Romantic MH2X1

Question 1

Anton Diabelli -

Answer 1

Austrian publisher who publishes 10,000 works aimed at middle-class consumers and the parlor scene. In 1819 - as a promotional idea - he composed a waltz and invited composers to create variations on the theme. Schubert, Czerny, and Liszt contributed single variations Beethoven submitted 33 during his late period.

Question 2

Parlor Scene -

Answer 2

Center of musical life in the 19th century. Amateur music-making was strongly associated with well-bred middle-class women, who were expected to learn to play the piano and sing. Gradually the salon became an increasingly competitive vehicle for the channeling of art patronage as well as the exchange of ideas, leading to the composition and commissioning of many new works.

Question 3

Akademie -

Answer 3

Public concerts, featuring compositions dedicated to nobility, were organized for one’s own benefit. Beethoven was the first and other composers would follow. These events were important in the transition from the patronage system to the freelance artist.

Question 4

Heiligenstadt Testament-

Answer 4

October 6-10, 1802, while living in Heiligenstadt, Beethoven wrote a letter addressed to his brothers; but in reality, he is sharing his despair and thoughts of suicide over hearing loss with the world. In this testament which was found after his passing, he credits art as having saved him; “only art held me back.”
*His Third Symphony was his next composition.

Question 5

Scherzo -

Answer 5

(Italian, “joke”) Composition in ternary (ABA) form, usually in triple meter; often a part of a multimovement chamber or orchestral work. Beethoven replaced the minuet and trio typically used as the third movement with a scherzo in his third symphony. This innovation established its use in future compositions.
(other e.g., string quartet in c# min -3rd mvmt., and Symphony No. 5 third mvmt (elephant dance).

Question 6

Friedrich Schiller -

Answer 6

His poem, Ode to Joy - whose words emphasized universal fellowship through joy, and its basis in the love of an eternal heavenly Father - was used in Beethoven’s fourth movement of his 9th symphony. This was the first time voices were added to a symphonic work.

Question 7

Double Function Form-

Answer 7

Instrumental work which can be interpreted in more than one form. For example, Beethoven’s Symphony no. 9 movement 4 can be viewed as a theme and proceeded by fanfare and recitative, but also as sonata form up to G major slow section, but also as a concerto as it is split into 4 submovements having the 4 singers as the soloist in the concerto.

Question 8

Instrumental recitative -

Answer 8

An instrumental recitative is the use of one or more instruments to play a solo melodic line and a larger group in an accompanying role. The most famous example is in the Double Bass during the Fourth Movement of his Ninth Symphony. Beethoven, in French, inscribed “ in the manner of a recitative, but in tempo” on the score. The famous “Ode to Joy” grows from this instrumental recitative
Other e.g., Piano Sonata No. 17 (The Tempest), Piano Sonata No. 31.

Question 9

Janissary Band -

Answer 9

The Ottoman Empire Army used a Janissary Band to elevate their soldiers’ spirits and scare enemies. Beethoven used these instruments (triangle, timpani, drums, bells, cymbals) in his Turkish march of the mvm. 4 of his Symphony no. 9. Goethe would become a colossal figure in literature.

Question 10

Lied(er) -

Answer 10

Nineteenth-century German genre for solo singing and piano accompaniment birthed by Schubert’s composition “Gretchen am Spinnrade” on October 14, 1814. Features of this genre include, inter alia, elevated status of the piano from accompanying to creative partner and lyrics inspired by high brow literature and poetry. During the nineteenth century, Germany valued literature and literature by colossal figures such as Goethe would become a colossal figure in literature.

Question 11

Strophic/Modified -

Answer 11

Song with similar but not identical music for each stanza of text. Example: Schumann’s “An meinem Herzen, an meiner Brust” (“At my heart, at my breast”) from Frauenliebe und Leben.

Question 12

Strophic -

Answer 12

Song with identical music for each stanza of text/poem. Example : Schubert’s “Das Wandern” from Die schöne Müllerin.

Question 13

Through Composed -

Answer 13

songs with new music for each stanza of text. Example: Erlkonig by Schubert.

Question 14

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe-

Answer 14

Prominent German Romantic poet who shaped what became known as Weimar Classicism with the help of his friend Friedrich Schiller. His poem “Erlkonig,” set by Schubert in 1815 embodies the principles of dramatic unity.

Question 15

Song cycle -

Answer 15

A collection of lieder unified by a theme, topic, idea, or motive designed to be performed in sequence as a unit. Schubert’s Die schöne Müllerin and Winterreise Schumann Dichterliebe and Frauenliebe und -leben constitute the core of German lieder as a genre.

Question 16

Cyclism-

Answer 16

The reuse of music from an earlier movement and in a new movement within a larger multi-movement composition. Schumann, known for his use of lengthy piano (pre-, inter-, and post-) ludes, brings the postlude from Dichterliebe’s 12th song (Am leuchtenden Sommermorgen) in the final selection from the cycle -16h song (Die alten, bösen Lieder); Frauen liebe und leben the first song returns in the last no. 8. Beethoven (“fate knocking at the door” theme) from his 5th Symphony.
Other composers are known for the use of cyclism in their works: Beethoven, Brahms, and Bruckner.

