Romantic Period

Overview

1820 - 1900

The Romantic Period New radical kind of expression, previously

not known in music or any of the arts Restless seeking & impulsive reaction Remoteness & strangeness Attracted to disproportionate and

excessive features Freedom of expression

Romantic Period, cont. Passion Endless pursuit of the unattainable Spirit of longing created by this

“quest for the unreachable” Emotion Highly personal, subjective

Important Influences Fusion of literature and music “Brotherhood of man” Folklore Shakespeare Exotic German writers: Goethe, Heine

Important Influences, cont. Nature Supernatural Nationalism Program music Increasing importance of science in defining a world

view Patronage is dead – free market, “starving artist” Music as a business Literary side of Music Birth of the conductor

Romantic Literary Figures Wordsworth Brownings Blake Sir Walter Scott Lord Byron Tennyson Poe

Carroll Goethe Heine Longfellow Thoreau Whitman Coleridge Dickinson

Musical Style in the Romantic Era Dynamics Range and size of sound Greater variety of instruments Melodies: longer, more emotional, more

chromatic / dramatic Tempo extremes Rubato Harmonic structure totally changes

Musical Style, cont. Formal structure changes New forms fused with literary connotations Tone Poem Symphonic poem Piano Miniature forms Lieder “Golden age of the virtuoso” Thematic development, transformation, etc…

Romantic Period Vocal Music Lieder Opera Part Songs Smaller Choral / Orchestral Works Large Choral / Orchestral Works Partial re-emergence of a cappella

choral pieces

LIEDER Total fusion of literature and music Voice and piano Schubert / favorite poet was Goethe Schumann / favorite poet was Heine Wolf Brahms Accompaniment part of total effect

OPERA Golden Age of Opera Mostly Italians

Verdi Puccini Donizetti Rossini

Bizet Wagner

Traditional Symphonies “ghost of Beethoven” Schubert Schumann Tchaikovsky Brahms Mendelssohn Dvorak Mahler

Piano ComposersChopinLisztSchumannBrahmsRachmaninoffMendelssohn

Tone PoemBerliozLisztStraussSmetana

Orchestral MusicIncidental MusicOvertureBalletIndependent composition

Nationalistic ComposersTchaikovsky – RussiaChopin – PolandDvorak – CzechGrieg – NorwayLiszt – HungarySibelius - Finland