romantic program music instrumental music that has literary or pictorial associations: indicated by...
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Romantic Program Romantic Program MusicMusic
Instrumental music that has literary or Instrumental music that has literary or pictorial associations: indicated by the pictorial associations: indicated by the title or by an explanatory note supplied title or by an explanatory note supplied
by the composerby the composer
Program music
Concert overture A single-movement concert piece for orchestra based on a literary idea,
i.e., Romeo and Juliet
Incidental music Consists of an overture and a series of pieces to be performed between
the acts of a play and during important scenes, i.e., A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Absolute Music
Music for “music’s sake” Just because . . . i.e., Symphonies
Symphony vs. Program symphony
Classical Period Most popular form
was the symphony No pictorial idea—
merely abstract
Romantic Period Program
Symphony (However, abstract type still composed)
Fusion of Program Music/Absolute Program Symphony
A multimovement orchestral work with a literary or pictorial association
Symphonic Poem (or tone poem) A one-movement work in which contrasting
sections develop a “pictorial” idea, i.e., The Moldau, or Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun
Hector Berlioz(1803-1869)
French composer Studied medicine and music Among his passions were the
creations of Beethoven and Shakespeare
Harriet Smithson
"...[Let me tell you, you don't know what love is,whatever you may say about feeling it deeply [for your friend].For you, it's not that rage, that fury, that delirium which takes possession of all one's faculties, which renders one capable of anything. You would not be the man to lose yourself in pleasure over the person you love. In that you are lucky, and I would never want you to experience the unbearable suffering to which I havefallen prey since your departure." Hector Berlioz
Hector BerliozHis Music One of the boldest innovators of the
Romantic Period “Creator of the modern orchestra”
Originality in handling the instruments Music called for larger orchestras than ever before
Symphonie fantastique(A five-movement program symphony)by Hector Berlioz Written when he was only 27 Story draws from his personal life
A young musician of morbid sensibility and ardent imagination, in . . . lovesick despair, has poisoned himself with opium. The drug, too weak to kill, plunges him into a heavy sleep accompanied by strange visions. . . . The beloved one herself becomes for him a melody, a recurrent theme that haunts him everywhere.
Idée fixe(Fixed idea) The recurrent theme of the symphony Symbolizes the “beloved” Unifies all five movements
SymphonieFantastiqueManuscript
Symphonie fantastique (5 movements)
I. Reveries, Passions II. A Ball III. Scene in the Fields IV. March to the Scaffold V. Dream of a Witches’
Sabbath Contains the Dies
Irae (heard with bells)
Combines the Dies Irae with the “dance”
“Ghouls” by Jacqui Grantford
Musical Nationalism“I grew up in a quiet spot and was saturated from earliest childhood with the wonderful beauty of Russian popular song. I am therefore passionately devoted to every expression of the Russian spirit. In short, I am a Russian through and through!”
Political unrest stimulated Nationalism Works written to celebrate national heroes, events, places
Prominent schools arose in: Russia, Scandinavia, Spain, England, Bohemia Wrote music containing folk songs or dance types
of their country Wrote dramatic works based on folklore or
peasant life Wrote symphonic poems based on a national
hero, a historic event, or their countryside.
From Bohemia: Bedřich Smetana(1824-1884)“My compositions do not belong to the realm of absolute music, where one can get along well enough with musical signs and a metronome.” Political unrest in his
country Successful uprising
against Austrian Rule Wrote 8 operas Best known for the
symphonic poem, Má Vlast (My Fatherland), inspired by the beauty of Bohemia’s countryside
The Moldau River
The Moldau River“Vltava” in Czech
Má Vlast(1874-79)
(My Country) [Fatherland]
A series of 6 symphonic poems No. 2 “The Moldau”
Source of river, two springs, then theme enters Hunting scene Peasant wedding Nymphs in moonlight St. John Rapids Ancient castle
The Romantic Symphony(“Abstract” form) Favored genre alongside program music Increased in size, with new instruments Multimovement orchestral work, with 3-4
movements in a specific form
The “Form” of the Symphony
First Movement – Sonata-allegro form Second Movement – Usually slow, ternary
OR theme and variation Third Movement – Scherzo/Trio (ABA) –
lively movement (scherzo means “joke), with a mood anywhere from elfin lightness to demonic energy.
Fourth Movement – Usually Sonata-allegro form OR rondo
Sonata-Allegro Form Exposition
Theme I – Home key Theme II – Contrasting key Closing section
Development Anything goes, but one generally hears part of a theme that
was heard in the exposition Recapitulation
Theme I – home key Theme II – home key Closing section – home key (So that the piece ends in the
home key)