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Chapter 26: Late Romantic Orchestral Music. Romantic Venues and Today ’ s Concert Hall. Construction of large concert halls Vienna (Musikverein, 1870), New York (Carnegie Hall, 1891), Boston (Symphony Hall, 1900)
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Romantic Venues and Today’s Concert Hall • Construction of large concert halls • Vienna (Musikverein, 1870), New York (Carnegie Hall, 1891), Boston (Symphony Hall, 1900) • Newer concert halls: Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles (2003) and the Schermerhorn Symphony Center in Nashville (2006) continue this tradition • Today’s symphony-going experience very similar to that of the late Romantic Era
The Late Romantic Symphony and Concerto • Both the symphony and the concerto expanded in length during the Romantic Era • Longer, more complex movements • Concerto remained in three movements (fast – slow – fast) • Solo Concerto • Virtuoso soloists: Franz Liszt and Niccolò Paginini mesmerized audiences • Flashy showpieces, showmanship
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) • Born in Hamburg, Germany • Pianist and composer • Robert Schumann spoke Brahms’ praises (1853) • Brahms was a lifelong friend of Robert and Clara Schumann • Moved to Vienna in 1862 • Lived a modest (“un-Wagnerian”) lifestyle • Champion of absolute music • Used traditional musical forms • Revered Beethoven and was humbled by Beethoven’s legacy
Violin Concerto in D major (1878) • Friend and violin virtuoso Joseph Joachim assisted Brahms and played the solo part at the premiere • Mvt. 3 - Allegro giocoso, ma non troppo vivace • Traditional Rondo form • Lively rhythm • Double stops • Refrain has the flavor of a Hungarian gypsy tune
A Requiem for the Concert Hall:Brahms’s Ein Deutsches Requiem (1868) • Brought the sacred Requiem Mass into the secular concert hall • Ecumenical work in his native German • Profession of faith that extends sounds of solace to all who have suffered the loss of a loved one • Brahms had lost his mentor Robert Schumann and more recently his mother • Hour-long, seven-movement work • Movement 4: “How lovely is Thy dwelling place” • Text from Psalm 84 • Blend of homophonic and polyphonic textures
Antonín Dvorák (1841-1904) • Native of Bohemia, an area of the Czech Republic south of Prague • Worked as a freelance violist and organist in Prague while composing • Musical Nationalism • Dvorák became known throughout Europe • 1892 received an offer to become director of the newly founded National Conservatory in New York • There that he began writing, and while traveling for a summer to Spillville Iowa among the mainly Czech-speaking people of this rural farming community, he finished, his ninth symphony.
Symphony No. 9 in E minor, “From the New World” (1893) • Capstone of Dvorák’s career and is his best-known work • Premiered at the new Carnegie Hall in New York • Interest in the indigenous music of African Americans and American Indians • Tribute to the memory of some distant home • Movement 2: Largo • Calm strength of the brass leads to a haunting melody in the English horn • Tune published later as “Goin’ Home”
The Orchestral Song • Full orchestra replaces the piano as the medium of accompaniment • Large orchestra adds more color and more contrapuntal lines – Orchestral songs grew longer, denser, and more complex than the piano-accompanied art song
Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) • Born in Czechoslovakia; made his career in Vienna • Composer and conductor • Travelled to the United States (1909-1911); conducted and toured with the New York Philharmonic • 1897-1907 Director of Vienna Opera • Also directed the Metropolitan Opera in New York • Symphonies of great size and length; use of solo voice and chorus in symphonies • Wrote only orchestral songs and symphonies • “The symphony is the world; it must embrace everything.” • Last in the long line of great German symphonists that extends back to Haydn
Mahler: Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen(I Am Lost to the World, 1901-1902) • Reflected his own outlook on life and on art • Text from German Romantic poet Friedrich Rückert • Third song from Five Rückert Songs (1901) • Speaks of the artist’s growing remoteness from the travails of everyday life and his withdrawal into a private, heavenly world of music • Through-composed form depicts the emotional progression of the text