The Romantic Era 1820 1900 Romantic Ideal Striving

The Romantic Era 1820 -1900

Romantic Ideal • Striving for a better, higher, ideal state of being. • Everyday life seemed dull and meaningless. • Searched for a life of feeling, unconstrained by convention, religion, or social bad will.

Artistic Barriers • The search for higher experience and more intense expression brought a reaction to artistic restraint. • Artist and composers resisted all rules and regulations. • They wanted to be spontaneous and mystifying so they did not allow abstract notions of beauty and decorum (keeping with good taste). • William Turner – The Fighting Temeraire (1838) • http: //www. ibiblio. org/wm/paint/auth/turner/i/temeraire. jpg • Composers worked to break down harmonic and formal barriers. • Experimented with chord progressions that had previously never been used.

Concert life – 19 th Century • 19 th century concert halls and opera houses dominated the presentation of music. • Every town had its own symphony association. Made up of anyone and everyone who wanted to play. • Concerts were not just for symphonies and masses, but now lesser known genres such as art songs and string quartets. • The vast amount of concert halls made music available to more people. • However, because of the greater accessibility to music, audiences because more conservative. Wanted a bang for their buck and wanted to hear what they already knew was good.

Composers response • Composers felt as if their work was being neglected. • Composers relied on the public who resented them; the public’s admiration for composers was met with hostility…oops. • So composer Robert Schumann started a magazine (Neue Zeitschrift für Musik) that campaigned for romantic music. His goal was to culture the uncultured audience. • Point being, composers were unwilling to stoop to the unchangeable audience.

Style features • The main artistic value of the Romantic era was having one’s own personal feeling. • Therefore, each individual composer has his own personal style. • Can be seen as a breakdown of artistic barriers, or a breakthrough of personal development. • However, composers were united with some common interests…

Rubato • Rhythmic idea – essentially a give and take in the tempo. • Literally means “robbed time” • Meant to be expressive. Think schmaltz. • Seldom indicated in the music. It is something felt, not written. • Essentially never used in Baroque or Classical music. • A musician’s “feeling” depended greatly on his artistic use of rubato. • http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=YGRO 05 Wc. NDk

Romantic Melody Most instantly recognizable feature of Romantic music. More emotional and chromatic than before. Used to build up to bigger climaxes. Irregular rhythms and phrases. Sounded more spontaneous. Romeo and Juliet - Tchaikovsky https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=Cxj 8 v. SS 2 ELU 4: 306: 50 • Listen for emotion. What is she singing about? • http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=kxhp. NRZZ 7 vs • My peace is gone, My heart is heavy, I will find it never and never more. Where I do not have him, That is the grave, The whole world Is bitter to me. • • •

Romantic Harmony • Area in which Romantic music made the greatest technical advance. • Composers were able to use harmony to underpin melody in such a way to bring out its emotion in a different way than seen before. • Harmony and melody go hand in hand. Rely on each other. • Listen to the emotion in both the piano and voice. Unsteady harmonies. • https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=F 2 J_u 97 g. P_ E

Romantic Harmony • Harmony was experimented with freely. New chord forms and how they fit together. • This contributed to the new moods of the Romantic era. New mysterious, sinister, and sultry moods were evoked. • Some themes and motifs are characterized more from their harmony than melody. • Chromaticism: The use of non-diatonic tones in a composition. All Romantic composers used this tool.

Program Music • Non-vocal music written to tell a story. • A “program” being the story told, composers used this to get across musical expression without words. • Frederic Chopin composed a with a genre entitled “Nocturne” to bring the expectation of nighttime romance. • Tell me what you hear. Write down the scene you see in your mind. Unplug projector • https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=WVra 2 Iot. KM

Program Music • Hector Berlioz handed out a pamphlet containing his own made up program (story). • https: //www. google. com/search? q=hector+berlioz&source=lnms&t bm=isch&sa=X&ved=0 ah. UKEwjuj 7 Ckytn. KAh. WEJp. QKHSx 4 Aug. Q_AUI CCg. C&biw=1067&bih=516 • The music acts as the narrator. A story of the welcoming of the hero all the way to the final dance. We are given a story without words. • However, there is some speculation to the idea that music can tell a specific story. • Imagine there is no pamphlet. There are ideas stating there are many interpretations of music without specifically knowing what it is about.

