Late Romanticism

1. Late Romanticism Brahms, Puccini, Mahler

2. Johannes Brahms 1833-1897 • Born in Hamburg. His father was an orchestral and band musician; his mother came from a wealthy family and had Brahms when she was 44. • He gave his first piano recital at 10 • Composed pieces for his father’s band • As a youth, he was exposed to Hungarian gypsy music as a result of the flight of many nationalist rebels from Hungary after the Hungarian uprising of 1848 • He became fascinated with gypsy tunes and rhythms.

3. Turning point • At 20, Brahms met Robert and Clara Schumann, with whom he would remain friends for the remainder of his life • Brahms settled in Vienna. He made a name for himself as a pianist. • He mostly kept to himself. • He avoided innovative genres of modern music, such as the symphonic poem and music drama, preferring instead solo piano pieces, songs, choral works, chamber music, concertos and symphonies. • A month after Clara’s funeral, Brahms was diagnosed with cancer. He died on April 3, 1897 at age 64.

4. Brahms’s Music • A Romantic who expressed himself in Classic and sometimes Baroque forms • Avoided fashionable genres of the Romantic period • He wrote no program music • Composed four symphonies, 2 piano concertos • Brahms has been called a conservative composer because of his adherence to models from the past, but his music is very innovative • Ex. His rhythms are complex and interesting. He uses syncopation and a frequent use of mixed duple and triple meters. His phrases are often irregular-expanded or contracted from 4 or 8 bars

5. LISTEN • 4th Movement from Symphony No. 4 in E Minor • Composed in 1885 for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 French horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, timpani, full sting section • Based on a regularly repeating eight-measure harmonic progression, known as passacaglia (a variation form that was popular with Baroque composers) • The harmonic progression is not repeated strictly each time but is used instead as a flexible point of departure. • In addition to the small-scale structure, Brahms organizes the work by grouping the thirty variations into three large sections. The middle section contrasts with the outer sections; the third section includes some varied restatements of earlier material. Thus, the large form is ABA’ with coda. Follow along on pg. 304

6. Giacomo Puccini 1858-1924 • Known as the greatest opera composer of the late nineteenth century • Grew up in Lucca, near Italy. He came from a long line of composers: his father, grandfather, great-grandfather, great-great-grandfather were all composers. • At 14, he became an organist at Lucca. • After hearing Verdi’s Aida, he decided to become an opera composer. • Went to Milan to study. He got his first break when he played and sang portions of one of his works at a private party. • An impresario and the head of the largest publishing firm in Italy were there. They were so impressed that they decided to publish and stage the opera

7. Became an instant success • He decides to write his own libretto. • At 35, he produced ManonLescaut, which became an instant success. • This was followed by La Boheme, Tosc, Madama Butterfly and La fanciulla del West (The Girl of the Golden West) • Puccini’s last opera, Turandot was not quite finished when Puccini died in 1924. A colleague complete the last two scenes and the first performance was given in 1926 at La Scala in Milan

8. Puccini’s Music • Only composed operas, “When I was born, the almighty touched me with his little finger and said: ‘Write operas-mind you, only operas!’ And I have obeyed the supreme command.” • Able to set a scene with just a few phrases of music • Trademark = doubling or tripling the vocal lines in the orchestra, especially the strings • Composed modern harmonies, with some strong dissonances, unexpected chord progressions or used unusual scales such as the pentatonic.

9. LISTEN • “Un beldì” (One Fine Day) from Madama Butterfly • Composed in 1904 • Benjamin Franklin Pinkerton (an American lieutenant) and Cio-Cio-San (“Butterfly” a young Japanese girl) are married due to a rental package of a Japanese house. (The woman comes with the rental) • Treating the marriage as a casual affair, Pinkerton returns to America after the wedding and marries an American woman shortly thereafter. • Upon returning to Japan with his American bride three years later, the deeply loyal Cio-Cio-San, in grief and humiliation, kills herself. • We will hear Butterfly’s aria “Un beldì” She is trying to convince herself that her husband will return to her. dacapa aria (ABA) form • Listen for the doubling and sometimes tripling of the vocal line in the orchestra. Follow along on page 310

10. Gustav Mahler 1860-1911 • Last great Romantic composer • Born in Bohemia of Jewish parents and made his career in Germany and Austria. • At 10, he gave his first public piano concert • He lived near a military base and as a child he loved to listen to the marching bands. (band music and marches of all kinds can be heard in Mahler’s music. He also was attracted to folk poetry and songs. • After studying history, philosophy and composition, Mahler for the next twenty years made a living as a conductor. He was known for being a unrelenting conductor • When the concert season was over in the summers, he turned to composition and completed his first three symphonies.

11. Vienna Opera House • This was the most important conducting position available in Austria at the time. • Mahler seemed like the best choice, but he was Jewish, Vienna was known for its anti-Semitism • In order to get the job, he was baptized as a Catholic and appointed the position in 1897 • Trouble: He was not well liked by his players because he was so strict, there was considerable resentment over his appointment, despite his religious conversion. • He finished many large scale works during this time

12. Marriage and Setbacks • Married to Alma Schindler in 1902. She later published books of memoirs about her life with Mahler • In 1907 suffered three setbacks • The campaign against him in Vienna finally led to his resignation from his job • His five year old daughter died of scarlet fever • Mahler found out that he had a heart condition • In 1908, he tried to change the direction of his life and was appointed music director of the Metropolitan Opera and conductor of the New York Philharmonic • During this time, Mahler was superstitious and afraid to finish his Ninth Symphony, as both Beethoven and Schubert had died after completing nine symphonies. • Mahler did finish his Ninth Symphony and began his Tenth, but in 1911, he fell ill and decided to return to Vienna, where he died at age 50. The Tenth Symphony was incomplete.

13. Mahler’s Music • Tried to capture the whole world: nature, God, love and death, exaltation and despair • To do this, he had to invent new musical genres and forms. Most of his works are closely connected to song. (ex. 4 of his symphonies include voices and song melodies find their way into many of his instrumental works) • Orchestral Song Cycles – The typical Romantic song takes on a completely new guise: In place of piano accompaniment, Mahler uses the orchestra. • His harmony is quite unorthodox and he often ends a work in a key different from the one in which it began. Some symphonies are longer than any that had come before, ninety minutes or more. He uses enormous orchestras in order to achieve the sounds that he wanted from the orchestra • Most of his music is programmatic in some way

14. LISTEN • Fourth Movement, “Urlicht” (“Primeval Light”) from Symphony No. 2 in C Minor (Resurrection) • Composed in 1888-94 for Alto voice; 2 piccolos, 3 flutes, 2 oboes, English horn, 3 clarinets, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, glockenspiel, 2 harps, and strings • The entire work lasts nearly 90 minutes and is in five movements. It traces the spiritual journey from death to resurrection. • This movement marks the beginning of Mahler’s lifelong preoccupation with the blending of symphony and song. • It sets a song text and is sung by a solo alto voice with orchestra. It centers around the eighth line of the text, “I am made by God and will return to God” • The melodic shape is an upward curve followed by a slight fall, typical of Mahler’s music. Listening Guide on page 314