Romantic Era 1820-1900

Characteristics of Romantic Music Individuality of style Self-expression important People can distinguish composers easily Expressive aims and subjects Love glorified Fascination with fantastic and diabolical Nature important influence

Characteristics of Romantic Music – Cont’d Nationalism in Nineteenth-Century music Nationalism and exoticism Nationalism: music created with specific national identity Used folk songs, dances, legends, history of homeland Exoticism: use of colorful materials from foreign countries Carmen, Madame Jeffery Li Remote, picturesque, mysterious

Characteristics of Romantic Music – Cont’d Program music Instrumental music associated with story, poem, idea Accompanied with an explanation in a program “Union of the arts”

Characteristics of Romantic Music – Cont’d Expressive tone color Timbre really important Orchestra could have 100 musicians Brass, woodwind, percussion had more active role Mahler used 25 brass instruments in 2nd symphony Contrabassoon, bass clarinet, English horn, piccolo added to woodwind section New sounds drawn from old instruments Low-range flutes Pizzicato Piano made better, so better tone; damper pedal added

Characteristics of Romantic Music – Cont’d Colorful harmony New chords Chromatic harmony Dissonance more acceptable Wide variety of keys, rapid modulation Tonic less clear

Characteristics of Romantic Music – Cont’d Expanded range of dynamics, pitch, and tempo ffff, pppp used Frequent crescendos and decrescendos Range of pitch expanded with piccolo, contrabassoon Accelerando, ritardando, rubato  

Characteristics of Romantic Music – Cont’d Form: miniature and monumental Short piano pieces for the home by Schubert and Chopin Several-hour Berlioz and Wagner pieces Symphonies, sonatas, string quartets, concertos, operas, choral works still produced individual movements longer than in classical Themes quoted in different movements to unify “Thematic transformation” Transitional passages between movements

A Comparison of Classical and Romantic Styles Composers Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Chopin, Liszt, Berlioz, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Verdi, Wagner Melody Symmetrical melody in balanced phrases and cadences Diatonic Narrow leaps Expansive, singing melodies; wide ranging; more varied, with chromatic inflections Rhythm Clear rhythmically, with regularly recurring accents Dance rhythms favored Rhythmic diversity and elasticity Rubato Harmony Diatonic harmony Tonic-dominant relationships Increasing chromaticism Expanded concepts of tonality Texture Homophonic textures Homophony, turning to increased polyphony in later years of era Instrumental Genres Symphony, solo concerto, solo sonata, string quartet Same Adding one-movement symphonic poem, solo piano works Vocal Genres Opera, Mass, solo song Adding works for solo voice and piano/orchestra Form Ternary form predominant Sonata-allegro form Absolute forms preferred Expansion of forms Continuous forms Programmatic forms Audience Secular music predominant Aristocratic audience Middle-class audience Dynamics Continuously changing dynamics Crescendo and decrescendo Widely ranging dynamics Timbre Changing tone colors between sections of works Continual change and blend of tone colors Experiments with new instruments and unusual ranges Performing Forces String orchestra with woodwinds and brass 30-40 member orchestra Rise of piano to prominence Introductions of new instruments (tuba, valved brass, harp, piccolo) Much larger orchestras Piano predominant as solo instrument Virtuosity Improvisation largely limited to cadenzas in concertos Increased virtuosity Composers specified more in scores Expression Emotional restraint and balance Emotions, mood emphasized Interest in the bizarre and macabre

The Art Song The Lied (Lieder = plural) is a German-texted solo vocal song with piano accompaniment. Influenced by Romantic lyric poetry Song Cycle Groups of Lieder that were unified by a narrative thread or theme.

Strophic form The same melody is repeated with every stanza Through-composed form Proceeds from beginning to end without repetitions of whole sections – the music follows the story line. Modified strophic form The same melody may be repeated for two or three stanzas, with new material introduce when the poem requires it

Lied Fisherman tries to catch a trout from a stream Schubert’s The Trout Lied Fisherman tries to catch a trout from a stream

Schubert’s Trout Quintet 4th Movement Me Me Ha Me Fo Sty Co Schubert’s Trout Quintet 4th Movement

Erlking: Through-composed Lied Franz Schubert Erlking: Through-composed Lied Robert Schumann “In the lovely month of May” from A Poet’s Love (Dichterliebe), No. 1: a Lied from a song cycle

and the modern piano style Frederic Chopin The Piano – and the modern piano style Frederic Chopin His entire creative life revolved around the piano. His style was his own Tempo rubato – borrowed time Polonaise in A major, Op. 40, No. 1 (Military) Prelude in E minor, Op. 28, No. 4

Franz Liszt Symphonic poem – a one movement orchestral work with a literary or pictorial program. Thematic transformation - Based his music on the technique of thematic transformation by varying the melodic outline, harmony or rhythm of a theme. The Little Bell (La campanella)

Clara Wieck Schumann a German musician, one of the leading pianists of the Romantic era, as well as a composer, and wife of composer Robert Schumann. Nocturne, from Music for an Evening Entertainment (Soirees musicales), Op. 6

Romantic Program Music Program Music – instrumental music with a literary or pictorial association supplied by the composer 4 Types concert overture incidental music (to a play) program symphony (a multi-movement work) symphonic poem/tone poem (a one-movement work) Absolute Music – musical patterns that have no literary or pictorial meanings

Berlioz and the Program Symphony Symphonie fantastique Program symphony – 5 movements A lovesick musician in an opium trance is haunted by a vision of his beloved, which becomes an idée fixe. The symphony’s recurrent theme, called an idée fixe (fixed idea), symbolizes the beloved.

