• Learned to play violin/piano from father and brother
• Beautiful soprano voice
• “learned everything from God”
• Composed variety of lieders, operas, symphonies, chamber music
• Suffered during late adulthood (syphilis)
• Buried next to Beethoven
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• Influenced by Mozart and Beethoven
• Blended classical and romantic styles
• He wrote more than 600 songs
• He became popular after death
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• Known as the Prince of Song.
• He became popular after his death.
• In 1897 there was a festival in his honor.
• He wrote a symphony called “Great”
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• Prominent composer of Romantic Era
• 1810-1856
• Known for
– Symphonies
– Chamber music
– Piano music
– Lieder
• Looked up to
– Mozart
– Beethoven
– Chopin
– Looked down upon Lizst, Wagner
• Protégé
– Johannes Brahms
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• Music
– Composer of German Lieder
– Embodied German Romanticism
– Employed themes of love
– Most famous song cycle- A poet’s love
• Life
– Married Clara Weick
– Fell into depression and madness
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• Large-scale works:
– Piano Trio
– String quartet
– Cantatas
– An oratorio
• Highly lyrical style
– Wide range of tonal, harmonic, and formal variety
• Loved to write about nature
– Drawn to Joseph von Eichendorff, poet
– “Mountain Yearning” based off of one of his folk-inspired poems
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• Life Span: 1805-1847
• Actively discouraged from pursuing music as a career because of her gender
• Brother and Father cautioned her to be the traditional housewife
• Talents were recognized by some like the poet Goethe
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• Considered the father of modern music
• Had a unique style that makes his music recognizable by many
• Was influenced by Mozart and
Bach the most
• He wrote upwards of 200 pieces, almost exclusively for piano
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• Educated at the Conservatory of Warsaw
• At the age of 21, Chopin moved to Paris, where he spent the rest of his life
• Many musicians and literary figures influenced
Chopin:
– German poet Heinrich Heine
– The painter Eugene Delacroix
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• Thematic Transformation
-shift of emotions
-Romantic  Tension  Conflict  Triumph
-Similar to the Concerto structure
• Created Lyrical Expression
– Freedom of expression in music
• Gnomenreigen and the Little Bell Etude
– Violin Concerto no. 2 B Minor by Paganini
– Finger octaves
– Like Gnomes dancing
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• Attached to French Romanticism
• Director and grand conductor of the opera house during Weimar Period
– Utilized advantage to sway music preferences of the future
• Endorsed music of Wagner , Berlioz, and Chopin
• Noted as teacher, composer, virtuoso pianist
– New customary piano performance posture and technique
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Clara Schumann (1819-1896)
• One of the most distinguished musicians of the 19 th century despite her gender.
• Lifelong friend of Johannes Brahms.
• Wife of Robert Schumann.
• Her father was angered by her marrying Robert Schumann.
• 2 large scale works (Piano Concerto and a trio for Pianos and Strings)
• Was more famous than her husband.
• Started studying piano at the age of 5.
• 1 st concert appearance was in Leipzig at the age of 9.
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Musical Career:
* Outstanding pianist
* Composer
* Leading interpreter of the music of
- Brahms
- Chopin
- Robert Schumann (her husband)
Works = technically difficult & deeply introspective
Known for her following works:
* songs
* piano music
* chamber music
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• He was appointed conductor at the London Drury Lane theatre
• While receiving attention from all leading musical reference books, he was still not generally accepted as being one of the great composers
• Berlioz was not a child prodigy, unlike some other famous composers of the time
• He was not formally trained
• In 1864 Berlioz was made Officier de la Légion d'honneur
• he began studying music at age 12, when he began writing small compositions and arrangements
• Berlioz's work as a conductor was highly influential
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• Best known as a composer, but also a writer.
• His Works (Composition) :
– The Trojans (opera)
– The Childhood of Christ (oratorio)
– Symphonie Fantastique
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• Born in Eastern Bohemia in the Czech
Republic
• Learned violin by his father
• Went to school in Prague when he was 15
• joined the nationalist uprising in 1848
• Conducted and wrote 8 operas for the national theater in Prague
• Most famous piece the Moldau is about the bohemian river in his homeland
• 1st bohemian to achieve international fame
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• Others wrote the symphonic poems and operas celebrating the exploits of a national hero, historic events of the scenic beauty of their county
• Some based music on the songs and dances
• Many wrote dramatic works based on the folklore or peasant life
• Nationalism today: Beauty and the Beast
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Johannes Brahms (1833- 1897)
Continued classical traditions (especially Beethoven’s)
Great notable works:
- 4 Symphonies (including the Third).
- Solo piano/chamber music.
- Leider.
