Chapter Nineteen: Introduction to Romanticism

1. Chapter Nineteen:Introduction to Romanticism

2. Romantic Inspiration & Romantic Creativity • Self-expression, striving to communicate with passion no matter what imbalance (or excess) • Human imagination and the wonders of nature • Love: Longing and despair • Nature: Exploring the darker side of (human) nature • Fascination with the occult, supernatural, and the macabre • Wide range of expression shown in the musical expression marks that came into being

3. The Musician as “Artist,” Music as “Art” • The duty of the artist was “the upbringing of mankind” • Composers were no longer servants to the aristocracy • Music no longer merely entertainment, but Art • Serious tone in the concert hall • “Art for Art’s sake.” • Rebellion against Classical ideals • Evolution beyond Classical music

4. Romantic Ideals Change the Listening Experience • More serious tone in the concert hall • Sat in respectful silence for the revered figure of the Romantic artist-composer • Audience was emotionally engaged • Belief in the artist as superhero, reverence for the object as a “work of art,” and expectations of silence and formal dress at a concert developed in the Romantic period • Canon of Classical music: Works that stand the test of time

5. The Style of Romantic Music • Romantic Melody: Broad, sweeping themes • Lyrical and expressive, building to a grandiose climax • Longer phrases, irregular in shape • Rhythmically flexible

6. Colorful Harmony: Contributes to the emotional intensity • Use of chromatic harmony, temporary dissonance • Rich, lush sounds • Unexpected harmonic shifts • Romantic Tempo: Rubato • Rubato: Italian for “robbed” time • Exaggerates the rhythmic flow • Gives performers more artistic freedom • Heard especially in the music of Frédéric Chopin

7. Romantic Forms: • Monumental: Romantic composers expanded those used in the Classical Era • Length of individual movements increased dramatically • Miniature: Composers tried to capture the essence of a single mood, sentiment, or emotion • Character piece • Usually for the piano • Use of simple binary (AB) or ternary (ABA) form • Sometimes given a whimsical title, such as bagatelle, humoresque, arabesque, musical moment, caprice, romance, intermezzo, or impromptu • Schubert, Schumann, Chopin, Liszt, Brahms

8. The Romantic Orchestra • Technological advances that led to the modern symphony orchestra transformed 19th-century music • Industrial revolution improved instruments • Flute – now made from silver, new fingering mechanism that increased the technical abilities of the instrument • Trumpet and French horn: Valves, improving technical facilities as well as intonation • Orchestra expanded by new instruments • Ophicleide, English horn, Cornet, Harps added • Greater size, great volume

9. The Conductor • Larger, more complex music needed a musical “traffic cop” • Conductors started using a baton • Interpreter of the music

10. The Virtuoso • The nineteenth century was the age of the solo virtuoso • Musicians strived to raise their performance skills to unprecedented heights • Performing tricks and gimmicks • Franz Liszt (1811-1886) • Niccolò Paganini (1782-1840) • “The attraction of the virtuoso is like that of a circus performer; there’s always the hope that something disastrous will happen.”

11. Coda • Increased attention to literature in the Romantic Era inspired new musical genres: the art song (Lied), the program symphony, and the tone poem • Technological innovations led to a much larger, more powerful piano, as well as the musical literature specifically written for it • Political events caused musical reverberations in the form of nationalistic musical style in both instrumental music and opera • Unification of Germany and Italy