The World of Music
7th edition
Part 4
Listening to Western Classical Music
Chapter 12: Music of the Romantic Period
(Nineteenth Century)
Attributes of the Romantic
Period
• Revolution(s)
–
–
(French Revolution = 1789-1799)
Latin American separations = 1810+)
• Capitalism
– Because of the end of the
Aristocracies
• Emotion
– Especially in Art + Music
• Imagination
• A Desire to be Different
• Nationalism
– Individual national sovereignty
and the distinctions between
countries and their art &
music
Changes in Musical Life
• Patronage System in Decline
– Accelerated due the rise of capitalism
– Composers must promote themselves and their music
– Creates need for:
• Concert Managers (a.k.a. Impresarios)
• Music Publishers
• Music Critics
• Virtuosi (plural of Virtuoso) become Celebrities
– Most Music is too difficult for Amateurs
– Creates need for Teachers
• Virtuoso = A person who excels in their chosen art and musical form.
They can be performers, conductors, or composers.
Absolute and Program Music
• Absolute
– Classical in form
• Retains Classical formats
but experimented with
different sounds and
combinations of
instruments
– Music for its own Sake
– No Intended Imagery
– Characteristic of:
• Sonata
• Symphony
• Concerto
• Program
– Composers went to greater
lengths than in the
Classical period to express
these feelings, etc. without
words.
– Depicts:
•
•
•
•
Moods
Images
Stories
Characters
– Reflects Interest in Poetry
and Unity in words and
music
– Became the
prevailing/favored style
Nationalistic Music
• Is definable by national, regional, or geographic
characteristics
–
–
–
–
Uses Folk music melodies
Used in Folk/Cultural traditions
Parodies of Historical events, tales, or legends of a Nation
Patriotic themes and glorification of a nation and its people
• Emerged as a reaction to the dominance of German
Romanticism in Europe – typically Eastern European in
location
• Major Composers include:
– Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov (Russian)
– Antonin Dvorak (Czechoslovakia – Currently the Czech Republic
and Slovakia (1993))
– Bedrich Smetana (Czech as well)
Characteristics of Romantic
Music
• Mostly Programmatic
– But composers also wrote Absolute music
• Lyrical, Singable Melodies
– Along with Folk melodies or melodies that sounded Folk-like
• Mainly Homophonic
• An increase in Chromaticism and Dissonance
– This increased musical tension and thus the perceived emotion
in the music
• Emotional
– Strong contrasts
– Unexpected chords and chordal progressions
– Long buildups of emotions and their release of tensions
Characteristics of Romantic Music
Continued
• Complex Rhythms
–
–
–
–
–
Syncopated
Polyrhythms
Less regular
More complex
Varied Tempos (Tempi) and varied the tempo in the music
• Rubato, Accelerando, Ritardando
• Bigger and varied Orchestras
– Due to the Industrial Revolution
•
•
•
•
•
•
Tuba
Wagner Tuba / Euphonium
Adolph Sax and the Saxophone
Bass Clarinet
Contra-bassoon
Percussion beyond the Crash Cymbal, Tympani, Glockenspiel, Snare and
Bass Drums of the Classical period
Forms of the Romantic Period
•
Sonata Form common, but less strict and often expanded in length, and
developmentation (sp?)
– Vague cadences to promote forward motion and continuation
•
Symphonic Poem
– One movement (Typically with contrasting moods/sections)
– Programmatic
•
Stage Forms
– Overture (used to precede a Ballet or Opera)
– Prelude (preceded another work, but was expended in the Romantic Period into
a stand alone work)
– Suite (Individual sections plucked from an Opera or Ballet and combined and
then combined into one work)
– Incidental Music (typically music from Opera or Ballet, but instead of the actual
songs/features, these are the in between music and then combined into one
work)
•
Many Different Chamber Groups other than the String Quartet and Piano
Trios
– Mainly the WW Quintet (Fl, Ob, Cl, Hn, and Bsn) and String sextet (typically 2
violins, 2 violas, and 2 Celli (Cello plural))
Opera in the Romantic Period
•
Grand Opera
–
–
–
–
•
Comic Opera (Opera Comique) and Operettas
–
–
–
–
–
•
Large Number of singers
Elaborate Scenery and Stage craft
Serious and Complex plots
Visual Diversions including Ballet
Smaller
Lighter
Less Complex
Often Satirical of common situations
Spoken dialoque
Vocal Parts
–
–
Chorus = Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass (Can be in multiple parts e.g. Soprano 1 and 2, Alto 1 & 2, etc)
Soloists
•
•
•
Composers
–
–
–
–
–
•
Women: Coloratura, Lyric, or Dramatic Sopranos and Contraltos
Men: Dramatic, or Lyric Tenors, Baritones, and Basso Profundos (Castrati are no longer appropriate)
Verdi (Italian)
Wagner (German)
Rossini (Italian)
Puccini (Italian)
Richard Strauss (German)
Romantic Operas Still Performed Today throughout the world on professional, collegiate, and
semi-professional / amatuer stages.
