Romantic%20Era%201810-1900

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Romantic Era1810-1900

• Mrs Crossan
• Moffat Academy

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Composers
DVORAK 1841-1904
BRAHMS 1833-1897
BEETHOVEN 1770-1827
SCHUBERT 1797-1828
TCHAIKOVSKY 1840-1893
VERDI 1873-1901
WAGNER 1813-1883
MENDELSSOHN 1809-1847
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Romanticism 1810 - 1900
A beginning of new ideas.
Composers had a fascination with the mystic and
supernatural both religious and spooky.
An artistic, literary and intellectual movement
which was strengthened by the Industrial
Revolution.
Attention to National Identity Nationalism.
Composers showed a greater interest in Nature.
i.e. Beethovens Pastoral Symphony.
Composers started to show discontent with musical
conventions.
Wanderer above the Sea Fog by C. D Freidrich.
An exam of Romantic painting.
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What composers wrote about

• Romantic composers had a wide interest in all
  forms of art and befriended artists, writers,
  poets and other composers.
• These friendships often provided the inspiration
  for the composition of new music as the composers
  experimented with sound to create the feelings
  of
• emotions
• the story of poems
• the description of the countryside
• fantasies and dreams
• love
• war
• rivers and lakes

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Nationalism

• Music where the composer writes music to
  represent a country.
• They could use folk melodies, notable rhythms,
  programme music which describes their homeland.

Edward Elgar- Pomp and Circumstance A military
style march. The name is taken from a work of
Shakespeare
Edvard Grieg- Peer Gynt A Norwegian folk story
which Grieg put to music.
Frederic Chopin- Mazurkas The first composer to
incorporate nationalistic elements into his
compositions. His Mazurkas use nationalistic
rhythms.
Jean Sibelius- Finlandia Interpreted to
represent the rising nation of Finland, which
would someday gain independence from Russia
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The industrial revolution

• Events and changes that happen in society such as
  ideas, attitudes, discoveries, inventions, and
  historical events always affect music.
• The Industrial Revolution was in full effect by
  the late 18th century and early 19th century.
  This event had a very profound effect on music
• there were major improvements in the mechanical
  valves, and keys that most woodwinds and brass
  instruments depend on. The new and innovative
  instruments could be played with more ease and
  they were more reliable
• Another development that had an effect on music
  was the rise of the middle class.
• Composers before this period lived on the
  patronage of the aristocracy. Many times their
  audience was small, composed mostly of the upper
  class and individuals who were knowledgeable
  about music.
• The Romantic composers, on the other hand, often
  wrote for public concerts and festivals, with
  large audiences of paying customers, who had not
  necessarily had any music lessons. Composers of
  the Romantic Era, like Elgar, showed the world
  that there should be "no segregation of musical
  tastes and that the "purpose was to write music
  that was to be heard.

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The Romantic Orchestra
Increase in ORCHESTRA SIZE
POWERFUL BRASS SECTION
Addition of the TUBA
DRAMATIC
Larger WOODWIND SECTION piccolo, flute, cor
anglais, oboe, clarinet, bass clarinet, bassoon
and double bassoon!
Growing PERCUSSION SECTION including a range of
drums and cymbals.
EMOTIONAL
Increased STRINGS to balance out the other
larger sections.
POWERFUL
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The Romantic Orchestra

• Composers of the Romantic period were very
  excited and keen to explore all the new sound
  possibilities.
• They wanted to create new, rich and varied
  timbres when writing for groups from small
  ensembles (chamber music) to giant orchestral
  sounds.

Classical
Romantic
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Early Romantic Chamber Music

• Bridging the gap between the Classical and
  Romantic periods, Beethoven continued the
  development of chamber music with a combination
  of sonatas, string trios, piano trios, string
  quartets and similar compositions.

Listen to this excerpt from a piano sonata, just
bridging the period from Classical to Romantic,
in which the third movement is still a minuet
and trio. The ternary form is quite clear to
the listener. Notice the use of octaves,
imitation, the contrast in dynamics, the use of
rubato and the different style of the playing in
the middle section the trio.

