Music after Beethoven: Romanticism-Chapter 16

Music after Beethoven: Romanticism

    • Many terms used for historical periods in arts came into use only afterwards
    • Baroque was adopted in the 20th century
    • Term “Romantic” was used by Romantics themselves, starting in literature and moved to composers and literary contemporaries in 1820s
    • People were highly aware of music as a major art
    • Natural for observers to link developments in music with parallel in literature
    • Prestige and power of literature extended to music
  • Romanticism
    • First two decades of 19th century literature flourished (specifically poetry in England), as well as German Romantic literature
    • Romantic refers to love, usage dates from 19th century and literary movement. Glorification of love was only one of many themes
    • Striving for a better, higher ideal state of being was the heart of this movement
    • Emotional expression became the highest artistic goal
    • “Bohemians” proclaimed romantic love, led irregular lives, and wore odd clothes
    • Attitudes are from Enlightenment philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who spoke in mid-18th century for “natural” human feelings (philosophical father of the French Revolution)
    • Industrial Revolution already began (increasingly in 19th century)
    • American Revolution, French Revolution, and aftershocks in 1848 in France, Germany, Austria, and Italy
    • Romantics cast in role of rebels against established order
    • Along with political revolution was social revolution, barriers of hereditary nobility were breached, lower/middle classes gained more social mobility
    • Romantics search for higher experience and more intense expression
    • Shakespeare was extremely popular because of his location changes scene by scene, lifelike turbulence, and loose form
    • Composers worked to break down barriers of harmony and form
    • Supernatural loomed large in Romantic firmament
    • Composers used strange harmonies and sinister orchestral sounds which are still heard as special effects in games and movies
    • Poetry became more musical; paintings and musical pieces were given more poetic titles
    • People felt music could express their inner experience more deeply than other arts because musician’s imagination is not tied down to the meanings of words or representation of things
  • Concert Life in the 19th Century
    • Concert hall and opera house dominated the presentation of music, every town having a symphony association
    • New York Symphony (city’s 2nd orchestra) presented a 5-concert music fest led by Tchaikovsky in Carnegie Hall (1891)
    • At the end of the century, domestic/musical genres were presented on concert stages (string quartet)
    • Improved transportation brought musicians on tour
    • Industrialization of concert life had negative aspects: audiences became more conservative with their musical tastes
    • Middle-class buyers of tickets wanted value (something already established as a masterpiece, known and liked)
    • Composers with interest in innovation felt their work was neglected by concert world
    • Paradox happened: composer’s dependence on public was tinged with resentment, and public’s admiration for composers was tinged with distrust and hostility
    • This widened in the 20th century
    • The 19th century set the tone for modern musical life
  • Style Features of Romantic Music
    • Every artist was expected to have a personal style
    • It is harder to define the Romantic style in general than spot innovations, novelties, and individual peculiarities
    • 19th century composers were united by some common interests: technical considerations concerning melody, harmony, rhythmic freedom, tone color, musical form, and to sound different from everybody else
    • Most recognizable feature is melodic style: more emotional, effusive, and demonstrative (ranged more widely than orderly, restrained Classical pieces)
    • Grand, exaggerated emotionality or intimate (dreamy, sensitive, passionate, ecstatic)
    • Harmony made greatest technical advances
    • Used harmony to underpin melody to bring out emotionality
    • Romantic melody is inseparable from harmony
    • Harmony savored for its own sake, experimenting with new chord forms and new juxtapositions of chords
    • Chromaticism - a musical style employing all or many of the 12 notes of the chromatic sale much of the time
    • Composers pursued chromaticism to greater extent than Baroque and Classical
    • Carried furthest in 19th century by Richard Wagner
    • Romantic tendency is to blur all sharp edges in musical counterpart
    • Rubato - “robbed” time; the free treatment of meter in performance
    • Rhythms are flexible, meter can waver, beat is maintained strictly in the accompaniment while melody is slightly out of phase
