Romantic Style in Music
Romantic Era Music• More 19th century music is
performed today than any other period
• Larger orchestras & better instruments– Brass with valves– Woodwinds with new fingering and
better tuning– Violins capable of more powerful sound– Pianos with iron frames, thicker wires
and pedals
Romantic Era Themes• Love• Nature• Heroes• The
Supernatural
Definitions• Art Song – songs that combine
poetry and music• Program Music – instrumental music
endowed with specific literary or pictorial content
• Etudes – an instrumental study designed to improve technique
• Arpeggio – playing the notes of a chord in rapid succession
BeethovenSymphony No. 9 “Choral,”
Presto• Considered one the greatest
accomplishments of Western culture
• Beethoven’s original score sold for $3.3 million
• European Union’s theme
SchubertErlkonig (The Erlking)
• Art Song• Introduction
establishes tension and distress– Storm– Horse ride
• Each voice is in a different vocal register
BerliozAn Episode in the Life of an
Artist Opus 14 “Symphonie fantastique”
• Program Music• Written at 27• His “passion” for
Harriet Smithson• Opium induced
dream where the lover takes the form of a melody in the artist’s head
BerliozSymphonie fantastique
“March to the Scaffold” is a movement intended by the composer to create a sense of frenzy and fear as the convicted killer is led through the streets to the scaffold holding the guillotine where he will be executed. The movement uses dramatic and brilliantly colorful orchestration to create a dizzying array of effects, from the approach of distant drums, to wild and chaotic crowds pressing to view the spectacle, and even the sound of the convict’s severed head dropping into the basket.
ChopinEtude in G-flat Major, Op. 10, No.
5• Etudes• Rapid play on
the black keys• Still used to
demonstrate technical precision
Ballet• Tchaikovsky
– Swan Lake– The Nutcracker– Sleeping Beauty
Ballet• Maria Taglioni
– Tutu– Arabesques– Sur les points– Floating leaps
Ballet• Arabesque
– position in which the dancer stands on one leg with the other extended behind and one or both arms held to create the longest line possible of the body.
Opera• Wagner• Der Ring des Nibelungen
– (The Ring of the Nibelung)• 4 operas and 15 hours long• Quest for a powerful, but cursed, ring that
can control the universe• Opera is filled with giants, dragons,
dwarves and heroes
WagnerDie Walkure (The Valkyrie)
• Orchestra sets mood of excitement• Famous “Ride” theme• Continuous fabric of music and
singing
Recommended