Intro to Romanticism

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Intro to Romanticism

• (1820 to 1900)

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Time line of the Romantic Period

• 1823- The Monroe Doctrine
• 1830- Revolutions begin in France, Belgium, and
  Poland
• 1831- Victor Hugo writes The Hunchback of Notre
  Dame
• 1837- Queen Victoria crowned in England
• 1837- Dickens publishes Oliver Twist
• 1842- The New York Philharmonic is founded
• 1844- Dumas writes The Three Musketeers

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Time line of the Romantic Period

• 1845- Poe publishes The Raven
• 1846- The planet Neptune is discovered
• 1848- Karl Marx publishes The Communist Manifesto
• 1859- Darwin publishes The Origin of Species
• 1861-1865- American Civil War
• 1870- Franco-Prussian War

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Time line of the Romantic Period (1820-1900)

• 1876- Alexander Graham Bell invents the telephone
• 1884- Mark Twain publishes The Adventures of
  Huckleberry Finn
• 1889- Van Gogh paints The Starry Night
• 1893- Edvard Munch paints The Scream
• 1898- Spanish American War

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Romantic Music

• Has a few similarities with classical music
• Uses all classical forms
• Generally homophonic
• Some composers remained rooted in the classical
  tradition, others were more revolutionary
• Schubert, Brahms, Mendolssohn were more
  traditional
• Berlioz, Liszt, Wagner were less so

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Romantic Music

• Individual styles
• Romantic music is much more focused on
  self-expression and individuality
• It is much easier to tell composers apart
• Reflects their own personality
• Expression
• Explored a wider range of emotions and delved
  deeper into those emotions
• Romantic love is glorified in opera and songs
• Fascination of the diabolical and the fantastical
• Most composers influenced by nature

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Romantic Music

• Nationalism and Exoticism
• Nationalism is a piece created with a national
  identity-uses folk tunes, dances, legends from a
  composers homeland
• Exoticism is the use of music evoking foreign
  lands- Used rhythms, melodies, and instruments
  from foreign lands
• Program Music
• Program music is instrumental music that is
  associated with a story, poem, idea, or scene
• Music became closely associated with literature

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Structure of Romantic Music

• Timbre
• Orchestra was larger (up to 100 people)
• Brass, woodwind, and percussion expanded to allow
  for new sounds
• Harmony
• Use of chromatic harmony became prevalent
• Dissonance was used much more freely
• Uses a wider variety of keys and modulations
• Tonic key is less clear than in previous eras

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Structure of Romantic Music

• Dynamics, Pitch, Tempo
• Wider range of dynamics, including ffff and pppp
• More frequent use of crescendos and decrescendos,
  as well as sudden changes
• Use of rubuto to intensify expression
• Expanded pitch range

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Expansion, and miniaturization, of Forms

• Shortening
• Shorter works are only a few minutes.
• Meant to be heard in an intimate surrounding
• Often create intense mood through a melody and a
  few chords
• Expansion
• Symphonies may last 45 minutes to an hour
• Thematic Transformation became a common tool in
  extending works
• Larger operas and orchestral works could last
  hours

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Music and the Public

• Composers were inspired by Beethoven to be
  freelance composers
• Composers wanted to write to fulfill some inner
  need, to be judged favorably be their
  contemporaries and by history
• Various wars in Europe caused hardship for the
  aristocrats, who could no longer afford to hire
  composers and orchestras
• As borders changed, positions for composers
  disappeared

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Music and the Public

• Composers wrote for the expanding middle class,
  and subscription concerts became commonplace
• Major US conservatories founded in 1860s
• Women could study as well
• The piano became a fixture in the home, so
  orchestra and opera works were transcribed to
  piano music

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Music and the Public

• Few composers could support themselves only
  composing
• Franz Liszt and Niccolo Paganini were in demand
  as virtuoso performers
• Frederic Chopin charged high fees for piano
  lessons
• Hector Berlioz and Robert Schumann were critics
  for music publications
• Felix Mendelssohn and Gustav Mahler were
  excellent conductors