Romantic Period Flashcards
Romantic period
- composers were freelancing artists
- napoleonic splits classes
- industrial revolution brings back middle class
- people start learning music, schools pop up
- composers now part of middle class (instead of lower class, creating music for upper class)
Events of Romantic era
- Napoleon taking over continent
- split between upper and lower class
- internal strife amongst composers
- cultural movement that expressed imagination
- music was more for the self, composers wrote for self, forget conformity, rules, structure
- chamber music was private, in smaller intimate locations
Characteristics of Romanticism
- individuality of style/music reflected on personality
- conceptualized the real world: demons, devils, witches, fairies
- used sounds of nature
- programmatic music (imagery)
- nationalism (folk tunes, dances, legends)
- instrumental music assoc. with a story
- expanding orchestras> concert halls
- bigger, louder, layered sound, chromatic colorful harmony
- also had small works and pianists
Romantic composers
Schubert Schumann Chopin Liszt Mendelssohn Berlioz Dvorak Tchaikovsky Brahms Verdi Puccini Wagner
Art song
- for one voice and a piano only
- franz Schubert was the pioneer of art songs
- flourished in romantic time
- written by German or Austrian composers
- wrote in native tongue
Song cycle
Group of art songs put together
Concept album
A concept, create songs related to that concept
Earl kirnig
King of elves who kills children, art song
Tone poem
Evoke nature
Franz Liszt
Example: Romeo and Juliet
Ternary form
ABA
Robert Schumann
- most prolific piano composer
- piano virtuoso, German
- good music critic, original composer
- breaks mold of how romantic music perceived
- wrote piano sonatas
- had total mental breakdown, broke hands to play piano better>composed symphonies, chamber music, art song (got darker)
- then met wife, Claira, also a composer
Frederic Chopin
-composed music just for piano
-French, a pianist
-created miniatures
-created own style: improvise
-wrote atudes (works you study), turned into sounds played in concert halls
•expanded them, more difficult
•”Nocturne Op.9 No. 2” waltz in left hand,
fancy right
Franz Liszt
- Hungarian
- insanely good piano player
- wrote very difficult piano works
- first person to develop tone poem(part of of larger work)
Felix Mendelssohn
- stuck with classic form, changed all harmony inside the form
- incredible Romantic composer, elegant balanced music
- wrote symphonies, concerti, programmatic music*
- famous for violin concerto: balances soloist and orchestra
- “midsummer nights dream” wrote wedding march
- German
Hector Berlioz
-“Symphony Fantastique” written while high on opium
•about a woman, rejects him,
obsessed with her
•one of most famous programmatic songs
•man beheaded in 4th movement
•witches sabbath, look to sacrifice in 5th
-idee fixe: glue in which mvts come together
-French, program symphony composer
Antonin Dvorák
- came to New York in 1892
- combine Czech and sounds of America (Native American tunes and African American spirituals)
- Czech and American composer
Peter Tchaikovsky
- lived very difficult life
- gay, attempted suicide
- society saw him as lost artist
- important Russian romantic composer
- wrote tone poems, chamber, symphonies, concertos, etc.
- “Romeo and Juliet” programmatic song
Johannes Brahms
- based music on classic form
- German
- shumann helped form music career “best composer that ever lived”
- created masterpieces in all trad’l forms, but opera
- living in shadow of Beethoven (took till 45 to write a symphony)
- 2 piano concertos/ wrote polyphonic music
- used classical form, but harmonized and syncopation
- 3rd symphony: lyrical melody, moderate tempo, classical orchestra (no brass), mixture of harmony, doesn’t use normal form (fast slow fast)
Giuseppe Verdi
- known for operas, most famous: Jabuko (mirrored Italians being moved out of homes)
- masterpieces: Rigoletto (rape), la traviato (glorified free love)
- told stores that were taboo, scandalous
- Rigoletto: boss knows he loves Gilda, boss(Duke), dress as poor man, has her fall for him, rigolatro plans dukes death, she finds out, still picks duke
- wrote fluff pieces(not serious)
- Italian opera composer
Giacomo Puccini
- opera star, most popular: la Bowem
- nessun dormia: princess will marry anyone who can correctly answer all 3 riddles, man gets first 2 but if get last one wrong> executed
- wrote fluff pieces (not serious)
- Italian opera composer
Richard Wagner
-German opera composer
-nationalistic
-Hitler said Wagner was his favorite composer, became nazi composer
-most famously wrote “Ride of the Valkyries”
•mythical creatures risen by women to pick
up armor on battle field to reuse, since
didn’t lose
Smetna
-classical form of movements> make tone poems (1 movement)
-“my homeland” compilation of tone poems
-founder of Czech national music
-most famous piece “the Moldau” (Mississippi River of Czech)
•tone poem, old Czech folk tunes, nat’listic
•emulate sound of water at beginning
•dancing poolside, party if he Gods
Schubert
Art song
Austrian
Romantic sound
- melody was passionate
- chromatic scales used
- contrast between phrases were vivid
- variety of melodic ideas in one movement
- rhythms changes a lot
- thicker texture, bigger orchestras
- rich, colorful, complex harmonies
- increased use of harp, cymbals, and triangle
- more brass
- more dissonance
