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I.

Prelude
A. New ways to engage established musical genres
1. orchestra central to public concert life
a. instrumental music communicates pure emotion
b. orchestra, medium par excellence
c. middle-class audience
d. public concerts became more popular
2. song
a. favorite for intense personal feelings
b. suitable medium for literary, lyrical tendencies of Romanticism
3. the piano
a. enlarged and strengthened
b. repertory from either end of spectrum: grandiose proportions, fleeting
impressions
4. chamber music
a. not as attractive to some Romantic composers
b. lacked improvisational spontaneity, virtuosic glamour
II. Franz Schubert (1797–1828)
A. First great Romantic song writer, prolific in all genres
1. son of Vienna schoolteacher
2. studied theory and performance; composition with Antonio Salieri
3. began as a schoolteacher; turned entirely to composition
4. freelance composer, income from publication
5. last years clouded by illness
6. major works: song cycles Die schöne Müllerin and Winterreise, hundreds
of songs, nine symphonies, thirty-five chamber works, twenty-two piano
sonatas, seventeen operas and singspiels, 200 other choral works
B. Lieder
1. over 600 songs, first performed for friends, Schubertiads
a. gift for beautiful melodies
i. artless quality of folk song
ii. other suffused with sweetness, melancholy
iii. declamatory, dramatic, intense
2. harmony
a. strong sense of harmonic color
b. harmonic boldness (Gruppe aus dem Tartarus and Das Heimweh)
c. chromatic coloring, primarily diatonic sound (Am Meer and Lob der
Thränen)
d. modulations by 3rd rather than 5th
e. unusual harmony, harmonic relationships; expressive device
3. song texts by many writers
a. often dwells on single poet for some time
b. two song cycles, poems by Wilhelm Müller
i. Die schöne Müllerin (The Pretty Miller-Maid, 1823)
ii. Winterreise (Winter’s Journey, 1827)
c. music equal of the words
4. form suited shape and meaning of text
a. strophic: same music each stanza
i. sustains single mood or image
ii. Heidenröslein (Little Heath-Rose, 1815); Das Wandern (Wandering)
b. modified strophic: music repeats for some strophes, others vary or
use new music
i. contrast or change
ii. Der Lindenbaum (The Linden Tree)
c. ternary (ABA, or ABA1) or bar form (AAB)
i. Der Atlas (Atlas), Ständchen(Serenade)
d. through-composed: new music for each stanza
i. longer narrative songs, ballads
ii. Erlkönig (The Erlking, 1815)
iii. unity: recurring themes, tonal scheme
5. variety of accompaniments
a. depict, enhance mood and imagery of the song
b. Gretchen am Spinnrade (Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel, 1814;
NAWM 128)
i. based on Goethe’s Faust
ii. suggests spinning wheel: 16th note figure in RH
iii. motion of treadle: repeated notes in LH
c. Erlkönig
i. text by Goethe
ii. pounding octave triplets in accompaniment: galloping horses,
anxiety of father
iii. characterized three actors in the drama
6. mastery of elements: Der Lindenbaum(NAWM 129), from Winterreise
a. modified strophic form marks progress of story
i. first strophe: summer love, major mode
ii. second strophe: minor mode, chill of winter
iii. third strophe: heralds cold wind, new declamatory melody
iv. fourth strophe: returns to major mode, original melody, threatening
quality
C. Solo piano music
1. works for amateur market
a. dozens of marches, waltzes, dances
b. Moments musicaux (Musical Moments, 1823–28), Impromptus (1827)
c. set stand for subsequent Romantic composers
2. Wanderer Fantasie (1822)
a. virtuosity, unusual form fascinated later composers
b. four movements played without breaks
i. constant variation of rhythmic figure from Der Wanderer
ii. movements drawn together: musical continuity, common material
iii. overall key scheme: harmonic relationships of a 3rd
iv. first to use complete circle of M3rds around the octave
3. eleven piano sonatas
a. subtle departures from Classic patterns
b. sonata-form movements often use three keys in exposition
c. last three sonatas, strong awareness of Beethoven
D. Chamber music
1. early works, home performance
a. modeled on Mozart and Haydn
b. Trout Quintet (1819), fourth movement variations on Die Forelle
i. piano, violin, viola, cello, bass
ii. Andantino variations on his own song Die Forelle
