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1820-1900
 What
usually causes a new style to
emerge?
• Developments (Baroque)
• Rejection of old style (Classical)
• Invention of something new (Modern)
 Why
did the Romantic style emerge?
• Romantic composers copied the great Classical
composers and followed the standard rules.
• However, they expanded them…
Classical era had strict laws of balance and
restraint – Romantic composers allowed for
artistic freedom, experimentation, and creativity.
 The music was very expressive and the melody
was the dominant feature.
 Nationalism became a driving force in the late
Romantic period. Composers used folk music as
the subjects of their melodies to express their
cultural identity.
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 The Moldau by the Czech composer Bedřich Smetana
 from a set of six symphonic poems called Má vlast or My Country
 Each poem depicts some aspect of the countryside, history, or legends
of Bohemia.
 Composers began to experiment with:
• length of compositions
• new harmonies
• tonal relationships
 There was the increased use of dissonance
and extended use of chromaticism.
 Another important feature of Romantic
music was the use of color, with new
instruments as well as new or different
sounds out of the instruments already in use.
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Woodwinds
The woodwind section grew to include two or more bassoons, oboes,
flutes, and clarinets. Additional color instruments such as the
contrabassoon, the bass clarinet, the piccolo, and the English horn were
added.
Brass
The brass section began to utilize instruments with valves, which gave
this section a wider range and versatility. This section included trumpets,
horns, trombones, and tubas.
Percussion
In addition to the use of timpani, there was now the use of percussion
instruments such as bass and side drums, xylophones, celestas, gongs,
cymbals, castanets, harps, bells, triangles, and chimes.
Strings
While no additional string instruments were invented during this era,
the number of string instruments used in an orchestra increased in size to
balance out the addition of the larger brass and woodwind sections. They
experimented with, created, and used mutes, tremelo, harmonics,
pizzicato, and double stops.
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Celesta: It’s similar to that of an upright piano. The keys
are connected to hammers which strike a graduated set
of metal plates suspended over wooden resonators. On
four or five octave models one pedal is usually available
to sustain or dampen the sound. The three-octave
instruments do not have a pedal, due to their small
"table-top" design. One of the best-known works that
makes use of the celesta is Tchaikovsky's "Dance of the
Sugarplum Fairy" from The Nutcracker.
Castanets: The instrument consists of a pair of concave
shells joined on one edge by string. These are held in
the hand and used to produce clicks for rhythmic
accents. They are traditionally made of hardwood,
although fiberglass is becoming increasingly popular.
Contrabassoon: also known as the double bassoon is a
larger version of the bassoon, sounding an octave lower.
Its technique is similar to its smaller cousin, with a few
notable differences.
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English Horn: or cor anglais, Is a doublereed woodwind instrument in the oboe
family. It is a transposing instrument pitched
in F, a perfect fifth lower than the oboe (a C
instrument), and is consequently
approximately one and a half times the
length of the oboe. The fingering and playing
technique used for the English Horn are
essentially the same as those of the oboe.
Bass Clarinet: is a musical instrument of the
clarinet family. Like the more common
soprano B♭ clarinet, it is usually pitched in B♭
(meaning it is a transposing instrument on
which a written C sounds as B♭), but it plays
notes an octave below the soprano B♭
clarinet.
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The main instrumental musical traits of the Romantic
Era were virtuosity, individualism, and nationalism. As
chamber music became less and less popular, the
orchestra and the piano emerged as the new popular
trends of the musical world. As keyboard and
symphonic instruments became commonplace, short
piano miniatures and symphonic works became the
main staple or the era.
During the Romantic period, the virtuosity began to
be the focus. Exceptionally gifted performers - pianists,
violinists, and singers -- became enormously popular.
Liszt, the great Hungarian pianist/composer, reportedly
played with such passion and intensity that women in
the audience would faint. Most composers were also
virtuoso performers; it was inevitable that the music
they wrote would be extremely challenging to play.
Franz Liszt
1811-1886
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One of the new forms was Symphonic poem which is a piece of orchestral
music in one movement in which the content of a poem, a story or novel, a painting,
a landscape or another (non-musical) source is illustrated or evoked. Franz Liszt
was the first to use this term. This music is intended to inspire listeners to imagine
or consider scenes, images, specific ideas or moods, and not to focus on following
traditional patterns of musical form (e.g. sonata form). This intention to inspire
listeners was a direct consequence of Romanticism which encouraged literary,
pictorial and dramatic associations in music. Musical works which attempt to
inspire listeners in this way are often referred to as program music, while music
which has no such associations may be called absolute music.
Another was the art song , which was a vocal musical work with tremendous
emphasis placed on the text or the symbolical meanings of words within the text.
Likewise, opera became increasingly popular, as it continued to musically tell a
story and to express the issues of the day. Some of the themes that composers
wrote about were the escape from political oppression, the fates of national or
religious groups, and the events which were taking place in far off settings or exotic
climates. This allowed an element of fantasy to be used by composers.
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Danse Macabre: Dance of Death by
French composer Camille Saint-Saëns.
• Example of a Symphonic poem
• French text by the poet Henri Cazalis
which is based in an old French
superstition.
