• Age of romanticism 
• Dreams are as important as intellect and art
• Imagination, longing, individual emotion
• composer's status rises: perceived to have a window on the infinite & spiritual
• Audiences engage more directly with music

Pianos in every middle-class home

music became a political force

• Groups felt strongly united by language and culture
• Advanced in technology & transportation lead to world-wide commercials & cultural connections

Ludwig Van Beethoven

Name of piece?

Symphony no. 5 in C Minor

-Beethoven

• Simple, recognizable theme:

short-short-short- LONG

• Theme appears transformed in every movement- called cyclic form
• extreme dynamic contrast
• Instruments- piccolo, contrabassoon, trombone
• the dramatic sound often heard in movies

cyclic form

Definition & piece/composer

theme appears transformed in every movement

* Symphony no. 5 in C minor by Beethoven

Ludwig van Beethoven

Background?

• father was court musician in Bonn (Germany)
• beethoven was principal breadwinner by his teen years
• began to go deaf at late 20s
• recognized as greatest composer of instrumental music
• dies in 1827, declared national hero
• suffered chronix health, deafness, and custody battle over nephew in last 15 years of life

Franz Schubert

Name of piece?

Erikonig

- by Frank Schubert

• Lied- German for "song"
• all 8 strophes composed uniquely, known as- through- composed, where the music is different for each voice
• One voice (with piano accompaniment) plays all dramatic roles
• Poem by Wolfgang Goethe- a ballad (songs must have a twist at end, on last line)
• The Eriking means death

Through-composed

Definition & piece/composer

• where the music is different for each voice
• Means that each voice is set to different music

* Erikonig by Franz Schubert

Franz Schubert

Background?

• died young
• prolific composer of German lieder
• other works: 1. 9 symphonies

Felix Mendelssohn

Name of piece?

Overture to

A Midsummer Night's Dream

Overture to

A Midsummer Night's Dream

• Originally a concert piece
• Program music- known as a Tone Poem
• melodies are associated with characters in play
• Sonata Form as drama
• Chaotic magical spirit of the forest represented in the development w/ contrasting dynamic
• word-music relationships

Tone Poem

Definition & piece/composer

Program music

* Overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream by Felix Mendelsohn

Felix Mendelssohn

Background?

• A cosmopolitan composer
• Spoke english, french, & italian; read greek & latin
• born into a prominent family
• a child prodigy
• conducted a rivival of Bach's : St. Matthew Passion

Hector Berlioz

Name of piece?

Symphonie fantastique

4th Movement

Symphonie Fantastique

4th movement

-by Hector Berlioz

• 5 movements
• Program music
• An artist's dream about his beloved and her eventual rejection of him
• moves from blissful reverie (1st movement) to nightmare (movements 4 & 5)
• Orchestration: Berlioz acknowledged as first great master of arranging music for instruments
• created timbres that had never been heard before
• Inde'e Fixe

Hector Berlioz

Background?

• Father wanted him to be a doctor; he went to med school in Paris but dropped out
• Studied at the National Conservatory of Music in Paris
• wrote music criticism to support himself during studies
• wrote his personal life into his music

Robert Schumann

Name of piece?

Dedication

- by Robert Schumann

• lyrical love song
• written in 1840- year he married Clara Wieck
• wrote almost 150 Lieder that year
• Melodies:

1. A section: quick, energetic, dramatic
2. B section: slower, lower

Robert Schumann

Background?

• composer & music critic
• The New Journal of Music: set up in 1834 and edited it
• died in mental institution

Clara Wieck Schumann

Name of piece?

Forward!

-by Clara Wieck Schumann

• written for husband's bday
• a political theme; title is a slogan for united & democratic Germany*
• Poem written by Emanuel Geibel
• Revolutionary outbreaks of 1848 & 1849
• 5 strophes
• Like a rondo- ABA'B'A"
• Acapella: sung without accompaniment
• word-music relationship

Acapella

Definition and piece/composer

sung without accompaniment

* Forward! by Clara Weick Shumann

Clara Weick Shumann

Background?

• pianist & composer
• married Robert Schumann against the wishes of her father
• widowed by mid 30s
• one of the great piano virtuosos of her generation

Frederic Chopin

Name of piece?

Mazurka in B-Flat

- by Frederic Chopin

• political implications: Poland was under Russian occupation when this was written
• Polish nationalism in music
• Romanticism- passionate and direct; character pieces
• Polish folk dance in triple meter; emphasis on 2nd beat when dancers click their heels
• Homophonic texture; right hand plays melody & right hand supports and enhances it
• drone bass- sounds like a bagpipe
• scalar melodies
• Rondo-like form

Frederic Chopin

Background?

• Most of works are for piano
• French father & Polish mother; never felt completely at home in either land
• made a living in Paris teaching & selling his piano music
• died of tuberculosis

Louis Moreau Gottschalk

Name of piece?

Union

- by Louis Moreau Gottschalk

• written in response to outbreak of the U.S. Civil War
• Inherent nationalism
• incorporates 3 well-known American patriotic tunes:

1. "The Star-Spangled Banner"
2. "Hail, Columbia"
3. "Yankee Doodle"

• texture: #1 is homophonic; # 2, 3 are polyphonic
• Invertible counterpoint

Louis Moreau Gottschalk

Background?

