MUSICAL ROMANTICISM(19 th century)

SOCIAL AND MUSICAL BACKGROUND

INTRODUCTION

- Freedom and triumph of the mankind

- Democracy and Liberalism fixed

- Industrialized age: railway and new machines

- The bourgeoisie: with the politic and economical

power. Aristocracy without privileges.

ROMANTIC MOVEMENT

- "Art for art's sake" without conditionings

- It expresses the inner world and fantasy

- Society interested in its origin, historic past,

myths and legends, and traditional songs

- Musicology appears

- Great editorial activity, large distribution of press

- Poets, musicians and painters influenced

by each other

ABOUT COMPOSERS:

- Admired and recognized as "genius" creator by the audience.

- Worked without a patron

- They also work as teachers, conductors, music critics, or soloists

- Most music of the Romanticism: written for the middle class by middle-class composers

- Their music satisfy their desires and needs

as people as individuals

MUSICAL CHARACTERISTICS

- For the 1st time, MUSIC acquires the status of privileged language above the rest of arts

- Melody: the most important element

- More flexible movements and beats

- Constant dynamic effects

- Instrumental music: new prominence

- Freedom of expression, emotion, imagination and individualism

- No restrictions on the length of a piece and on the instruments used: formal freedom

- Programmatic music

- Opera: spectacle for excellence

- The struggle between the individual man versus all of nature

- Nationalistic trend

- Dealing with far-off and exotic lands and the distant past

-Harmonies become richer and intensely emotional

- A rich variety of types of composition

TYPES OF COMPOSITION

A) Large spectacular forms

- Romantic opera

- Symphonic music: program symphonies,

symphonic poems, overtures, concertos

B) Small and intimate forms

- Lieder (voice plus piano)

- Small piano pieces

VOCAL ROMANTICISM

CHAMBER OR SMALL FORM: LIED

CHARACTERISTICS

- Song in German (plural:lieder)

- Short form for piano and voice upon a poetic text

- Popular, simple and easy-to-sing pieces

- Melody matched to the piano that reflects the mood and meaning

- Grouped together in collections or cycles

TYPES

- Strophic: the same music repeated in every verse (AAA)

- Two part lied: AABB

- Three part lied: ABA

COMPOSERS

- Franz Schubert - Robert Schumann - Hugo Wolf

- Gustav Mahler (orchestral lieder)

F. Schubert: Das Wandern

F. Schubert: Ave María

J. Brams: Wiegenlied

GERMAN OPERA

Carl Maria von Weber: "The Marksman"

Richard Wagner:

- His opera as a "total work of art" with poetry, music, set design and action put together.

- Music was developed continuously with associated motives to a character, situation, object (leit motiv).

-Topics: German Mythology

- Plays: “Parsifal”, “The Rhine Gold”, “The Valkyrie”, "Siegfried” “The twilight of the Gods”.

R. Wagner: The Ride of Valkyries

R. Wagner: Lohengrin: Wedding March

ITALIAN OPERA

SCHOOLS:

- The "bel canto": made for the singers to shine with technically demanding passages in high-registers. Donizzeti (L'elisir d'Amore) Bellini (Norma)

- "Verismo": More realistic plots and characters. Leoncavallo, Puccini (La Bohème, Tosca, Madame Butterfly)

- Verdi: the peak of Italian opera (Nabucco, Rigoletto, La Traviata, Aida)

- Others: Rossini

G. Verdi: Nabucco: Va Pensiero

G. Puccini: Madame Butterfly: Un bel dì vedremo

G. Puccini: Turandot: Nessun dorma

G. Rossini: The Barber of Seville: Figaro

V. Bellini: Norma: Casta diva

G. Donizzetti: L'elisir d'amore: One furtive tear

FRENCH OPERA

GENRES:

-Grand Opera:large-scale casts and orchestras, spectacular design and stage effects, plots based on dramatic historic events. Meyerbeer (Les Hugenots)

- Operetta:lighter music and subject matters, with dialogues and humour. Offenbach (Orpheus in the Underworld)

- The Opera Comique: Bizet with his Carmen, with popular dances and themes

G. Bizet: Carmen: March and choir (Toreador)

J. Offenbach: Orfheus in the underworld, Can can

J. Offenbach: Tales of Hoffam: Barcarolle

SPANISH ZARZUELA

The little genre of zarzuela:

-Short plays that reflect the most characteristic features of society.