2. late works, dramatic concert music
a. String Quartet in A Minor (1824)
b. String Quartet in D Minor (1824-1826, Death and the Maiden)
c. String Quartet in G Major (1826)
d. String Quintet in C Major (1828)
3. String Quintet in C Major
a. composed two months before his death
b. string quartet with second cello
i. exquisite effects, constantly varying textures
c. first movement (NAWM 141): sonata form
i. three keys in exposition: C, E-flat, G
ii. second theme first appears in cellos
iii. recapitulation in A-flat
iv. tonal scheme became popular in nineteenth century
E. Orchestral music
1. form of symphony, content in new Romantic style
a. focus on songlike melodies
b. adventurous harmonies, innovative textures
c. colorful instrumentation
2. Unfinished Symphony (No. 8, 1822)
a. completed only two movements, first large-scale symphony
b. first movement:
i. plaintive melody; less easily fragmented into motives
ii. relaxed second theme in cellos, syncopated figures
iii. development focuses on introductory subject
iv. maintains outward form, infused with lyrical context
3. Great Symphony in C Major (No. 9, 1828)
a. Romantic lyricism, Beethovenian drama, expanded Classical form
b. not performed in Schubert’s lifetime
c. first movement:
i. long-slow introduction, lyrical section
ii. first theme: influence of Haydn and Beethoven, easily fragmented
iii. three-key exposition: relationships of a 3rd, traditional polarity of I–
V
iv. elements of opening horn melody return
F. Influence
1. Lieder set standard later composers strove to match
2. his lyricism affected every other genre of nineteenth century
III. Robert Schumann (1810–1856)
A. Robert and Clara Schumann: one of the most significant marriages in the
history of music
1. Robert Schumann:
a. son of a writer and book dealer, intense interest in literature
b. studied piano with Friedrich Wieck
c. turned to composition and criticism; founded Leipzig Neue Zeitschrift
für Musick (New Journal for Music)
d. among first and strongest advocates of Chopin, Brahms, instrumental
works of Schubert
2. Clara Wieck
a. early studies with her father, Friedrich Wieck
b. first public appearance, age nine
c. by age twenty, leading pianist in Europe, many published works
3. the Schumanns:
a. Friedrich Wieck lawsuit; 1840 Robert and Clara married
b. toured, concertized: Robert conducting, Clara at the piano
c. Robert’s increasing mental instability, confined to asylum, 1854
d. Clara composed, taught, promoted and edited Robert’s works
4. major works (Robert): over 300 piano works, about 300 songs, one
opera, several oratorios, four symphonies, piano concerto, various works
5. major works (Clara): Piano Trio, Op. 17; piano concerto; many piano
pieces; several collections of Lieder
B. Piano music
1. publications up to 1840, all solo piano
a. mostly short character pieces grouped in named sets
i. Papillons (Butterflies)
ii. Carnaval
iii. Fantasiestücke (Fantasy Pieces)
iv. Kinderszenen (Scenes from Childhood)
v. Nachstücke (Night Pieces)
b. evocative titles
i. stimulate player’s and listener’s imaginations
ii. possible avenues for exploration; devise own narratives
2. Carnaval (1834–35)
a. twenty short pieces in dance rhythms, each lacks clear harmonic
conclusion
b. conjures masquerade ball in carnival season
i. guests are characters used in his own literary writings
ii. characters embody facets of his personality
iii. titles evoke strongly contrasting visual and emotional images,
paralleled in the music
c. Eusebius (NAWM 132a)
i. visionary dreamer, named after fourth-century pope
ii. dreamy fantasy, slow chromatic bass, melody in septuplets
d. Florestan (NAWM 132b)
i. named after hero of Beethoven’sFidelio
ii. impassioned waltz, angular melodies, pulsating dissonances,
offbeat sforzandos
e. Coquette (NAWM 132c)
i. waltz with lilt and charm
3. ciphers and motives, unity and diversity
a. names represented through notes
b. Carnaval: motives spell Asch (hometown of Schumann’s then fiancée)
c. invites extramusical interpretation
d. give unity to entire work
C. Songs
1. first important successor to Schubert
2. Robert Schumann 1840, “year of song”: over 120 songs
a. focused on love songs, impending marriage to Clara Wieck
b. expression of passions, frustrations of love
c. money from lucrative genre
d. synthesized his two great interests: music and poetry