• born in New Orleans
• impressed audiences with superb piano techniques, good looks, and showmanship
• achieved international fame
• studied piano in Paris where Chopin and Berlioz praised his musical abilities
• returned to U.S. in 1853
• died during extended tour in Latin America

Guiseppe Verdi

name of piece?

La Traviata

Act 1

La Traviata

Act 1

- by Guiseppe Verdi

• Violetta-high class prostitute & Alfredo- young gentlemen- fall in love; she suffers from consumption. he gave her choice where she must decide how to spend the end of her life committed to one man or free
• contrasting emotions projected through singing styles
• word-music relationships
• 3 styles of singing- declamatory, virtuosic, and lyrical

Guiseppe Verdi

Background?

• Lived in an umarried relationship with a woman; reflected in La Triaviata
• sought to perform cultural & political conventions through art- for unification of Italy
• elected to newly constitution Italian parliament in 1860

• Diva means "Goddess"
• captures the imagination of opera lovers
• life story fascinates audiences as much as virtuosic singing
• some famous operatic divas: Maria Callas, Renata Tebaldi, and Joan Sutherland

Richard Wagner

Name of piece?

The Valkyrie

Act 3

The Valkyrie

Act 3

- by Richard Wagner

• 4 operas- Ring cycle (Ring of the Nibelungs)
• he wrote all of them
• Wotan is chief of the Gods. His daughter has intervened on behalf of a couple. Wotan must condemn her to death. she's stripped of godlike powers, put into deep sleep, and surrounded by ring of fire.
• In this piece, wotan if saying goodbye to his daughter and summons Loge to create the circle of fire
• Leitmotiff- a brief musical phrase associated with same person, event or idae in the drama (ex. Darth Vader's theme)
• ^^ some examples in play- Wotan's spear, the sword, and fate

Leitmotiff

Definition and piece/composer

a brief musical phrase associated with some person, event, or idea in the drama

* The Valkyrie Act 3 by Richard Wagner

Richard Wagner

Background?

• composer and conductor; born in Leipzig
• the most controversial composer who ever lived
• operas are full of social and political ideas
• fled to Germany in 1848 to Switzerland; stayed for 10 years
• supported by King Ludgwig 2 of Bavaria
• had built a large opera house in Beyreuth

Johanned Brahms

Name of piece?

Symphony no. 4 in E Minor

Finale

Symphony no. 4 in E Minor

Finale

-by Johannes Brahms

• 30 short variations on a very short theme (only 8 notes) - thus form is called Theme & Variations
• each variation has its own sound world
• sythesizes old & new- Baroque, theme taken from Bach, 19th cent. harmonies, textures, and timbres
• large orchestra
• Ternary form: ABA
• rich orchestration- theme appears it some point in every instrument
• an ever-changing series of moods
• varied textures; advanced harmonies

Johannes Brahms

Background?

• was somewhat reclusive
• Robert Schumann praised him as the savior of music
• received much criticism during his life
• one of the 3 "B's" of German music- Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms
• interested in the music of the past
• sythesized old and new musical ideas

Antonin Dvorah

Name of piece?

String Quartet in F Major

Movement 3

String Quartet in F Major

Movement 3

-by Antonin Dvorah

• written in Iowa
• called the "American" string quartet
• call and response- it's folk-like
• 2 principle melodies: each begins with only 4 different notes; both loosely pentatonic; both have antecedent-consequent phrase
• form: Scherzo
• Scherzo is Italian for "joke"
• gradually replaced the minuet

Antonin Dvorak

Background?

• Born in Bohemia (Czech Republic)
• came to U.S. in 1892- Director of the National Conservatory of Music in New York
• Borrowed from African American and Native American musical traditions
• helped establish an American musical sound, different from that of the Europeans

Comparison of Eras (Classical Era/19th century):

Texture

• Classical Era:

1. Texture: Both Polyphonic and homophonic. more homo

• 19th Cent:

1. Texture: both homophonic and polyphonic

Comparison of Eras (Classical Era/19th century):

Melody

• Classical Era:

1. Melody: Periodic phrase structure in all genres, not just dance

• 19th Cent.:

1. Melody: Periodic phrase structure continues, but also more fragmented musical ideas; use of pentatonic scales; tendancy toward virtuosic writing

Comparison of Eras (Classical Era/19th century):

rhythm

• Classical Era:

1. Rhythm: more smoothly flowing melodies

• 19th cent:

1. Rhythm: from simple to complex; lots of variety

Comparison of Eras (Classical Era/19th century):

timbre

• Classical Era:

1. timbre- modern orchestra established

• 19th cent.:

1. timbre- orchestra became much larger, incl. trombones, tubas, piccolos, contrabassoon, and more percussion instruments
2. *** Beethoven used them all

Comparison of Eras (Classical Era/19th century):

Harmony

• Classical era:

1. harmony: increasingly important as a large-scale structural element (tonic/non-tonic)

• 19th cent:

1. harmony: increasingly chromatic (*difficult to do)