Download The Romantic Era - The Spirit of Great Oak

By Ashley Underlee
“An artistic and intellectual movement originating in Europe
in the late 18th century and characterized by a heightened
interest in nature, emphasis on the individual's expression of
emotion and imagination, departure from the attitudes and
forms of classicism, and rebellion against established social
rules and conventions.”
 In a nutshell, “revolution, innovation, and increased
awareness of individuality”.
 Music came late to the stage of Romanticism, as most other
arts had made the transition by the late 1700’s


Historical Background

The French Revolution + Napoleon = Political Passion

Congress of Vienna created to bring territorial balance of power to
Europe (HA!)
 Through the restoration of the French government, individuals were able to
be driven emotionally, rather than intellectually as in the Enlightenment.

Industrial Revolution= $$$
 Emergence of Middle class enables a consumer-driven economy for musicians
and allows them to write whatever they wanted. Financial support came from
consumer now, not court or church

Focus is now on individual expression with emphasis on Nature and God
Amateur musicians, especially in the form of
large choral societies (England)
 Longer and more technically demanding
compositions
 Crucial source of inspiration came from
literature (Schumann)
 Motif of Nationalism spurred both by political
upheaval and revolution and by the dominance
of Austrian/German instrumental music

 Created with local folk tunes, traditional paintings or
poems, or the emergence of nationalist operas


Lied: art song for solo voice with piano
accompaniment.
Art songs: Romantic poetry set to music. He
often let the form of the poem shape the form of
his composition.
 Strophic: Same theme over and over
 Modified Strophic: Same tune but with significant
alterations according to text
 Through-composed: Recognizable themes, but with
no discernable form



Revolutionized world of solo performance,
Paganini with violin, Liszt with piano.
Liszt’s programmatic compositions were
single movement orchestral pieces called
symphonic poems or tone poems
Developed “thematic transformation” in
which a composition would contain a single
theme that would be developed throughout
the piece.



“Poet of the Piano”
He revolutionized many techniques including
the use of the sustaining pedal to extend
harmonic ideas, and the push to challenge
the physical limits to extend a pianist’s
repertoire
Pioneer in the use of tempo rubato: subtle
fluctuations in tempo to heighten emotional
content
“Revolutionized the world of music in general,
and opera in particular.”
 Leitmotiv: Leading Motive. Describes the
systematic use of recurring thematic material
 Wagner combined “idee fixe” (fixed idea) with
thematic transformation to identify characters,
places and things in his operas and to create a
running commentary
 Music Drama: Wagner’s concept of a single work
of art that incorporated all elements of the
artistic world. (18 hour long Der Ring des
nibelungen)


Character pieces
 Single-movement pieces, though not new, became a central
focus in the Romantic Period, especially for solo piano.
Followed simple ABA format and could range in length from 30
seconds to 15 minutes and evoked only one or two emotions.
These include tone poems and concert overtures.

Romantic Opera
 This period marked the evolution and the spread of popularity
of the Opera, especially in nations such as France, Austria and
Germany, Italy, and Russia.

Tchaikovsky
 Most famous Russian composer. In-the-closet, depressed
homosexual who married a woman and later poisoned himself
to “avoid being exposed in a homosexual scandal that would
have involved the composer and a wealthy aristocrat.”