Berlioz “Symphonie Fantastique” • https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=g 2 Kky 5 BC 9 Uk • 1 st movement • “The author imagines that a young vibrant musician, afflicted by the sickness of spirit which a famous writer has called the wave of passions, sees for the first time a woman who unites all the charms of the ideal person his imagination was dreaming of, and falls desperately in love with her. By a strange anomaly, the beloved image never presents itself to the artist’s mind without being associated with a musical idea, in which he recognizes a certain quality of passion, but endowed with the nobility and shyness which he credits to the object of his love. ”

Berlioz “Symphonie Fantastique” • 15: 00 https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=g 2 Kky 5 BC 9 Uk • 2 nd Movement • “The artist finds himself in the most diverse situations in life, in the tumult of a festive party, in the peaceful contemplation of the beautiful sights of nature, yet everywhere, whether in town or in the countryside, the beloved image keeps haunting him and throws his spirit into confusion. ”

Romantic Form • We see a breakdown of form, resulting in an individual’s spontaneity. Composers were set free. • No longer see Classical forms. Each piece of art contained it’s own inner form. Themes blend into each other to fuse sections. • Frederic Chopin’s Mazurka – a polish dance • https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=k 9 MDJu KL 3 s. A

Miniatures • Many compositions lasted as long as large works from the 18 th century, though a new style and length of piece began to come forth. • Miniatures - Pieces that last for only a few minutes. • As songs and short piano pieces, these works were meant to convey a single emotional message, sometimes undeveloped. • Useful for composers to convey an intensity toward the listener, with an intimate setting. • Robert Schumann – Im Wunderschonen Monat Mai. Listen for an indecisive piano entrance that gives the feeling of an immediate transition; possibly hearing music that happened long ago. Ending ends in dissonance, then silence. • https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=00 -7 g. HZLWC 0

The Leid • A type of miniature genre. German art song in the 19 th century. (Plural - Leider) • Nearly always accompanied by a piano. Contributes to the artistic feel of the piece. Compare to basso continuo of the Baroque. • Poetry is used for the text. We listen to how the composer sets the text so that the music dictates the text’s emotion. • In a leid, the mood is intimate and is meant to express their emotion with each individual listen. Accompaniment and vocalist are intertwined to deliver message. • https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=v. Kh 4 Js. Wvs. Pw

Franz Schubert • Born Vienna, Austria – 1797 • One of 14, only 5 survived. • Age of 7 took lessons out side the family. Previously learned violin from his Father. • Earliest ensemble was with family members. String quartet with two brothers on violin, he on viola, and his father on cello. First quartet compositions written for this ensemble. • Became a pupil of Antonio Salieri in 1804 where he was introduced to the overtures and symphonies of Mozart and Joseph and Michael Haydn.

Schubert Compositions • Erlkonig – Piano and Voice • The death of a child by a supernatural being. • Story: An anxious young boy is being carried home at night by his father on horseback. To what sort of home is not spelled out. The lack of specificity of the father's social position allows the reader to imagine the details. • As the poem unfolds, the son seems to see and hear beings his father does not; the father asserts reassuringly naturalistic explanations for what the child sees – a wisp of fog, rustling leaves, shimmering willows. Finally the child shrieks that he has been attacked. The father makes faster for the home. There he recognizes that the boy is dead.

Erlkonig • Who rides, so late, through night and wind? It is the father with his child. He has the boy well in his arm He holds him safely, he keeps him warm. "My son, why do you hide your face so anxiously? " "Father, do you not see the Elfking? The Elfking with crown and tail? " "My son, it's a wisp of fog. " "You dear child, come, go with me! Very lovely games I'll play with you; Some colourful flowers are on the beach, My mother has some golden robes. "

Erlkonig "My father, my father, and don't you hear What the Elfking quietly promises me? " "Be calm, stay calm, my child; The wind is rustling through withered leaves. " "Do you want to come with me, pretty boy? My daughters shall wait on you finely; My daughters will lead the nightly dance, And rock and dance and sing you to sleep. " "My father, my father, and don't you see there The Elfking's daughters in the gloomy place? " "My son, my son, I see it clearly: There shimmer the old willows so grey. " "I love you, your beautiful form entices me; And if you're not willing, then I will use force. " "My father, my father, he's grabbing me now! The Elfking has done me harm!" It horrifies the father; he swiftly rides on, He holds the moaning child in his arms, Reaches the farm with trouble and hardship; In his arms, the child was dead.

Erlkonig • Listen and watch for the different change in character. • http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=5 XP 5 RP 6 OEJI

Schubert Compositions • Symphony #5 • Finished in only 6 months • Scored for a smaller orchestra; does not include clarinets, trumpets, or timpani. • Writing resembles that of Mozart. • "O Mozart! immortal Mozart! what countless impressions of a brighter, better life hast thou stamped upon our souls!” This is reflected particularly in the lighter instrumentation, as noted above. Indeed, the instrumentation matches that of the first version (without clarinets) of Mozart's 40 th symphony. • http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=cd. Luv. Gsjwl. A • Big Box