    • Seldom indicated in the score, practice is documented by old recordings (made around 1900 by musicians close to Romantic composers or composers themselves)
    • Improv was all but abolished by end of 19th century (don’t mess with notes, but they improvised rhythmically); adding rubato to nearly every score played
    • Romantics seized on tone color with enthusiasm: quality of sound assumed major artistic importance on level with rhythm, melody, and musical form
    • As instruments reached their present-day forms, orchestra expanded and reached its present makeup
    • Typically Romantic orchestra was MASSIVE (too many to type out!!!)
    • Charts cannot show the ingenious new combinations of instruments
    • Composers learned to mix instrumental colors, “orchestration” (use and combination of the instruments of the orchestra)
    • Romantic composers and audiences were fascinated by symphony orchestra, and 1st time conductors came to the fore (wielding batons)
    • Earlier, orchestras followed 1st violinist or continuo player; but now an expert to control balance was needed
    • Orchestra became important in 19th century opera
  • Program Music
    • Program music - a piece of instrumental music associated with a story or other extramusical idea
    • Not new in Romantic era, but it gained importance and prestige
    • Instrumental music was even more expressive
    • Occasionally restricted to music that tells/traces a story
    • Another type of program music adopts different strategy: capture the general flavor of mood associated with some extramusical state/concept/personality (prism?)
    • Word nocturne titled a whole genre of compositions by Chopin and sets up nighttime romance (music does the rest)
    • Program music sparked great debate in 19th century: does music really illustrate/represent the program? Could listeners tell the story with no program and just music? Shouldn’t music make sense on its own terms?
    • Romantics did not want to be without the program, didn’t want music to “make sense on its own terms”, and were prepared to live with apparent inconsistency (revered pure instrumental music, but embraced program music)
  • Form in Romantic Music
    • Individual spontaneity was important goal of Romantic movement (found in musical form)
    • Music bubbles movement by movement, like a churning emotion; but how do you control it?
    • Had to provide music with sense of coherence the listeners could follow
    • 19th century composers broke from Classical norms for musical form, wanting each work to express individuality in form and style
    • Followed sonata and rondo form loosely
    • Themes blend into one another and cadences aren’t clear/neat
    • Deliberately break boundary between music and nonmusical silence
    • Music had to avoid real formlessness to hold attention of audience (create impression of spontaneous form while giving listener means to follow)
    • Romantic compositions last for as long as works from 18th century, but special classes arose
    • Miniature(s) - a short, evocative composition for piano or for piano and voice, composed in the Romantic period
    • First composers cultivated “minis”, pieces lasting only a few minutes or less, (songs or short piano lessons) designed to convey particular pointed emotion (momentary and undeveloped)
    • Compost could commune with listener intense and intimately; meaning could be hinted at by title
    • Minis did not solve musical form problem but avoided it
    • Another Romantic piece was opposed to minis, called grandiose compositions (larger and larger symphonies, cantatas, etc.)
    • More movements, increased performing forces, and longer time span (such as Belioz’s 1.5hr Romeo and Juliet symphony)
    • Wagner’s opera takes the prize, lasting 4 evenings with a huge orchestra, cast of 30, and 15 different sets
    • Total effect was not just music but poetry, philosophical/religious ideas, story lines, and dramatic action
    • These also met the musical form problem in their own way (bigger work = bigger problem), composers  could draw on extramusical factors, words of vocal work, or program an instrumental one
    • Important principle developed by composers was thematic unity, increasing tendency to maintain same thematic material through whole works/movements
    • Themes from a movement can come back in any other movement
    • New versions of a theme were used at new, important points (either later or same movement)
    • Differs fundamentally from Classical theme and variations form
    • Much more fragmentary than a tune, new versions appear at irregular intervals in midst of other, unrelated music
    • Thematic transformation - a variation-like procedure applied to short themes in the various sections of Romantic symphonic poems and other works

