Romantic Period

Principles of the Romantic Era

• Form rules relaxed (not eliminated)• Emotion rather than reason• Nationalism• Stories depicted• Nature viewed mystically (Rousseau)• Exotic (foreign culture)• Love of the past versus the future

The Romantic Artist/Composer/Writer

• Personal feelings of the artist became critically important

• The artist needed to suffer to be fully empowered

• The starving artist became idealized– And then satirized

Characteristics of Music

• Departure from Classical era– Message in the music

• Give a word description for each piece• Haydn vs. Beethoven

– Beethoven’s 5th in minor/major key• Loss of power in the major

– Beethoven’s 5th in style of Haydn• Loss of power

• Romantic music is felt not reasoned

Characteristics of Music

• Underlying themes carried throughout the symphony– Complete symphony viewed as a unit– Folk songs incorporated for nationalism

• Longer symphonies • Orchestra grew in size • Use of strong dynamics• Virtuosos

Discussion

• Is it important for a composer to communicate with the audience? Why?– Example of communication: baseball

Romantic Music• How does a composer communicate?

– Form• Strength of the Classical Period• Romanic Period strayed from strict form

– Story• Beethoven’s 5th (symbolic story)• Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique (story notes)• Tchaikowsky’s Romeo and Juliet (well-known story)

– Uncomplicated (short length)• Chopin’s works

Beethoven• Bridged Classical and

Romantic periods– Form used contextually– Perfection was the goal

(compare number of symphonies compared with Haydn)

– Motifs • Short semi-melodies or

rhythms carried out in modified form throughout work

Motifs

Musical Domain• Note• Motif• Melody

Chemical Domain• Atom• Molecule• Bulk Polymer

Beethoven• Manifested Romantic ideal

– Nature depicted (symbolic story)– Pastoral, Symphony No. 6

Franz Schubert • Wrote lieder—songs with

emotional theme• Told stories in the music

– Erlkönig• Note the horse rhythm• Note the ominous feeling• Note the voice differences

(narrator, father and son)• Note the sad conclusion

Frederic Chopin

• Born in Poland,lived in Paris• Short pieces in small rooms

to allow communication – Minute Waltz

• Virtuosity– Etude Opus 10

• Nationalistic (Polish) music shown in his mazurkas, preludes and polonaises– Polonaise in A flat major

Franz Liszt

• Hungarian child prodigy• Greatest showman• Hungarian Rhapsody 2

Franz Liszt

Richard Wagner

• German nationalism• Not a prodigy• Immoral life• Ludwig II• Opera

– Leitmotif

• Depicted myths and heroes– Die Walküre (Ride of the Valkyries)– Tristan and Isolde (Unresolved – Liebestod)

Russian Composers

• Moussorgsky,Balakirev, Borodin, Cui, Rimsky-Korsakov (Then "Handful")

• Used Russian themes– Russian Easter Overture

• Flight of the Bumble Bee• Night on Bald Mountain

Almaty, Kazakhstan

Peter Ilych Tchaikovsky

• Russian• Used French style• Ballets are most famous

– Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty– Romeo and Juliet

• Love theme• Fight theme• End theme

• Deep emotion for his sad life– Symphony No. 6 – Pathètique

Discussion

• The hand-full of Russian composers criticized Tchaikovsky because he didn’t use Russian melodies. Should music be nationalistic?

Giuseppe Verdi

• Greatest Italian style opera• Excellent librettos • Orchestra an important component

– Aida– La Traviata– Rigoletto

• La Donna e Mobile

Discussion

• Why has Romantic music remained so popular?

Principles of Art

• Abandoned strict rules of neoclassical

• Conveyed personal feeling of artist• Used nationalism• Depicted the exotic• Landscapes became important

"If you want to do art you must first study the rules, second study the great masters, third forget the rules, because genius begins where trite rules end but you can't get there until you've obeyed the rules first."

– Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792)

Francisco Goya -Classical Period

Franciso Goya – Romantic Period

3rd of May 1808

Eugene DelacroixLiberty Leading the People

DelacroixThe Death of Sardanapalus

Joseph Mallord William TurnerThe Fighting "Temeraire"

Joseph Mallord William TurnerThe Slave Ship

John ConstableHay Wain

Literature

Romantic Period

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

• Raised the level of German literature

• The Sorrows of Young Werther

• Dr. Faustus

Discussion

• Why did Goethe’s writings have such a profound effect on the population?

Sir Walter Scott

• Historical novels– Ivanhoe– Lady of the Lake

Leo Tolstoy

• Russian• War and Peace• Anna Karenina• Born to nobility but lived

on simple farm• Freed the serfs

Victor Hugo

• Son of Napoleonic general• Involved in French politics• Hunchback of Notre Dame• Les Miserables

Les Miserables

Alexandre Dumas

• Imitated style of Scott• Novels supported

extravagant life– Employed several people

• Count of Monte Cristo• The Three Musketeers• The Man in the Iron Mask

Discussion

• What was the principal message of Scott, Tolstoy, Hugo, and Dumas?

William WordsworthSamuel Taylor Coleridge

• English• Lyrical ballads

Five years have past; five summers, with the lengthOf five long winters! and again I hearThese waters, rolling from their mountain-springsWith a soft inland murmur. Once againDo I behold these steep and lofty cliffs,That on a wild secluded scene impressThoughts of more deep seclusion; and connectThe landscape with the quiet of the sky.

William WordsworthSamuel Taylor Coleridge

• English• Lyrical ballads

– Suspension of disbelief– Rime of the Ancient Mariner

Water, water, every where,And all the boards did shrink ;Water, water, every where,Nor any drop to drink.

Lord Byron

• Art was an inner expression• Childe Harold• The Flying Dutchman• The Wandering Jew

Percy Bysshe Shelley• English • Strongly liberal• Friends with Lord Byron• Married Mary Wollstonecraft

– Frankenstein

Discussion

• Which is more difficult, creativity within the form or ignoring the form?

Thank You

Creativity in emotion