3. music and poetry
a. music should capture poem’s essence
b. voice and piano should be equal partners
c. composer cocreator with poet
d. piano: long preludes and postludes
e. single figuration throughout: central emotion or idea of poem
4. Dichterliebe (A Poet’s Love, 1840)
a. sixteen poems from Heinrich Heine’sLyrical Intermezzo (1823)
b. Im wunderschönen Monat Mai (In the marvelous month of May, NAWM
130)
i. poet confesses newborn love, tentative feelings: harmonic ambiguity
ii. longing and desire: suspensions and appoggiaturas
iii. unrequited love: refuses to settle into a key, ends on dominant 7th
D. Symphony and chamber music
1. 1841, “symphony year”
a. primary orchestral models
i. Schubert’s Great C Major Symphony
ii. symphonies and concertos of Mendelssohn
b. symphonic themes dwell on one rhythmic figure
c. variety through constantly changing presentations of the theme
2. Symphony No. 4 in D Minor (first movement, NAWM 140)
a. Schumann’s most radical rethinking of the symphony
i. four standard movements within single movement
ii. Wanderer Fantasy, important model
b. themes from first movement return in later movements
i. integrated, organically unified cycle
ii. symphonic fantasia: traditional forms, continuous variation
3. 1842–43, “chamber music year”
a. Op. 41 string quartets, piano quintet, piano quartet
i. fluid interchange among parts
ii. strongly reflect influence of Haydn, Mozart
iii. string quartets, four-way conversation
b. Piano Trios No. 1 in D Minor, Op. 63, and No. 2 in F Major, Op. 80
(1847)
i. study of Bach, more polyphonic approach
ii. influential works on Brahms, other German composers
IV. Clara Schumann (1819–1896)
A. Remarkably long career: pianist, composer, teacher
1. women composers discouraged from composing large-scale works
2. as prominent pianist
a. showcased Robert’s works and her own
b. polonaises, waltzes, variations, preludes, fugues, a sonata, character
pieces
3. music revived in late 20th century
B. Several collections of Lieder
1. approach to song parallels Robert
a. long piano preludes and postludes
b. similar figuration throughout each song
c. voice and piano as equals convey images, feelings of poem
C. Chamber music
1. Piano Trio in G Minor (1846)
a. traits from Baroque, Classic, Romantic models
b. songlike themes
c. rich polyphonic treatment
d. development through motivic fragmentation, imitation
e. fugue, rousing codas
2. slow third movement (NAWM 142); modified ABA
a. A section: nocturne-like, melancholy
b. B section: animated
c. constantly changing textures, complex accompanying figuration
V. Felix Mendelssohn (1809–1847)
A. Leading German Romantic composer
1. precocious musical talent equal to Mozart
2. renowned pianist, organist, conductor
3. music combines Romantic expressivitiy with Classical forms, techniques
4. grandson of Moses Mendelssohn, leading Jewish philosopher of the
Enlightenment
5. Felix and sister Fanny trained by excellent teachers from an early age
6. composed at astonishing rate
7. positions
a. music director at Düsseldorf
b. music director and conductor of Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig
c. various capacities in Berlin
8. 1843, founded Leipzig Conservatory
9. major works: five symphonies, violin concerto, two piano concertos, four
overtures, incidental music, two oratorios, numerous chamber works,
pieces for piano and organ, choral works, and songs
B. Classical Romanticism
1. elements of Classicism and Romanticism
a. mastery of sonata, concerto: influence of Mozart, Beethoven
b. command of counterpoint, fugue: study of Bach, Handel
c. Romantic traits: colorful orchestration, pictorial depiction
d. composed in variety of genres
C. Orchestral works
1. symphonies
a. Classic models
b. literary and descriptive aspects of Romanticism
i. Italian (No. 4, 1833), impressions on a trip to Italy
ii. Scottish (No. 3, 1842), impressions on a trip to British Isles
2. overtures
a. The Hebrides (Fingal’s Cave, 1832), Scottish topic
b. Meeresstille und glückliche Fahrt(Becalmed at Sea and Prosperous
Voyage, 1828–32)
c. Midsummer Night’s Dream Overture (1826)
i. masterpiece in the genre, set standard for all overtures
ii. Classic structure, sonata form
iii. imaginative use of musical figuration, orchestral color
iv. Wedding March, incidental music written seventeen years later
