Transcript Romantic Period

Music, Theatre, Dance, Art
1825-1900
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Form
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Harmony
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chromatic harmony, accidentals, diminished, and dominant
sevenths and modulation to distant keys
Thick textures with full chords were popular
Piano was main instrument of this period
Rhythm
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character pieces, concertos, dances, etudes and variations
Complex rhythms with two notes against three were used
Sycopation
Style
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Expressive personal feeling, singing (cantabile) lines, varied
accompaniment figures, varied phrase lengths and varied
dynamics and tempos were popular.
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Symphony
Tone Poem
Concert Overture
Opera
Lieder
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Expansion of the Classical Symphony
Many movements (more than 4), many instruments
 Program Music- Told a story, uses musical themes to
represent characters
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Hector Berlioz- Symphonie Fantastique
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Told story of a young man’s love for a woman
Listen to the Symphony & see if you can recognize
reoccurring themes & music arranged to depict
emotion and action.
Tone Poem- similar to symphony because it tells a
story, but is one long movement.
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Ricard Strauss- Don Juan
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Overture
Introduction to an Opera, also program music
 Mendelsshon’s Fingal Cave Overture
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Opera
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Famous composers of Romantic Opera:
 Verdi, Wagner
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Lieder
German for “song”
 Melody (usually sung) accompanied by piano
 Poetry set to music
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 Shubert’s Erlkonig- listen to the story it tells!
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Before, most music was borrowed from
Germany, France, or Italy regardless of
composer’s nationality
Composers used native folk songs for melodies
in their music
Russian Composers
Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky, Rimsky- Korsakov
 Rimsky- Korsakov’s Flight of the Bumblebee
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Czechoslovakian Composer
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Dvorak
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Age of Independence
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Rise of the middle class, increase in population in
cities & towns
Classical period ideas gave rise to more
individual thought and want of rights
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Abiding Trust in nature’s goodness
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Equality of People
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Era of revolution (civil war in the United States)
Premium on detail
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Emotions & instinct more important than reason
Details are important on the pathway to truth
Ultimate Truth
Artist became misunderstood geniuses, common people could not
understand
 Lead to melancholy in the arts
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Art served an exhalted purpose
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The purpose of art was to lead people and resolve conflict.
Subjective
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Democratic criticism- one’s interpretation was as good as another’s
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Goethe- Faust
Schiller- William Tell
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Backdrops similar to
today
Gaslight lighting
More special effects
with traps doors,
running water, and
moving backdrops
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Brought the ballerina to new heights of
glamour and popularity
Male dancer's role decreased
1830-1840 - The Golden Age of Ballet
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Ballet became supremely popular during the
Romantic Era.
The most important composer and ballet
choreographer is Tchaikovsky
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The Romanticism movement saw the Golden Age of
ballet develop, as we see in Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker
Suite. The ballet is a narrative fantasy, for it shows the
toys of a child coming to life and having an adventure.
Part of the Nutcracker Suite is the "Dance of the Sugar
Plum Fairy," a fantasy of magic, whim, and emotion
typical of the Romantic period.
The Nutcracker shows two key elements of the
Romantic Period:
1.
2.
a tendency to portray life as it is not; it may distort the real
world in order to escape from it, and
reason came in second to feeling and intuition. Writers
abandon the old rules and started using stylized methods.
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Exposition
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A mysterious magician and toymaker once invented
a trap that killed off half the mouse population.
In revenge, the wicked Mouse Queen cast a spell on
Drosselmeyer's nephew, Hans-Peter.
Transformed him into an ugly nutcracker doll.
The only way to break the spell is for the Nutcracker
to slay the Mouse King and for a young girl to love
and care for him in spite of his awful appearance.
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Drosselmeyer gives his nephew to Clara as a
Christmas gift, hoping to end the curse.
At the end of the Christmas party, Clara goes
downstairs and finds Drosselmeyer waiting to
put her into a magical land
The magician summons the Mouse King and
he and The Nutcracker fight.
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The Nutcracker slays
the Mouse King, but
only through the
intervention of Clara,
who, out of
compassion, saves the
Nutcracker's life.
Hans-Peter is restored
to his real self.
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Clara and The
Nutcracker (now
Hans-Peter) travel to
the Land of Snow,
then the Sugar
Garden in the
Kingdom of Sweets,
where they meet the
Sugar Plum Fairy
Drosselmeyer honors
them for their
bravery.
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Returning to reality, Clara runs out to
Drosselmeyer, but sees the human form of The
Nutcracker instead
Drosselmeyer prays that his efforts will be
rewarded.
His nephew returns; the spell has indeed been
broken.
Watch a portion of The Nutcrackerhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9nn6Bco
RYo&feature=related
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Romanticism was a reaction to Neoclassicism
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deeply-felt style which is individualistic, exotic,
beautiful and emotionally wrought
North American Romantic artist
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Hudson River School
 Painter’s inspired by Thomas Cole’s paintings of the
American Wilderness
Thomas Cole’s
River in the Catskills