Ballet
• Originally Part of
Opera
• Features Dancing
– Solo
– Ensemble
• Famous Tchaikovsky
Ballets
– Sleeping Beauty
– Swan Lake
– The Nutcracker
Keyboard Music
• New Miniature Forms
– Character Pieces
– Solo (Voice) Song with
Piano
• Expressive
• Lyrical and Dramatic
• Technically
Demanding
• Chopin Miniature
Forms
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Impromptu
Nocturne
Mazurka
Polonaise
Prelude
Waltz
Étude
Songs
• Solo Voice with Piano
– All categories of Voice (Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass)
• Usually Short
• Big and Best Composer = Franz Schubert
– Wrote over 600 Songs (Lied “Leed” singular or Lieder “Leeder”
plural)
– Frequently used words of German Poets (ex. Goethe)
• Highly Expressive
• Often Strophic (Same Music, Different Verses)
– But can be symbolic of the mood portrayed and the music can
change
• All languages, not just Italian or German
Female Composers of the day
• Clara Schumann
– Married Robert Schumann
– Pianist, Composer, Teacher
– Mostly Songs, and Piano music, but also
Choral, chamber music and 1 Piano Concerto
• Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel
– Felix’s Sister
– Pianist, Composer
– Mostly Songs and Piano works
Johannes Brahms (1833 –
1897)
•
•
•
German, moved to Austria
Traditionalist in contrast to musical
revolutionaries like Wagner and the
German School
Traits of his Music
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Passionate
Introspective
Rich/Dark
Lyrical
Complex Rhythms
Intricate Polyphony
Mostly Absolute
•
Output
–
–
–
–
–
4 Symphonies
1 Violin Concerto
2 Piano Concertos
Chamber Music
Sonatas
•
•
•
•
–
Piano
Cello
Violin
Clarinet
German Requiem (Ein deutsches
Requiem )
•
•
Titled for the language used instead of
the intended audience at the time
The work emphasizes comforting the
living, beginning with the text "Blessed
are they that mourn: for they shall be
comforted." A comparable sacred,
humanist worldview persists through the
work. A notable omission of Christian
dogmas is often a critical remark
Frédéric Chopin (1810 – 1849)
• Polish born and educated
• Professional life in Paris
(France)
• Pianist
– Preferred smaller
audiences of the
Aristocracy and monetarily
gifted folks
• Unique Compositional
Style
– Elaborate Decorative
Melodies
– Colorful, Dissonant
Harmonies
– Extreme Rubato
• Output
– Many Miniatures
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Impromptu
Nocturne
Mazurka
Polonaise
Prelude
Waltz
Étude
– 3 Piano Sonatas
– 2 Piano Concertos
Felix Mendelssohn (1809 –
1847)
• German
• Wealthy Family
– Silver Spoon – Had his
own Orchestra to perform
his works as they are
composed
• Widely Traveled
• Traditional, Classical
Style - In form and
structure
• Romantic in Emotional
Expression in melodic
material
• Well-Known Pieces
–
–
–
–
–
–
“Scotch” Symphony
“Italian” Symphony
Elijah Oratorio
Violin Concerto in E Minor
Hebrides Overture
Midsummer Night’s Dream
Incidental Music
Franz Schubert (1797 – 1828)
•
Prolific Song Composer
– 143 works before his 19th birthday,
wrote 179 works the next year
•
Struggled with poverty and illness
– Had no major, continuous patron
or teaching/performing
position/job
•
Style
–
–
–
–
•
Great variety
Lyrical melodies
Colorful harmonies
Great sensitivity to poetic texts
Another child prodigy that died
early in life. What if…
•
Output
– 600 + Lieder
• Wide range of feelings
– The Erlking
– Who is Sylvia
– 2 Song Cycles
• A song cycle is a set of songs with
a unifying factor or theme
– 9 Symphonies
• Another example of the curse of
#9
– 22 Piano Sonatas
– Piano Miniatures
– Chamber Pieces
• Trout piano quintet
– Choral Works
• Mass in G (Major)
Pyotr I’yich Tchaikovsky (1840 – 1893)
aka Peter Ilyich Tchaikowski
•
Russian Nationalist
– Used his position at the St.