3. piano concertos
a. several concertos for his own performances
b. emphasis on musical content
i. audience appeal, sophistication for connoisseur
ii. greater expressive purpose
4. Violin Concerto in E Minor (1844) (NAWM 139)
a. three movements played without pause
i. linked by thematic content, connecting passages
b. contrasts delineate form, create variety, convey deep feelings
i. virtuosity with lyric expression, solo with orchestra
c. first movement:
i. skips orchestral exposition, soloist states main theme
ii. cadenza before the recapitulation
d. second movement, ABA1 form
i. romance for violin and orchestra
e. third movement: sonata-rondo finale
i. lightness of a scherzo
ii. violin and orchestra equal partners
D. Oratorios
1. proliferation of amateur choral societies in Germany
2. two successful oratorios, biblical subjects: St. Paul (1836), Elijah (1846)
3. Elijah: rooted in Baroque tradition but manifesting something new
a. choral movements: variety of styles, textures
b. evoked styles of chorales
c. unifying motives, links between movements
4. final chorus of Elijah (NAWM 143)
a. Handelian in spirit, powerful homorhythmic opening
b. vigorous fugue, culminating in chordal harmony
c. contrapuntal “Amen”
d. touches of chromaticism, more recent styles
E. Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel (1805–1847)
1. Felix Mendelssohn’s sister
2. did not pursue public career
a. equally trained in music as her brother
b. musical career inappropriate for woman of her social class
c. married painter Wilhelm Hensel
i. led a salon; played piano, presented her compositions
ii. Hensel encouraged her to publish
d. more than 400 works
i. mostly small genres, including 250 songs, 125 piano pieces
3. Das Jahr (The Year, 1841)
a. character pieces, on the twelve months
i. inspired by extended trip to Italy, 1839–40
b. December (NAWM 133)
i. exploits piano’s wide range, colorful potential
ii. technically challenging passages
iii. popular German carol based on Lutheran chorale quoted
VI. Fryderyk Chopin (1810–1849)
A. Romantic composer most closely identified with the piano
1. born near Warsaw; French father, Polish mother
2. early training at Warsaw Conservatory; performed in Vienna, toured
Germany and Italy
3. failed Polish revolt; settled in Paris, 1831
4. entered highest social circles
a. taught wealthy students
b. performed in private salons
c. income from publications
5. tempestuous nine-year affair with novelist Aurore Dudevant
6. major works: 110 dances (mazurkas, waltzes, and polonaises), four
ballades, four scherzos, ten nocturnes, twenty-seven études, twenty-five
preludes, two piano concertos, three sonatas, five chamber works, twenty
songs
B. Idiomatic writing, new possibilities for the piano
1. appealed to amateurs and connoisseurs
C. Dances
1. waltzes evoke ballrooms of Vienna
2. polonaise
a. triple-meter dance, rhythmic figure of eight and two 16ths on first
beat
b. asserts vigorous national identity
3. mazurka
a. Polish folk dance, popular in ballrooms of high society
b. stately triple meter, frequent accents on second or third beat; frequent
dotted rhythms
c. unusual ornaments, modal effects
d. e.g., Mazurka in B-flat Major, Op. 7, No. 1 (NAWM 134)
D. Nocturnes
1. soulful, introspective
2. conception indebted to John Field (1782–1837), Maria Szymanowska
(1789–1831)
3. Nocturne in D-flat Major, Op. 27, No. 2 (NAWM 135)
a. style draws on bel canto vocal style, Bellini opera arias
b. cadenza-like passage work in right hand
E. Preludes
1. composed while deeply immersed in music of Bach
2. covered all major and minor keys
3. sharply defined mood pictures
4. astounding inventiveness of figuration
5. rich chromatic harmonies and modulations, influenced later composers
F. Ballades and scherzos
1. longer, more demanding works
2. one of first to name ballade for instrumental piece
3. scherzos are serious and passionate
G. études
1. landmarks in defining piano idiom
2. twelve each in Opp. 10 and 25; three without opus number
3. each one addresses specific skill; repetition of a single figure
VII. Hector Berlioz (1803–1869)
A. Radically original composer
1. born in southeastern France
2. fascination with music
i. taught himself harmony from textbooks
ii. began composing in his teens
iii. studied composition at Paris Conservatory
3. influences