• According to legend, "Death" appears
at midnight every year on Halloween.
Death calls forth the dead from their
graves to dance their dance of death
for him while he plays his fiddle
represented by a solo violin with its Estring tuned to an E-flat in an example
of scordatura tuning. His skeletons
dance for him until the rooster crows at
dawn, when they must return to their
graves until the next year.
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Etudes
The etude was a study that showed off the performer’s technical
ability using arpeggios, octaves, scales, and chords.
Character Pieces
The character piece was a short programmatic work that had
descriptive titles, such as nocturne, ballade, rhapsody, intermezzo,
and songs without words.
Variations
A variation is a virtuoso piece that states a theme and then
modifies it through changes of rhythm, meter, and structure.
Stylized Dances
Stylized dances were popular dance forms such as the waltz ,
mazurka , polka , and the gallop.
Concerto
A concerto was an extravagant showpiece for a virtuoso soloist
and orchestra. The violin and piano were the instruments of
choice. This form had three movements, which was similar to that
of the concerto of the Classical era.
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Concert Overture
This form was a single movement work and was usually found in
sonata-allegro form. It was somewhat programmatic and usually had a
descriptive title. It was not an orchestral introduction to an opera. A few
examples were Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture, Mendelssohn’s Fingal’s Cave
Overture, and Brahms Academic Festival Overture.
Symphonic Variations
Very few orchestral works were written in variation form. A few
examples of this form are Brahm’s Variations on the Theme of Haydn,
Franck’s Symphonic Variations for piano solo and orchestra, and Elgar’s
Enigma Variations.
Symphonic Suite
These are programmatic works in several movements which do not
follow the symphonic form. Examples of this were Tchaikovsky’s
Nutcracker Suite, Rimsky-Korsikov’s Scheherazade, and Grieg’s Peer Gynt
Suite.
Dances
Orchestral music written in dance forms in pieces composed by Johann
Strauss Waltzes, for example.
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Mendelssohn’s Fingal’s Cave Overture
Fingal's Cave is a sea cave on the uninhabited island
of Staffa, in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland, part of a
National Nature Reserve owned by the National
Trust for Scotland
• Felix Mendelssohn visited in 1829 and wrote Die
Hebriden (in English, Hebrides Overture Opus 26,
commonly known as Fingal's Cave overture) because
he was inspired by the weird echoes in the cave.
•
 Symphonies
were composed by a number
of Romantic composers. These symphonies
were very different from the ones written
during the Classical era.
 These differences included:
• Freer form of the internal structure of the movement
• Variation on the number of movements
• The symphony evolved from a formal design to a
creative means of expression
• The inner movements had more contrasting keys
within them
• Solo voices and choral sounds were added to the
symphony.
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Beethoven was responsible for bridging
the gap between the Classical and the
Romantic eras. In his music, he tried to
achieve a balance between the more
structured, clear and strict Classical form and
the newer exotic, innovative, and passionate
music of the Romantic style. Other composers
of this era followed suit, trying to maintain the
balance that Beethoven’s music displayed.
Beethoven’s 9th Symphony: This symphony
was the first example of a major composer
using voices in a symphony. The words are
sung during the final movement by four vocal
soloists and a chorus. They were taken from
the "Ode to Joy", a poem written by Friedrich
Schiller in 1785 and revised in 1803, with
additions made by the composer.
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Johannes Brahms was born in 1833 of German heritage. He
began his musical career by playing the piano. He met the
important musicians Clara Schumann and her husband Robert
Schumann when he was on a tour of Europe. Robert Schumann
and Beethoven were strong influences on Johannes Brahms. His
first published work, a piano sonata in C major, combined
Schumann's tender lyricism with Beethoven's overwhelming
energy. So inspired was he by Beethoven's symphonies that it
took Brahms more than 10 years to write his first. It was instantly
hailed as "Beethoven's Tenth."
Stylistically, as more time passed, Brahms music became more
refined and distinctly stylized from other composers. He often
achieved a balance between the Romantic exaggeration and
experimentation of the era with the structural clarity of the
Classical era. He was a composer of numerous waltzes : No.1,
No.2, No.3, No.4, No.5.
Another famous Brahms composition is Intermezzo Op. 117
No. 1 in Eb Major, and No. 2 in Bb Major. The most dramatic of
Brahms' works was the Cantata Rinaldo. After this, he never
attempted to compose another opera. His later works are
characterized by their warmth and color.
Hungarian Dance No. 5
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Felix Bartholdy Mendelssohn was a famous German composer.
Born in 1809, and like other virtuoso composers, he was a child
genius when it came to music. At age nine he gave his first piano
concert, composed productively from the age of ten, and was ready
to conduct the Sunday morning musicales that were the joy of his
youth, by age thirteen. At age seventeen, he composed one of his
well known works, The Midsummer Night's Dream. One part of this
work was the "Nocturne."
Inspired by the music of J.S. Bach, Mendelssohn arranged for a
performance of Bach's Passion According to St. Matthew, which had
not been performed in the eighty years since Bach's death. Along
with his friend Devrient, Mendelssohn raised money, engaged the
soloists, sold tickets, trained the chorus, and played the organ for
what were three sold out shows. Mendelssohn continually promoted
J.S. Bach throughout his lifetime and is partly responsible for the
formation of the Bach Society.
