Chapter 16: The Early Romantics

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Chapter 16The Early Romantics

• The Lied

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Key Terms

• Lied
• Lieder
• Accompaniment
• Poetry
• Mood

• Through-composed song
• Strophic song
• Song cycle

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The Early Romantics (1)

• Perhaps the most brilliant generation in the
  history of music
• Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
• Hector Berlioz (1803-1869)
• Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)
• Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
• Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849)
• Franz Liszt (1811-1886)
• Richard Wagner (1813-1883)
• Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901)

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The Early Romantics (2)

• Profoundly influenced by Beethoven
• Influence felt most strongly by Germans
• Deeply influenced by literary Romanticism
• Schuberts settings of Goethe Schlegel
• Schumanns enthusiasm for Jean Paul Richter
• Universal admiration for Shakespeare

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The Lied (1)

• German Lied song
• Special genre of Romantic song with piano
• Important Romantic miniature genre
• Evolved in the late 18th century
• Flourished in the 19th century
• Some are simple tunes, others complex
• They all share certain features
• Accompaniment, poetry, mood

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The Lied (2)

• Piano accompaniment
• Contributes significantly to the artistic effect
• Piano voice often equal partners
• Romantic poetry
• Often high-quality poetry
• Music echoes poems words meanings
• Intimate mood
• Intended more for living room than concert hall
• Performers seem to share emotional insights with
  you alone

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Franz Schubert(1797-1828)

• Earliest (and greatest?) master of the Lied
• Prolific wrote nearly 700 songs
• And many symphonies, sonatas, quartets, quintets,
  sacred works as well
• Born trained in Vienna
• Vienna Boys Choir
• Supported by teaching, publications,
  contributions from friends
• Wrote many works for friends
• Died in a typhoid epidemic

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Strophic vs. Through-Composed (1)

• A song that uses the same music for all stanzas
  is called strophic
• Composer can write only one stanza use a repeat
  sign for the rest AAAA
• A song that uses new music for each stanza is
  through-composed
• Composed all the way through ABCD
• Purely strophic through-composed songs are
  opposite ends of a spectrum
• Mixed settings include AAAB or ABCA

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Strophic vs. Through-Composed (2)

• How do composers decide whether to use strophic
  or through-composed form?
• The poetry often provides clues
• If all stanzas are similar in construction
  mood, strophic form is often used
• Poems with frequent changes of mood or voice are
  often given through-composed settings
• Difficult for performers to create
• Variety in strophic settings
• Unity in through-composed songs

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Schubert, Erlkönig

• Story song on a ballad poem by Goethe
• Eight-stanza poem uses many voices
• Narrator, father, son, Erlking
• Through-composed setting
• Many recurring motives, but no two stanzas are
  the same
• Deals with death the supernatural
• Erlking is a murderous demon or a dark angel
  of death seen only by the dying

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The Story

• A furious horseback ride through the night
• Father tries to save his deathly ill son
• The Erlking comes for the child
• First he beckons, then cajoles, then threatens
  and assaults the child
• The father does not see the demon
• He attempts to quiet the boy
• But by the time they reach home
• The boy is dead in his arms

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The Music (1)

• Fast triplets suggest horses hooves
• The only respite is provided by the Erlkings
  supernatural realm
• Fathers music is low, gruff, stable
• Sons music is higher, frantic, unstable
• Higher pitch each time he calls My father!

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The Music (2)

• Erlkings music is ominously sweet
• The furious triplets fade away
• His music is light, tuneful, appealing
• Tension lets up as they reach home
• Stark recitative announces the boys death
• Over a simple but very final cadence

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The Song Cycle

• A group of songs with a common theme
• Sometimes a poetic theme
• Sometimes an actual story
• Sometimes based on a ready-made group
• Schuberts settings of Wilhelm Müllers Die
  schöne Müllerin Winterreise
• Or the composer can assemble a set
• Schuberts Schwanengesang
• A unified cycle is more impressive than single
  miniatures

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Robert Schumann(1810-1856)

• Studied for career as piano virtuoso
• Finger injury pushed him into composition
• Married Clara, his teachers daughter
• Wrote piano music, songs, and works for orchestra
  chamber ensembles
• Founder of The New Music Journal
• Editor regular music critic
• At times signed reviews as Florestan or
  Eusebius two of his alter-egos
• Attempted suicide died in an asylum

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R. Schumann, Dichterliebe

• Wrote mostly piano works until 1840
• Married Clara Wieck in that year
• Sudden outpouring of songs song cycles
• Dichterliebe (A Poets Love) Schumanns most
  famous song cycle
• Based on poems by Heinrich Heine
• No story poems linked by common theme
• Traces psychological progression from optimism to
  disillusionment despair

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Heine, Im wunderschönen Monat Mai

• In the wonderfully lovely month of May,
• When all the buds were bursting,
• Then it was that in my heart
• Love broke through.

• In the wonderfully lovely month of May,
• When all the birds were singing,
• Then it was that I confessed to her
• My longing and desire.

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R. Schumann, Im wunderschönen Monat Mai

• The first song in Dichterliebe
• Strophic or through-composed?
• How similar or different are the two stanzas?
• Schumann uses the same piano music before after
  each stanza
• The piano interludes searching, unresolved
  feeling doesnt seem to fit the words
• An odd way to begin end a song
• Why did Schumann write it this way? Did he
  misread the poem?

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R. Schumann, Die alten, bösen Lieder

• The last song in Dichterliebe
• Strophic or through-composed?
• How similar or different are the six stanzas?
• Does the song evoke the poems black humor?
• How does the mood change in stanza 6?
• What is Schumann trying to express in the long
  piano coda at the end?
• What kind of ending does this provides for the
  entire song cycle?

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Clara Wieck Schumann(1819-1896)

• Eldest child of Friedrich Wieck
• He was a famous piano teacher
• He set out to make her a great pianist
• Clara fell in love with Robert Schumann
• Her father opposed their marriage
• Clara Robert took him to court
• They won the case married in 1840
• Composed songs, piano chamber works
• But questioned whether a woman should
• She toured widely after Roberts death

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C. Schumann, Der Mond kommt still gegangen (1)

• Strophic or through-composed?
• How similar or different are the three stanzas?
• What is the relationship between piano and voice?
• What kind of mood does the piano create?
• How does Schumann create a sense of climax in the
  final stanza?
• What does the piano coda add to the song?

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C. Schumann, Der Mond kommt still gegangen (2)

• How does Schumann create a sense of climax in the
  final stanza?
• She varies the last half of the melody it rises
  higher then sinks lower than before

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Conclusions

• The Lied is an intimate miniature work
• A significant Romantic form of expression
• Two levels of meaning verbal musical
• Its simple forms follow poetic structure
• Strophic, through-composed, or a mixture
• Repetition of stanzas, themes, or motives creates
  unity
• Song cycles can explore subjects in depth
• Can tell a story or reflect on poetic theme