Listen to the arpeggios In the minor key.
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Early Romantic Chamber Music
Now listen to an excerpt from a last movement, a
rondo, from a violin sonata by Beethoven and
notice how the two instruments share the thematic
material between them.
Beethovens String Quartet Op. 135, his last,
written in 1825 just two years before his death.
In his later works the standard shape of the
movements starts to change a little, for instance
the quartet before this had five movements. In
this one the second movement, instead of being
slow, is a fast one, a scherzo, which by now had
replaced the minuet and trio. Listen for the
ternary form, the quite distinct syncopation near
the beginning, lots of staccato playing,
imitation between parts, and a repeated figure in
the cello part before the repeat of the first
section.
This quintet is unusual as it is one of the few
chamber works to use a double bass added to a
piano quartet of piano, violin, viola and cello.
After the main theme has been introduced the
distinctive rippling sound to represent the
stream is played in the first variation.
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Late Romantic Chamber Music

• As the 19th century progressed the chamber music
  styles established in the Classical period
  continued and much of the progress was built
  around the use of the new improved piano.
• Robert Schumann (18101856) composed all kinds of
  music and is famous for his programmatic
  symphonies, concertos, song cycles and
  instrumental music. 

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Late Romantic Chamber Music

• Ensemble Music
• String quartets were still a popular form with
  composers.
• Listen to this excerpt from the last movement of
  Dvoraks String Quartet No. 10. Notice
• the bright, happy allegro assai,
• the imitation between parts,
• and most importantly the changes of tempo within
  the excerpt.

• Composers started to experiment with new
  combinations of instruments
• Listen to this excerpt by the French composer
  Gounod from a work for nine wind instruments
  flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons and a French
  horn.
• This is a scherzo so you will notice
• the quick three beats in a bar,
• much use of imitation and repetition,
• and the different texture of the middle section
  introduced by the French horn with the original
  material returning towards the end of the
  movement, giving this an overall ternary form.

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Piano Music
17th Century

• One of the most important features of the 18th
  century was the development of the piano from a
  wooden-framed instrument with leather-covered
  hammers to an instrument with an iron frame and
  felt-covered hammers much like the upright and
  grand pianos of today.
• The greater strength of the frame allowed for
  longer, thicker strings and as a result, a much
  warmer and richer sound.

18th Century
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Piano Music

• Sonatas
• While sonatas were still written afterthe time
  of Beethoven and Schubert, there was a tendency
  among many composers to write shorter works,
  some of which could express feeling, emotion or
  atmosphere.

Prelude Chopin- Snowdrop Listen to the use of
Rubato.
Polonaise
Barcarolle
Song without words
Ballade
Nocturne John Field Listen to the singing melody
played against the arpeggio accompaniment. Again
Listen to the use of Rubato and the use of
suspensions.
Waltz
Mazurka
Impromptu
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Piano Music

• Theme and Variations
• Theme and variations was still a popular form and
  one of the few to survive from the Baroque
  period.
• Listen to this example of variations on a theme
  of a well-known Christmas carol, Adeste
  Fideles, better known to many as O come all ye
  faithful. Things to listen carefully for

Introduction using the first phrase of the carol-
in the MINOR key.
Continued with VARIATIONS on parts of the theme.
Followed by the MAIN RECOGNISABLE THEME.
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Early Symphony

• The period from 1815 to 1910 saw a comprehensive
  development of the symphony
• from a work in four movements which could be
  played by a small orchestra of 30 to 40 players,
  to,
• by the end of the nineteenth century, a large
  work for an orchestra of as many as 120 players.
  During that time the shape of the symphony also
  developed and could have anything from one to six
  movements.

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Listening Comparison
1804
1823
BEETHOVEN

• Beethovens Symphony No. 3 was regarded as a
  turning point in orchestration and while this and
  the next four of his works in this style are
  classical, differences start to be heard in the
  sound of the orchestra and the handling of the
  instruments.
• Listen to an excerpt of the third movement from
  Beethovens Symphony No. 3. Notice
• the speed of the music,
• the dynamic contrasts, crescendo,
• the use of strings and woodwind conversing with
  one another and a typical Beethoven technique of
  following a very loud section with a very quiet
  one. 

• By the time Beethoven wrote his Symphony No. 9,
  he was totally deaf and despite this his music
  had reached new levels in originality.
• The Ode to Joy of the last movement of this
  symphony is world-renowned and his combination of
  large orchestra, SATB (soprano, alto, tenor,
  bass) chorus and SATB soloists was unique in a
  symphony of this time.

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Late Symphony

• As the nineteenth century progressed most of the
  major composers wrote symphonies. The orchestra
  grew in size to include
• more woodwind, at least double woodwind
  instruments and later triple with the inclusion
  of piccolo on the top and contra bassoon on the
  bottom (In an orchestra double woodwind implies
  two instruments per type and triple, three per
  instrument.)
• a brass section of up to four trumpets, four
  French horns, three trombones and tuba
• a larger percussion section using timpani, bass
  drum and crash cymbals.

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Late Symphonies
BRAHMS Wrote 4 symphonies. These were written in
a classical shape. However, he used larger
orchestra and the works were on a lot larger
scale taking almost 1 hour to perform.

• DVORAK
• Wrote a number of symphonies, the most well
  known- From the New World. It has 4 movements
• Adagio (In sonata form)
• Largo (The one everyone knows)- a very dramatic
  brass section at the beginning. Main theme played
  on Cor Anglais.
• Scherzo
• Allegro

Tchaikovsky
Dvorak New World
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VOCAL MUSICSolo Song
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Lied

• Lied is a work for solo voice and piano.
• The text is in German
• the structure of the verses could be strophic or
  through composed.
• An important feature is that the voice and piano
  are equally important with the piano often
  setting the atmosphere for the text of the song
  in the accompaniment.

GERMAN FOR SONG
STROPHIC A vocal or choral composition in which
each verse has the same music.
THROUGH COMPOSED A vocal or choral composition
in which there is little or no repetition of the
music.
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Song Cycle
a group, or cycle, of songs designed to be
performed in a sequence as a single entity
all of the songs are by the same composer and
often use words from the same poet or lyricist
Unification can be achieved by a narrative or a
persona common to the songs, or even, as in
Robert Schumanns Liederkreis by the atmospheric
setting of the forest.
Song cycles exist in modern music too Pink Floyd
The Wall Arcade Fire The Suburbs Plan B The
Defamation of Strickland Banks
Listen to Der Lindembaum (The Linden Tree) from
Winterreise a cycle of 20 songs by Franz
Schubert. You can clearly hear the composer
describing the breeze in the tree in the piano
part.
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Choral Music
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Choral Music
ORATORIO Here is perhaps the most famous chorus
by Berlioz, Thou must leave thy lowly dwelling.
Listen to the homophonic texture of the music,
which is strophic in style, i.e. three verses of
the same music. 
MASS Bruckner composed a large number of
religious works. He wrote many Masses.  Listen
to this excerpt from his Mass in E minor.  Notice
the use of unison singing, chromatic sequences
towards the end, and organ and orchestral
accompaniment, although little is heard of the
orchestra in this excerpt.
REQUIEM A requiem is a Mass for the
dead! Verdi's Requiem has a dramatic sound  This
is a short movement but it is even more dramatic
than Mozart's version. It has a large chorus and
orchestra and in particular a large percussion
section including a bass drum, clearly heard on
the off beat at the beginning, and crash
cymbals. 
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Programme Music
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Programme Music

• Programme music is music which tells a story,
  describes a scene or painting.

BEETHOVEN PASTORAL SYMPHONY NO.6
MUSSORGSKY PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION
DUKAS SORCERERS APPRENTICE
SAINT-SAEN CARNIVAL OF THE ANIMALS
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Symphonic Poem or Tone Poem
A one movement work which illustrates or evokes
the content of a poem, short story, novel,
painting or landscape.
First composed by Hungarian composer Franz Liszt
and called Tone Poems. He wrote 13. Including
Hamlet a tone poem based on the Shakespearean
play. And Orpheus based on the Greek Legend.
considerable length
Dramatic
Smetana Vltava
Dukas Sorcerers Apprentice
Saint-Saen Danse Macabre
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Idee Fixe or Leitmotif
a short, constantly recurring musical phrase
associated with a particular person, place, or
idea.
Star WarsDarth Vader Theme
Richard Wagner The Siegfried leitmotif from
Wagner's opera, the third of his Ring cycle the
theme is broader and more richly orchestrated
than its earlier appearances, suggesting the
emergence of Siegfried's heroic character
Jaws
Prokofiev Peter and the Wolf
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Test on concepts below

• Lied
• Lieder
• Song Cycle
• Programme Music
• Symphonic/ Tone Poem
• Idee Fixe
• Nationalism
• Late Romanticism

• Chamber music
• Sonata
• String quartet
• Concerto
• Symphony
• Strophic
• Through composed
• Oratorio
• Mass
• Requiem