Question 17

Die Neue Zeitschrift für Musik -

Answer 17

Bimonthly German periodical founded by Schumann in 1834. This first journal of music criticism promoted new composers, such as Chopin and Brahms, as well as spread awareness of older music by Bach and Handel. He wrote under the synonyms “Florestan” - known for a fiery temperament, and “Eusebius” - who was more sensitive. These characters were part of Schumann’s imaginary group of friends called “Davidsbund.”

Question 18

Adelbert Chamisso-

Answer 18

poet for Schumann’s Frauenliebe und -leben. Chamisso’s cycle of poems, written in 1830, describes the course of a woman’s love for her man, from her point of view, from the first meeting through marriage to his death, and after.

Question 19

Music criticism-

Answer 19

Largely read by the middle class, these nineteenth-century articles were written to promote new composers and spread awareness of older compositions. E.g., Der Comet and Die Neue Zeitschrift für Musik.

Question 20

Florestan/Eusebius-

Answer 20

Members of the “Davidsbund ‘’ depicted in Schumann’s Carnival - 21 short piano character pieces composed from 1834-35. These selections portray Carnival revelers and embody the fiery temperament of Florestan and sensitive quality of Eusebius; two sides of Schumann’s personality.

Question 21

Davidsbund -

Answer 21

A music society created by Schumann in his writings for the promotion of new composers and awareness of older compositions. The members included “Florestan” - known for a fiery temperament, “Eusebius” - whose temperament was more introspective, and “Master Raro” who was a balanced blend of the previous two. Schumann uses the pseudonym “Davidsbund” for his first article in the periodical Der Comet in 1833.

Question 22

Jean-Paul Richter-

Answer 22

German Romantic writer of the novel Flegeljahre, which inspired Schumann’s character pieces.

Question 23

Flegeljahre-

Answer 23

A novel by Jean Paul which inspired Schumann’s character pieces for piano.

Question 24

Musical Fragment -

Answer 24

A portion of a melodic line characterized by musical brevity, asymmetry, and incompleteness. Schumann used musical fragments in Carnival.

Question 25

Concert Overture -

Answer 25

A nineteenth-century independent one-movement orchestral work in sonata form with extra-musical connotation which does not have a program. Although Mendelssohn’s concert overture Midsummer Night’s Dream Overture (the first concert overture - 1826) was inspired by the Shakespearean play it was not intended to be played as an overture.

Question 26

Program Music -

Answer 26

An instrumental composition that attempts to depict objects and events through a non-musical narrative, usually given in a written program. The term first introduced by Liszt who defined the program as “a preface added to instrumental music, by means of which the composer intends to guard the listener against the wrong poetical interpretation, and to direct his attention to the poetical idea of the whole or to the particular part of it.” Berlioz created lengthy prose descriptions for each movement which were published in the French newspaper and handed out at performances of his premiere of Symphonie Fantastique.

Question 27

Incidental Music -

Answer 27

Music composed for a dramatic production in which it is not a dominant element and to which it is, therefore ‘incidental’; by extension, any music interpolated into a stage work, whether or not originally composed for dramatic use. In 1842 after a commission by King William IV of Prussia Mendelssohn created Ein Sommernachtstraum, which included his previous Midsummer Night’s Dream Overture and The Wedding March.

Question 28

Bach Revival -

Answer 28

Mendelssohn conducted the first modern revival of J. S. Bach’s St. Matthew Passion in Berlin in March 1829. This composition was not heard outside of its original venue following Bach’s death in 1750. This concert led to a revival of interest in the music of Bach. Mendelssohn’s intervention saved Bach’s music from obscurity.

Question 29

Leipzig Gewandhaus -

Answer 29

The Gewandhaus is a Concert Hall in Leipzig, German which served as the home for the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. Under the leadership of Mendelssohn conductor during the mid 18th century it became the finest in Germany. In 1829, he introduced the audience to Bach’s St. Matthew Passion which is the first performance of this work outside the original venue since Bach’s death in 1750. This performance led to a revival of Bach’s music. Also, first performance space for Clara Schumann when she was nine.

Question 30

Thematic Transformation-

Answer 30

Presentation of a recurring motif that keeps its basic shape and contour but returns in varied mood, instrumentation, meter, or tempo. This compositional technique is seen in Schubert’s Wanderer Fantasy and Beethoven’s Fifth and Ninth Symphonies but was largely developed by Berlioz (as seen in the transformation of the idee fixe of Symphony Fantastique) and would later be adopted by composers such as Liszt, Tchaikovsky, and Wagner.

Question 31

Character Pieces-

Answer 31

Shorter works for piano that seeks to convey an extra-musical idea such as a mood,
atmosphere, or scene without an accompanying narrative for the listener. E.g., Schumann’s Carnival,
Chopin’s Nocturnes, Mazurkas, Polonaises, Impromptus, and Etudes.