Chapter 2.
Romantic Composers and
Their Public
More freelancing than previous eras
Outside aristocratic or church patronage
Inspired by Beethoven
Composed to fill an “inner need”
rather than fulfill a commission
Partly due to economics
French Revolution, Napoleonic wars left
aristocrats unable to afford to maintain
private music endeavors
Merging of many tiny states into fewer,
larger ones, left many musicians
unemployed without courts
Industrial Revolution – enlarged
middle class
Composers wrote even more for them
Romantic Era a time of many public
subscription-based concerts opening
London Philharmonic Society (1813)
New York Philharmonic (1842)
Many conservatories opened in
Europe and United States
Public captivated more than ever by
virtuosity
Best known Romantic virtuosos:
Pianist Franz Liszt
Violinist Niccolò Paganini
Private music making more popular
than ever – nearly every home had a
piano
High demand for solo piano repertoire
Even operas and orchestral works
arranged for piano
Few Romantic composers were able
to support themselves through
composition alone
Other income: lessons - especially to the
wealthy, who could be overcharged
(Chopin taught wealthy young women);
music criticism; conducting
III. The Art Song
The Art Song
Solo voice + piano
Accompaniment is an integral part of
the composer’s concept—serves as
interpretive partner to the voice
Poetry and music are intimately fused
Often has piano introduction and
ending (called postlude)
The Art Song, cont…
One of two forms:
Strophic form: repeating same music for
each stanza
Through-composed: new music for each
stanza
Song Cycle – romantic art songs
grouped in a set
Unified by a story line that runs through
the poems or by musical ideas linking
the songs
IV. FRANZ SCHUBERT
Franz Schubert
1797-1828
Born in Vienna, musically gifted at
young age
Earliest master of romantic art song
First Viennese composer whose
income came entirely from
composition
Taught at the school where his father
was schoolmaster until age 21
Franz Schubert, cont…
Composed rapidly, turned out music
at incredible speeds
Lived “Bohemian” lifestyle – living for
one’s art rather than material goods
Age 25: contracted venereal disease
Became moody and despaired
Could not get jobs later in life
Died of syphilis at 31, one year after
Beethoven’s funeral
Wrote over 600 songs, symphonies,
string quartets, chamber music,
sonatas, piano pieces for two and four
hands, masses, operatic
compositions
Songs vary in mood and types
LISTENING TO SCHUBERT
Der Erlkönig (1815)
Lyrics
Poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
4 Characters
Narrator
Sick son
Father
Elf King
The Story
Father rushing his sick son home through the
woods at night
The deliriously sick son keeps insisting that the Elf
King, the king of the elves, who symbolizes death,
is trying to steal him away
Father tries to comfort son and explains things
away as being “the fog” or “the trees”
Father gets son home to find that his son is dead
The Accompaniment
Through-composed: different music for
each verse, no repeated stanzas
text painting
Piano plays rapid triplets to simulate horse
galloping until the very end when father and son
arrive home
The Accompaniment
More text painting
The Vocals
4 Characters sung by one person
Narrator sung in middle range
The Vocals
Father sung in low range
Low register contrasts with the highpitched outcries of the child, as
reassurance
The Vocals
Son sung in high range
Each of the son’s pleas of “My father, my
father!” grows louder and higher as he
panics
The Vocals
Erlkönig (Elf King) moves up and down
Erlkönig sung pianissimo (very quiet) to
seem sneaky and persuasive
The Accompaniment
Piano stops before the final line, symbolizing
the horse’s gallop coming to a halt, and to allow
a heartbreaking recitative as the narrator tells
us, “In his arms the child was dead!”
The Performance
Challenging for piano
Rapid hand movement throughout song
Challenging for singer
Portraying characters
Books: pg. 287
“The Erlking” by Albert Sterner, 1910
LISTENING TO SCHUBERT
Die Forelle (The Trout; 1817)
Very famous
Nature, folk-like simpicity
A trout swims merrily in a brook before
being caught by a clever fisherman
Modified strophic form
A (stanza 1)
A (stanza 2)
BA’ (stanza 3)
Piano intro that reappears as an
interlude after the first and second
stanzas and postlude after third
stanza
First two stanzas, which portray the
trout swimming happily, are the same
lighthearted melody (A).
Piano accompaniment includes short,
ascending passages to depict the
trout’s leaps and twists
Third stanza is more dramatic, minor,
agitated, depicting the trout being
caught.
Books: pg. 290
LISTENING TO SCHUBERT
Piano Quintet in A Major (Trout; 1819),
Fourth Mvmt
Commissioned by a cellist who admired
Die Forelle and asked Schubert to
write variations on it
Variations found in 4th and 5th mvmts
Scored for piano, violin, viola, cello,
double bass
V. ROBERT SCHUMANN
Born in Zwickau, Germany
Son of bookseller, loved literature
Wrote poetry, composed, decent
pianist
Studied law in Leipzig
Rarely attended lectures and devoted
time to literature and music
Age 20 – tried to become piano
virtuoso
Developed finger pains/problems
Used mechanical device to
stretch/strengthen fingers
Didn’t work – one finger permanently
crippled
Still composed many piano works
Very personal, autobiographical
Multiple Personality Disorder
“Florestan” and “Eusebius”
Often signed his articles written for the
New Journal of Music with these names
Met his piano teacher’s daughter and
prize pupil, Clara Wieck, when he was
18 and she was a 9-year-old piano
prodigy
Got engaged when she was 17,
despite her father’s wishes
Happy marriage, 8 children
Physical and mental health
deteriorated
1854: tried to commit suicide, committed
himself to an asylum where he died 2
years later
Schumann’s Music
Wrote art songs, piano music,
symphonies, chamber music
Much of it organized into cycles or
sets
Full of extramusical references –
thought of music in emotional, literary,
and autobiographical terms
LISTENING TO SCHUMANN
Carnaval (1834-1835)
Cycle of 21 brief pieces with titles
evoking a festive masked ball
Varied characters, moods, activities
He called it a “musical picture gallery”
Includes
Sketches of fellow musicians
Young women in his life at the time
Stock characters from commedia
dell’arte
Self-portraits representing the
introverted and outgoing sides of his
own personality (Florestan and
Eusebius)
Books pg. 294
VI. CLARA WIECK
SCHUMANN
Concert Pianist, premiered many of
her husband’s works and those of
Brahms.
Daughter of well known musicians
and teachers
Married day before 21st birthday
Married for 14 years
Considered herself primarily a
performer
Wrote art songs, lyrical and virtuoso
piano pieces
LISTENING TO CLARA
SCHUMANN
Romance in G Minor for Violin and
Piano, Op. 22, No. 2 (1853)
Dedicated to a friend of hers who
played them for his employer: King
George V of Germany, who loved
them
The term “romance” was often used
for short, lyrical pieces for piano or
solo instrument with piano
accompaniment.
Displays her gifts as a melodist.
Books pg. 298