the early romantics (ch19) Flashcards
1
Q
romantic vs classical
A
The first generation of romantic composers found new ways to engage the established music genres of the 18th century.
Unlike the simple, natural classic music, romantic music was identified with a search for the original, interesting, expressive, and extreme,
2
Q
Social and political factors
A
- The celebration of individualism
- Democratic revolutions
- The Industrial Revolution allowed for the manufacturing of instruments.
- Sought to give more rights to individuals,
- American revolution, the French revolution, revolutions of 1848, abolishing of slavery,
- Industrial revolution, more people were making more money creating a new class in society,
- Population of music and art lovers grew exponentially,
3
Q
german song LIED
A
- Lieder composers – grouped their songs into collections with unifying characteristics such as the text of a single poet or a common theme.
(this is called a song cycle)
this format allows telling a story throughout songs
- Providing a balance between small and large forms, lyric and narrative content, unity and variety
4
Q
musical traits
A
- bringing unique narratives to life by using unique expression of motions, using more dissonance, expanding instrumentation,
- No more recycling music, with the emphasis on individual expression led to the rise of Beethoven,
5
Q
Franz Schubert - 1797-1828
A
- German composer
- Characteristics of the romantic lied,
- Many songs are performed for friends and gatherings,
- Many are simple and convey uncomplicated feelings - Others are sweet and melancholy – some are intense and dramatic,
- Known for beautiful melodies that flow equally,
6
Q
Schubert’s songs
A
- Possessed good melodies,
- Strong sense of Harmonic colour
- Complex modulations where the tonality is kept suspense,
- Harmonic boldness,
- Use of poetry - if it has a single image, he uses a strophic form
- Strove to make music equal to the words, not frame,
7
Q
Nawm 132 – Gretchen am spinnrade.
A
- The whir of the spinning wheel by a constant rising and falling 16th note in the right hand,
- Perpetual motion of the treadle in the left-hand
- The piano introduces the song’s mood and central image in a short prelude before the voice enters,
- We know from the music what she is doing, for example stopping the wheel,
8
Q
Solo music for the piano schubert
A
- Becoming a salon or living-room instrument,
- Demand for amateurs and professionals,
- Freelancer Franz Schubert – 11 sonatas and the wanderer fantasise 1822,
9
Q
chamber music schubert
A
- Chamber works such as quartets by Franz Shubert
- These pieces are more dramatic of concert music than entertaining diversions for amateur players.
- Mater piece – string quintets in c major (nawm 144)
o Added second cello with deep range,
10
Q
orchestral music schubert
A
- Unfinished Symphony no 8 1822 – called the first truly romantic symphony by its songlike melodies.
- First attempt at a large-scale symphony,
11
Q
Robert Schumann 1810 – 1856
A
- Concentrated in all major genres, but one at a time.
- Piano, chamber, symphonies and dramatic music during his last decade.
- Married to Clara, she was among the foremost pianists.
- Intense interest in literature, and after his finger got cut off, he turned to that.
- 1840 – most of his piano compositions were written.
12
Q
piano music schumann
A
- Master of the miniature form,
- The bulk of piano compositions are short character pieces,
- Titles are evocative, meant to stimulate imagination and suggest possible meanings for the effects,
13
Q
Nawm 136 – carnaval (a-c)
A
- Conjures up a masquerade ball in carnival season through 20 short pieces with dance rhythms,
- A – slow, dreamy fantasy with a slow un-dancelike melody,
- B – is a fast, impassioned waltz full of angular melodies, pulsating dissonances, and offbeat sforzandos.
- C – presents a new contrast, still a waltz, like Florestan, but now all lilt and charm,
- Each movement lacks a clear harmonic conclusion and remains open to extension,
14
Q
Schumann songs
A
- Schumann was the first important successor to Schubert,
- Schumann’s style is restless and intense whereas Schubert’s maintains a classical serenity.
- Wrote more than 120 songs in 1840, his year of songs.
- Concentrated on love songs, passions and frustration of love,
15
Q
Nawm 133 a-d Dichterliebe op 48
A
- Chose 16 poems from Heinrich Heines and arranged them to suggest the various stages of a relationship.
o Song cycle genre, so basically poetry – this genre finally had a name in the 19th century. - A – confesses a newborn love, tension between voice and piano express his tentative feelings,
- Making the piano accompaniment as important as the voice,
o The voices / the lyrics of the poetry are bright and loud - Not settling into a key ending the song in Dom 7th,
16
Q
Clara Schumann 1819 - 1896
A
- Long career as a pianist, composer and teacher,
- Women composers were discouraged from tackling large-scale works like symphonies, but she did compose a concerto,
- Showcased her own and her husband’s works,
- She wrote chamber music also, small works because women were looked down upon.
