Final Exam - Romantic Era Flashcards
Romantic Era Dates
1830-1900
Themes of the Romantic Era
Love, Fear, Death, Longing, Love of country
Characteristics of the Romantic Era
Long musical lines
increased chromaticism
Increased use of prolonged dissonance & suspension in harmony
Chromaticism
name given to the use of tones outside the major or minor scales
Dissonance
discordant sounds, or lack of harmony in music
What increased in the Romantic era?
the size of orchestras and the works written for them
What was Hector Berlioz’s major piece?
Symphonie Fantastique
Key details of Symphonie Frantastique
Composed in 1830- Kicking off Romantic era
5 movements
Programmatic music
instrumental music that attempts to musically render an extramusical narrative
5 Movements of Hector Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique
- Daydreams- filled w passion and longing. The initial statement of the idee fixe.
- A Ball- festive dance w many distractions but the image of his beloved disturbs his mind
- Scene in the country- 2 shepherds play a duet. giving a sense of hope until one stops answering
- March to the Scaffold- a drug fueled nightmare where the artist kills his beloved and watches his own execution.
- Dream of Witches’ Sabbath- where a horriffic party of witches/monsters/ creatures gather for his funeral. The beloved appears grotesque.
Idee Fixe
an idea or desire that dominates the mind; an obsession.
Dies irae
Medieval Chant for the dead
How did Hector Berlioz come up with Symphonie Fantastique?
inspired by his relationship with Irish actress Harriet Smithson
antidote
a medicine taken or given to counteract a particular poison.
Vial
a small container, typically cylindrical and made of glass, used especially for holding liquid medicine
What composer wrote a piano transcription for Symphonie Fantastique?
When was the piano transcription for Symphonie Fantastique written?
What is a piano transcription?
Who was Franz Liszt?
Virtuoso pianist who toured all over Europe who induced hysteria
How did Franz Liszt earn a living?
Ticket sales alone!
How often was Franz Liszt performing?
in 10 years he preformed over 1000 concerts, 3-4 per week in Europe
What is it called when a composer takes another composer piece of music and writes it for their own instrument?
Who inspired Franz Liszt?
Violin Virtuoso Niccolo Paganini
Franz Liszt life notes
- Hungarian/
- pianist/composer 1811-1886
-musical father he died when Franz was 15
-began composing at 10 - very difficult works
- turned to religion in his life
Romantic Era Themes in Franz Liszt work
Super Natural - Mephisto Waltz
love of country- Hungarian Rhapsody # 2.
Religion- two legends
love Liebestraum #3
death- From the Cradle to the Grave
Clara Schumann
1819–1896
Famous German concert pianist, composer and music teacher, wife of the composer Robert Schumann, whose innovations in performance during a 60-year career helped to shape the standard modern-day piano repertory.
Georges Bizet
a French composer of the Romantic era. Best known for his operas in a career cut short by his early death, Bizet achieved few successes before his final work, Carmen, which has become one of the most popular and frequently performed works in the entire opera repertoire.
Carmen (composed 1875)
-Not so subtle themes of love
- Georges Bizet
- Bridged the gap between opera buffa and realism
- a searing depiction of a woman who craves love, but creates obsession and jealousy, is one of the most popular operas ever written.
Opera Buffa
“comic opera”,is a genre of opera. It was first used as an informal description of Italian comic operas variously classified by their authors as commedia in musica, commedia per musica, dramma bernesco, dramma comico, divertimento giocoso.
Claude Debussy (french)
-1862- 1918
-Most influential impressionist composer
-stubborn rebel
- Broke barriers by arranging notes in ways that has not been done before
- left his wife for a singer
- created large sweeping sounds like water in The Sunken Cathedral
Maurice Ravel
- 1875- 1937
- coined an impressionist composer
- French father Spanish mother
https://www.classicfm.com/composers/ravel/guides/ravel-15-facts/joseph-ravel-2/
Salon
where composers perform their music, likely on a piano. 19 Century romantic era
Lied/Lieder
German work for Songs
song cycle
set of related songs often on a romantic theme intended to form a single musical entity.
impressionism
19 century France. music based on mood and atmosphere
suspension
accented non chord tones occurring on downbeats.
Tonality
character of a piece of music as determined by the key in which it is played
Atonality
without tone.
Composers started to break notes free from their scales and traditional rules of harmony
chords were no longer consonant or dissonant
every note equally important.
“modern Art”
Arnold Schoenberg
Indeterminate Music
Composing approach in which some aspects of a musical work are left open to chance or to the interpreters free choice. John Cage
Prepared piano
has objects placed on or between the strings, or some strings returned to produce unusual tonal effect
minimalism
use of limited resources (pitches, rhythm, instruments) Which change very slow over time
