Music History: Romantic Era

Romantic Era

1830-1910 Some say it starts a little bit early Some people argue that Beethoven was a Classical and

Romantic ComposerDuring that time:

Industrial Revolution Civil War Imperialism Countries Forms (Germany, Italy unified) Bell invents telephone Edison invents a lot of things Abraham Lincoln Charles Darwin

Themes in Romanticism

Characteristics: A fascination with fantasy An interest in exoticism and the past Emotional subjectivity Interest in the strange and unknown Wide ranges of emotional expression Nationalism (deliberate intent to draw creative

inspiration from the composers own homeland) Individualism Supernaturalism.

The most important inspiration for romantic art was NATURE

Themes in Romanticism

Nationalism - deliberate intent to draw creative inspiration from the composers own homeland

Composers expressed musical nationalism in their music by: using the rhythms of the dances of their homelands By using their national legends as subject matter By basing their music on the folk songs of their

country.Exoticism: Drawing on colorful materials

from foreign lands.

Music Society and Education

Because of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars, many aristocrats could no longer afford to maintain private opera houses, orchestras, and composers in residence

Romantic composers wrote primarily for a middle-class audience whose size and prosperity had increased because of the industrial revolution

The rise of the urban middle class led to the formation of many orchestras and opera groups, and the development of regular subscription concerts

The piano became a fixture in every middle-class home.The New York Philharmonic, created during this period, is

tied for third place as the oldest orchestra in the world. 

Music Profession Developments

Ludwig van Beethoven’s career was a model for many romantic composers

Virtuoso – A musical performer who was extremely talented Franz Liszt earned his living as a touring virtuoso. Niccolo Paganini earned his living as a violin virtuoso.

Music critics became a profession during this period. Music criticism was a source of income for both Hector Berlioz and Robert Schumann, two romantic composers

Many Music Conservatoires were founded during the 1860s Conservatory – small school to study music at similar to a small private

college Conservatories first started off as just music performance based, but

later taught music composition

Romantic Music Developments

Kinds of Music Programmatic music is instrumental music associated with a story, poem Absolute Music: (Nonprogram music) Instrumental music written for its own

sake, and for which the composer did not intend a program. (Music for music’s sake)

Incidental Music:  Music intended to be performed before and during a play to set the mood for scenes or highlight dramatic action. (Todays movie scores may be regarded as examples of Incidental Music.

The Orchestra The orchestra was larger and more varied in tone color than the classical

orchestra. Grew in numbers, toward the end of the Romanticism, an orchestra might

include close to 100 musicians The Piano

A cast-iron frame was introduced to hold the strings under greater tension Hammers were covered with felt The damper pedal was developed allowing a blend of tones from all registers of

the piano

Romantic Music Composition Techniques

Romantic music puts unprecedented emphasis on self-expression and individuality of style.

Romantic composers relied upon a more prominent use of chromatic harmony, or the use of chords containing tones not found in the prevailing major or minor scale.

A romantic composition tends to have a wide variety of keys and rapid modulations.

Ritardando: A slight slowing down of the tempo.Accelerando: A slight speeding up of the tempo.Rubato: A slight holding back or pressing forward of

tempo. It is used to intensify the expression of the music.