17
Q
Nawm 145 piano trio in g minor op17 1846
A
- Combines traits from baroque, classic and romantic,
- Rich polyphonic treatment, development through motivic fragmentation and imitation, fugue and rousing codas,
- The second movement is a minuet tempo and is labelled scherzo to highlight it’s subtle rhythmic,
- Third movement 145 is outwardly simple in form, a modified ABA with a melancholy first section,
- The opening melody appears three times, in different instruments
18
Q
Felix Mendelssohn 1809-1847
A
- Works sound more classical, this is because they exhibit a mastery of the sonata and concerto forms of Mozart and Beethoven,
- Counterpoint of Bach and Handel
- Combined elements of romanticism and classism,
- Concentrate on his works for orchestra such as violin concerto and oratorio,
- He was well-traveled,
19
Q
Orchestral works of Mendelssohn
A
- Classical models with departures that show the strong influence of romanticism,
- The two most important symphonies – the Italian no 4 and Scottish no 3
- Keeping with the literary and descriptive aspects of romanticism, they preserve impressions he gained of sounds and landscapes on trips to Italy and the British Isles,
20
Q
Concertos of Mendelssohn
A
- Emphasized the musical content, striking a balance between audience appeal and sophistication that connoisseurs praised in the concertos of Mozart,
- Violin concerto – three movements are linked by thematic content and connecting passages,
- Skips the exposition that was usual in classical concerto and instead has the soloist state the main theme at the outset,
- He reworked the concerto form into sonata a variant of the sonata form with a featured soloist, a reformulation that is typical of Mendelssohn,
21
Q
Oratorios of Mendelssohn
A
- St Paul 1836 and Elijah 1846 that became standards of choral repertory,
- Both were composed for chorale festivals, large armatures of choruses from a cross geographical region gathered to perform,
22
Q
Nawm 143 c-d St. Paul, op 36 no 13
A
- The most popular piece during his lifetime,
- C – proclaims in majestic homophony the rising of the lord and the coming of the light, contrasted with a long central fugue portraying darkness covering the earth,
o Grand opening, women and men singing to the music, - D – presents a chorale in four-part harmony, punctuated by brass fanfares,
o Slower than c, more singing - The combination of new elements with familiar ones helped to make this work phenomenon a success,
23
Q
Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel 1805-1847
A
- Felix’s sister
- Did not pursue a public career as a musical career was considered inappropriate for a woman of her social class,
- Married painter William Hensel, led a salon where she held gatherings and played piano and her compositions,
- Wrote more than 400 works,250 songs and 125 piano pieces,
24
Q
Nawm 137 Das Jahr, no 12 December
A
- Helsen’s masterpiece,
- A series of character pieces for piano in the 12th month,
- The last of these pieces is December, it exploits the piano’s wide range and colourful potential while presenting technically challenging passages,
- Trills in parallel thirds, rapid scales,
- The quiet middle section references the Christmas season by quoting a popular German carol,
25
Q
Fryderyk Chopin 1810-1849
A
- Concentrate on works for solo piano, 200 pieces,
- Enjoyed by connoisseurs and amateurs,
- The dances stand out for their sheer beauty and sensuality,
- Polonaises meaning polish, are dances in ¾ meter often marked by rhythmic figure of an 8th and two 16ths on the first beat,
- French father, polish mother
26
Q
Nawm 138 Mazurka in b-flat major, op 7
A
- The mazurka was originally a Polish folk dance that became popular in the ballrooms of high society,
- Polish dance
27
Q
Nawm 139 Nocturne in d-flat major, op 27
A
- Nocturnes – descriptive pieces that evoke the alternately quiet and fretful dreaminess of night,
- Most soulful and introspective works,
- Rubato – an effect most strongly associated with Chopin’s mazurkas, a certain apparent freedom of delivery is appropriate (tough controlled),
28
Q
Hector Berlioz 1803-1869
A
- his imagination tended to run in parallel literary and musical channels,
29
Q
Nawm146 Symphonie fantastique
A
- Reconceived as a narrative or sequence of events, often spelled out in an accompanying text called a program,
- Composed three years after Beethoven’s death,
- Psychological fantasy, a product of the imagination, a musical drama without words
- Movements are unified with the recurrence of the idee fixe or obsessive image of the hero beloved,
- The transformation of the idee fixe helps to tell the story as they assume a wide range of contrasting attributes.
- This movement, which is the last out of 5, depicts a dream of a witches sabbath, presenting a grotesque caricature of the idee fixe, implying the beloved depravity,
*recurrence of this fixed idea brings unity to all the five movements - Original not only in bending the symphonic genre to serve narrative purposes,
30
Q
Two Americans, Foster and Gottschalk,
A
- During the 19th century, Europeans migrated to the us, brought with them various national musical traditions.
- Lieder thrived alongside parlor songs, some imported from the British Isles and some by Americans,
- Parlor songs are usually strophic or in stanza refrain form,
- With piano introductions and codas based on phrases from the tune,
31
Q
Stephen Foster 1826-1864
A
- Growing up in Pittsburgh, he heard German, Italian and Irish music,
- Taught himself to play several instruments but had no formal training in composition,
32
Q
Nawm 134 Jeanie with the light brown hair
A
- Best-known parlor songs,
- Stepwise melody, simple accompaniment and clear four-bar phrases illustrate features that made his music so appealing and memorable,
33
Q
American painting
A
- Impressionist leanings portrayed the parlor song in his work, entitled Pathetic Song.
- In this piece, we see a lot of details, contrasting light and shows, very natural and realistic pieces.
34
Q
Program and absolute music
A
Program - there is a story for the audience to follow along with and understand the music/story,
* Absolute -
35
Q
A