Mendehlssohn went on to complete the Scotch and Italian
Symphonies, and a new piano concerto called the Reformation
Symphony. One of his most famous works is Elijah, an oratorio that
he composed and conducted. Mendelssohn also composed two
other well known pieces, Fingals Cave Overture and the Wedding
March. Later in life he became the director of the first German
Conservatory of Music in Leipzig, where he also taught.
Mendelhssohn's music is marked by a delicacy, sparkle, seamless
flow, and clarity.
Sinfonia IX in C minor
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Franz Schubert was a very musically talented child. Of
Austrian descent, he was taught to play the violin by his father
and the piano by his brother. The choirmaster at his church
trained his voice. At age eleven, he was sent to a private music
school in Vienna. There he sang soprano in the choir and
played second violin in the school orchestra. He grew to
appreciate the music of Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven.
When his voice changed, he left school and became a
teacher in his father's school. After doing this for three years
and feeling unfulfilled, he quit and focused on composing full
time. Always living on the brink of starvation, yet always
composing, Franz Schubert would spend the rest of his life in
Vienna.
Schubert was eighteen when he wrote the masterpiece
song Der Erlkonig. It wasn't accepted right away, as the public
was critical of the dissonance in the accompaniment and its
strange sound. However, today it is considered one of the
greatest songs ever composed. Some other very well known
works of Franz Schubert are Die Forelle, and Ave Maria. He
composed over six hundred songs; in 1815 alone, he wrote
one hundred and forty-four songs. He has been quoted as
saying "I complete one song only to begin another."
His last work was his Unfinished Symphony which is
comprised of only the first and second movements. Schubert
died at the young age of thirty-one. On his tombstone it reads,
"Music hath here entombed a rich treasure but a still fairer
hope."
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Russian born, Tchaikovsky is regarded today as one of the
greatest and most popular symphonists, second only to
Beethoven. As a person, he was extremely fragile, sensitive, and
charming. His first symphony was not well received which made
him extremely upset, as he had labored so hard over the
completion of this work. A similar thing happened to another
work of his, the B Flat Minor Piano Concerto. His teacher of the
time, Nikolai Rubinstein, criticized the piece. This outraged
Tchaikovsky, and he grew so angry that he took back the
dedication to his teacher on the piece, and moved out of
Rubenstein's house.
Some of Tchaikovsky's most famous works are The Romeo and
Juliet Overture, the opera Eugen Onegin, and his Violin Concerto in
D major, Op. 35. Tchaikovsky also composed the score to the wellknown ballet, The Nutcracker. This piece is a multi-movement
work and is typically performed around Christmas time. "Dance
of the Sugar Plum Fairies," "Trepak," "Arabian Dance," "Chinese
Dance," "Dance of the Reed Flutes," "Waltz of the Flowers" are
parts of this work. He is regarded today as one of the most
expressive Romantic composers to come from Russia.
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The Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi had a life full of trials and
tribulations. At age twenty-eight, he was a happy man as he had
just written his first opera, Oberto, and was living in Milan with his
wife and his two small children. Unfortunately this happiness was
soon interrupted, as his two children and his wife died within
months of each other. Due to his extreme loss, he became
depressed and did not work for many months. His first work after
this tragedy, a comic opera entitled King for a Day, was not
received well by the public. Giuseppe Verdi vowed never to write
again.
Eventually, Verdi came into contact with a play that inspired
him to write a musical score. This became one of his masterpiece
operas Nabuco. The public instantly proclaimed it a success, and
they gave it thunderous applause the first time it was performed.
Verdi wrote additional operas entitled: Attila, Macbeth, I Lombardi,
and Ernani. Other famous operas which he composed were
Rigoletto, La Traviata, Don Carlos, La Forza del Destino, I Vespri
Siciliani, Il Trovatore, Simone Boccanegra, and Un Ballo in Maschera.
Another famous opera of Verdi's was Aida. This opera was
written for the opening of the Suez Canal and was performed in
Cairo in 1871 for the first time. It was received with tremendous
applause, and is one of the most emotional, lyrical, expressive,
and skillful operas ever written. The last opera he wrote was
Falstaff, a comedic opera that showed wit an charm (a surprising
feat considering he wrote it when he was eighty years old). He is
one of the greatest masters of opera.
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Giacomo Puccini was a master of the
Romantic Italian opera. He studied
Opera at the Conservatory of Milan.
He was able to go there due to a
grant given to him by the Queen of
Italy. He is well known for his opera
La Boheme, which depicts the
Bohemian lifestyle. He won 1000
Italian lire in a contest for his
composition Capriccio Sinfonico. His
other well-known operas are Tosca,
Madame Butterfly, La Rondine, and Il
Triptyh.
 Music
Notes – Music History
 http://library.thinkquest.org/15413/hi
story/music-history.htm
 Wikipedia
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romant
ic_music
 New World Encyclopedia
 http://www.newworldencyclopedia.or
g/entry/Romantic_music