Developments in Romanticism to 1850

1. Developments in Romanticism to 1850

2. Composers after the end of aristocratic patronage Ways to live independently • Composition for the popular market — songs, piano pieces, etc. • Performance • touring virtuosos • conductors • Literary activities • criticism • Teaching

3. Italian Romantic opera • Topics from Romantic literature (often transalpine sources) • Enriched orchestral sound, harmony • Bel canto singing — virtuosity • Scenaform • recitative to establish situation • primo tempo (sometimes called cavatina) to express emotion • tempo di mezzo to initiate change • secondo tempo (sometimes called cabaletta) to express new emotional response

4. French grand opera • Highly charged situations • politically epic settings • supernatural events • Spectacular staging • sets and costumes • special effects • large numbers of personnel on stage • Spectacular music • large, colorful orchestra • chorus • virtuosic singing

5. Performers and venues in the nineteenth century • On the stage • opera singers • solo virtuosos — Nicolò Paganini • pianists • as showmen — Franz Hünten, Henri Herz • as musical poet — Franz Liszt • In the salon — sophisticated gatherings of invited guests, often with highly skilled players • e.g., Frédéric Chopin • In parlors and drawing rooms — family-oriented gatherings, amateur singers and players

6. New nineteenth-century genres • Piano character pieces • song-based — romance, nocturne, song without words • dance-based — waltz, mazurka, polonaise • narrative — ballade • Orchestral works • concert overture • program symphony • Cycles • songs • piano pieces

7. Some characteristics of Romantic musical style • Scoring • large orchestras • new instrumental sounds • Dynamics • extension of dynamic range • profusion of expressive instructions • Melody • long-breathed, songlike melodies • pervasive brief motives • Harmony • overloading; increased chromaticism • modulations to distant keys • Form • idiosyncratic variants of conventional forms explicated by programs • cyclically unified structures

8. Questions for discussion • How is it that Romantic composers seem to have had multiple talents and careers more often than composers of earlier periods? • Why did Romanticism affect music in Italy more slowly than in other countries? • How should we distinguish between the “characteristic” and the “programmatic” in nineteenth-century music?