Romantic Music, Drama, & Dance

1825-1900

Romantic Music

Romantic Music

• Individuality of Style– Emphasis on self-expression

• Expressive Aims and Subjects– Explored a universe of feeling that

included flamboyance and intimacy, unpredictability and melancholy, rapture and longing

Romantic Music (cont’d)

• Nationalism – inclusion of folk songs, dances, legends, and other national material in a composition to associate it with the composer’s homeland

• Exoticism – use of melodies, rhythms, or instruments that suggest foreign lands

Romantic Music (cont’d)

• Expressive Tone Color– Reveled in rich and sensuous sound,

using tone color to obtain variety of mood and atmosphere

• Colorful Harmony– Seeking greater emotional intensity,

composers emphasized rich, colorful, and complex harmonies

Romantic Music (cont’d)

• Expanded Range of Dynamics, Pitch, and Tempo– Wider ranges of dynamics and pitches

– Rubato – slight holding back or pressing forward of tempo to intensify the expression of the music

Art Song

• Art song – setting of a poem for solo voice and piano, translating the poem’s mood and imagery into music

Schubert

• 1797-1828

• Earliest master of the romantic art song

• Never held an official position as musical director or organist

Schubert (cont’d)

• First Viennese composer whose income came entirely from musical composition

• Over 600 songs• Songs have a wide variety of moods

and styles• Uses imaginative harmonies

R. Schumann

• 1810-1856

• Embodied musical romanticism

• Thought of music in emotional, literary, and autobiographical terms

C. W. Schumann

• 1819-1896

• One of the leading concert pianists of the 19th-century

• Premiered many works by her husband Robert Schumann

Chopin

• 1810-1849

• The poet of the piano

• The only great composer who wrote almost only for the piano

Chopin (cont’d)

• Nocturne – a composition, usually slow, lyrical, and intimate in character, often for piano solo

• Étude – a piece designed to help a performer master specific technical difficulties

• Polonaise – composition in triple meter with a stately character, often for piano solo

Liszt• 1811-1886

• Incredible showman and irresistible to women

• Controversial music

• Some consider his music to be vulgar

• His music was very original

Mendelssohn

• 1809-1847

• A romantic whose music was deeply rooted in classical tradition

• Evokes a variety of moods

Program Music• Program music – instrumental music

associated with a story, poem, idea, or scene

• Absolute music – instrumental music having no intended association with a story, poem, idea, or scene

• Program symphony – symphony related to a story, idea, or scene, in which each movement usually has a descriptive title

Berlioz

• 1803-1869

• One of the first French romantic composers

• Music sounds unique

Dvořák

• 1841-1904

• Followed Smetana as the leading composer of Czech national music

Tchaikovsky• 1840-1893

• A popular figure in Russian music and one of the most popular composers in history

• Mostly remembered for his ballets (The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, and Sleeping Beauty)

Smetana

• 1824-1884

• The founder of Czech national music

• His works are influenced by folk songs, dances, and legends of his native Bohemia

Brahms

• 1833-1897

• A romantic who enhanced classical forms

• Created masterpieces in all the traditional forms except opera

Verdi

• 1813-1901

• Most popular opera composer

• Composed for the public instead of the elite

Puccini

• 1858-1924

• Composed some of the best loved operas

Wagner

• 1813-1883• German composer,

conductor, music theorist and essayist primarily known for his operas which can be divided into three chronological periods.

Wagner (cont’d)

• Advanced the art of opera with Tristan and Isolde (his greatest singing opera) and Der Ring des Nibelunge also known as the Ring Cycle

• Leitmotif – short musical idea associated with a person, object, or thought

Mahler

• 1860-1911

• Last great Austrian composer

• Music is often programmatic and reflects his constant search for the meaning of life

Romantic Drama

Melodrama

• Melodrama – a form of theatre and cinema that means “music drama”– Each character has a theme song

– The plot uses music that accompanies the action for purposes of mood setting and conflict

Stock characters

• Stock characters – stereotypical characters that are not developed as far as motivation and background

Romantic Dance

Romantic Ballet

• Golden Age of Ballet

• Jean-Georges Noverre – a choreographer who saw the need for reform in ballet– Wrote ballet guidelines and created the

Seven Basic Movements of Dance