Test 3 Essay questions Flashcards
- One of the central issues of the War of the Romantics was the relative values of absolute music versus program music. Describe the two sides, identify the main figures involved in this debate, and explain the reasons that each side gave for their views for and against program music.
On the Conservative side of the Romantics (which was primarily the Berlin/Leipzig school), there was the belief that music need not have any programmatic associations and that it could be perfectly effective and expressive on its own. These musicians touted the music of Beethoven and Schumann as music of substance and condemned the program music being produced by Liszt, Berlioz, and others at the time.
The reason for the stance that the Progressives took was that they found the traditional
One of the claims often made about the 19th century is that the Romantics abandoned form. Explain why this is not true, and discuss attitudes toward and approaches to musical form among Romantic composers of the 19th century. Give specific examples from our repertoire to support your claims.
This is not true because:
In the War of the Romantics, there were two polarizing sides–the Conservatives and the Progressives–both of which were highly interested in musical form. The Conservatives were interested in preserving the traditional musical forms of the past, particularly those forms codified by the theorist Adolf Marx and those utilized by Beethoven. The Progressives were interested in developing new forms, but they were interested in forms nonetheless.
Examples:
• Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique is held together with an idée fixe rather than a conventional form
Schumann’s Symphony no. 4 is a great example of both traditional and innovative form (discuss his use of the musical cipher for Clara (C-B-A-G#-A)
Wagner is another great example: yes, he abandoned the conventions in place for number operas, but his use of leitmotivs unifies his music and makes his ideal principle of “endless melody” possible, effectively producing one large unified form.
Liszt developed the symphonic poem, whose form of which was essentially unified or embodied by some overarching “program” or extra-musical idea.
