The Romantic Period 1820 1900

Of all the music we will study in this course, the Romantic Period is probably the most accessible. As you work through the books listening guides, you will probably hear music that sounds familiar since this periods music is used often in movies, cartoons, and advertisements. The Romantic period continues the trend of expanding upon what came before; the composers of this era sought to push the limits of dynamics, instrument range, tempo, etc. They continued to expand their harmonic language, using chords that sounded rather dissonant at the time. Some important trends were the use of program music (music that seeks to tell a story, set a specific mood, or convey some specific idea; music that is not program music is known as absolute music.) Be sure to read your text for the four main types of program music written during this period. Nationalism (deliberately using elements that evoke thoughts about a particular country, usually the composers own homeland) and exoticism (deliberately using elements meant to evoke a foreign land) became popular. (Be sure to read the text to get a better understanding of

Nationalism in music, including the importance of Smetanas Moldau.) The same forms we studied in the previous chapters are still used, but they become either expanded into very long works (the book calls them monumental) or very short works (the book calls them miniature). More than any other trait, this is the period of intense individuality; composers sought to put their own experiences, emotions, and thoughts into their music. To one who has studied this music, it becomes very easy to hear a new piece and immediately know the composer because of the stylistic characteristics that are particular to an individual composer.

The one new form that became popular during this period was the Art Song. On the test, I will use the German term lieder since that is how it is usually referred to by musicians. Simply put, lieder are songs for a single voice and piano, originally intended for home or chamber performance, where the music is used to interpret the words. Because of the efforts to make the music mirror the songs action, a new form came into use. Through-composed songs have new music for each stanza since the words require ever changing music. (The other form of song is strophic, where the music repeats for each stanza think of the traditional church hymn. Most lieder were throughcomposed.) Because songs tend to be short, composers liked to group them into sets that shared plot or musical elements called song cycles.

Franz Schubert (pronounced just like it looks) was best known as a master of lieder, composing over 600 songs in his short life. However, he also wrote 9 symphonies, several string quartets, masses, operas, and a lot of chamber music. (As an aside, though his 8th symphony is nicknamed the Unfinished due to it only having 2 movements, music scholars now think Schubert simply wanted to write a different style of symphony and did indeed complete the work he envisioned.) His Erlking is highlighted in the text as a prime example of Romantic lieder. Take time to listen to it, paying attention to the different roles the singer takes on as the story unfolds to the final, unexpected twist. The personification of death, with the accompanying supernatural elements, is another common Romantic trait.

Robert Schumann (shoe-mon) was a great pianist who, in an attempt to increase the dexterity of his ring fingers, created a device that backfired and destroyed his hands and thus his ability to play. He continued to write music, including Carnaval (see your book for details about this cycle of piano pieces). However, he was also important as a champion of young and upcoming composers. His music journal, sort of the Rolling Stone of its day, helped launch the careers of many of the composers we will study in this chapter. His wife, Clara, was a great pianist also, and performed much of Roberts

works when he no longer could play. (She met Robert because he was taking piano lessons from her father.) She was also a composer, and your book talks about one of her art songs; make sure you read the details about this work.

Frederic Chopin (show-pan) was born in Poland but lived most of his creative life in Paris. (He was very afraid of being buried alive, so he left instructions for his heart to be removed from his body before burial. Today, his heart is in Warsaw and the rest of his body is interred in Paris.) He had a long affair with the first female writer to become truly famous in France; she wrote under the pen name of George Sand. He wrote exclusively for the piano (understand that this means piano-centered pieces; as he wrote concertos, he obviously included music for orchestral instruments). Your text talks about the Nocturne (literally, a night piece) and one of his many etudes (French for exercise or study). He was particularly known for polonaises and mazurkas, piano pieces based on Polish dances that led to him being considered a Polish nationalist composer.

Franz Liszt (list) was born in Hungary but traveled extensively, including a trip to Vienna where he met Beethoven. He was a piano virtuoso (5 bonus test points to anyone who emails me an acceptable definition of virtuoso) who devoted years to developing his performance skills. His music is almost ahead of its time in his treatment of the piano and in the huge sounds he demanded from the instruments he wrote for. He is credited with creating the tone poem (a one-movement work for orchestra that is always programmatic) and was one of the first major composers to make use of thematic transformation, which is simply making changes in the melody (theme) as it reappears throughout the piece to bring about variety within a unified setting. Though your CD set does not include any of his pieces, please take a moment to find a YouTube or similar recording of the Transcendental Etude described in your text, or one of my favorites, the tone poem entitled Les Preludes. Liszt was Wagners father-in-law.

