Music of the Romantic Period 1820 1900 Romantic

Music of the Romantic Period (1820 -1900)

Romantic Historical Highlights n Industrial Revolution occurs – Marx and Engels, The Communist Manifesto (1848) Increase in size and income of middle class n Most Romantic composers write primarily for middle-class audience n More revolutions and revolts n – Revolutions in France, Belgium, & Poland (1830) – Revolutions in Europe (1848) – American Civil War (1861 -65); Spanish-American War (1898)

Romantic Musical & Artistic Highlights Emphasis on INDIVIDUALITY of style • Emphasis on self-expression •

Friedrich’s Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog (c. 1818)

JOHANNES BRAHMS n “How Lovely Is Thy Dwelling Place” (Mvt. 4) from Ein Deutches Requiem (A German Requiem) – Rejects traditional Latin text – Uses texts he personally selects from Luther’s German translation of the Bible – Requiem becomes his own personal expression of heaven (God’s “Dwelling Place)

Romantic Musical & Artistic Highlights Artists strive to transcend ordinary existence through free expression • Everyday life seems dull and meaningless, artists seek escape •

Romantic Musical & Artistic Highlights • Expressive aims and subjects include. . . – Flamboyance and intimacy – Unpredictability and melancholy – Rapture and longing – Songs and operas glorify romantic love

Fuseli’s The Nightmare (c. 1781)

HECTOR BERLIOZ n “The March to the Scaffold” (Mvt. 4) from Fantastic Symphony (Episodes in the Life of an Artist) – Takes ordinary life experience (rejection of romantic interest in famous actress) and creates sensationally autobiographical program for a symphony using imagination – Depiction of weird and diabolical; grotesque and macabre – Program “transcends” ordinary life experience

Romantic Musical & Artistic Highlights Emphasis on the fantastic, the macabre, the grotesque, and the supernatural • Emphasis on “night” and things “of the night” •

Fuseli’s The Night-Hag Visiting the Lapland Witches (c. 1796)

Delacroix’s Dante and Virgil in Hell (1822)

Friedrich’s Cloister Cemetery in the Snow (1817 -19)

FRANZ SCHUBERT n Erlköing (The Elfking) – Depiction of weird and diabolical; grotesque and macabre – Man struggling against nature (individual against the world) • Father struggling to get sick child home and explain child’s hallucinations away • Child struggling against mortal seduction of the Elfking – “Night” scene and emphasis on supernatural

Romantic Musical & Artistic Highlights Reaction against balance and symmetry of Classical period • Themes of revolt and rebellion •

Delacroix’s Liberty Leading the People (1830)

FREDERIC CHOPIN n Etude in C Minor, Op. 10, No. 2 (“The Revolutionary”) – Written as self-exile in Paris – Protest against Russian invasions and mistreatments of homeland Poland – Musical Elements • Form: A A’ coda • Uses dotted rhythms (military reference) • Depiction of struggle and/or anger – Dissonant harmonies – Accented Chords – Passionate main melody

Romantic Musical & Artistic Highlights Emphasis on EXAGGERATION leads to very small (minature) and very large (monumental) musical compositions •

Monumental vs. Minature n RICHARD WAGNER – Prelude to Act 3 from Lohengrin (orchestra only) – Act 1, end of Love Scene from Die Walkure (The Valkyrie) n FREDERIC CHOPIN – Etude in C Minor, Op. 10, No. 2 (“The Revolutionary”) – Nocturne in Eb Major, Op. 9, No. 2

Romantic Musical & Artistic Highlights New emphasis on nostalgia and history leads to NATIONALISM •

Examples of NATIONLISM n ANTONIN DVORAK (Czech) – Symphony No. 9 in E Minor, Mvt. 1 (Adagio; Allegro molto) • Nickname = “From the New World” n BEDRICH SMETANA (Czech) – The Moldau

ANTONIN DVORAK - Mvt. 1, Symphony No. 9 in E Minor (From the New World) n Mvt. gets a slow intro tacked on to the beginning n Exposition features: – an expanded 2 nd theme group (3 themes in all) – Constant variation/development

Exposition - Allegro n 1 st theme in home key of e minor (HORNS & WOODWINDS) – Heroic, bold, motivic n BRIDGE (BRASSES, arpeggio motive) n 2 nd theme in different key of g minor (FLUTE & OBOE) – Softer, dance-like tune, more phrase-based n 3 rd theme (actually part of 2 nd theme group) (FLUTE) In different key of G major – Soft, phrase-based, “Swing Low” spiritual melody

Development n Thematic material is ‘developed’ or ‘varied’ – Fragmentation – Recombination – Reorchestration – Melodic extenision – Unstable harmonies (moves through many keys) - frequent modulations – Chromaticism – Counterpoint (often imitative polyphony)

Recapitulation n 1 st theme in home key of e minor (HORNS & WOODWINDS) – Heroic, bold, motivic n BRIDGE (BRASSES, arpeggio motive) n 2 nd theme in home key (FLUTE & OBOE) – Softer, dance-like tune, more phrase-based n 3 rd theme (actually part of 2 nd theme group) (FLUTE) in home key, but MAJOR – Soft, phrase-based, “Swing Low” spiritual melody Coda follows

Romantic Musical & Artistic Highlights • PROGRAM MUSIC

Examples of PROGRAM MUSIC n BEDRICH SMETANA (Czech) – The Moldau n HECTOR BERLIOZ – “The March to the Scaffold” (Mvt. 4) from Fantastic Symphony (Episodes in the Life of an Artist)

Romantic Music Genres n Vocal Music Genres – Lieder (German Art Song) – Opera – Choral Music n Instrumental Music Genres – Chamber Music • Piano Minatures – Orchestral Music • Symphony • Program Symphony • Tone Poem/Symphonic Poem • Ballet (for a dance) • Incidental Music (for a play)

Romantic Music Style Characteristics Mood Emphasis on great variety and contrast of mood Rhythm Expanded range of tempos (faster allegros, slower adagios), use of RUBATO Melody Longer, with wider range, building to more sustained climaxes, irregular phrasing, and sequential structures Themes Use of thematic transformation -(idee fixe in Berlioz, leitmotives in opera, cyclic themes in symphonies that recur in other movements like "short-short-long" theme in Beethoven 5 th symphony) Dynami cs Expanded range - pppp to ffff Harmon Colorful, more chromaticism, blurring of major and minor y modes Tone Color Expanded "palette" of instruments and expressive tone colors; instruments used in new ways to get new tone colors