19th Century Romanticism

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19th Century Romanticism
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Review of the Past Music Eras

• The Baroque period was characterized by
  scientific investigation, extravagance and the
  theatrical.
• Music was systematic, orderly, and concentrated
  on instrumental polyphony.
• The Classical Style was shaped by the
  Enlightenment. Values were concentrated on
  Humanism, rather than the sciences.
• Composers preferred Homophony, and concentrated
  on building forms that would exploit the dramatic
  possibilities of music. Composers developed a
  more realistic natural approach to character
  types and emotions.

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Beethovens Link

• Beethoven chose to take the forms from the
  enlightened composers of the Classical era, and
  stretch them to their breaking points, in the
  search for new modes of expression.
• Music became a mode of explicit self-expression.

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Themes of Romanticism

• Cult of individual feeling Nature often serves
  as a mirror for individual feeling in artwork.
• The supernatural Romantic artists tended to
  focus on the malevolent side of nature. If
  nature could mirror sublime feelings, it could
  also mirror the dark recesses of the human soul.
• Nostalgia The growing urbanization (Industrial
  Revolution) made city dwellers nostalgic for the
  natural surroundings they left behind.
• Artistic barriers As new lands were discovered
  (North American explorations) the image of
  wilderness and seemingly boundless land appealed
  to the Romantic artist. Natures power and
  vastness was intriguing.

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Concert Life

• Patronages were becoming a thing of the past
• Concert life grew to new bounds.
• Audiences became leery of anything too new or too
  novel.
• industrial revolution led the manufacturing of
  first class and affordable instruments. The
  piano in particular become stronger, and more
  powerful than ever before.
• Virtuosity was on a steep incline. Technical
  proficiency improved by leaps and bounds.

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Musical Style

• Rhythm
• Rubato robbed or borrowed time. The
  performer hesitates here or hurries forward
  there, imparting flexibility to the written note
  values. A sign of artistic freedom, and the
  restless quality associated with the search for
  higher expression.

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Musical Style (2)

• Melody
• Classical Romantic
• Short equal phrases long, irregular phrases
• clear cadences at cadences not clearly
  articulated
• regular intervals
• stable harmonic unstable, ever-shifting harmony
• progressions
• narrow ranges wide range
• expresses the text expresses a story, but
  without words

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Musical Style (3)

• Harmony
• Chromaticism Melody or Harmony built by many,
  if not all twelve tones.
• Expansion of Tone Colour
• Larger orchestras (especially percussion)
• New combinations of instruments
• the orchestra became the pallet of the
  composer.

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Romantic Genres

• Orchestral music in general composers chose
  from two different styles of symphonic music
• Absolute Music instrumental music with no
  literary, dramatic or pictorial program. Most of
  all classical music is absolute or pure music.
• Program Music instrumental music endowed with
  literary or pictorial associations.

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Romantic Form

• Composers still made use of classical forms, only
  they stretched them, and manipulated them to suit
  their needs.
• Miniature compositions pieces which last only a
  few minutes. Mostly made up of songs (lieder)
  and short piano pieces. Designed to create a
  specific mood or emotion. Usually left
  underdeveloped in the hopes to stir up emotion in
  the listener.
• Grandiose compositions large scale works,
  program music, symphonies, opera.

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Thematic Unity

• (as heard in Beethovens 5th)
• Larger works are linked by themes, or moods.
• Smaller works are often linked together into
  groups, keeping the same thematic ideas.