The Romantic Era

1829-1910

Romance/Romantic

• term derived from medieval French

• imaginative tale written in a romance language as opposed to Latin. Ordinary people achieving the extraordinary

• Term Romantic first appears in English literature during the 17th Century

Individualism

• The individual imagination paired with defiance to authority reached its peak during the 19th C

• Artists served themselves rather than pleasing aristocratic patrons

• When accepting patronage, it was to the artist’s own terms

A thing for the past

• Sir Walter Scott – almost a dozen popular novels set in medieval times

• Eugène Delacroix – gallant knights followed chivalric code in service of idealized women

• Hector Berlioz – Greek and Roman mythology in his opera “The Trojans” http://thespace.org/items/e0000exc

• Richard Wagner – Norse mythology “The Ring Cycle” http://ringcycle.metoperafamily.org/

Collision of Two Moorish Horsemen

Arabs Skirmish in the MountainsCombat between Giaour and PashaThe Entry of the Crusaders into Constantinople

Grotesque Themes

• Hunchback of Notre Dame – Hugo 1831

• Ring of Nebulung – ugly dwarfs

• Faust – Goethe

Nature’s Force and Power

• Darwin’s theory of natural selection 1859 “On the Origin of Species”

• Caspar David Friedrich 1774-1840

• William Turner 1775-1851

The Industrial Revolution

• Smokestack industries spewed ash over cities and countryside

• People abandoned farms for greater security in the cities – instead they found congestion, poverty and crime

• Cheap labor – including child labor in factories

Warfare

• Napoleon assembled hordes of soldiers motivated by patriotism rather than money

• Development of the Gatling gun

• Little concern for civilian casualties

Colonialism to Imperialism

• World powers Britain, France and Germany governed the “lesser” races of the world, traveling to Africa, India and the Middle East

• Institutuionalized slavery

Politics

• American Civil War

• French Revolution

• Risogimento – the resurgence, unification of Italy

• A newly united Germany under leadership of Otto von Bismarck

Education

• Extended to the middle class

• Spread of egalitarianism – race, gender battles

The work week

• At start of Romantic Era – 70 hours per week

• At end of Romantic Era – 50 hours per week

• Provided more leisure time

• Permanent orchestras and symphonies put in place as well as the nine month concert season

Hector Berlioz

• 1803-1869 small town near Grenoble

• Wavy red hair, penetrating eyes and unbound energy

• Shared Father’s love for literature

• Father insisted Hector study medicine

• Lasted 2yrs

Hector Berlioz

• In Paris, no family support for music

• Prix de Rome (3rd try)• 1827 first saw H.S.• Music seen as incorrect

to the public• Music critic• Idèe Fixe (fixed idea)

• Programmatic Music• Marriage was over within

six years

Symphony Fantastique1830

• Part I – Reveries, passions

• Part II – a ball (15:20)

• Part III – Country side (21:50)

• Part IV – March to Scaffold (37:50)

• Part V – A Witches’ Sabbath (44:45)

Hector Berlioz

• Symphonie Fantastique

• Romeo and Juliet• The Trojans• Treatise on

Instrumentation and Modern Orchestration

• Tuba Mirum• Te Deum

Nicolo Paganini

• Born into a poor family 1782-1840

• Father made him practice morning to night even denying food

• By 13 leading violinist would not take him as a student

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXoAYWpzT3E

Nicolo Paganini

• By 18 supported himself by giving performances

• Warsaw and Paris 1829 1831 Liszt and Chopin

The Piano

• In 1830 < 10,000 produced annually

• By 1900 > 500,000

• Viennese piano of Beethoven competed with the French pianos of Pleyel and Erard

Franz Liszt 1811-1886

• Hungarian family that worked with Esterhazy estate

• Thought descended from nobility – no proof

• Father taught cello when he was 7

• Hungarian nobles provided scholarship for him to study music in Vienna when 10

Liszt 1811-1886

• Studied with Czerny (pupil of Beethoven)

• As a teenager, travelled in France, England and Switzerland to play concerts

• Day before premiere of Symphony Fantastique, met Berlioz

Liszt 1811-1886

• Three months later met Paganini

• From 16-19 dedicated 10-12 hours daily to achieve his own “transcendental technique”

• Le concert, c’est moi• 1848 permanent

conductor of Weimar court orchestra

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GX0KiSwm3yc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQULyGMhhWs

Liszt 1811-1886

• 1860 moved from Weimar to Rome because of an affair with a Catholic princess

• Taught master classes for 25 years to his death

• 1865 took minor Catholic orders, though he never became a priest

Frederic Chopin

• 1810-1849• Reserved and

withdrawn• Born in Warsaw: mom

Polish, dad French• 1829 heard Paganini• Lived in Paris for the

latter part of his life• Gave lessons to

aristocratic children

Frederic Chopin

• Asked students to leave fees on the mantlepiece

• 1836 Met George Sand, aka Aurore Dudevant

• Suffered from tuberculosis – travelling to England 1848 may have quickened his death

