Romantic Period

Characteristics of Romantic period

Individualaity of style, emphasis on self expression and individual style, glorifies romantics and love, often lovers are unhappy and face huge obstacles.

Nationalism

composers create music with specific national identity.

Exoticism

when composers draw on colorful materials form foreign lands

Program music

Instrumental music associated with a story, poem, idea or scene.

Program

Explanatory comments of non musical elements

Tone of Romantic music

rich, sensuous, variety of mood and atmosphere.

Brass, woodwind and percussion more active role

Chromatic harmony

Chords containing tones not found in prevailing major or minor scale. Wide variety of keys and modulation. Tonic key less clear.

Dynamics, Pitch and Tempo

wide range of dynamics, ffff and pppp, frequent use of crescendos and descrescendo, sudden dynamic changes, extremely high/low sounds

Rubato

speeding up and slowing down of tempo

Miniature Form

Very short form

Monumental

Very long form, up to several hours.

Thematic transformation

the recomposition of a theme as it it reused so that gradually its character becomes radically different., tranformed by changes in dynamics, orchestration or rhythm

Composers wrote mostly for...

middle class

Women

allowed to study music in this era

Pianos

very common in homes

The art song

setting of a poem for solo voice and piano, translating the poem's mood and imagery into music

postlude

end of a piano section

Strophic

A musical structure in which the same music is used for each stanza of a ballad, song, or hymn.

Through composed

Music changes along with text, non repetitive

modified strophic

Intermediate song structure that features some repetition or variations of a melody as well as new material

Franz Schubert

Austrian composer known for his compositions for voice and piano (1797-1828), FOLK MUSIC, MASTER OF ROMANTIC ART SONG.

Schubert's 2 most important symphonies

"Unfinished" and "Great C Major"

Erlking

Franz Shurbert, Romanticism, Ballad, Evil King of Elves seduces boy, dark romance, melevolent, soft and seductive, tense chromatic, somber minor tones

Schumann

German romantic composer known for piano music and songs (1810-1856), Intensely autobiographical and had descriptive titles, texts or programs.

"Carnival"

wrote by Schumann

Estrella

kind of name you would put under a portrait to fix it more clearly in memory

Reconnaissance

Scene of a reunion

Clara Wieck Schumann

wife of Robert; gave up concert career for family, but returned to it following husband's death; called the Queen of the Piano; also composed for piano - Romances

Clara Weick Schumann wrote

"Romance in E Flat Minor for Piano"

Frederic Chopin

A nineteenth-century Polish romantic composer who spent most of his career in France. He is known for his expressive piano pieces; he composed almost exclusively for that instrument.

Nocturne

musical piece suggesting night

Chopin wrote

Etude in C Minor Op10 No12

Polanaise

piece in triple meter, originated as stately processional dance for polish nobility

Polanaise in A Flat Major Op 53

Chopin wrote

Franz Liszt

Hungarian composer and piano virtuoso (1811-1886) SUPERHUMAN FEATS ON PIANO. Controversial music, vulgar.

symphonic poem

One-movement orchestral form that develops a poetic idea, suggests a scene, or creates a mood, generally associated with the Romantic era. Also tone poem. LISZT

Transcendental Etude No10 in F Minor

by Franz

Felix Mendelssohn

German musician and Romantic composer of orchestral and choral works (1809-1847), All forms but opera. variety of moods, but not emotional extremes.

Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in E Minor

Mendelssohn

Program Music

Music that describes a nonmusical subject, like a story, object, or scene, through the use of musical effects

Program symphony

multi-movement programmatic orchestral work

Concert overture

Single-movement concert piece for orchestra, typically from the Romantic period and often based on a literary program.

symphonic poem

One-movement orchestral form that develops a poetic idea, suggests a scene, or creates a mood, generally associated with the Romantic era. Also tone poem.

Incidental Music

music composed to accompany the action of a drama or to fill intervals between scenes

Hector Berlioz

French composer of Romantic works (1803-1869)

Berloiz wrote

"Fantastic Symphony"

idee fixe

"Fixed Idea", a term coined by Berlioz for a recurring musical idea that links different movements of a work., "Fixed idea"; term coined by Berlioz for a recurring musical idea that links different movements of a work.

Antonin Dvorak

Czech composer who combined folk elements with traditional forms (1841-1904)

Dvorak best known for....

"symphony no9 in E minor" glorified american and czech folklore

Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky

A nineteenth-century Russian composer. His most celebrated works include several symphonies, including the Symphonie Pathetique, and three ballets, The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, and Sleeping Beauty. CLOSET GAY

Johannes Brahms

German composer who developed the Romantic style of both lyrical and classical music (1833-1897)

Giuseppe Verdi

leading opera composer

verdi

italian operatic composer whose music includes Othello, Aida, and other works that reflected his nationalistic beliefs., FALSTAFF AND RIGOLETTO

Giacomo Puccini

Italian operatic composer noted for the dramatic realism of his operas (1858-1924)

Puccini known for

"madame Butterfly" and "Turandot" and "La Boheme"

Richar Wagner

Most powerful composer, Germany, never learned an instrument. Wrote about heros, God and demigods.

Leitmotif

a melodic phrase that accompanies the reappearance of a person or situation (as in Wagner's operas)

The Valkyrie

Wagner, Music Drama, society that destroys itself thorugh lust for power and money.