- Chapí (La revoltosa) Bretón (La verbena de la paloma), Chueca (La Gran Vía), Guerrero (La rosa del azafrán)

F. Chueca: La Gran Vía: Jota de las Ratas

T. Bretón: La verbena de la paloma: "Dónde vas con mantón de Manila"

R. Chapí: La Revoltosa: dúo de Felipe y Mari Pepa

J. Guerrero: La rosa del azafrán: Bisturí bisturí

INSTRUMENTAL ROMANTICISM (I)

ROMANTIC ORCHESTRA AND INSTRUMENTS

- More performers (+ or - 100)

- New percussion and wind instruments (improved construction): tubas, trombones, horns and trumpets with

valves; piccolo, sax, bass clarinet and double bassoon; harp.

- Piano and violin: more successful instruments, plays with sentimental character that show the performer's virtuosism

(piano:Liszt, violin: Paganini and Sarasate)

CHAMBER MUSIC

Living room music to enjoy during intimate evenings

PIANO:

- The favourite instrument due to make possible the individual performance and the expression of feelings.

- Technically improved: keyboards more sensitive to the touch of the performer

and damper pedals that maintain the sound when the keys are released

- Small free pieces, with fantasy and feelings: dances (waltz, mazurca, polonaise),

"mood" or character pieces (impromptu, romance, song without words, prelude, nocturne, ballade, intermezzo and rhapsody)

- Composers: F. Schubert, F. Chopin, R. Schumann and F. Liszt

F. Chopin: Prelude Nº 4

F. Chopin: Nocturno Op. 9, Nº 2

F. Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsody Nº2 in C sharp minor

R. Shumann: Scenes from Childhood, Nº 1

Others forms: String quartets and duets with intimate character that comes from

an extra musical inspiration.

F. Schubert: String Quartet: Death and the Maiden", 1st

LARGE INSTRUMENTAL FORMS

SYMPHONY

- Symphony (for orchestra).Development

of the richness of the orchestra and

the performer's virtuosity

- With many more instruments

and flexible number of movements

- Sometimes, they are programmatic; in other cases, solo vocalists or choirs were introduced.

- Composers: Franz Schubert, Felix

Mendelssohm, Anton Bruckner,

Johannes Brahms and Gustav Mahler

J. Brahms: Symphony Nº 3, allegretto

F. Mendelssohn "Italian Symphony", 1st

L.v. Beethoven: 9th Symphony: Ode to Joy ("Copying Beethoven" soundtrack)

CONCERTO

- Concerto: for large orchestra and soloist; composers

challenged by the brilliant technical ability of virtuoso performers, with more difficult solo parts.

- Exciting and dramatic conflict between apparently unequal forces: a single soloist opposed to the weight and power of a large orchestra.

- Composers: Robert Schumann, Frederic Chopin, Franz Liszt, Peter Illich Tchaikovski

F. Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64

S. Rachmaninov: Piano Concierto Nº 2, Adagio Sostenuto

PROGRAM MUSIC

- It looks for free and open forms, without the strict rule of Classicism.

- It tells a story,a program or a plot in a descriptive way to suggest pictures the mind of the listener

FORMS

- Program Symphony: Compound instrumental form divided into several movements. Hector Berlioz (Fantastic Symphony)

- Symphonic Poem:Orchestral composition in one movement.

Franz Lizt (Les Preludes)

H. Berlioz: Shymphonie Fantastique, 5º mvt.

F. Liszt: Les Preludes

INSTRUMENTAL ROMANTICISM (II)

OPERA.

Grand development due to:

- Being the favorite performance of the

wealthy bourgeoisie's

- Built big theaters

- Singers became "stars" thanks to the vocal

brilliance of their arias

MUSICAL ROMANTICISM

(19 th century)