MUSIC AND COMPOSERS OF THE ROMANTIC PERIOD 1820-1910 Music 9 MAPEH
Short piano pieces in ABA form that shows emotion were developed during Romantic period.
As the century progressed, music became increasingly available and popular among the middle class. Concert halls provided venues for musical performances, and instrumental music was available to a wide audience.
Nationalism is reflected in most of the music of the Romantic era. In the previous historical periods, composers borrowed musical styles from Germany, Italy, and France. However, composers of the Romantic period began incorporating their country’s native folk songs and musical styles into their compositions.
The Main Characteristics of Romantic Music are as follows:
1. Freedom of form and design. It was more personal and emotional.
2. Song-like melodies (lyrical), as well as many chromatic harmonies and discords.
3. Dramatic Contrast of dynamics and pitch.
4. Big orchestras, due mainly to brass and the invention of the valve.
5. Wide variety of pieces (i.e. songs up to five hour Wagner operas)
6. Programme music (music that tells a story)
7. Shape was brought to work through the use of recurring themes.
8. Great technical virtuosity.
9. Nationalism (a reaction against German influence)
COMPOSERS OF THE ROMANTIC PERIOD (1820-1910)
VIOLIN AND STRING MUSICNICCOLO PAGANINI (Italian, 27 October 1782- - 27 May 1840)
Niccolo Paganini was an
Italian violinist, violist, guitarist, and composer. He was the most
celebrated
violin virtuoso of his time, and left his mark as one of the pillars of modern
violin technique. His 24 Caprices for Solo Violin Op. 1
(https://youtube.com/watch?v=uALsg4aWKB0&feature=share) are among the best known of his
compositions, and have served as an inspiration for many prominent composers.
Paganini was instrumental in the revival and popularization of violinistic
techniques which are now incorporated into regular compositions. Another aspect
of Paganini’s violin concern his flexibility. He had exceptionally long fingers
and was capable of playing three octaves across four strings in a hand span, an
extraordinary feat even by today’s standards.
Works of Niccolo Paganini
La Campanella, (Italian: “The Little Bell”) by name of Allegro
spiritoso (Rondo alla campanella) or Ronde a la clochette, final movement of
the Violin Concerto No. 2 in B Minor, Op. 7,by Itallian composer and violinist
Niccolo Paganini, renowned for its intricate and technically demanding solo
passages and for the bell-like effects featured in both the solo and orchestral
parts. The movement derives its nickname from those bell-like sounds, which
evoke the imagery of the Italian folk song---also known as “La campanella”---upon
which the movement is based. Completed in 1826, the concerto premiered in its
entirety the following year at La Scala, in Milan, with the composer himself as
soloist.
PIANO MUSIC
Frederic Chopin (French, 1 March 1810 -17 October 1849)
Frederic Francois Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic era who wroteprimarily for solo piano and was known as the “Poet of the Piano”. He has maintained worldwide renown as a leading musician of his era, one whose “poetic genius was based on a professional technique that was without equal in his generation. His major piano works also include mazurkas, waltzes, nocturnes, polonaises the instrumental ballade (which Chopin created as an instrumental genre), etudes, impromptus, scherzos, preludes and sonatas. Among the influences on his style of composition were Polish folk music, the classical tradition of J.S. Bach, Mozart, and Schubert, and the atmosphere of the Paris salons of which he was frequent guest. His innovations in style, harmony, and
musical form and his association of music with nationalism, were influential throughout after the late Romantic period. His Works
Etudes Op. 10, No. 3 in E major is a study for solo piano composed
by Frederic Chopin in 1832. It was first published in 1833 in France, Germany,
and England as the third piece of his Etudes Op. 10. This is a slow cantabile
study for polyphonic and legato playing. Chopin himself
believed the melody to be his most beautiful one. It became famous through
numerous popular arrangements. Although this etude is sometimes identified by
the names “Tristesse” (Sadness) or “Farewell” (L’Adieu)”, neither is a name
given by Chopin, but rather his critics.
FRANZ LISZT (Hungarian, October 22, 1811 – July 31, 1886)
A Hungarian piano
virtuoso and composer. Among his many notable compositions are his 12 symphonic
poems, two (completed) piano concerti, several sacred choral works, and a great
variety of solo piano pieces.
He was known for his
symphonic poems where he translated great literary works into musical
compositions. He also made piano transcriptions of operas and famous
symphonies. Many of his piano compositions are technically challenging pieces.
He was also known with
his generosity in sharing time and money to the orphans, victims of disasters,
and the many students he taught music for free.
