1. Romantic Era

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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”

5. 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

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

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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.

11. 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

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

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

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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)

17. 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

18. 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

19. 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.

20. 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.

21. 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)

22. 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”

23. 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

24. 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

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

26. 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.

27. 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

28. 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)

29. 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)

30. 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

31. 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

32. 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