Frederic Chopin

• Wrote nearly 250 works

• Most works are 2-6 minutes

• Mastered the mazurka, polonaise, nocturne, and etude

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PGpn6Iw50g

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LkXsnEEQmEhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LkXsnEEQmE

Felix Mendelssohn

• 1809-1847• Songs Without Words• Overture• Sister Fanny• Known for melodies• Father was a banker• Mother

Felix Mendelssohn

• Used classical forms• Embodied the

feelings of Romanticism

• Visited Goethe, stayed two weeks

• Overture a stand alone work

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0gHTNJVFtA

Robert Schumann

• 1810-1856• Loved literature• 16 attended

University– Did not attend class:

read, sketched novels and improvised piano

• 18 took lessons from Friedrich Wieck – met 9 year old Clara

Robert Schumann

• 1830 heard Paganini• Signs of manic-

depressive disorder• Fingers injured• Turned to

composition and journalism

• First to praise Berlioz, Chopin and Brahms

Robert Schumann

• 1839 Engagement• Legal battles• 1840 Married Clara• 150 songs• cycle of great production

followed by periods of depression and inactivity

• Suicide attempt• Assylum

Brahms

• 1833-1897• Born the middle child:

mom43 dad25• Sent Schumann his

works of youth – returned unopened

• Conservative• Absolute music of

classical era

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAuqxEMRapg

Johann Strauss, Jr.

• 1825-1899• Father discouraged

musical career• 1842 undertook his own

musical education• 1860 world famous• International Peace

Jubilee in America 10,000 instrumentalist 20,000 singers, 100 sub-conductors

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqm9jaM5UPA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkzWF1UE1CI

Opera in Italy

• Early 18th C opera moved from theathers of the aristocracy to public theaters

• Opera houses in Paris, London, Berlin, and Vienna

• Most popular form of entertainment

• Audience members not formally educated in music

• Libretto

Gioacchino Rossini

• 1792-1868• At 18 wrote his first

opera• 1810-1829 36+ Spain,

France and Italy• The Barber of Seville

Giuseppe Verdi

• 1813-1901• Perfect blend of

music and drama• First music lessons 3• At 18 Milan

conservatory refused admission

• 1840 first production at La Scala - failure

Verdi

• Within 2 months of first major flop, lost his wife, son and daughter

• 1842 Nabucco• In following years, 20

more operas followed, including Rigolletto, Il Tovatore, La Traviata

Verdi

• Verdi’s operas had subtle political undertones

• For unification of Italy, he played an important role

• After 1860 completed only 5 operas

• Melodies that beg to be whistled or hummed

• Melodies straightforward and subtle

• Orchestration bold

Verdi

Giacomo Puccini

• 1858-1924

• Originated from family of church musicians

• Sometimes worked in Tuscan folk songs or snatches from Verdi opera

• Milan conservatory at 22

• “The Almighty touched me with his little finger and said: “Write for the theater, mind you, only for the theater!”

Puccini

• Madama Butterfly, Tosca, La boheme

• Verismo – realism: favored lower class characters caught up in lust, greed hatred, betrayal, or revenge.

Richard Wagner

• 1813-1883• Youngest of nine• Father died when

Wagner was 6 mo.• Wanted an opera in

Paris• Journals, piano

arrangements

Tristan and Isolde http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlpLlQbNFow

Wagner

• Affairs, debtors prison, insensitive, exiled

• Die Hochzeit (the wedding)

• The Flying Dutchman• Tannhauser• Lohengrin• The Ring

Wagner

• Unending melody

• Leitmotif

• Zukunftsmusik (music of the future)

• Gesamtkunstwerk (complete artwork)• “Lohengrin sought a woman who would believe in him, who would

believe in him, who would not ask who he was or from where he came, but would love him just as he was… Doubt and jealousy prove to him that he is not understood but only adored, and tear from him the confession of his divinity, whith which he returns, destroyed, into isolation.”

Camille Saint - Säens

• 1835-1921

• Organist – began playing at 3: by 10 he was playing Beethoven concertos in public

• Traveled extensively (Australia, Antarctica)

• Wife was half his age. Two sons; death

Saint - Säens• Blamed his wife for their death – leaves

her and travels the world extensively• After 1880 France recognized him as

outdated. This contributed to his travels• Helped found the French National Music

Society• Algeria• Samson and Delilah, Danse Macabre,

Carnival of the Animals

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tG8QCjaw4yk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LOFhsksAYw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMeGxIgVdHU