The Romantic Period and the Piano – Lecture Review

These flashcards review core terms, people, genres, and social contexts from the lecture on Romantic-era piano culture, virtuosity, gender, and aesthetics.

What new idea does E.T.A. Hoffmann introduce about the Romantic artist in 1813?

The Romantic artist is viewed as a spirit existing in a different realm, with access to the sublime beyond ordinary experience.

How did Hoffmann’s view contribute to Beethoven’s image?

It reinforced Beethoven as a ‘Romantic Genius’ whose music connected listeners to a higher spiritual world.

Which two opposing aesthetic ideals defined early-19th-century Romantic music?

The Monumental approach (large forces, grand scale) and the Miniature approach (small forces, intimate scale).

Give a composer and work that exemplify the Monumental approach.

Richard Strauss – Don Juan (1888).

Give a composer and work that exemplify the Miniature approach.

Frédéric Chopin – Nocturne in E-flat, Op. 9 No. 2 (solo piano).

What do the terms ‘private’ vs. ‘public’ modes of expression refer to in Romantic music?

Private pieces favor poetic interiority (Innigkeit) for salons or the home, whereas public pieces display heroic virtuosity for the concert hall.

Name an example of a ‘song without words’ that embodies private poetic interiority.

Felix Mendelssohn’s Lieder ohne Worte (Songs without Words).

Why were many 19th-century piano works branded ‘feminine’?

They were intended for domestic performance by women, perceived as miniature, sentimental, and socially acceptable for the female sphere.

Define Program Music.

Instrumental music that conveys an explicit story, scene, or idea supplied by the composer.

Define Absolute Music.

Instrumental music presented without any explicit program, valued for its purely musical form and content.

What is a Character Piece?

A brief, one-movement work for solo piano that captures a specific mood, idea, or character, typical of Romantic ‘miniature’ genre.

Which three composers are closely associated with the Character Piece?

Frédéric Chopin, Franz Liszt, and Clara Schumann.

How does the Character Piece blur the line between program and absolute music?

Although purely instrumental, its evocative titles and moods hint at extra-musical ideas, blending both concepts.

Define a Nocturne in Romantic piano literature.

A short, lyrical, dream-like work for solo piano, usually slow and exploiting pedal resonance.

Which compositional technique in Chopin’s Nocturnes features a broken-chord left hand and ornamented right-hand melody?

Arpeggiated accompaniment supporting a highly embellished, operatic-style melody.

What is Tempo Rubato?

‘Robbed time’—flexible rhythmic pacing where the performer slightly speeds up or slows down phrases for expressive effect.

List two violin techniques popularized by Niccolò Paganini.

Ricochet bowing and left-hand pizzicato (others include bariolage, harmonics, extreme double-stops).

Why was Paganini rumored to have made a ‘pact with the devil’?

His unprecedented virtuosity and exclusive ability to play his own technically impossible works fueled supernatural myths that enhanced his celebrity.

How did Franz Liszt respond to Paganini’s virtuosity?

He strove to equal it on the piano, arranged Paganini’s pieces (e.g., La Campanella), and turned the keyboard to face audiences to showcase his hands.

What career decision exemplified the Romantic ideal of self-sacrifice in Clara Schumann’s life?

She curtailed her own composing and touring to support her husband Robert Schumann’s career, believing women should not compose publicly.

Name one significant professional achievement of Louise Farrenc.

She became the first female professor of piano at the Paris Conservatoire and maintained an active public concert career.

Why is Farrenc’s Nonet for winds and strings better known than her Symphony No. 3?

Modern programming still biases toward her chamber (domestic) works, echoing 19th-century gendered expectations.

What is forensic musicology?

The scholarly investigation that uses stylistic, historical, and manuscript evidence to determine the true authorship of musical works.

Which major 1828 piano work was re-attributed from Felix to Fanny Mendelssohn through forensic musicology?

The Easter Sonata.

Why did Felix Mendelssohn publicly claim Fanny’s compositions as his own on occasion?

Social norms discouraged women from public authorship; presenting the works as his protected both reputations and satisfied gendered expectations.