Romantic Music: Key Works, Genres, and Forms for Study

Im wunderschönen Monat Mai (Genre)

Lied from a song cycle (Dichterliebe)

Die alten, bösen Lieder (form)

Through-composed with long piano postlude (emotional closure)

 Nocturne Op. 15 No. 2 (Genre)

Character piece (Nocturne) for solo piano

Nocturne Op. 15 No.2 (composer)

Chopin

Nocturne Op. 15 No.2 (Form)

ABA (simple ternary)

Chopin's melodic style in nocturnes

Bel canto — vocal-like singing piano lines

Liszt Transcendental Étude No. 8 (nickname)

"Wild Hunt"

"Wild Hunt" Genre + mood

Virtuosic concert étude; evokes fast galloping and danger

Composer known for extreme piano virtuosity

Franz Liszt

Midsummer Night's Dream (Genre)

Concert overture (programmatic)

Fairy-music orchestral effects belong to which composer?

Mendelssohn

Symphonie fantastique (Genre)

Program symphony in 5 movements

Recurring theme in Symphonie fantastique

Idée fixe (represents the beloved)

Dichterliebe

Schumann's most famous song cycle

"Im wunderschönen Monat Mai" (Special feature)

Halting, ruminative piano introduction seems at odds with the words

"Die alten, bösen Lieder" (feature)

Final Dichterliebe song begins strongly with insistent piano rhythms

What is a Character Piece for Piano

Short piano works that portray some definite mood or character

Chopin's musical style

Avoids sharp demarcations and literal returns.

Nocturne op. 15 no.2 (Form)

a a b c a coda.

Main tune in Chopin's work (feature)

The main tune, A (a a b), doesn't really end.

Free rhythm meaning and songs used in

Free rhythm (rubato) mirrors freedom of form. Used in Nocturne op15. no 2 and fantastic symphony

Transcendental Etude No. 8 (feature)

Defied other pianists to play them.

Three-hand effect

Wild Hunt creates a 'three-hand effect'.

Structure of Wild Hunt

An introduction followed by alternation between two themes.

Tempo of Wild Hunt

By the tempo, Presto furioso (furiously fast).

Motives in the introduction of wild hunt

Pounding octaves, whirlwind scales, galloping figure presaging the first theme.

Concert overture

An independent program work never intended to be part of a play or opera.

Midsummer nights dream (form)

The overture is in sonata form, a standard form for overtures at this time.

Program symphony

A more radical approach to program music than the concert overture.

Fantastic Symphony (composer)

Berlioz

Idée fixe

Representing the musician's beloved, it is a single theme brought back in every movement.

First Movement Fantastic symphony (form)

Sonata form

Second Movement Fantastic symphony (style)

waltz, the idée fixe returns transformed into a lilting triple meter.

Fifth Movement Fantastic symphony

An unusual fifth movement for classical symphony

Fantastic symphony (coda)

A concluding section that depicts the fall of the ax in the Fourth Movement, featuring the clarinet playing the first phrase of the idée fixe.

Dies irae

A Gregorian chant at the center of the Requiem Mass, used in the Fifth Movement with three segments played three times.

Witches' Round Dance Fantastic symphony

The final section of the Fifth Movement, written as a free fugue

orchestral colors

Different instrumental timbres used to pass the scale theme between various sections in the Fourth Movement.

agitated transformation

A state of the idée fixe in the Third Movement, interrupted by angry sounds swelling to a climax.

free fugue

A style of composition used in the final section of the Fifth Movement, allowing for thematic interplay.

vulgar spirit

The transformed character of the idée fixe in the Fifth Movement, played by the shrill E-flat clarinet.

Gregorian chant

A form of plainchant used in the Dies irae segment of the Fifth Movement.

thunder sounds

Accompaniment used in the Third Movement, enhancing the dramatic effect of the music.

romantic run-in

The introductory section of the First Movement, setting the emotional tone.

climax

The peak of intensity in the music, particularly noted in the Third Movement.