The Romantic Era(1820-1900)

•Romantic ≠ romantic (someone involved in romance)

•Movement in not only music but also art, literature, poetry, politics, philosophy, etc….

•Evolution of Classical Era, not innovative–Carries on Beethoven’s tradition

•Stresses emotion, imagination and INDIVIDUALITY!

The Romantic Era(1820-1900)

• Emphasis on:– Freedom of expression– Obsession with self

• Autobiographical works• Nationalism

– Middle and working class• Oliver Twist, Huckleberry Finn

– The realm of fantasy and the Gothic• Frankenstein, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Legend of Sleepy

Hollow, Edgar Allen Poe• Art that tells a story• Exoticism

– Nature

The Cathedral of Notre Dame, 1164

London’s Parliament Building, 1850’s

Trinity Church, New York, 1846

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Caspar_David_Friedrich_032.jpg

Romanticism in Music

• Expansion– Musical forms and structures

• Ex: 90 minute Symphonies vs. 20 minute Symphonies

– Harmony • Expansion and intensification of Dominant-Tonic (V-I)

relationship for dramatic and expressive purposes

– Dynamics• p=piano, pp=pianissimo; f=forte, ff=fortissimo• pppp, ppppp; ffff, fffff in romantic era

Romanticism in Music

• Composers with recognizable individual style

• Elements include– Increased use of folk music– Nationalism– Program music– Exoticism– Heightened contrast and emotions – Middle-class audiences (no courts)– Virtuosi based on public persona

The Art Song

• Solo piece for voice and piano

• Lied= German text

• Usually sets poetry

The Erlking by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Who rides, so late, through night and wind?It is the father with his child.He holds the boy in the crook of his armHe holds him safe, he keeps him warm.

"My son, why do you hide your face so anxiously?""Father, do you not see the Erlking?The Erlking with crown and cloak?""My son, it's a wisp of fog."

"You lovely child, come, go with me!Many a beautiful game I'll play with you;Some colorful flowers are on the shore,My mother has some golden robes."

"My father, my father, can't you hear,What the Erlking quietly promised me?""Be calm, stay calm, my child;The wind rustles through dry leaves."

"Do you want to come with me, fine lad?My daughters should be waiting for you;My daughters lead the nightly dancesAnd will rock and dance and sing you to sleep."

"My father, my father, can't you see there,The Erlking's daughters in the gloomy place?""My son, my son, I see it well:The old willows seem so gray."

"I love you, your beautiful form entices me;And if you're not willing, I shall use force.""My father, my father, he's grabbing me now!The Erlking has wounded me!"

The father shudders; he rides swiftly,He holds in his arms the moaning child.Barely he arrives at the yard in urgency;In his arms, the child was dead.