Romantic Music Information

Romantic music is a term describing a style of Western classical music that began in the late 18th or early 19th century. It was related to and in Germany dominated Romanticism, the artistic and literary movement that arose in the second half of the 18th century in Europe.

Romantic music as a movement evolved from the formats, genres and musical ideas established in earlier periods, such as the classical period, and went further in the name of expression and syncretism of different art-forms with music. Romanticism does not necessarily refer to romantic love, though that theme was prevalent in many works composed during this time period, both in literature, painting, or music. Romanticism followed a path that led to the expansion of formal structures for a composition set down or at least created in their general outlines in earlier periods, and the end-result is that the pieces are "understood" to be more passionate and expressive, both by 19th century and today's audiences. Because of the expansion of form (those elements pertaining to form, key, instrumentation and the like) within a typical composition, and the growing idiosyncrasies and expressiveness of the new composers from the new century, it thus became easier to identify an artist based on his work or style.

Background

Romanticism

The Romantic movement was an artistic, literary, and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe and strengthened in reaction to the Industrial Revolution.^[1] In part, it was a revolt against social and political norms of the Age of Enlightenment and a reaction against the scientific rationalization of nature.^[2] It was embodied most strongly in the visual arts, music, and literature, but had a major impact on historiography,^[3] education,^[4] and natural history.^[5]

Musical language

The term Romanticism, when applied to music, can be viewed as an artistic response to social, cultural, economic and political influences that had their beginning in the early nineteenth century and lasted through the twentieth century.

The effects of Romanticism in music

• A freedom in form and design; a more intense personal expression of emotion in which fantasy, imagination and a quest for adventure play an important part.
• Emphasis on lyrical, songlike melodies; adventurous modulation; richer harmonies, often chromatic, with striking use of discords.
• Greater sense of ambiguity: especially in tonality or harmonic function, but also in rhythm or meter.
• Denser, weightier textures with bold dramatic contrasts, exploring a wider range of pitch, dynamics and tone-colours.
• Expansion of the orchestra, sometimes to gigantic proportions; the invention of the valve system leads to development of the brass section whose weight and power often dominate the texture.
• Rich variety of types of piece, ranging from songs and fairly short piano pieces to huge musical canvasses with lengthy time-span structures with spectacular, dramatic, and dynamic climaxes.
• Closer links with other arts lead to a keener interest in programme music (programme symphony, symphonic poem, concert overture).
• Shape and unity brought to lengthy works by use of recurring themes (sometimes transformed/developed): idée fixe (Berlioz), thematic transformations (Liszt), Leitmotif (Wagner), motto theme.
• Greater technical virtuosity – especially from pianists, violinists and flautists.
• The idea of instrumental music composed without reference to anything other than itself.
• The elevation of the performer as genius as demonstrated through the virtuosity of Paganini and Liszt.

History

Transition to the Romantic era 1790-1820

During the 1790s, there emerged of a new generation of composers, born around 1770, who, while they had grown up with the earlier styles, found in the recent works of Haydn and Mozart a vehicle for greater expression. In 1788 Luigi Cherubini settled in Paris and in 1791 composed Lodoiska, an opera that rose him to fame. Its style is clearly reflective of the mature Haydn and Mozart, and its instrumentation gave it a weight that had not yet been felt in the grand opera. His contemporary Étienne Méhul extended instrumental effects with his 1790 opera Euphrosine et Coradin, from which followed a series of successes.

The most fateful of the new generation was Ludwig van Beethoven, who launched his numbered works in 1794 with a set of three piano trios, which remain in the repertoire. Somewhat younger than the others, though equally accomplished because of his youthful study under Mozart and his native virtuosity, was Johann Nepomuk Hummel. Hummel studied under Haydn as well; he was a friend to Beethoven and Schubert. He concentrated more on the piano than any other instrument, and his time in London in 1791 and 1792 generated the composition and publication in 1793 of three piano sonatas, opus 2, which idiomatically used Mozart's techniques of avoiding the expected cadence, and Clementi's sometimes modally uncertain virtuoso figuration. Taken together, these composers can be seen as the vanguard of a broad change in style and the center of music. They studied one another's works, copied one another's gestures in music, and on occasion behaved like quarrelsome rivals.

The crucial differences with the previous wave can be seen in the downward shift in melodies, increasing durations of movements, the acceptance of Mozart and Haydn as paradigmatic, the greater use of keyboard resources, the shift from "vocal" writing to "pianistic" writing, the growing pull of the minor and of modal ambiguity, and the increasing importance of varying accompanying figures to bring "texture" forward as an element in music. In short, the late Classical was seeking a music that was internally more complex. The growth of concert societies and amateur orchestras, marking the importance of music as part of middle-class life, contributed to a booming market for pianos, piano music, and virtuosi to serve as examplars. Hummel, Beethoven, and Clementi were all renowned for their improvising.

