Romantic piano music

Question 1

Melody (Chopin)

Answer 1

• Long lyrical melodies.
• Melodies often include virtuosic ornamentation.
• Repetition of melody with improvisatory variation.
• Regular phrase lengths break down as piece progresses.
• Melodic differences/contrasts often reconciled as the piece progresses.
• Chromaticism often used in melody.

Question 2

Harmony (Chopin)

Answer 2

• Harmony based around primary chords.
• Extensive use of diminished harmony.
• Preponderance of imperfect cadences.
• Expressive appoggiaturas in lyrical melody.

Question 3

Tonality (Chopin)

Answer 3

• Use of tonic major/minor equivalence.
• Some use of tonic-dominant relationships.
• Use of tertiary key relationships.
• Sometimes abrupt transitions to unrelated keys.
• Modulation through enharmonic equivalence.

Question 4

Structure and form (Chopin)

Answer 4

• Prominent use of ternary form, often with truncated or modified return.
• Use of hybrid and dynamic forms.
• Larger sections sometimes have a precise internal structure but may also be more free.
• Longer forms often have a narrative structure, with elements of strophic form.

Question 5

Texture (Chopin)

Answer 5

• Distinct melody and accompaniment.
• High melody with rocking arpeggeaic LH accompaniment.
• LH accompaniment often interacts with melody.
• Often evokes a chorale through simple chordal writing.
• Countermelodies often appear and then disappear, creating an inconsistent texture.

Question 6

Rhythm (Chopin)

Answer 6

• LH triplet accompaniment often contrasts with quaver rhythm in melody - cross rhythms.
• Rhythm of ornamentation becomes increasingly quick as piece progresses.
• Rhythm of melody often uses long note values, especially at the start of phrases.

Question 7

Piano writing (Chopin)

Answer 7

• High degree of virtuosity.
• High degree of intimacy.
• Improvisatory in approach.

Question 8

Melody (Brahms)

Answer 8

• Melodies often based on notably short fragments of two or three notes.
• Thematic integration - use of techniques such as inversion and augmentation.
• Often regular phrase lengths.
• Use of strict variation techniques as the piece progresses.
• Melodic and thematic connections often resolved/revealed in the coda.
• Expressive leaps requiring sudden hand movements.

Question 9

Harmony (Brahms)

Answer 9

• Extended chords.
• Prominent use of dissonance, including unprepared.
• Extensive chromaticism.
• Strongly functional - dissonance always has a purpose.
• Extensive use of diminished harmony.
• Regular use of perfect and imperfect cadences.
• Phrases repeated with more expressive and dissonant harmony.

Question 10

Tonality (Brahms)

Answer 10

• Significant reliance on subdominant key relationships.
• Use of tertiary key relationships.
• Modulation through enharmonic equivalence.

Question 11

Structure and form (Brahms)

Answer 11

• Prominent use of ternary form - often with exact return of A.
• Inclusion of archaic (Baroque?) forms e.g., variation form, canon.
• Structure often based around 2 strongly contrasting ideas/atmospheres.
• Larger sections often have a very precise internal structure.

Question 12

Texture (Brahms)

Answer 12

• Often very very thick texture, with equal weight given to all parts.
• ‘Symphonic’ texture.
• LH accompaniment often spans multiple octaves with carefully voiced octave displacement.
• Use of contrapuntal techniques such as canon, inversion of parts and imitation.
• Often evokes a chorale through simple chordal writing.
• Consistent textures.

Question 13

Rhythm (Brahms)

Answer 13

• Metrical displacement.
• Shifting of accents.
• Cross rhythms between hands.
• Bardic style found in the rocking rhythms - long-short-long-short.

Question 14

Piano writing (Brahms)

Answer 14

• Dense and technical writing.
• Requires strong independence to bring out distinct parts.