Music 2116

Study Guide for Chapter 21

Early Nineteenth-Century Music

 

Characteristics of romanticism found in all the arts

 

Specific characteristics of romanticism in music

 

Early romantic music in France

Musical interest focused on opera; Paris became the most important operatic center

Opéra comique dominated Europe

1. Following the Revolution it became serious commentary on social & political issues

2. Retained spoken dialogue

3. Characters included "common" people (i.e. "Les miserables")

4. Often included scenes of natural catastrophes

5. By the 1820s and 1830s the subject matter became less serious

Luigi Cherubini (1760-1842; close in age to Mozart, but lived much longer)

1. Before 1816 mostly operas; after 1816 mostly church music

2. Concerned with making dramatic portrayal convincing & used orchestration to enhance it

3. Wrote expressive recitative

4. Greatly increased the use of ensembles & choruses

Étienne-Nicolas Méhul (1763-1817; midway in age between Mozart & Beethoven)

1. Used recurring themes--"motto theme" or "reminiscence" motive

2. Music must create the proper atmosphere for the plot

3. Emphasized large crowd scenes

4. Used material from the opera in his overtures

5. Concerned with orchestral color, tone painting

Grand Opera did not become important until the 2nd quarter of the century

Napoleon required productions to reflect the grandeur of France and to glorify himself

New kind of libretto developed by Eugène Scribe

1. Historical or quasi-historical settings

2. Opportunities for crowd scenes, spectacle, ballet

3. Passionate human relationships disrupted by conflicting forces beyond their control

Giacomo Meyerbeer (1791-1864) known for Robert le diable & Les Huguenots

Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868) very influential, first in Italy and then in Paris

See detailed notes below

 

Early romantic music in Austria and Germany

German Romantic Opera
Developed late, out of Singspiel with addition of romantic ideas

Chronology: Mozart, Magic Flute (1791), von Weber, Der Freischütz (1821), Wagner, Lohengrin (1850)

Important characteristics

1. Based on German legend, myth, or history

2. Scenes of country life and wild nature

3. Cast includes supernatural beings, nobility, and commoners, sometimes posessed

4. Magic and the supernatural are all-powerful forces

5. Triumph of good over evil

6. Simple, folklike German melodies with harmonies and orchestral colors to set the mood

Minor composers

Ludwig Spohr (1784-1859); used Leitmotifs; wrote through-composed scenes

E.T.A. Hoffmann (1776-1822); both composed & wrote music criticism
Wrote Fantastic Tales which provided stories for later composers
Tchaikovsy, The Nutcracker

Schumann, Kreisleriana

Offenbach, The Tales of Hoffmann

Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826) (16 years younger than Beethoven; died young)

Worked for operatic reforms
At Breslau; his attempted reforms were unpopular

At Prague; he was somewhat more successful

At Dresden; he made major changes from previously all-Italian opera

Best-known works:

Der Freischütz, opera, 1821 (immensely popular all over Germany)

Established German romantic opera

Oberon, opera in English written for London, 1826

Invitation to the Dance, piano piece (waltz) later orchestrated by Berlioz

Carl Loewe (1796-1869; almost same age as Schubert, but lived much longer)

Famous baritone; concertized using his own Lieder and ballads

Best known for his 375 solo songs with piano accompaniment

Included typical romantic elements, supernatural etc.