Symphonie fantastique Reveries, Passions – The musician remembers the yearning he knew before meeting his beloved. Then the volcanic love with which she inspired him. A Ball – At a ball he glimpses the loved one again. Scene in the Fields – In the country he hears two shepherds piping. She appears again. March to the Scaffold – He dreams he has killed his beloved, that he has been condemned to die and is being led to the scaffold Dream of a Witches’ Sabbath – He is surrounded by spirits who have gathered for his funeral. She comes to the funeral.

Symphonie fantastique 4th movement – March to the Scaffold Allegretto Duple meter Minor Two themes 0:00 – opening motive (rhythm of theme B) 0:24 – theme A, downward minor scale 1:31 – theme B – march tune 1:56 – development theme B in brass theme A soft with pizz strings theme B brass theme A pizz strings, then brass 3:02 – Theme A full orch, then inverted 4:05 – Idée fixe in clarinet (a last thought of love) followed by a loud chord (the fall of the blade)

Symphonie fantastique 5th movement – Dream of a Witches’ Sabbath 0:00 – Larghetto, chromatic scales in strings 1:27 – Allegro, fixed idea in clarinet w/ trills and grace notes 1:35 – Orchestra fortissimo = howls of joy at beloved’s arrival 1:46 – fixed idea continues in woodwinds 2:53 – Bells toll for the dead 3:19 – Chant tune Dies irae in bassoons and tubas, then twice as fast in brass 3:49 – Altered Dies irae in strings 5:08 – “Dance of the Witches” (Rounde du Sabbat”) beings in low strings, fugal setting 7:56 – “The dance and the Dies irae combined”

Musical Nationalism Political conditions encouraged nationalism The pride of the conquering nations The struggle of the conquered nations. In music, nationalism took many forms: Use of folklore Works written to celebrate heroes Works written to celebrate events Works written about places

A Czech Nationalist: Bedrich Smetana (Czech Republic was called Bohemia) The Moldau Symphonic poem, from cycle My Country Allegro Program: Scenes along the river Moldau in Bohemia

Other Nationalists Czech – Dvorak, Smetana England – Elgar, Ralph Vaughan Williams Scandinavia – Grieg, Sibelius Russia – Borodin, Musorgsky, Korsakov, Tchaikovsky Spain – Albeniz, de Falla

The Romantic Symphony Took on new proportions Number of movements and tempo scheme not religiously followed. Beethoven Pastoral Symphony = 5 mvmts Tchaikovsky Pathetique Symphony ended with slow mvmt.

A Typical Romantic Symphony Movement Form Tempo 1st Mvmt Sonata-allegro form - home key slow intro (optional) Exposition - theme 1 (home key) rhythmic character - theme 2 (contrasting key) lyrical character - closing theme (still contrasting key) Development (free modulation) more expansive Recapitulation - theme 1 (home key) - theme 2 (home key) - closing theme (home key) Allegro 2nd Mvmt Sonata-allegro form, or A-B-A form, or Theme and Variations (different key) Slow, lyrical, varied moods 3rd Mvmt Scherzo and trio, A-B-A (home key) Scherzo, 2 sections Trio, 2 sections Scherzo returns Triple meter Fast pace 4th Mvmt Sonata-allegro form, rondo form, or something else (home key) Allegro or presto; shorter & lighter than 1st mvmt

Johannes Brahms A traditionalist Wrote romantic themes in the tradition of the Classical masters. Symphony #3 – romantic in tone with Classical form 3rd Movement form? major or minor? meter? 0:00 which instr. has melody? 0:27 which inst. has melody? 0:52 what happens here? 1:27 what happens here? When does B section start? When does A section return (A prime)

Johannes Brahms Symphony #3 – romantic in tone with Classical form 3rd Movement form: Waltz in A-B-A form minor (middle switches to major) triple 0:00 cello has melody 0:27 violins have melody 0:52 2nd theme played by violins 1:27 return of opening theme in flutes and oboes B section starts at 1:57 3:46 A section returns (A prime)

Antonin Dvorak Nationalist themes from Bohemia and the US While in US he studied traditional music of African Americans New World Symphony is his most popular work 4 mvmt symphony 1st movement 0:00 what is the tempo? 2:03 Theme 1 3:02 Theme 2 3:56 Theme 3 4:22 Development 5:48 Recapitulation

Felix Mendelssohn His music kept classical forms Violin Concerto in E Minor 3 movements To be played without pause 1st Movement How is the beginning different? 0:00 Theme 1 0:58 ? 2:53 Theme 2 3:08 ? 5:24 Development 7:07 ? 8:54 Recapitulation 12:18 Coda

Felix Mendelssohn His music kept classical forms Violin Concerto in E Minor 3 movements To be played without pause 1st Movement How is the beginning different? 0:00 Theme 1 0:58 Full Orch plays theme 1 2:53 Theme 2 3:08 Solo violin with theme 2 5:24 Development 7:07 Cadenza 8:54 Recapitulation 12:18 Coda