soldatenbraut”
The Enjoyment of Music 11th, Shorter Edition
27. Song in the Romantic Era
The Lied
Romantic composers of the genre:
– Franz Schubert
– Robert Schumann
Schumann: “Die Soldatenbraut”
– Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel
– Clara Schumann
– Johannes Brahms
The Enjoyment of Music 11th, Shorter Edition
27. Song in the Romantic Era
The Lied
•
Song cycle
•
Love and nature
•
Romantic poets: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe,
Heinrich Heine
•
Popularity of the piano
The Enjoyment of Music 11th, Shorter Edition
27. Song in the Romantic Era
Schubert and the Lied
•
Viennese composer
•
Early musical prowess
•
Socially shy
•
Gifted songwriter
•
Home and salon concerts
•
Regional fame
•
Death at an early age (31) from
syphilis
Schubert: “Gretchen am Spinnrade”
The Enjoyment of Music 11th, Shorter Edition
27. Song in the Romantic Era
Schubert and the Lied
•
Classical and Romantic traits
•
Chamber music is late example of
Viennese Classicism
•
Piano works exhibit a new lyricism
•
600-plus songs
Schubert: String Quartet in C, III
The Enjoyment of Music 11th, Shorter Edition
Schubert: Erlking (Erlkönig)
(Listening Guide)
•
Goethe
•
Piano establishes
atmosphere
•
Four characters: narrator,
father, son, Erlking
•
One singer
•
Through-composed
•
Obsessive triplets in piano
The Enjoyment of Music 11th, Shorter Edition
The Enjoyment of Music 11th, Shorter Edition
The Enjoyment of Music 11th, Shorter Edition
27. Song in the Romantic Era
Robert Schumann and the Song Cycle
“The singing voice is hardly
sufficient in itself; it cannot carry
the whole task of interpretation
un-aided. In addition to its overall
expression, the finer shadings of
the poem must be represented as
well —provided that the melody
does not suffer in the process.”
—Robert Schumann
The Enjoyment of Music 11th, Shorter Edition
27. Song in the Romantic Era
Robert Schumann and the Song Cycle
Robert Schumann (1810–1856)
•
German composer and critic
•
Neue Zeitschrift für Musik (The
New Journal of Music)
•
Clara Wieck
•  Married in 1840, against
father’s wishes
•  Clara as interpreter
•
Periods of depression
•  Final breakdown
•  Institutionalized
•
Died at 46
The Enjoyment of Music 11th, Shorter Edition
27. Song in the Romantic Era
Robert Schumann and the Song Cycle
•  Impassioned melody, novel
harmony, driving rhythms
•  Four symphonies
•  Literary meanings in music
•  Lieder, wrote several song cycles
Schumann: “Die Soldatenbraut”
The Enjoyment of Music 11th, Shorter Edition
Schumann: “In the lovely month of May,”
from A Poet’s Love (Dichterliebe)
(Listening Guide)
•  Song cycle, psychological progression
•  First song in cycle
•  Speaks of fragility of new love
•  Strophic form
The Enjoyment of Music 11th, Shorter Edition
The Enjoyment of Music 11th, Shorter Edition
28. Romantic Piano Music
“I have called my piano pieces
after the names of my favorite
haunts . . . they will form a
delightful souvenir, a kind of
second diary.”
—Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel
The Enjoyment of Music 11th, Shorter Edition
28. Romantic Piano Music
•  Piano: Home use,
favorite instrument of virtuosos
•  Technical improvements
•  Steinway
The Enjoyment of Music 11th, Shorter Edition
28. Romantic Piano Music
The Short Lyric Piano Piece
•
Instrumental
equivalent to the song
•  Prelude,
intermezzo,
impromptu
•  Mazurka,
polonaise,
waltz, scherzo
Chopin: Prelude in E, Op. 28, No. 4
Chopin: Mazurka, Op. 53, No. 3
The Enjoyment of Music 11th, Shorter Edition
28. Romantic Piano Music
The Short Lyric Piano Piece
•  Masters of the short lyric piano piece included the
following composers:
Schubert, Chopin, Liszt, Felix Mendelssohn,
Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, Robert and
Clara Schumann, and Brahms
•  Explored technical resources and capacity for
expression of the piano
•  Romantic ideal of “song without words”
The Enjoyment of Music 11th, Shorter Edition
Chopin and Liszt
• Two most prominent romantic-era
pianists and composers
• Chopin born in Warsaw, Poland,
1810
• Liszt born in Hungary, 1811
• Their personalities were polar
opposites
• Liszt loved playing to large
audiences
• Dramatized his playing –
• turned piano sideways so his hands
Frédéric Chopin, 1829
could be seen
• memorized his music
• Chopin didn’t like performing to
large audiences, preferred intimacy
of salon
Franz Liszt, 1858
28. Romantic Piano Music
Chopin and Piano Music
•
Frédéric François Chopin (1810–
1849)
•
French/Polish composer and pianist
•
Career in Paris
•
Close friends with leading composers,
artists, poets, writers
•  George Sand (Aurore
Dudevant)
•
Tuberculosis
•
Early death at age 39
The Enjoyment of Music 11th, Shorter Edition
28. Romantic Piano Music
Chopin and Piano Music
•  Centered on the piano
•  Smaller forms: nocturnes,
preludes, impromptus,
waltzes, mazurkas, études
•  Larger forms: ballades,
Chopin: Fantasie Impromptu
polonaises, fantasies,
sonatas, piano concertos
The Enjoyment of Music 11th, Shorter Edition
Mazurka in B-flat minor, Op. 24, No. 4
•  The mazurka originated in
Chopin’s home district:
Mazovia, Poland
•  Lively dance in triple meter
with accents on second or third
beat of measure
The Enjoyment of Music 11th, Shorter Edition
Horowitz plays Chopin
Mazurka Bb Minor #4
The Enjoyment of Music 11th, Shorter Edition
The Enjoyment of Music 11th, Shorter Edition
Franz Liszt
(1811 – 1886)
• Born in Hungary, 1811
• Moved to Paris in 1827
• 1830s, liason with Marie d’Agoult
(Daniel Stern):
• 3 children; daughter Cosima married
composer Richard Wagner
• In 1848, moved to Germany, assumed
position of music director at court in
Weimar
• 1861, moved to Rome to pursue
religious training, given title of abbé,
composed religious works
Portrait of Franz Liszt painted by Henri
Lehmann in 1839
• Died in 1886 at age 74
Liszt’s Music
• Piano music includes brilliant showpieces
requiring extensive virtuosity
• Transcendental Études
• Hungarian Rhapsodies
• Liebesträum (Love Dream)
• Works for piano and orchestra
• 2 concertos
• Hungarian Fantasia
• Totentanz (Dance of Death)
• Developed new genre called symphonic poem
or tone poem
• Single-movement work that tells a story
• Best-known is Les Préludes
Liszt at piano, based on an old photograph.
From Century Magazine, 1886
Lang Lang plays Liszt Hungarian Rhapsody no. 2
The Enjoyment of Music 11th, Shorter Edition
28. Romantic Piano Music
Fannie Mendelssohn Hensel and the Piano Miniature
•
Fannie Mendelssohn Hensel
(1805–1847)
•
Sister of famous conductor and
composer Felix Mendelssohn
•
Discouraged from pursuing a
career in music
•
Continued to perform at
Mendelssohn residence only.
Some works were published.
•
Died of stroke in 1847
The Enjoyment of Music 11th, Shorter Edition
28. Romantic Piano Music
Fannie Mendelssohn Hensel and the Piano Miniature
•
Primary output was vocal works
and piano music
•
Wrote several large-scale works,
including a piano trio and string
quartet.
•
Most compositions intended for
performance at the Mendelssohn
residence Sunday concerts
•
Use of contrapuntal procedures as
found in music of J. S. Bach
The Enjoyment of Music 11th, Shorter Edition
Fannie Mendelssohn Hensel
September At the River from The Year (Das Jahr)
•  The Year (Das Jahr) is a set of twelve
character pieces for piano.
•  Each miniature work is accompanied by a
poetic epigram and painting.
•  Cycle was never published in its entirety.
The Enjoyment of Music 11th, Shorter Edition