Music: Romantic Period

Timbre

Romantic composers used a richer, denser sound, especially in orchestrating music to achieve diversity in pervasive mood

Tonality

Nineteenth-century compositions are basically tonal, but the feeling of tonality is often louder by the use of modulations and keys remotely related to the key signature

modulations

changes in key within a composition

Texture

Romantic music are essentially homophonic

Melody

Romantic composers exploit the rang of such instruments as piccolo and contrabassoon

Dynamics

Romantic music uses such extremes as fortississimo and pianississimo. Frequent use of crescendos and dimuemendos or decrescendos from faint whispers to a very powerful sound and vise versa

fortississimo

very loud

pianississimo

very soft

crescendos

gradual increase in volume

diminuendos or decrescendos

gradual decrease in volume

Tempo and Articulation

As part of the exploration in the possibilities of expanding expressiveness, new characteristic vocabularies of terms emerge to indicate not only the tempo but also the mood.

accelerando

gradually faster

ritardando

gradually slower

cantabile

in a singing manner

con amore

with love

dolce

sweetly

dolente

weeping

maestoso

majestic

con fuoco

with fire

con passion

with passion

rubato

robbed time: dellber-ately and temporarily deviating from a strict tempo

Harmony

To achieve heightened emotional expressiveness, Romantic composers exploit new ways of treating harmony. They use a lot of dissonances to produce an effect of action or tension.

Chromatic harmony

uses nondiatonic chords.

Form/Structure

The conventional forms of music in the Classical period are usually subordinat to the subjective and content expression in the Romantic period. Therefore forms used in music are more flexible and varied as the composers favor th expressiveness of their music. Romantic composers still write symphonie

Program

Composers of program music state the extramusical element or narrative through a title or notes in an explanation

absolute music

intended to be appreciated without any association with the outside world

program music

Composers relied on the capacity of music to suggest or evoke nonmusical ideas, objects, images, or events.

Program Symphony

is an orchestral composition that relays ideas or narrates a story,

Symphonie Fantastique

Composed by Hector Berlioz, a French compose. It is composed of five movements. Berlioz used a single melody in this composition which he called idée fixe or fixed idea to represent the character's loved one.

First movement

"Reveries, Passions"

Second movement

"A Ball"

Third movement

"Scene in the Fields"

Fourth movement

"March to the Scaffold"

Fifth movement

"Dream of a Witches' Sabbath"

Concert Overture

A concert overture is an independent single-movement work, which is usually written in sonata form.

Symphonic Poem

A new orchestral form that is also a single-movement composition. It is a programmatic work with a descriptive title in which the content of a poem, short story, novel, painting, or any other literary works is illustrated or evoked. It was introduced by Franz Liszt around the middle of the century and had become an important type of program music after 1860.

Incidental Music

Performed before and during a play is the incidental music.

Nocturne

Is a musical composition for the solo piano of a romantic and dreamy character thought evocative of the night. It is full of poetic and sentimental moods like melancholy.

John Field

• wrote the first Irish nocturne

• "Father of the Romantic Nocturne"

Chopin

Perfected the nocturne during the Romantic period

Étude

is a French word that means "study."

Character Pieces

are short instrumental piano pieces suggesting an atmosphere or general mood.

Piano Sonatas

is a sonata written for a solo piano.

Frédéric François Chopin (1810-1849)

was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic era, often called the "Poet of the Piano." Renowned for his expressive, technically intricate works, his compositions include nocturnes, preludes, études, waltzes, and polonaises, blending lyricism and nationalistic themes.

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)

was a Russian composer of the Romantic era, celebrated for his emotional depth and melodic genius. His works include symphonies, ballets like Swan Lake and The Nutcracker, operas, and concertos, blending Western influences with Russian spirit.

Franz Liszt (1811-1886)

a Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor. Renowned as one of history's greatest pianists, he pioneered the symphonic poem and was celebrated for his innovative compositions, such as Hungarian Rhapsodies, Liebesträume, and Totentanz, marked by technical brilliance and emotional intensity.

"King of Pianists"

Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns (1535-1921)

French composer, organist, and pianist. Known for his elegance and craftsmanship, his notable works include The Carnival of the Animals, Danse Macabre, and the Organ Symphony, blending virtuosity with lyrical beauty.

"Greatest Organist in the world"

Original name of piano

piano forte

Creator of the paino

Bartolomeo Christofori

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