Felix Mendelssohn (men dell- son) was somewhat of a child prodigy. His father was a wealthy banker who hired an orchestra to be at his sons disposal. During his short life he wrote an incredible amount of music, including 4 symphonies, oratorios, concertos, incidental music, and chamber music. His incidental music for A Midsummer Nights

Dream is where we got the Wedding Recessional that is used in so many weddings. In addition to his wonderful music, Mendelssohn is known for reintroducing the world to the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. Recall from our Baroque studies that by the time of his death, Bach was considered to be old-fashioned and his music was not popular. Without Mendelssohns work, we might not have discovered just how brilliant Bach was! The book discusses Mendelssohns Violin Concerto in some depth; make sure as you

read the outline that you note the unusual way he begins the piece. Recall from the last test that concertos typically begin with a sonata-form movement with a double exposition one for the orchestra followed by one for the soloist. Mendelssohn deviated from the normal practice by beginning with the soloist right on theme one no orchestra exposition, no introduction, no nothing!

Hector Berlioz (burr-lee-ohs) was a French composer. See your book for a more complete discussion of his work; today, he is mainly known for the Symphonie Fantastique, one of the best-known symphonic works in the modern repertoire. Be sure to read the story behind the symphony (and understand that at the time, opium dens were about as common as bars are today, with opium use viewed about like alcohol use is today). Berlioz created the ide fixe (literally, the fixed idea, a melody that represented the beloved and which appeared in every movement to indicate her presence).

Antonin Dvorak (dah-vore-jock) was a Czechoslovakian composer who came to America and tried to get American composers to utilize Native American and AfricanAmerican musical elements to create our own nationalistic style. While here, he wrote the New World Symphony as an example of his ideas for an American sound.

Peter Tchaikovsky (chai-kov-ski) was a Russian, but he did not join the Russian Five (see the books discussion of Nationalism) in their quest to write in a set style. He was immensely popular during his day and remains one of the most often performed composers, but oddly enough he is rarely mentioned in serious music texts. This is

probably because he did not create any new forms or musical devices; he simply knew what his audiences wanted to hear and wrote beautiful music that would satisfy them. I guess that makes him one of the original pop musicians! Though it is not included on your CD, if you look up the Romeo and Juliet Overture I think you will find the music familiar. Likewise, at Christmastime you cannot escape hearing his Nutcracker Suite.

Johannes Brahms (like it looks) is probably my favorite composer. He combined the best parts of the classical period (balance, clarity, beautiful melodies) with the expanded orchestras and tonalities of the romantic period to become known as the classical romanticist. He wrote 4 symphonies, a German requiem (that I personally find to be one of the most life-affirming works ever written, unusual for a funeral piece!), chamber music, etc. In fact, the only thing he didnt write was an opera. Be sure to listen to the movement from his Third Symphony that is on your CD youll be a better person for doing so!

Giuseppe Verdi (just like it looks) and Giacomo Puccini (poo-chee-knee) were famous opera writers. Verdi wrote for the everyday person and was well-loved by his public. However, the critics did not like his choice of subject matter (rape, suicide, free love, etc.). Puccini was also well-loved. He is known for verismo (being true to life). You have famous works from both on your CD.

Richard Wagner (ree-card vog-ner) is perhaps the most interesting opera composer of all. He was very vocal about his strong political views; his opinions about Germans

being the only people of value led to him becoming Adolph Hitlers favorite composer. To this day, the Israeli Philharmonic will not play Wagners music. (Use your common sense, not research, to tell me why in an email and get 5 bonus points.) He thought opera was the ultimate art form since it combined so many artistic elements, so he only wrote operas. He controlled every element of his operas: he not only wrote the music, he also wrote the libretto, designed the costumes, designed the sets, even invented a new instrument (the Wagner tuba) and built an opera hall that was worthy of his works. He used leitmotifs, musical phrases that referred to important plot elements. This was similar to Berliozs ide fixe, but where Berlioz only made musical reference to the beloved, Wagner used leitmotifs to refer to people, places, objects, anything important in telling the story. He liked to write seamlessly, and many of his works go on for hours without a stop. Much of his music has made it into pop culture, with one of the funniest Bugs Bunny cartoons ever (the Whats Opera, Doc one) based almost entirely on Wagners music (arent you humming . kill the wabbit, kill the wabbit as you read this??) His music has also been used in many movies, with the helicopter scene in Apocalypse Now being a famous use of his music. He also gave us the popular Here comes the Bride song yep, it was used in a wedding scene and became popular as a result.