Transcript Romantic Music

 M.socrative.com
– Room 38178
 QUESTIONS:



1. When is the Romantic period?
2. Why did artists resist patronage?
3. What is another name for the “starving artist”? (hint: starts with
a B)
Introduction
 Music
provided a medium to express emotion
 Romantic
 Though
music made stylistic changes to classical music
Romanticism was mostly a rebellion against
neoclassicism, in music it involved a more gradual and
natural extension of classical principles
 Spontaneity
 Longer
replaced control
and more complex phrases

Colorful harmonies and instrumentation

Any previous “laws” regarding key relationships could be broken
to achieve striking emotional effects.

Traditional distinctions between major and minor were blurred
with chromatic harmonies

Some composers used key changes so frequently that once you
found the key center, the music had changed to another one

The sharps and flats make the notes chromatic –
they pull those notes out of the current key (or
center) and create more complex harmonies

[this is just a chromatic melody, the
accompaniment would include accidentals
(sharps and flats) as well]

If you see lots of flats and sharps – it’s probably
Romantic music!!

More and more dissonance occurs and eventually becomes the
principal focus

Dissonance created emotion


Dissonance is a sound of “incompletion” or being “unfinished.” It wants
to go somewhere, but leaves you hanging
Created by playing nontraditional chords – notes right next to each other,
or outside the scale

Interest in timbre (tone color) lead to great diversity in vocal and
instrumental performance

Tremendous increase in the size and diversity of the orchestra
 Ludwig
 In
van Beethoven (1770-1827)
about 1820, Beethoven began to write passionate
compositions which often broke from the classical forms he
usually worked in
 Symphony
No. 9 (1824) is noted for his use of vocal soloists
and a chorus into the final movement


The classical symphony could not express all he felt
The trombone and several other percussive instruments are added
as well
 After
No. 9, many composers felt the need to experiment
 Symphony
No. 9 - Finale

Beethoven was the first “bohemian composer.”

He did not work for a church or aristocrat, he survived on his own
(money from performances and lessons – enough to get by)

Not having a “boss” allowed him to express his extreme
individualism

He could write as he pleased and challenge the public to follow
him

Mozart, for example, was always writing for someone else
 Composers
did not fall in Beethoven’s footsteps right away
 They
experimented first – smaller ensembles before
orchestras
 Starts
 There
with solo voice and piano works
will be LOTS of AMAZING Romantic symphonies, but
we’ll talk about them later
 Lieder
 Piano
Works
 Program
Music
 Symphonies
 Opera
 Lieder
means “art song”, composition for solo voice with
piano
 Began
the emotional experimentation in music – chromatics
and complex harmonies
A
poetic text allowed for a variety of lyrical and dramatic
expressions and linked music directly to literature

It was a burst of German lyric poetry that encouraged the growth
of the Lieder

Music added deeper emotional implications to the poetry

Some Lieder were complex, others were simple, some structured,
some not

Regardless, the piano was an inseparable part of the experience –
it explored mood and established rhythmic and thematic materials
before they were sung

Occasionally, it had solo passages of its own
 The
earliest and most important composer of Lieder:
Schubert (1797-1828)

Austrian
 His
troubled life epitomized the Romantic view of the artist’s
desperate and isolated condition
 He
wrote over 1,000 works – symphonies, sonatas, operas,
Masses, choral compositions, and Lieder


None were performed until the year of his death
We’ll look at his symphonies later
 “Scubertiads”
– a group of Schubert’s friends who would
gather for evenings of music

Numbers of his songs were only privately viewed by his friends until
after his death
 Died
of syphilis at the age of 31
 Der
Elkonig (The Erlking, 1815) is an excellent example of
Schubert’s work and Romantic music in general
 The
Erlking
 What

is the song about?
Listen to it FIRST and then we’ll sum it up
 The
piano plays a role in transmitting the mood of the piece –
the rapid octaves create tension
 The
melody in the bass line creates additional tension in its
dark minor key
 The
variety of music allows the soloist to sound like several
characters – the father, the song, and the Erlking
 You’ve
probably heard this one... Much happier and prettier
than the Erlking
 Ave
Maria
 Lieder
success came with developments and changes in the
design of the piano
 It
was much warmer and richer in tone than earlier pianos
 Improvements
in pedal techniques made sustained tones
possible and gave the instrument greater lyrical potential
 Una
corda (or soft pedal – changes the
timbre of the piano)
 Sostenuto (can sustain selected notes while
others go unaffected)
 Sustain pedal
 The
changes of the piano made it an almost ideal solo
instrument

It was popular in the Classical Period, but became even more
popular in the Romantic Period
 New
works were composed solely for the piano, ranging from
short, intimate pieces to larger works to show off the player

Pieces were much more difficult to play
 Schubert
wrote several, but the most celebrated pianist of
the 19th century and one of its more innovative composers
was Franz Liszt (1811-1886)
 1811-1886,
Hungarian
 He
enthralled audiences with his expressive, dramatic playing
 He
taught most of the major pianists of the next generation
 His
piano works include etudes, concertos, and 20 Hungarian
Rhapsodies based on Hungarian urban popular music (rather
than folk music)
 The
technical demands of Liszt’s compositions, and the
rather florid way he performed them, gave rise to a
theatricality

The primary focus was to impress audiences with flashy
presentation
 Fit
into the idea of the “artist as a hero”
 Hungarian
Rhapsody No. 2 - Tom & Jerry
 Chopin
 Wrote
(1810-1849), Polish
exclusively for piano
 Several
etudes, usually set to a single motif, and explored a
single technical problem

Etude: study, a piece not to perform, but to teach you something
 His
etudes explored the possibilities of the instrument and
eventually became short tone poems
 Wrote
intimate works such as preludes, nocturnes, and
dances (waltzes, polonaises, etc.)
 He
also wrote larger works such as scherzos, ballades, and
fantasies.
 All
of his pieces are highly individual
 His
melodies are lyrical and his moods vary
 Chopin’s

Nocturnes are his most celebrated works
Nocturnes: “night pieces”
 Nocturne
 The
in E flat Major Op. 9, No. 2
main theme alternates with others, almost rondo form
(ABABAC)

The melody is very graceful and lyrical over supporting chords

The melody uses notes close together (near by on an instrument)
and just a few widely spaced

Each time the main theme is repeated, its more elaborate and
ornamented

The work ends in a cadenza, which builds through a crescendo
(gradually gets louder) and finishes pianissimo (very softly)

Cadenza: a chance for the performer to show off what they can do. They
can play it at any tempo they desire.
 Again,

you’ll need to do music recognition
Should be EASIER than the classical period because pieces are more
individual
I
will ALWAYS play the obvious melody, I will not always start
at the beginning

It will always be the SAME excerpt
 All

of these links are posted on the website:
http://mrsbsteacherpage.weebly.com
 Liszt

– Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2
Fast part towards the end
 Chopin

– Nocturne Opus 9, No. 2
Beginning
 Chopin
 Franz
Nocturne Op.9 No.2 (Beginning)
Liszt Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 (7:07)