Petersburg Conservatory to
study the Western Style to apply
to Russian Musical concepts
and Melodic material
•
Influences
– Russian Folk Songs
– Italian Opera
– French Ballet
– German Symphonies/Songs
•
Style
– Tuneful
– Accessible
– Emotional
• Output
– 6 Symphonies
– Concertos
• Violin
• Piano
– Ballets (choreographed
by others than
Tchaikovsky)
•
•
•
•
Swan Lake
Sleeping Beauty
The Nutcracker
Suites from the above
Ballets are popular
Concert music today
Guiseppe Verdi (1813 – 1901)
•
•
•
Italian
Steady Job AND a wealthy
Patron of his work (unusual for
the time)
Known for Opera
– Unhappy
– Tragic Endings
– Use Heroes and Villians to
portray the plot and characters
– Full of conflict and tension
•
•
Invited to open Carnegie Hall in
1891
Style
–
–
–
–
Conventional Harmonies
Predictable Rhythms
Superb Melodies
Theatrical
– Representative Works
other than Opera
• Choral
– Te Deum
– Requiem
Verdi continued…
•
Representative Operatic Works
– Rigoletto
• In the 1550s, Mantua, the Duke, a celebrated ladies man, seduces Gilda, the beautiful daughter of his
sharp-tongued jester, Rigoletto. Vowing revenge, her furious father hires Sparafucile, a notorious
assassin, to avenge his family’s honor - a decision that ends in tragedy.
– La Traviata
• A story of doomed love in 1840s Paris. Violetta, who is the mistress of a wealthy baron, hosts a lavish
party to celebrate her improved health after a bout with tuberculosis. There she meets Alfredo and
becomes smitten with him as he, she, and the guests join in the famous "Drinking Song." Violetta
leaves the baron, and she and Alfredo move into a secluded country villa together, where they live
happily for a while. But unknown to Alfredo, his father convinces Violetta that continuing her
relationship with Alfredo will prevent Alfredo's sister from making a good marriage. With great sadness,
Violetta decides that she must not only break permanently with Alfredo, she must keep him at a
distance by returning to the baron. Misunderstanding her motives, Alfredo goes into a jealous rage that
leads to tragic consequences
– Aida
• Aida, an Ethiopian princess, is captured and brought into slavery in Egypt. A military commander,
Radames, struggles to choose between his love for her and his loyalty to the Pharaoh. To complicate
the story further, Radames is loved by the Pharaoh's daughter Amneris, although he does not return
her feelings.
– La Forza del Destino
• An opera that can leave even diehard Verdi lovers shaking their heads. Its story can be as
confounding as the music is compelling, with a plot in which a single, unfortunate happenstance drives
characters to lifetimes of incomprehensible behavior. There's one character who travels the world,
braving war and desolation, in an obsessive quest to murder his own sister.
*The above program synopsis’s are not mine, but borrowed from many sources
Richard Wagner (1813 – 1883)
•
•
•
German
Self taught
Revolutionary
–
•
–
•
Symphonic
Strong Brass
Leitmotiv
Colorful
Wrote own Libretti
Music Dramas
–
Music
Drama
Poetry
Stagecraft
•
–
Style
–
–
–
–
–
Had to flee Germany because of his
participation and support of the uprising
and subsequent events
His Music Drama (Operas) had equal
portions of:
–
–
–
–
•
The Ring of the Nibelung
•
–
–
Bayreuth was created just for Wagner’s
opera’s
His work is uses Dissonances,
Chromaticism, vague cadences, and
unresolved tensions
Powerful Brass writing (Ride of the
Valkyries – Elmer Fudd’s “Kill da
Wabbit”)
Took 20 years to complete and is
designed to be performed over 4
consecutive evenings
–
–
–
Das Rhinegold
Die Walkure
» Kill da Wabbit!
Siegfried
Gotterdammerung
» Swimming Rhinemaidens
Tristan and Isolde
•
Recenty (2006) a non-operatic movie
Other Romantic Composers
•
–
–
•
Norway
•
Pianist
–
•
Another curse of the 9th (omitted)
Giacomo Puccini
–
–
•
850 Choir + 171 Inst.
Italy
Opera
Sergei Rachmaninoff
–
–
–
Russian, emigrated to US due to Russian
Revolution
Pianist and wrote for the Piano as a Soloist
with Orchestra or as a Solo/Chamber work
Big Hands person
Czechoslovakia
•
Symphony of 1000 (No. 8)
–
German
Mostly piano
Bedrˇich Smetana
–
Austria
•
•
•
Gustav Mahler
Italian
Opera (Serious and Comic – Barber of Seville
(Bugs) and William Tell (Lone Ranger theme))
Robert Schumann
–
–
Hungary
Russian
Part of the “Mighty Five” – Nationalistic writing
Gioachino Rossini
–
–
•
Franz Liszt
–
•
•
Czechoslovakia
Edvard Grieg
–
•
Symphony Fantastique (Programatic)
Antonin Dvor˘ák
Nicolay Rimsky-Korsakov
–
–
France
•
•
•
Hector Berlioz
•
Folk / Nationalistic flavors
Richard Strauss
–
German
•
–
–
Operas and Tone Poems (Also Sprach
Zarathustra - 2001-Space Odyssey)
Not related to the Austrian Composer of
Waltzes, Johann Strauss
Was R. Strauss a Nazi?? (1864–1949)