Early Romanticism

1. Early Romanticism

2. Franz Schubert 1797-1828 • Son of a Viennese schoolmaster • Lived most of his life in Vienna • Sang as a choirboy and played violin as a child • He played in the school orchestra and learned music of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven • When his voice changed, he left the choir and was accepted as a composition student by the composer at the Imperial Court in Vienna (Salieri) • Originally he tried to be a teacher, but he was not good at it. • It was after this that he took up composition. • In his lifetime, he composed more than 900 works, but not many were published • He composed many operas, but none had success during his life • He died of syphilis on November 19, 1828 at age 31 • According to his last wishes, he was buried near Beethoven in Vienna • Although Beethoven and Schubert lived in Vienna, they only crossed paths once.

3. Schubert’s Music • Highly skilled at capturing the essence of a poem when he set it to music • He composed more than 600 songs • Also wrote 2 great song cycles (The Pretty Miller-Maid 1824) and (Winter’s Journey 1827) • He also composed a great variety of music for solo piano • Chamber music • Several operas • Choral works • Eight Symphonies (best known are his last two: Great C-Major Symphony and the Unfinished Symphony (he only completed the last two movements)

4. LISTEN • Song, “Die Forelle” (The Trout) • Composed in 1817 for voice and piano • Begins with a piano introduction based on a “rippling” figure (represents the flow of a stream) • Strophic form with unexpected change of mood in the last stanza • As long as the water in the stream is clear, the fish is safe (same music) • In the third stanza, the fisherman grows impatient and stirs the water to outwit the trout. The music here becomes more agitated and unsettled. When the fish is hooked, the smoothing of the water’s surface is represented by the return of the gentle “rippling” figure

5. LISTEN • 4th movement from Quintet in A Major, D. 667 (The Trout) • Schubert took the theme from “The Trout” and composed a Theme and Variations for Violin, viola, cello, double bass & piano

6. Hector Berlioz 1803-1869 • He was the oldest child of a distinguished French doctor • As a child, he enjoyed reading and took music lessons. On his own, he studied music theory • He began composing when he was a teenager • His father wanted him to become a doctor, so he entered medical school in Paris, but he ultimately became more and more interested in music • He quit medical school and supported himself by singing and giving music lessons • He enrolled at the Paris Conservatory as a composition student at age 23 • In 1840, at was to be the height of his career, his music was regarded as too innovative, his forms unconventional, his orchestration too demanding and emotionality of his music too direct. • For the last part of his life, Berlioz was not in good health and he was depressed. • He composed little music during this time; instead, he wrote his memoirs • He died in 1869

7. Berlioz’s Music • He used the orchestra brilliantly, with a great sensitivity to the different qualities of the instruments

8. LISTEN • 1st movement from Symphonic fantastique (Fantastical Symphony) • Composed in 1830 for piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 cornets, 2 trumpets, 2 timpani, violins I, violins II, violas, cellos, basses • Describes various situations in the life of a young musician who falls in love with a woman at first sight. The Symphony depicts his dreams, despairs and fantasies • 1stmov’t = “Reveries, Passions” – describes a young musician who sees a woman “who embodies all the charms of the ideal being he has imagined in his dreams” • The woman is linked in his mind to a musical idea; idée fixe - an idea that won’t go away • Approximation of sonata form with a slow introduction