The Early Romantics-Chapter 17

The Early Romantics

    • Considered most brilliant generation of composers were early Romantics
    • Franz Schubert, Robert Schumann, Frédéric Chopin, Felix Mendelssohn, Franz Liszt, Hector Berlioz, Richard Wagner, and Giuseppe Verdi
    • Only the last 4 survived to continue their major work into 2nd half of century
    • 2 general points worth making: 1st Beethoven’s music had profound effect on them, though it felt more strongly by German composers than non-Germans. 2nd composers were deeply influenced by literary Romanticism, which flourished since before they were born.
    • Shakespeare was admired, and nearly all mentioned composers wrote music associated with his plays
  • The Lied
    • lied - German for “song”; a special genre of Romantic songs with piano
    • One of the most important miniature genres of Romantic era
    • Melodies cannot be generalized, some consisting of more than a tune, others melodically more complex (but share characteristic features)
    • Accompaniment - lied is always accompanied by piano alone, and contributes significantly to artistic effect, the pianist becoming more of a partner than an accompanist
    • Poetry - text of a lied is usually a Romantic poem, but we need to think of how the poem’s words and meanings fit together as poetry. Art of lied depends on sensitivity of composer’s response to poetic imagery and feeling.
    • Mood - intimacy of expression that is captured: singer and pianist sharing an emotional insight with you rather than entire audience (intimacy of a living room and is best heard there)
    • Through-composed song - a song with new music for each stanza of the poem; as opposed to strophic song
    • Strophic - a song in several stanzas, with the same music sung for each stanza; as opposed to through-composed song
    • Song cycle - a group of songs connected by a general idea or story, and sometimes also by musical unifying devices
    • For words of songs, composers found whole coherent groups of poems or made their own selections from larger collection of a poet’s work
    • Advantage of song cycle was it extended fragile expression of the lied into a larger, more comprehensive, and impressive unit
    • Go beyond “miniaturism” even while composing miniatures. Unity of larger units is loose, individual songs can be sung separately as well as in sequence
  • The Character Piece for Piano
    • Besides lied, the short piano piece also existed under names such as Nocturne, Waltz, Scherzo, or Étude
    • Étude - a piece of music designed to aid technical study of a particular instrument
    • A good name for these pieces is character pieces
    • Character piece - a short Romantic piano piece that portrays a particular mood
    • Each conveys an intense, distinct emotion hinted at by imaginative title from the composer
    • Romantic character piece can be thought of as analogous to Romantic song (lied) without poem
  • Early Romantic Program Music
    • Lied and character piece were tied up with nonmusical (poetic) ideas
    • Various piano portraits are juxtaposed to hint at their interaction with a shadowy story line
    • Poems, stories, and nonmusical ideas in general were associated with large-scale instrumental pieces
    • Program music for orchestra grew in opera overtures, and an overture might gain special interest if referred to moods/ideas in opera
    • Concert overture - an early 19th-century genre resembling an opera overture - but without any following opera (never intended for the theater)
    • Program symphony - A symphony with a program, as by Berlioz

Romantic Music Overview

Step 1

Listen to the 3 examples below to answer the following questions

Share your overall impression of Romantic Period Music.

This is the point in music where it really starts to blend for me. There are distinguishable differences, but the music starts to sound more similar as it gets further from the Ancient music period. That being said, I can still tell that this is Romantic Period music and I greatly enjoy it. The emotion draw from the tempo holding out to the very last second is a tactic I have always enjoyed, and I was happy to learn of its origins. The music has a strong level of strength that brings you in and keeps you interested the entire time.

How does this music sound similar to Classical Music?

The Romantic period is very similar to Classical, following similar composition formats and orchestra layouts. The Romantic period still keeps similar forms such as sonata form, but adapted from it to make it more original yet cater to their audiences that wanted familiarity. The orchestra layout is similar, but the balance and number of musicians significantly shifted.

How does this music sound different from Classical Music?

The music from the Romantic period sounds like a much more intensified version of Classical pieces. The tempos are much quicker, dynamics are more crazily amplified, and it's much more difficult to predict where a piece will move. The symphonies are much larger in size, changing the balance of how the music sounds, as well as there are significant fluidity changes. The tempo slides around much more and is not as on-the-beat as it was in the Classical period.

 

Step 2

What musical elements help create the emotion and imagery of Love Dream by Franz Liszt?

This piece is performed on a piano, which already has a wide range of abilities to be able to create almost any mood or atmosphere necessary. Almost the entire piece is played at a very soft dynamic, allowing it to create the same effect as a soft and relaxing dream. There are a few parts that get to a much louder dynamic, but the notes are not aggressive as we normally hear as much as they feel as if they are yelling passionate love in the melody line. In the eighth notes that are played almost constantly throughout the piece, that simulates the idea of a dream as well. There is no language here except for the language of music (haha), but the expression and musicality of this entire piece really brings a lot of emotions out of the sound. You can almost feel the exact feelings of the performer and the composer just by listening to the tempo sway and the dynamics shift so freely.

 

Step 3

Describe the instrumental timbres used in Brahms Symphony No. 1

Very bright and piercing. The reeds have a very distinct sound when they are heard, but it primarily features the strings. The reeds have a very soft and almost distant sound to them. Around 1:30 there is the brass, with their very brassy and intense sound. The timpani also have a very hollow sound to it.

 

Step 4

Answer the following questions regarding Waldesnacht No. 3 by Brahms

Provide a text translation for this excerpt

The title translates to "Gloom of Woods". The lyrics seems to discuss different parts of forests: birds, moss, pine, branches, etc. but also a coolness, stillness, or peace. The song definitely does not sound like that of gloom, which is very interesting to me, and the lyrics (although a bit sad or gloomy), have a sense of peace to them that I did not imagine from reading the title (but certainly pictured from the sound of the song).

