Music Appreciation 202
Study Aid - Romantic Music
Romantic Period (1820-1900)
Romantic Period Highlights
• Reaction against balance and symmetry of Classical period; themes of revolt and
rebellion
• Emphasis on INDIVIDUALITY
• Artists strive to transcend ordinary existence through free expression
• Everyday life seems dull and meaningless; artists seek escape through imagination
• Emphasis on the fantastic, the macabre, the grotesque, and the supernatural
• Emphasis on exaggeration leads to very small (miniature) and very large
(monumental) musical compositions
• Industrial Revolution occurs; increase in size and income of middle class; most
Romantic composers write primarily for middle-class audience
• New emphasis on nostalgia and history leads to NATIONALISM
• New emphasis on PROGRAM MUSIC
VOCAL MUSIC GENRES
LIEDER (singular = LIED)
FRANZ SCHUBERT Erlköing (The Elfking)
CD#3/12-17
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•
Know how the composer musically represents the characters from the text (horse,
father, son, Elfking, etc.) in the music (rhythm, harmony [major or minor], pitch
range, dynamics, etc.)
Example of Romantic emphasis on the grotesque, macabre and supernatural
OPERA
RICHARD WAGNER Lohengrin, Prelude to Act 3 (1848)
CD#1/1-4
• Be able to describe musically the main sections of this ternary form (ABA)
• Also be aware of “dark” section right before end
*RICHARD WAGNER Act One: End of Love Scene from Die Walkure (The Valkyrie)
CD#4/1-8
• Know what a leitmotive is and how it is used.
• Be able to identify the main leitmotives in this excerpt : (1) Valhalla (2) Love (3)
Volsung (family clan) (4) Sword (5) Spring
• Example of the “monumental” in Romantic music
CHORAL MUSIC
JOHANNES BRAHMS "How Lovely Is Thy Dwelling Place" (Mvt. 4) from Ein
Deutches Requiem (A German Requiem)
CD#3/49
• Uses German, not Latin text; paints very pleasant view of heaven
• Example of Romantic emphasis on individual personal expression
• Listen for accent and imitative polyphony
INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC GENRES
CHAMBER MUSIC - PIANO MINATURES
FREDERIC CHOPIN Nocturne in Eb Major, Op. 9, No. 2
CD#3/27-29
• Listen for use of rubato
• Know what a nocturne is
• Example of “miniature” in Romantic music
FREDERIC CHOPIN Etude in C Minor, Op. 10, No. 2 (“The Revolutionary”)
CD#3/30
• Be able to hear form: A A’ coda
• Know historical context of the nickname “The Revolutionary”
• Hear dissonance, chromaticism, and dotted rhythms in melody
• Know what an etude is
SYMPHONY
ANTONIN DVORAK Symphony No. 9 in E Minor, Mvt. 1 (Adagio; Allegro molto)
(“From the New World”) (1893)
CD#3/42-48
• Be able to hear form: sonata
• Know that 2nd theme group has 2 themes ; the 2nd one (or third theme is the
“Swing Low” melody from African-American spiritual
• Be able to hear constant variation/development
PROGRAM SYMPHONY
HECTOR BERLIOZ Mvt. 4 (The March to the Scaffold) from Fantastic Symphony;
Episodes in the Life of an Artist (1830)
CD#3/31-34
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•
•
Be able to identify the two themes of this movement and discuss what they
may represent (timbre, melody, harmony, rhythm & tempo, dynamics, etc.)
Be able to recognize the ideé fixe (fixed idea) of the beloved (a.k.a. Harriet
Simpson)
Be able to identify the fall of the guillotine blade and bouncing of severed
head in the music
TONE POEM/ SYMPHONIC POEM
BEDRICH SMETANA The Moldau (1874)
CD#3/35-41
•
Be able to identify and musically describe the water motive, the River theme,
the Forest hunt, the Peasant wedding, the Dance of the Water Nymphs, the
Rapids, and Vysehrad castle in the music (timbre, melody, harmony, rhythm
& tempo, dynamics, etc.)
BALLET (for a dance)
PETER ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY Dance of the Reed Pipes from Nutcraker Suite
(1892)
CD#1/43-45
• Be able to identify form: ternary (3-part) A B A’
• Be able to musically describe the differences between the A and B
sections
INCIDENTAL MUSIC (for a play)
GEORGES BIZET Farandole from L’Arlesienne Suite No. 2 (1879)
CD#1/38-42
• Be able to identify form: ternary (3-part) A B A’
• Be able to musically describe the differences between the A and B
sections
• Example of Romantic style expanded range of tempos and dynamics
* New pieces which haven't been covered yet in course
Romantic Music Style Characteristics
Mood
Emphasis on great variety and contrast of mood
Rhythm
Dynamics
Expanded range of tempos (faster allegros, slower adagios), use of
RUBATO
Longer, with wider range, building to more sustained climaxes, irregular
phrasing, and sequential structures
Use of themes attached to a person, place, thing, or idea -(idee fixe in
Berlioz, leitmotives in opera); themes undergo constant development and
variation (less exact repeats)
Expanded range - pppp to ffff
Harmony
Colorful, more chromaticism, blurring of major and minor modes
Tone
Color
Expanded "palette" of instruments and expressive tone colors; instruments
used in new ways to get new tone colors
Melody
Themes
Important Terms and Concepts
rubato
nocturne
etude
virtuoso/virtuosity
Lied/Lieder
program music vs. absolute music
ideé fixe (fixed idea)
leitmotif (leading motive)
symphonic poem/tone poem
nationalism