Piano and singer are partners in interpreting the poetry

The poetry comes first and generates the vocal line and accompaniment

Best-known song is Edward , based on a Scottish ballad

 

Franz Peter Schubert (1797-1828) (27 years younger than Beethoven, but died the year after)

The only great Viennese composer actually born and raised in Vienna

Played piano, violin, viola, but like Haydn, not known as a virtuoso player

Known for symphonies, string quartets, piano pieces, lieder, choral music

His works catalogued in the 20th century by Otto Erich Deutsch; known by "D" numbers

Much of his work unpublished and largely unknown until after his death

Most music written for specific performers & informal ensembles

Many works written for Schubertiaden--Schubert evenings--from c. 1816-1827

Musical characteristics

1. Initial material often presented in unison or octaves

2. Opening material prominent in the development, but omitted from the recapitulation

3. Opening material used as coda or final statement to end a movement

4. First theme often stated twice, perhaps with some alteration, as if for emphasis

5. Surprise modulation after preparation for a different key

6. Abrupt shift to the key of the second theme, but careful preparation for recapitulation

7. Wavering between major and minor tonalities (from Mozart)

8. Used counterpoint skillfully, but rarely

9. Used Classical forms

Vocal music: his best known and most important contribution

Lieder--Over 600--the fundamental repertoire for the classical singer
He translated poetry into music, creating a unified whole

4 types of text settings:

a. Strophic or strophic with a refrain: Heidenröslein

b. Modified strophic, with changes made in some strophes

c. Through-composed (different music for each strophe): Erlkönig

d. Scena, sectional with changes of tempo and mood

Accompaniment always appropriate to the text and melody

2 Song Cycles: Die Winterreise & Die schöne Müllerin

The core of solo vocal literature

Both recommended for your CD collection)

Masses: 6 Catholic Masses, very accessible and very beautiful; some other choral music

Piano music

Character pieces
6 Momens musicals (Musical moments)

8 Impromptus (larger works) (S142 [177])

3 Klavierstücke (Piano pieces)

Piano sonatas: 21, some incomplete

Wandererfantasie ; 4 mvts without break; based on theme from his lied Der Wanderer

Chamber music (Written from the age of 14 until his death)

String quartets: ("Death & the Maiden" recommended for your CD collection)
Quartettsatz D.703 (Quartet movement; 1820)

A minor D.804 (1824)

D minor D.810 (1824; "Death & the Maiden")

G major D.887 (1826)

Quintets

Piano Quintet in A major D.667 (1819; the "Trout"; recommended for your CD collection)

String Quintet in C major D.956 (1827; 2 celli)

Other: Octet, 2 Piano Trios, some Violin/Piano pieces

Orchestral music

3 pieces for violin and orchestra:

9 symphonies (Nos. 8 & 9 recommended for your CD collection)

1-6 modeled on late Mozart & Haydn, not Beethoven

No. 7 was never completed

No. 8 is the "Unfinished": 2 movements and sketches for a 3rd exist

No. 9 is the "Great" symphony in C major

 

Early Romantic music in Italy

Opera was by far the most important form (church music was not important or influential)

Always sung throughout

Little influenced by Developments in Germany and Paris

 

Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868; 5 years older than Schubert)

Wrote both opera seria and opera buffa

Represents the emergence of 19th century Italian style from 18th century style

Moved to Paris in 1824 and important in the development of French grand opera

Early Italian period (c. 1810-1815--5 years starting at age 18)

Wrote for theaters in Venice, Ferrara, Milan, Rome, Naples

Started moving away from the kind of aria that stopped the action

Wrote a few castrato roles, though castrato singing was going out of fashion

Wrote most leading roles for the unaltered male voice

Wrote "pants" roles--the character of a young man sung by a mezzo or contralto

Best-known work from this period: The Italian in Algiers, 1813 (opera buffa)

Neapolitan period (1815-1823--8 years)

Brought to Naples to revitalize (i.e. reform) Neapolitan opera

Wrote mostly opera seria in Naples; continued to write seria and buffa for other places as well

Like Mozart and von Weber, married his prima donna

Musical characteristics of this period:

a. Fewer and less prominent solo arias

b. More and longer ensemble numbers

c. More accompanied and more dramatic accompanied recitative

d. Chorus made an active participant in the drama

e. Ornamentation written out rather than improvised

Best-know works from this period:

The Barber of Seville, 1816, opera buffa, a failure at its premier in Rome, but a tremendous success everywhere else, his best-known work, his acknowledged masterpiece, and the first opera sung in Italian in New York (1825) and Mexico City (1827). (S144 [179]; N137)

The Thieving Magpie, 1817, for La Scala in Milan

Semiramide, 1823, a tragedy, for Venice; his last opera for an Italian theater

Parisian period (1824-1829)

As director of the Thèâtre-Italien produced his own works & others', including Meyerbeer's

From 1826 concentrated on writing French operas for L'Opéra (as in "The Phantom of the…")

First revised his Neapolitan operas; then wrote original operas in French

a. Changes in plots and libretti

b. Music rewritten

c. Lengthened by one act

d. Castrato parts rewritten for tenor

e. Arias given less importance and chorus given more

f. Ballet added

Best-known work: William Tell (1829), his last opera; "united Italian lyricism with French

declamation and spectacle"

Retirement period (1836-1855 in Italy, 1855-1868 in Paris)

No more operas, but some very good sacred & secular vocal music in operatic style

Best-known works:

  • Stabat mater (rev. 1841)
  • Sins of Old Age (1857-1868): 150 pieces, some very witty, for his Samedi soirées in Paris

 

The musical scene in the New World

Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro became profitable stops for concert tours

Some European composers settled in the Americas; no native-born composers of importance

Ballad operas and plays with incidental music were the most popular theater fare

Community bands, based on military bands, were gradually organized in Canada & America

 

Classical Music in the New World--Classic-Early Romantic Periods

In the big cities
Included Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Mexico City, & Rio de Janeiro

Became profitable stops for European concert musicians & opera companies

These cities were easily reached from Europe

These cities had large populations including well-educated & upper class European families

A few European musicians & composers settled in the Americas

There were no native-born composers of importance in the European tradition

Outside the big cities

A new, different, non-European musical culture was being created in the Americas

Period equivalencies

European Pre-Classical period = Colonial Period in the Americas

European Classical period = Revolutionary Period in the Americas

European Early Romantic period = Federal Period in the Americas

Exploration, new Territories, Louisiana Purchase, Alaska Purchase

War of 1812 against England

Art & Architecture influenced by European Greek Revival

 

Popular Music in the New World--Classic-Early Romantic Periods

Canada and the United States
Successive waves of lower- & middle-class immigrants arrived, each with its own "traditional" culture
  • Folk songs (the traditional stories and morality tales of each culture)
  • Topical songs (on current events and important disputes)
  • Dance tunes (unique to each culture)
  • Hymns (and other traditional religious and gospel songs)

Characteristics of these "traditional" musics

  • Simple melodies, easily learned and remembered
  • Narrow melodic ranges, singable by almost anyone
  • Simple rhythms and simple harmonic accompaniments
  • Simple poetry about down-to-earth people, feelings, emotions, and events

Some immigrants stayed in the East, while pioneers moved progressively farther West

Those who stayed in the big cities established "ethnic" neighborhoods & churchs
Tended to keep their "ethnic" identities, cultures, songs, religions

On balance, catholic and jewish immigrants tended to stay in the big cities

Those who moved west gradually blended into multi-cultural communities

Mostly cut off from European and Eastern culture in music & all the arts

On balance, pioneers tended to be protestants of various religious backgrounds

Created a new multi-cultural repertoire of "traditional" songs

Sentimental Ballads

Story Ballads

New Topical Songs written in the traditional styles

Dance tunes, both traditional and newly-composed in traditional styles

Hymns and Gospel songs, almost all protestant Christian

Slaves from Africa brought a rich oral tradition of songs, styles, and instruments

European Ballad Operas and plays with incidental music were the most popular theater fare

Town bands, based on military bands, not symphony orchestras, were formed in Canada and America

Central and South America

Catholic churches and cathedrals were established in large cities

European music and musicians were imported

Some native composers were trained in and composed in the European tradition

Native composers developed a popular music blending European and native traditions