Created romantic art in purest classical form.
Unique aspect: dances made for his rhapsodies/ballades.
The German Requiem was widely recognized.
-Preached a more hopeful and inevitable way to death.
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Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
• First compositions greatly impressed Joseph Joachim, leading violinist of the day
• Robert and Clara Schumann took
Brahms into their home
• Robert Schumann lingered for two years while Brahms began to fall in love with Clara
• Brahms never got married in his lifetime
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Johannes Brahms
• Its aim was to console the living and lead them to a serene acceptance of death as an inevitable part of life
• Although the idea of the Lord is the source of the comfort, the sympathetic humanism persists through the work.
• Arranged in seven movements
• Loss of mother and Schumann motivated him to write the German Requiem
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• Czech Republic origin
• Late Romantic Era
• Family’s low income was an obstacle in musical career
• Teaching in America
- Stressed native land appreciation
- Native American and African American influence
• Homesick in America
- Persuaded to stay
-Later returned to Bohemia
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• Preserved classical Tradition
• Caused revival of Bach
• Founded Leipzig Conservatory of Music
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– 1867-1944
• Henniker, New Hampshire
– Child of wealthy industrialist, Charles Abbott Cheney
– Was a child prodigy
• Could create counter melodies to songs her mom would sign to her
– She married Henry Beach, a physician and amateur singer
• Who asked her to focus on composition
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• The united states was dominated by European musical styles in the 19 th century
• Women in the romantic era were discouraged from perusing careers as composers
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• A play writer
• Wrote Rigoletto
• Setting Of Rigoletto:
 Renaissance era
 1850- 1851
 North Italy
 small town - Mantua.
 Exact location is the ducal court.
Act II
– Rigoletto warns Gilda(his daughter) to stay at home.
• She has already fell in love with the Duke
– The Duke’s new love vanished.
• Who is Rigoletto’s daughter, Gilda.
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• Born in a small town in northern Italy
• Went to Milan for two years
– Verdi returned to Busseto to take a position as an organist
• 3 years later, Verdi returned to Milan with the manuscript of an opera
– The opera’s success brought him three other commissions
• Fell in love with one of his benefactor’s daughter
• In 1893- almost 80 years old astonished the world with Falstaff
• Interesting facts:
– Wrote 28 operas
– Died at 87
– Left most of his fortune to a home for aged musicians that he had founded (still operating today)
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• Verdi’s music stands as the epitome of
Romantic drama and passion
• Verdi thought melody was very important
• Macbeth is the most important of Verdi’s fifteen early operas
• The operas of the middle period show
Verdi writing on a more ambitious scale
– Included elements from the French
Grand Operas
• His final operas were described as the best of Italian lyric tragedies in 100 years
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• Wagner created endless melody to keep emotions heightened throughout his pieces
• Wagner made the orchestras larger to be able to better play the complex parts of his pieces
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• A revolution broke out in Dresden in 1849.
• Wagner rebelled in many of the revolutions
• The Wagner gospel spread across Europe as a new art-religion
• THE RING CIRCLE was presented to worshipful audiences at the first festival
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•
Won the highest award possible, the Prix de Rome* in 1857
•
Three months after the premiere of the opera
Bizet died of a heart attack at the age of 37
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Bizets famous opera “Carmen”
• Four acts
• First performed in Paris
• Tells the story of the downfall of Don José,
• Before run concluded, Bizet died suddenly, and thus knew nothing of the opera's later celebrity
• Continues to be one of the most frequently performed operas
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• This piece was set in Nagasaki, Japan
• Contains 3 acts
– 1 st : Introduction, soft instruments
– 2 nd : More drama, but mellow at the same time
– 3 rd : Climax, Deeper, more suspenseful instruments
• It ends when the man’s ex-wife from Japan kills herself with a knife (In the 3 rd Act)
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• Works became less frequent as he got older
• Favorite theme=Love
• Known for:
– Madame Butterfly
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1840 - 1893 o Born in Russia o As a child, took piano lessons o Mother passed away from cholera when he was young
 Traumatized him, struggled with it for the rest of his life
 Was very devoted to her o Married twice
 Both marriages unsuccessful
 Had multiple affairs and known for homosexuality scandal o Died of cholera
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•
Composed during the romantic Period
•
Russian Heritage had an influence on his music
•
Wrote:
–
Overtures
–
Symphonies
–
Ballets
–
Operas
–
Sonatas (occasionally)
•
Music consisted of
–
European Harmonic Regression
–
Expressive melodies
–
Structured meters
–
Repetition
–
Heavy orchestration
• One of Tchaikovsky’s major works is the
Romeo and Juliet overture that contains the well known “love theme.”
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