Music AppreciationClass #12: Late Romanticism

Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Dvorak, Elgar, Debussy

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)

Biography

•Encouraged and support Hans von Bülow Robert and Clara Schumann (14 years older)

▫Piano and Cello▫Conductor

Earliest professional career Brothel?

▫Began composing at 11

Musical Style: “War of the Romantics”

▫Traditionalist Baroque and Classical techniques

Scorn and dismissal▫Wagner and Liszt

▫Romantic New harmonies and melodies

Admiration and devotion▫Schumann and most music critics

Attack of the Walkuries

•Mocked by Wagner fans•Intimidated by protests and attacks

▫Result = Concentration on non-Wagner forms

no operas

1st Recordings!

•Thomas Alva Edison▫“Hungarian Dance #1”

CD#2, Track 8

•“Hungarian Dance, #3

•Listen for…▫Full orchestrations▫Contrapuntal techniques▫Concentration on melody

Peyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky1840-1893

Biography

•Child prodigy▫Discouraged

•Composed at 14•Musical training (conservatory)•“The Five”

▫Conflicting musical influences•Civil service job•International success

Musical style•Russian

▫Folk tunes▫Harmonies▫Rhythms

•European▫German form▫Italian melody▫French lyricism

Ballet (Russian Nationalism?)

•Previously inconsequential music▫2nd rate composers

•Tchaikovsky elevated and expanded▫Full orchestral tonality

•Stand-alone quality

“Romeo and Juliet” (1869)

•Scandal!

Musically graphic Violence/sex

•Overture Fantasy (11:00)

• Youtube.com @ 7:45

Brief segue

•Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953)▫“Romeo and Juliet” 1935

Arrival of the Capulets and the Montagues Romeo and Juliet’s pas de deux

Rudolf Nureyev and Lynne Fontanne: Balcony Scene

Nutcracker (1891)

•Most expansive ballet score to date▫Immediately popular▫Critically ridiculed

▫“Sugar Plumb Fairy” from the Kirov Ballet

Piano Concerto #1 (1875)

•Van Cliburn (1934 - )

•1st International Tchaikovsky Competition ▫1958

1812 Overture (1880)• Commission

▫Russia’s victory over Napoleon▫Orchestration

Tubular bells 16 cannon shots on musical cue!

• Carnegie Hall

• Philadelphia

Seiji Ozawa and the Berlin Philharmonic @ 4:0011:45

Personal • Gay

▫ Punishable by prison/execution

• Paranoid

• Married▫ Antonina Miliukova

Virtual stranger Unsolicited love letter Disastrous marriage

Nadezhda von Meck• Patron, 1877-90

• Letter relationship only

• Abrupt end

“Bob”

Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904)

Biography

•Born near Prague (Czech Republic)•Father was a professional Zither player

▫“The Third Man” 1949•Violinist, violist, organist•Father of 9 children!•Extensive travel

▫London▫New York (327 East 17th Street)▫Des Moins and Spilville, Iowa

Musical Style•Eastern European Nationalism

▫Folk music idiom▫American Negro Spiritual

•Extensive repertory▫Symphonies

“From The New World”: 4th Movement▫Chamber music

“The American String Quartet”▫Choral ▫Opera

CD #2, Track 10

•“Slavonic Dance #1”•Listen for…

▫Simple rhythm▫Melody suggestive of “rustic” life▫Complex technical demands

Sir Edward Elgar (1857-1934)

Biography

•Family owned a music shop▫“Down time” reading and studying

Self-taught•Father was a professional organist•Early violin lessons•Music director of “Lunatic Asylum”•Passionate bicyclist/naturalist

▫“There is music in the air…”•1st violinist under Dvorak

British Class System

•Caroline Alice Roberts▫Eight years older▫Daughter of a Major-General

“The care of a genius is enough of a life work for any woman!”

▫Important introductions•King Edward VII’s coronation: 1902

▫“Pomp And Circumstance” march•Knighthood

CD #2, Track 11

•“Enigma Variations”▫“Dedicated to my friends pictured within…”▫Each dedicated to a close personal

collegaue, friend or acquaintance.▫Inspired by Beethoven’s struggles

•Listen for…▫Soaring themes▫Full use of orchestra▫Simple rhythms

Claude Debussy (1862-1918)

Claude Monet:“Impression: Sunrise” 1872

Biography

•Studied piano with a former student of Chopin;

•Difficult and argumentative student•Teacher of Nadezhda von Meck’s children•Judgmental of other composers•Numerous wives and children

Musical Style

•Deliberately avoid the sound of structure▫Key signatures▫Time signatures▫“Floating chords”

CD #2, Track 12

•“Clair de Lune”

Listen for…

•Orchestrations?! (“yuck!”)•Evocative•Advanced piano technique