Romantic Period Notes

The Romantic Period (1820-1900)

Overview

The Romantic period in music spanned from approximately 1820 to 1900. This era followed the Classical period and was characterized by a focus on emotional expression, individualism, and the exploration of new musical forms and sounds.

Hector Berlioz

Hector Berlioz described his music as having "passionate expressiveness, inner fire, rhythmic drive, and unexpectedness."

Romanticism

The term "Romanticism" is derived from a literary genre called "romance." Romantic music sought to transcend the limitations of human reason and the physical world, offering access to a realm of ideals.

Romantic Era - Important Events

  • 1830: Revolutions in France, Belgium, and Poland
  • 1837-1901: Queen Victoria reigns in England
  • 1848: Revolutions in Europe
  • 1861-1865: American Civil War
  • 1870: Franco-Prussian War
  • 1898: Spanish-American War

Romantic Era – Major Works & Inventions

  • 1819: John Keats - Ode to a Nightingale
  • 1822: Eugène Delacroix - Dante and Virgil in Hell
  • 1823: Monroe Doctrine
  • 1830: Eugène Delacroix - Liberty Leading the People
  • 1831: Victor Hugo - The Hunchback of Notre Dame
  • 1835: Caspar David Friedrich - The Evening Star
  • 1837: Charles Dickens - Oliver Twist
  • 1844: Alexandre Dumas - The Three Musketeers
  • 1845: Edgar Allan Poe - The Raven
  • 1848: Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels - The Communist Manifesto
  • 1859: Charles Darwin - Origin of Species
  • 1866: Fyodor Dostoevsky - Crime and Punishment
  • 1870: Edgar Degas - The Orchestra of the Opera
  • 1874: Claude Monet - Impression, Sunrise
  • 1876: Alexander Graham Bell invents the telephone
  • 1877: Paul Cézanne - Still Life with Apples
  • 1877: Leo Tolstoy - Anna Karenina
  • 1884: Mark Twain - The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Romantic Era - Important Figures

  • Lord Byron
  • Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
  • Alexandre Dumas
  • Victor Hugo
  • Walt Whitman
  • Emily Dickinson
  • Franz Liszt
  • Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
  • Camille Saint-Saëns
  • Edvard Grieg
  • Gioachino Rossini

The Revolution in Transportation

Increased mobility via land and sea fostered commercial and cultural connections. Music publishers could distribute their music globally, and musicians could tour the United States and Europe with greater ease.

Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution enabled mass production of goods, including pianos. This made pianos more affordable. The demand for piano compositions, songs, and chamber music grew as more middle-class households acquired pianos.

Technological Innovations

  • Telegraph
  • Telephone
  • Railroads (Transcontinental railroad: New York to San Francisco in 7 days)
  • Steamships (Europe to United States in 6 days)

Romantic Era - Music as a Political Force

Music served as a crucial medium for expressing political sentiment. Choral societies were both political and artistic, often focusing on political freedom in their performances.

Romantic Era - Composers' Elevated Status

Composers were viewed as having insight into the infinite and spiritual, leading to an increase in their social standing. They received invitations to high-society gatherings and commanded substantial fees for performances. They were considered among painters and poets as voices of the inexpressible.

Romantic Era - Composers’ Distinct Voices

Composers:

  • Explored musical extremes.
  • Wrote for larger and louder orchestras.
  • Emphasized contrasts in texture.
  • Wrote music ranging from simple to complex within the same work.
  • Gave importance to program music and darker psychological themes.

Romantic Era - Nationalism

People identified socially through shared language and culture. Music became a powerful tool for expressing nationalistic feelings. Composers incorporated melodic and rhythmic elements of their culture to express national pride (e.g., Chopin’s Mazurka Op. 7, No. 1).

Romantic Era - Important Genres, Trends

Vocal:

  • Opera (Dramatic & Grand styles)
  • Art Song (Lied)

Instrumental:

  • Symphony
  • String Quartet
  • Trios (chamber music)
  • Miniatures or Character Pieces

Trends:

  • Program Music
  • Nationalism
  • Realism
  • Symbolism

Franz Schubert (1797-1828)

  • "Erlkönig" D. 328 (The Erlking)
    • Form: Modified Strophic, ballad
    • Genre: Lied (German song)

Robert Schumann (1810-1856)

  • Widmung (Dedication)
    • Form: ABA
    • Genre: Lied
  • Aufschwung (Soaring) Op. 12 No. 2
    • Form: ABACABA
    • Genre: Character piece

Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849)

  • Mazurka Op. 7 No. 1 (in B-Flat Major)
    • Genre: Mazurka
    • Trend: Nationalism
  • Nocturne Op. 9 No. 2 (in E-Flat Major)
    • Genre: Nocturne

Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)

  • Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in E minor, I. (Allegro molto appassionato)
    • Form: Sonata
    • Genre: Concerto (solo)

Hector Berlioz (1803-1869)

  • Symphonie fantastique, IV. “March to the Scaffold”
    • Form: Sonata
    • Genre: Symphony
    • Trend: Program Music

Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904)

  • String Quartet Op. 96 (in F Major), “American”, III.
    • Genre: String Quartet
    • Trend: Nationalism

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)

  • Symphony No. 4 Op. 98 (in E Minor), IV. Finale
    • Genre: Symphony
    • Form: Theme and Variation

Georges Bizet (1838-1875)

  • L’amour est un oiseau rebelle (Habanera) from “Carmen”
    • Genre: Aria (from Opera)
    • Trend: Realism

Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901)

  • La donna è mobile from “Rigoletto”
    • Genre: Aria from Opera
    • Trend: Dramatic & Grand Opera Style

Richard Wagner (1813-1883)

  • The Ride of the Valkyries from “The Valkyrie” (Act III)
    • Genre: Opera (opera cycle)
    • Compositional device: Leitmotif (a brief musical phrase or idea connected dramatically to some person, event, or idea in the drama)

Louis Moreau Gottschalk (1829-1869)

  • Union
    • Genre: Character Piece
    • Trend: Nationalism
    • Displays of virtuosity

Summary of the Romantic Period

Mood and Emotional Expression

  • Music is closely related to other arts, especially literature.
  • Art forms showed high interest in subjects like nature, death, the fantastic, and the macabre.
  • Emphasis was placed on self-expression and creating a personal musical style.
  • Music explored a wide range of feelings: flamboyance, intimacy, unpredictability, melancholy, rapture, longing, mystery, and the remote.
  • Some composers wrote music evoking national identity ("nationalism") or exotic locations ("exoticism").

Rhythm

  • Extremely diverse.
  • Tempos are flexible and may change frequently.
  • Tempo rubato allowed greater expressivity and freedom.

Dynamics

  • Changes can be sudden or gradual.
  • Wide dynamic ranges (from very soft to very loud) enhance emotional excitement.

Tone Color

  • Wide range of expressive tone color and sound.
  • New instruments and increased orchestra size led to varied timbres.
  • Woodwinds, brass, and percussion played important roles.
  • Composers experimented with timbre through unusual combinations of instruments or by having instruments play in unusual ways.