Is this an example of a miniature or grandiose composition?

This isn't a grandiose (a large symphony composition), but there is no piano either. But, this feels much closer to a miniature than a grandiose, so I'd say it's a miniature.

 

Step 5

Describe musical elements of Wedding March by Felix Mendelssohn

The opening of this piece starts with the brass in a relatively mezzo-piano dynamic repeating the same rhythmic line, then gets hit intensely at 0:10 with the percussion and the strings entering at a fortissimo dynamic. The tempo is relatively moderate (maybe a bit faster), and sounds to be in a major key. This idea is repeated over and over again, with some minor changes in between each and every one of them. There isn't really many counter melodies or anything, primarily the main melody line with everyone playing harmonies of this (besides the percussion or low strings).

 

Step 6

Answer the following questions regarding  Nocturne Op. 9 No. 2 by Chopin 

What is a nocturne?

A short piano composition having characteristics of being romantic, dreamy, and reminiscent of the night

Describe characteristics of Romantic music conveyed in this piece

The melody in this piece is very lyrical and free-forming, the tempo in this has ritardando(s) (similar to rubato in the slowing down of the tempo), there are some chromatic scales or patterns featured in the piece, and the tempo also isn't very identifiable, shifting around very freely. All of this are characteristics of the Romantic period that this piece utilizes.

Period Research

Gather resources of your own choosing to answer the following questions

Provide approximate dates for the Romantic Period punctuated with notable world/historical events

There were several Revolutions featured in the Romantic period. Of that were the Industrial Revolution (1780s-1840s) and the French Revolution (1789). Mary Shelley published Frankenstein in 1818, which was a very characteristic piece that depicts the Romantic period style. The first railroad was built in 1830 and the first electric light bulb in 1840 (Industrial Revolution!). We also saw the American Civil War (1861-1865), the assassination of President Lincoln, and abolishing of slavery (1865).

What impact did female composers have on the music of the Romantic Period?

The sisters, wives, and daughters of most famous composers were finally being recognized for their musical abilities, anywhere from compositions to playing piano. They were being more accepted, as well as some were determined to receive equal pay to their male counterparts (Louise Farrenc). Some, such as Clara Schumann, ended up putting themselves down because they were a woman and stated that they should not desire to compose. They were receiving education and jobs in the music world, and even wrote some pieces (such as Swan Song by Cacilie Mendelssohn) that became more popular.

What impact did the Industrial Revolution have on the music industry?

Thanks to the Industrial Revolution, we got much larger concert halls. In doing that, it allowed orchestras to be much larger and have more instruments. Since more people were working and living conditions were increasing, the middle class was "created". More people could afford to go see concerts, and in doing that, the audience's influence on music (mentioned earlier) became much larger (such as Beethoven's period).

Provide titles of Romantic Period Orchestral music that featured the English Horn 

Hector Berlioz was known for including the English Horn and Harp in his pieces, such as his Fantastic Symphony. Composers such as César Franck and Richard Wagner were also known for this inclusion as well. Niccolò Jommellis paved the way for the admission of the English horn into the orchestra. Initially the instrument was always used in pairs. One of the 1st composers to use the English horn regularly was Christoph Willibald Gluck. The English horn also gained popularity in Italian opera. At the beginning of the 19th century French musicians began to take an interest in the new-style low-pitched oboe, too.

Some examples: 4 Pieces for English Horn by Clémence de Grandval; Ezio by Niccolò Jommellis.

Provide titles of Romantic Period Orchestral music that featured the Harp

Some examples: Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy by Tchaikovsky (The Nutcracker), Harp Concertos by Handel

Use adjectives to describe the similarities between French Impressionism and the music of Debussy

Music impressionism was a movement focusing on suggestion and atmosphere, "conveying the moods and emotions aroused by the subject rather than a detailed tone‐picture".

Both of these two are similar and the adjectives apply to both:

Debussy's music has a very: airy, atmospheric, open, windy mood.

French Impressionism pieces have a very: blurry, relaxing, peaceful, soft mood.

Choose an impressionistic art image that best partners with The Afternoon of a Faun

Impression, Sunrise by Claude Monet (LINK)

Choose a musical selection by Debussy that best parters with Water Lilies

Rêverie by Debussy (LINK)

HONORS TRACK

Can Fanny & Clara come out to play?

Option 4

Use Chapter 16 from the Listen Book to provide detailed examples of art, literature, music, etc. using images, video and narrative for the following topics:

1.  The Cult of Individual Feeling

2.  Music and the Supernatural

3.  Music and Other Arts

PRESENTATION LINK: Link