Week 5, Section/Lecture 1The Early Romantic Period [MUSIC] In this class, I'll talk about the circumstances that

led to the Romantic Period in the early 19th century. Some people mark the beginning of this new era sometime after 1827, the year Beethoven died. Some use 1830 as the beginning, the year of Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique. But the roots of the Romantic Period go back a little farther than that, so for our purposes, we'll start in 1815, which is the beginning of Beethoven's Late Period. It's difficult to mark an end to the Romantic Period, since elements of Romanticism continued into later eras and overlapped with the newer musical styles of the late 1800s, so some use the year 1900 as a convenience. The Romantic Period gets its name from the "Medieval romance," a literary work usually characterized by a mysterious, idealized hero-knight, like King Arthur, doing noble deeds, often rescuing a woman or princess from danger. There are often supernatural elements and imaginary lands in these stories, and of course, the hero always prevails, usually after some struggle, often benefitting his nation or his people. The type of music written during the Romantic Period has some of those same characteristics: heroic stories, triumph over struggle, and an escape from reality to imaginary worlds of idealized characters, kind of like movies today. [PAUSE] In the Baroque, composers tried to incorporate a range of affections, or emotions, in their music to achieve balance. In the Classical style, the emphasis was on form and structurelike theme and variations, or sonata form. The music of Haydn and Mozart was meant to be elegant and simple, objectively beautiful and universally understandable and likable. The mark of a good composer was not necessarily the inventiveness of the theme itself, it was how that theme was developed and expanded throughout the piece. Romantic music, on the other hand, focused on individual expressiona composer's originality was marked by the melody and harmony itself. Themes were personal, interesting, and expressive, which sometimes led to extremes of range, dynamics, and orchestration. For example, the size of the orchestra greatly expanded, thanks to Berlioz. His Symphonie fantastique called for over 90 instrumentalists in 1830, only three years after Beethoven's death. And his Requiem in 1837 called for almost 220 instrumentalists and a chorus of over 200. This was unusual and did not become the norm, thankfully, but it shows how composers were looking for new sounds and exciting combinations of instruments, and employing wider ranges in the orchestra to achieve this. With more personal expression came a return to a more equal balance of major and minor keys in the Romantic era, with about half of the symphonies, on average, written in a minor key. This includes two of four Brahms symphonies, five of nine from Bruckner, four of nine from Dvorak, five out of ten from Mahler, and five out of six from Tchaikovsky. One way to be original was through the use of folk music. As the aristocracy declined and the concept of "nations" emerged, there was an emphasis on the "common people,"

musically exemplified in folk melodies. This leads to Nationalism in music, or the use of national or folk melodies as themes in a piece, as an expression of a nation's roots or as a way of showing national pride. Many Romantic composers still used Classical forms, like sonata form for a symphony or string quartet, but emotional expression within those traditional forms was now the focus. These composers are often described as continuing in the Classical tradition, like Brahms and Mendelssohn. Then there were composers who, through the creation of expanded forms or highly chromatic or expressive music, are seen as creating a newer, more Romantic path, like Berlioz, Liszt, and Wagner. And both groups claim Beethoven as their inspiration. [PAUSE] Writers and critics in the Romantic Period categorized instrumental music into three types: program music, which tells a story or sequence of events, often written down in accompanying program notes; a character piece, which portrays a scene or character or mood, usually not too long, with a descriptive title; and absolute music, music without stories or images, or any type of extra-musical effects. This describes the music of the Classical period and almost all instrumental music before that, but giving it a name and calling it "absolute music" as opposed to "program music" was new in the Romantic Period. Writing was very important in the Romantic period, as many composers would write their own program notes. Berlioz, Schumann, Liszt, and many others were also music critics and wrote essays on new music, introducing and supporting new composers in their writings. And Wagner even wrote his own librettos. Public concerts became more and more popular in the 19th century, with an increasing number of professional orchestras, and talent ranging from touring virtuosos like Paganini, Liszt, and Chopin, to amateur choral societies. In the 1780s, concerts consisted of about 85% new music, by living composers, while only 15% of the music was from the past. As new Romantic music was being written, a growing number of ensembles continued to play "the classics"pieces from the past that became permanent staples of the repertoire, including Handel's oratorios, and the symphonies and string quartets of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. In the Baroque, the leader of the orchestra was the harpsichordist. In the Classical period, the leader becomes the concertmaster. But as orchestras grew, there became a need for a dedicated leader and the new profession of conductor emerged. Over the course of the Romantic Period, conductors became the great interpreters of the classical repertoire, and soloists championed the concertos and piano music of Beethoven. Eventually, the numbers gradually flipped so that by the 1880s, about 75% of the music performed in concert was from the composers of the past. Ultimately, this affected living composers who aspired to have their music become the "classics" of the future. [PAUSE] Thanks to the advances in technology as part of the Industrial Revolution, by around 1800, there were

new methods of printing that cut down on cost and production time. This, in turn, led to a massive increase in the publishing and buying of printed materials like theory books, method books, music criticism, full scores, and piano reductions of symphonies and operas. Many of the popular genres in the Classical Period continued into the Romantic Periodsymphonies, string quartets, opera, etc. Although the middle class was growing and tickets to performances were more affordable, public concerts were still infrequent by today's standards. And of course, there were no recordings or CDs, let alone the instant access we have today with YouTube and iTunes. The main way that people became familiar with instrumental music was to play it or hear it played at home or in a small venue, often as a piano reduction. As instruments and sheet music became more affordable, making music at home became more and more popular. Playing through string quartets with friends, or singing and playing the piano with family were fun activities, and offered an escape from everyday problems and stress. There were method books for amateurs, and piano music featured dances, character pieces, and sonatas and various levels of difficulty. Lieder, or German art songs, which required only a singer and piano accompaniment, were among the most popular at home, combining music and poetry. Composers chose texts and poems that lent themselves well to musical expression, and themes, keys, and form were carefully crafted to best convey the imagery in the text. Musically, the piano was an equal partner to the voice when it came to reinforcing the meaning of the poetry. Collections of lieder were published, often grouped by theme or by the author of the poems, and sometimes stories were told through the succession of songs. Schubert is considered the great master of the German Lied, with over 600 songs, and Schumann continued that tradition with hundreds of his own. This week, the Two Songs, Opus 91, by Brahms highlights the Romantic Era's focus on lieder, while his Horn Trio, Opus 40, exemplifies the Romantic notion of personal expression and story-telling in music. In the next video, we'll talk about Brahms's life and influences, and how he carried on the great traditions of Beethoven and the Classical Era into the Romantic period. Okay, lets review with a simple quiz. [MUSIC]