CHAPTER 22 Romantic Choral Music 2009 The Mc
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CHAPTER 22 Romantic Choral Music © 2009, The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 1
Romantic Choral Tradition • Diversity The Fighting Téméraire tugged to her last Berth to be broken up by J. M. W. Turner, 1838 of compositions • A cappella works for small groups • Pieces for chorus and full orchestra • Choral festivals popular • Virtually all major composers contributed to choral literature • Compositions for large choirs were typical • Berlioz’s Te Deum – two choirs • Berlioz’s Requiem – 210 singers © 2009, The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 2
Choral Genres Oratorio • Mendelssohn, Elijah • Liszt, Legend of St. Elizabeth Choruses in programmatic symphonic works • Schumann, Scenes from Faust • Berlioz, Romeo and Juliet Religious text settings • Mass, Te Deum, Stabat Mater texts • Verdi, Requiem © 2009, The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 3
Johannes Brahms (1833 – 1897) • Born in Germany; lived in Vienna • Father was his first music teacher • Played piano in taverns as teenager • Toured Europe as an accompanist • Met Liszt and Schumann • Schumann wrote article to help Brahms’s career • Organized and conducted choirs • Well-known • Died and well-liked of cancer © 2009, The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 4
Music of Johannes Brahms’s symphonies are regarded as second only to Beethoven’s. Small-scale choral • • A cappella Motets Canons Part songs Psalm settings Instrumental accompaniment Liebeslieder Waltzer (Lovesong Waltzes), for vocal quartet or SATB chorus and piano Large-scale choral works • • Cantata Rinaldo Chorus and orchestra Schicksalslied Triumphlied Requiem Ein Deutches Requiem (A German Requiem) © 2009, The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 5
Ein Deutsches Requiem (A German Requiem) by Brahms Composed over 11 year span Chorus and orchestra present in all movements One of Brahms’s earliest works Seven movements Minimal soprano and baritone solo parts Uses German text from Old and New Testamants rather than traditional liturgical, Latin text Traditional text focuses on soul of the dead: Give them eternal rest, O Lord! Brahms’s text focuses on consolation of the living: Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. © 2009, The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 6
Featured Listening: Ein Deutsches Requiem (A German Requiem), op. 45, fourth movement Johannes Brahms Lutheran requiem Homophonic and polyphonic textures ABA’CA’ (rondo-like) Text from Psalm 84 Listening Guide Excerpt from CD 2, track 9, pp. 212213 Listen to the A and B sections: Text Translation (A) How lovely is thy dwelling place, O Lord of Hosts! (B) My soul longs and thirsts for the courts of the Lord. My body and soul rejoice in the living God. © 2009, The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 7
