romantic era 1820-1900 journal entry #1 music history focuses on composers, rather than performers....

ROMANTIC ERA

1820-1900

Journal Entry #1

Music history focuses on composers, rather than performers. Has that changed, or will history remember the song writers of today? Why/why not?

Literature

Victor Hugo – The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1831)

Charles Dickens – Oliver Twist (1844)

Alexander Dumas – The Three Musketeers (1844)

Edgar Allen Poe – The Raven (1845)

Mark Twain – The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884)

Art

Claude Monet – Impressionism, Water Lilies

Poppies Blooming

Paul Cezanne – Still Life with Apples

Van Gogh – Starry Night (1889)

History

Monroe Doctrine (1823)

Marx and Engels: The Communist Manifesto (1848)

Darwin – Origin of Species

American Civil War: 1861-1865

Alexander Graham Bell invents the TELEPHONE: 1876

Spanish-American: 1898

Chapter 1. Romanticism in Music

1820-1900

ROMANTICISM

Cultural mvmt: emotion, imagniation, individualityA rebellion against the age of reasonThe totality of the human experience

International mvmt, influenced all arts

Romantics drawn to fantasy: unconscious, irrational, world of dreamsNature inspired art

The physical world was seen as a source of consolation, a mirror of the human heart

Romantic

Large amount of composers during this time testifies to the richness and variety of romantic music and to its continuing impact on today’s concert and operatic repertoire

Forms from classical period

Greater ranges of tone color, dynamics, and pitch.

Romantic

More emphasis on colorful, unstable chords

Close link to the other arts- particularly literature

New forms developed that showed greater tension and less emphasis on balance and resolution.This period cannot be overly generalized—many traditional vs. radical composers.

Characteristics of Romantic Music

Individuality of styleUnprecedented emphasis on self-expression and individuality of styleUnique and often reflected their personalities

Expressive aims and subjectsExploration into feeling--flamboyance and intimacy, unpredictability and melancholy, rapture and longingSongs, operas glorify romantic love; lovers are often unhappy and face overwhelming obstacles


Nationalism- political movement that influenced 19th c. music.

Musical Nationalism- romantic composers deliberately created music with a specific national identity

Using the folk songs, dances, legends, and history of their homeland

Exoticism- fascination with national identity leading composers to draw on colorful materials from foreign lands


Program Music- instrumental music associated with a story, poem, idea, or scene.

Expressive Tone Color - Timbre is more important than ever before

Larger orchestras, more varied in tone color (up to 100 musicians)

Brass, Woodwinds, Percussion took on more active roles


New tone colors in woodwinds: contrabassoon, bass clarinet, English horn, piccolo (became regulars in the orchestra)

Piano was improved during the 1820’s and 30’s

A cast-iron frame was introduced to hold strings under greater tension, hammers were covered with felt, range was extended, use of damper pedal


Colorful HarmonyExplored new chords and new ways of using familiar chords

Rich, colorful, complex harmonies

Chromatic harmony: use of chords containing tone not found in the prevailing major or minor scale- use of chromatic scale tones

Unstable, dissonant chords used more

Use of wide variety of keys and modulations


Expanded Range of Dynamics, Pitch, and Tempo

Wider dynamics, extremes- ffff, ppppExtreme high and low pitches for increased brilliance and depth

Use of accelerandos, ritardandos, and subtle variations of pace

Rubato: slight holding back or pressing forward of tempo


Form: Miniature and MonumentalVery much and age of contradictions

Short songs and piano pieces, gigantic works- long, large number of performers

Typical romantic symphony may last 45 minutes

New techniques used to unify long works such as thematic transformation-

a melody returning in a later movement or section

its character may be transformed by changes in dynamics, orchestration, or rhythm

Chapter 2. Romantic Composers and Their Public

More freelancing than previous erasOutside aristocratic or church patronage

Inspired by Beethoven

Composed to fill an “inner need” rather than fulfill a commission

Partly due to economicsFrench Revolution, Napoleonic wars left aristocrats unable to afford to maintain private music endeavors

Merging of many tiny states into fewer, larger ones, left many musicians unemployed without courts

Industrial Revolution – enlarged middle class

Composers wrote even more for them

Romantic Era a time of many public subscription-based concerts opening

London Philharmonic Society (1813)New York Philharmonic (1842)

Many conservatories opened in Europe and United States

Public captivated more than ever by virtuosity

Best known Romantic virtuosos: Pianist Franz Liszt

Violinist Niccolò Paganini

Private music making more popular than ever – nearly every home had a piano

High demand for solo piano repertoire

Even operas and orchestral works arranged for piano

Few Romantic composers were able to support themselves through composition alone

Other income: lessons - especially to the wealthy, who could be overcharged (Chopin taught wealthy young women); music criticism; conducting

romantic era 1820-1900 journal entry #1 music history focuses on composers, rather than performers....

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