i. Beethoven symphonies
ii. Shakespeare’s plays
iii. obsession with Harriet Smithson, Anglo-Irish actress
4. music criticism was his chief profession
5. acted as his own impresario
6. brilliant prose writer; literary composer
7. 1835, began to conduct; first to make career orchestral conducting
8. major works: three operas, four symphonies, four concert overtures, over 30
choral works, orchestral song cycle
B. Symphonie fantastique, “Episode in the Life of an Artist” (1830)
1. provided autobiographical program
a. inaugurated programmatic Romanticism
b. symphony as narrative or sequence of events
c. musical drama without words
d. music as autonomous art
2. idée fixe: melody representing hero’s beloved
a. recurrence unifies all five movements
b. transformations tell the story, wide range of contrasting attributes
c. first movement, “Dreams and Passions”
i. slow introduction, sonata form Allegro
ii. first theme, idée fixe: long, arching line of an operatic aria
d. second movement, “A Ball”
i. waltz, enacting scene at a ball
ii. idée fixe embodied in waltzlike version
e. slow third movement, “Scene in the Country”
i. pastorale scene
ii. phrases of theme alternate with instrumental recitative
f. fourth movement, “March to the Scaffold”
i. dreams of his own execution
ii. opening of idée fixe just before guillotine falls
g. fifth movement, “Dream of a Witches’ Sabbath” (NAWM 138)
ii. grotesque caricature of the idée fixe
iii. Dies irae, symbol of death, macabre, or diabolical
3. originality
a. dazzling musical vocabulary
b. expresses many shifting moods, emotional content
c. innovations in harmony, melody, instrumentation
d. recurring theme: extends procedures of Beethoven’s Fifth, Sixth, and
Ninth Symphonies
C. Harold en Italie (1834)
1. title suggested by Lord Byron’s Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage
2. Berlioz’s second symphony; set of four scenes
a. recollections of sojourn in Italy
b. recurring theme in viola in each movement
c. features solo viola, less prominently than a concerto
i. commissioned by Paganini, refused to play it
D. Roméo et Juliette
1. “dramatic symphony,” orchestra, soloists, chorus
2. seven movements
a. built on Beethoven’s Ninth precedent
b. voices enter in prologue, used in three movements
E. Church music
1. Grande Messes des morts (Requiem, 1837) and Te Deum (1855)
a. dramatic symphonies, orchestra and chorus
b. patriotic tradition inspired by music festivals of French Revolution
c. huge dimensions: length, numbers of performers, grandeur of
conception
F. Berlioz’s influence
1. leader of Romantic radical wing
2. all subsequent composers of program music indebted to him
3. enriched orchestral music with new resources of harmony, color,
expression, form
4. gave impetus to cyclical symphonic forms
5. founder of modern orchestration and conducting
VIII. Two Americans: Foster and Gottschalk
A. Parlor songs
1. piano center of home music-making
2. “parlor songs” thrived alongside Schubert’s Lieder
a. usually strophic or verse-refrain form
b. piano preludes and codas based on tune
c. expressivity in vocal melody
d. piano supports singer, conventional figuration
B. Stephen Foster (1826–1864)
1. leading American song composer of ninth century
2. no formal training in composition
3. 1848, contract with New York publisher
a. first American to make living solely as a composer
4. characteristics
a. combined elements of British ballads, American minstrel songs,
German Lieder, Italian opera, Irish folk songs
b. easy to perform and remember
c. Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair(1853; NAWM 131)
i. diatonic, mostly stepwise melody
iv. simple accompaniment, clear four-measure phrases
C. Louis Moreau Gottschalk (1829–1869)
1. first American composer to achieve international reputation
a. born in New Orleans, completed training in Paris
b. toured Europe, United States, Caribbean, South America
c. played mostly his own compositions
d. pieces based on melodies and rhythms of mother’s West Indian
heritage
e. through Gottschalk, composers imitated dance rhythms and
syncopations of the New World
2. Souvenir de Porto Rico (NAWM 137)
a. theme derived from Puerto Rican song
b. features Afro-Caribbean rhythms
c. designed to appeal to middle-class audience

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