1 The Romantic Period
2 What is the deal with the Romantic Period?Romantic music is about feelings. Up until that point music was mostly written for the purpose of the audience (i.e. church service, entertainment, coronation or public event). Then Beethoven got the brilliant idea to write music for the sake of art, for himself, to express himself and his surroundings. The romantic period has the longest list of famous composers out of any of the classical music periods. Click on the links below to listen to some examples. Paganini, Berlioz, Liszt, Brahms, Wagner, Mussorgsky, Grieg, Sousa, Sibelius Kids Music Corner
3 Write down the titles and leave space for filling in details.Elements Elements Write down the titles and leave space for filling in details.
4 Elements Performing Medium Rhythm Melody Harmony Texture FormOn a separate paper, write down the terminology you do not know or are unsure of the definition. These will be defined later.
5 Performing Medium Chamber music ensembles (small ensemble, such as a string quartet), large symphony orchestras, opera companies, and piano were the predominant performing mediums during this era. Orchestras incorporated more types of instruments and had larger numbers of players. People had pianos in their homes and advances in printing made it so sheet music was more easily distributed.
6 Rhythm Rhythmic complexity and changing tempos were frequently used during the Romantic period. Some music featured strong beats, meter and rhythm, and other compositions employed fluid rhythm and meter that obscured the use of the bar line. During this era, the increased technical facility of virtuoso performers led to faster tempos than prior eras.
7 Melody During this period, melodies became subjective, emotional and often were virtuosic (with long runs, arpeggios and ornamentation). Greater technical proficiency by performers led to an expansion in the range of melodies, and changes in dynamics and wide leaps between notes were frequently used to heighten the expressive qualities of the melodies. Many composers also used folk songs or programmatic ideas as the basis for their melodies.
8 Harmony Although a considerable amount of music from this period used traditional harmonies based on major and minor scales, new and complex harmonies were introduced, and harmonic variations such as the use of modulations and chromatic tones were commonplace.
9 Texture As in the Classical period, during the Romantic era, homophonic texture was primarily used (melody with accompaniment), and development sections sometimes used polyphonic texture.
10 Form Genres used included large forms from prior eras such as concertos, sonatas, symphonies (often with programmatic titles), and operas. New forms emerged such as character pieces for piano or strings such as the nocturne, waltz, and etude. Other new forms included programmatic works such as symphonic poems and programmatic pieces.
11 Let’s analyze a piece! On a blank space write down what you hear in the following example. Make sure to include key terminology and to listen for all musical elements (key, time sig., melody, texture, instrumentation, etc.) Georges Bizet (France) – Seguidilla from the opera, Carmen. Seguidilla Full Scene
12 Carmen This opera tells the story of the downfall of Don José, a naïve soldier who is seduced by the wiles of the fiery Gypsy, Carmen. José abandons his childhood sweetheart and deserts from his military duties, yet loses Carmen's love to the glamorous toreador Escamillo, after which José kills her in a jealous rage. The depictions of proletarian life, immorality and lawlessness, and the tragic death of the main character on stage, broke new ground in French opera and were highly controversial. Carmen is a fantastic example of exoticism and opera comique. Don’t be confused. Opera comique is a style of French opera that contains spoken dialogue and musical numbers. It is not always comical. In fact, Carmen is a tragedy.
13 Romantic Traits Traits of the Romantic Period Romantic Traits
14 Do not need to write down!Romantic Era Traits a new preoccupation with and surrender to Nature a fascination with the past, particularly the Middle Ages and legends of medieval chivalry a turn towards the mystic and supernatural, both religious and merely spooky a longing for the infinite mysterious connotations of remoteness, the unusual and fabulous, the strange and surprising a focus on the nocturnal, the ghostly, the frightful, and terrifying fantastic seeing and spiritual experiences a new attention given to national identity emphasis on extreme subjectivism interest in the autobiographical discontent with musical formulas and conventions Do not need to write down!
15 Exotisicsm Fascination with music from other lands.Spain, the Middle East, and the Orient were often cultures of inspiration for European composers. Examples: Carmen – Bizet (French) Scheherazade – Rimsky – Korsakov (Russian) Meditation on Thais – Massenet (French) Madame Butterfly – Puccini (Italian)
16 Nationalism Preoccupation with a composer’s own national heritage.Composers paid tribute to their country of origin through the use of folk melodies, dances, or instruments, or through the musical depiction of some locale in the homeland. Each country establishes a national sound.
17 Examples of Nationalism by CountryFrance – Debussy, Saint-Saens, Faure, Ravel Germany – Wagner, Brahms, Mendelssohn, Schumann England – Vaughan Williams, Elgar, Parry, Holst United States - Sousa Russia – “The Mighty Five” – Balakriev, Rimsky-Korsakov, Mussorgsky, Borodin, Cui – Tchaikovsky, Gliere Czech Republic – Smetana, Dvorak Poland - Chopin Hungary – Liszt Italy – Rossini, Verdi, Puccini Norway – Grieg Finland - Sibelius Austria – von Suppe, Strauss, Bruckner, Mahler How would you describe the music from each country?
18 Programme Music Music that is intended to evoke images or convey the impression of events. Not invented in the romantic period, however it became increasingly popular. Themes became darker and more mysterious, often evoking images of violence and horror. Link
19 March to the Scaffold March to the Scaffold from Symphonie Fantastique by Berlioz The fourth movement from a five movement symphony. The main character, under the influence of opium, imagines his own execution.
20 Tone Poem Also called a Symphonic Poem, is a one movement piece that describes a story, using tone painting to create imagery and scenes. Here is an example from another French composer, Paul Dukas’ The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.
21 Lieder German for song. Typically arranged for vocalist and piano.Gretchen am Spinnrade – Schubert Lyrics translation GCSE Bitesize