Liszt’s Piano work
La Campanella – Liszt’s short piano piece “La Campanella” takes a
melody from Paganini’s Second Violin Concerto. And with that sort of ancestry,
it’s no surprise this is one of the most piano pieces ever written.
The nickname “ La
Campanella” means little bell and you can hear the bell effect in the high
repeated notes in the right hand. (In Paganini’s original there is an actual
hand bell)
Note: Liszt's "Hungarian Rhapsodies" were
originally written for solo piano, but many were arranged for orchestra or
other combinations of instruments. The Hungarian Rhapsody No.2 is the most
popular and was the basis for the Tom & Jerry cartoon called the Cat Concerto.
ROBERT SCHUMANN
One of the famous
Romantic composers that beautifully combined music and words is Robert
Schumann. He was a composer and music critic.
Robert Alexander Schumann was born
in 1810 in Zwickau. His father wanted him to study law and so in 1821, Schumann
went to Leipzig to study law. However, he spent most of his time with musical
and literary circles thru the effort of Friedrich Wieck who took some time to
teach Schumann how to play the piano.
It was also this time when he wrote some
of his first piano compositions. He eventually convinced his family that he
should put aside law in favor of a performing career. In 1830, Schumann went to
live with Wieck in Leipzig. He soon developed a problem with his hands,
effectively ending his dreams as a pianist.
It was in 1834 when Schumann founded the
music journal, Jornal Neue Zeitschrift
fur Musik, wherein he edited and wrote music criticism for his publication.
He wrote numerous write-ups and one of which was the performance of Frederic
Chopin in Paris, France. In his journal, Schumann often wrote under two
pseudonyms - Eusebius (his sensitive,
lyrical side) and Florestan (his
fiery, stormy side).
Piano Works
"Carnaval,"
Opus 9 (1835) - a portrait of a masked ball attended by his allies and his
beloved Clara
-it is written in
1834-1835 for piano solo and subtitled “Scenes mignonnes sur quatre notes
(Little Scenes on Four Notes). It consists of 21 short pieces representing
masked revelers at Carnival, a festival before lent. Schumann gives musical
expression to himself, his friends and colleagues, and characters from
improvised Italian comedy (commedia dell’arte). He dedicated the work to the
violinist “Karol Lipinski
PROGRAM MUSIC
Program music is
an instrumental composition that conveys images or scenes to tell a short story
without text or lyrics. It entices the imagination of the listener.
COMPOSERS OF PROGRAM MUSIC:
HECTOR BERLIOZ
Hector Berlioz is a
French romantic composer born on December 11, 1803. At his young age, he
learned to play guitar and flute but never became skilled in a specific musical
instrument. His father was a physician who sent Hector to medical school but he
ended up pursuing a career in music.
One
of his famous musical compositions is a five movement symphony called “Symphonie Fantastique” (https://youtube.com/watch?v=5HgqPpjlH5c&feature=share). In
this composition which is also known as “Fantastic Symphony”, Berlioz showcased
the important features in his composition in
creating tone color.
He assembled hundreds of musicians to produce a powerful sound. In most of his
compositions, he made tone color as the basic part of his musical language.
PETER ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY
(Pyotr Ilyich Chaykowsky)
Peter
Ilyich Tchaikovsky who was born on May 7, 1840 in Votkinsk, Russia,was known
for his ballet music. He first studied law and became a law clerk in
St. Petersburg in his twenties. He rebelled and began to study music at the
conservatory also in St. Petersburg.
As a big fan of Mozart, Tchaikovsky
studied composition with Anton Rubinstein and moved to Moscow and started
teaching at the new conservatory.
He continued his music
career in New York despite having marital problems and became famous after
composing the musical poem “Fatum”
and “Romeo and Juliet”. He composed
haunting melodies and used a great deal of folk music in his symphonic works.
Unfortunately, there are very few surviving manuscripts written by Tchaikovsky.
His fame peaked in the last ten years of his life and later died due to
cholera. Tchaikovsky’s Famous Compositions:
Swan
Lake is a ballet composed by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1875-1876.
Despite its initial failure, it is now one of the most popular ballets of all
time. The scenario, initially in two acts, was fashioned from Russian and
German folk tales and tells the story of Odette, a princess turned into a swan
by an evil sorcerer’s curse.
CAMILLE SAINT-SAËNS
Camille Saint-Saëns was known
as a talented musician from an early age. He was born in Paris on October 9, 1835
and started his music through the help of his aunt by teaching him piano lesson
when he was only two years old and afterward he began composing piano piece at age
three.
He was considered
as a composer who creates elegant music,
clean,
neat, polished and
never excessive. One of this
is “The Swan”.
As an organist and one of the best
pianists of his time, he sat very still at the piano and played gracefully and
cool.