Direct influence of the Baroque continued to fade: the figured bass grew less prominent as a means of holding performance together, the performance practices of the mid 18th century continued to die out. However, at the same time, complete editions of Baroque masters began to become available, and the influence of Baroque style continued to grow, particularly in the ever more expansive use of brass. Another feature of the period is the growing number of performances where the composer was not present. This led to increased detail and specificity in notation; for example, there were fewer "optional" parts that stood separately from the main score.

The force of these shifts became apparent with Beethoven's Third Symphony, given the name Eroica, which is Italian for "heroic", by the composer.

Trends of the 19th century

Non-musical influences

Examples of music inspired by literary / artistic sources include Liszt's Faust Symphony, Dante Symphony, his symphonic poems and his Annees de Pelerinage, Tchaikovsky's Manfred Symphony, Mahler's First Symphony, the piano cycles of Robert Schumann and the tone poems of Richard Strauss. Schubert included material from his lieder in some of his extended works, and others, such as Liszt, transcribed opera arias and songs for solo instrumental performance.

Events and changes that happen in society such as ideas, attitudes, discoveries, inventions, and historical events always affect music. For example, the Industrial Revolution was in full effect by the late 18th century and early 19th century. This event had a very profound effect on music: there were major improvements in the mechanical valves, and keys that most woodwinds and brass instruments depend on. The new and innovative instruments could be played with more ease and they were more reliable (Schmidt-Jones & Jones 2004, 3). The new instruments often had a bigger, fuller, better-tuned sound. Orchestras grew larger from the days of Beethoven onwards, and were on their way to professionalization .

Another development that had an effect on music was the rise of the middle class. Composers before this period lived on the patronage of the aristocracy (Schmidt-Jones 3). Many times their audience was small, composed mostly of the upper class and individuals who were knowledgeable about music (Schmidt-Jones & Jones 2004, 3). The Romantic composers, on the other hand, often wrote for public concerts and festivals, with large audiences of paying customers, who had not necessarily had any music lessons (Schmidt-Jones & Jones 2004, 3). Composers of the Romantic Era, like Elgar, showed the world that there should be "no segregation of musical tastes" (Young 1967, 525) and that the "purpose was to write music that was to be heard" (Young 1967, 527).

See also

• List of Romantic composers
• Neoromanticism (music)

Notes

1. ^ Encyclopædia Britannica. "''Romanticism''. Retrieved 30 January 2008, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online". Britannica.com. http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9083836. Retrieved 2010-08-24.
2. ^ Casey, Christopher (October 30, 2008). ""Grecian Grandeurs and the Rude Wasting of Old Time": Britain, the Elgin Marbles, and Post-Revolutionary Hellenism". Foundations. Volume III, Number 1. http://ww2.jhu.edu/foundations/?p=8. Retrieved 2009-06-25.
3. ^ David Levin, History as Romantic Art: Bancroft, Prescott, and Parkman (1967)
4. ^ Gerald Lee Gutek, A history of the Western educational experience (1987) ch. 12 on Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi
5. ^ Ashton Nichols, "Roaring Alligators and Burning Tygers: Poetry and Science from William Bartram to Charles Darwin," Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 2005 149(3): 304–315

References

• Beard, David, and Kenneth Gloag. Musicology: The Key Concepts. Cornwall: Routledge, 2005.
• Schmidt-Jones, Catherine, and Russell Jones. 2004. Introduction to Music Theory. [Houston, TX]: Connexions Project. ISBN 1-4116-5030-1
• Young, Percy Marshall. 1967. A History of British Music. London: Benn.

Further reading

• Blume, Friedrich. 1970. Classic and Romantic Music. New York: W. W. Norton.
• Cavalletti, Carlo. 2000. Chopin and Romantic Music, translated by Anna Maria Salmeri Pherson. Hauppauge, NY: Barron's Educational Series. (Hardcover) ISBN 0-7641-5136-3 ; ISBN 978-0-7641-5136-1.
• Dahlhaus, Carl. 1980. Between Romanticism and Modernism: Four Studies in the Music of the Later Nineteenth Century. Berkeley: University of California Press.
• Dahlhaus, Carl. 1979. "Neo-Romanticism". 19th-Century Music 3, no. 2 (November): 97–105.
• Einstein, Alfred. 1947. Music in the Romantic Era. New York: W. W. Norton.
• Kravitt, Edward F. 1992. "Romanticism Today". The Musical Quarterly 76, no. 1 (Spring): 93–109.
• Plantinga, Leon. 1984. Romantic Music: A History of Musical Style in Nineteenth-Century Europe. A Norton Introduction to Music History. New York: W. W. Norton. ISBN 0-393-95196-0; ISBN 978-0-393-95196-7.
• Rosen, Charles. 1995. The Romantic Generation. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-77933-9.
• Rummenhöller, Peter. 1989. Romantik in der Musik: Analysen, Portraits, Reflexionen. Munich: Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag; Kassel and New York: Bärenreiter.
• Samson, Jim. 2001. "Romanticism". The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan Publishers.

External links

• Music of the Romantic Era
• The Romantic Era
• Era on line

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