to 1850 Composers after the end of aristocratic patronage Ways to live independently Composition for the popular market songs piano pieces etc Performance touring virtuosos conductors ID: 238650
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Slide1
Developments in Romanticism
to 1850Slide2
Composers after the end of
aristocratic patronage
Ways to live independently
Composition
for the popular market
—
songs, piano pieces,
etc.
Performance
touring virtuosos
conductors
Literary
activities
criticism
TeachingSlide3
Italian Romantic opera
Topics
from Romantic literature (often transalpine sources)
Enriched
orchestral sound, harmony
Bel
canto
singing
—
virtuosity
Scena
form
recitative to establish situation
primo tempo
(sometimes called
cavatina
) to express emotion
tempo di mezzo
to initiate change
secondo tempo
(sometimes called
cabaletta
) to express new emotional responseSlide4
French grand opera
Highly
charged situations
politically epic settings
supernatural events
Spectacular
staging
sets and costumes
special effects
large numbers of personnel on stage
Spectacular
music
large, colorful orchestra
chorus
virtuosic singingSlide5
Performers and venues in the
nineteenth century
On
the stage
opera singers
solo virtuosos
—
Nicolò Paganini
pianists
as showmen
—
Franz Hünten, Henri Herz
as musical poet
—
Franz Liszt
In
the salon
—
sophisticated gatherings of invited guests, often with highly skilled players
e.g., Frédéric Chopin
In
parlors and drawing rooms
—
family-oriented gatherings, amateur singers and playersSlide6
New nineteenth-century genres
Piano
character pieces
song-based
—
romance, nocturne, song without words
dance-based
—
waltz, mazurka, polonaise
narrative
—
ballade
Orchestral
works
concert overture
program symphony
Cycles
songs
piano piecesSlide7
Some characteristics of Romantic musical style
Scoring
large orchestras
new instrumental sounds
Dynamics
extension of dynamic range
profusion of expressive instructions
Melody
long-breathed,
songlike
melodies
pervasive brief motives
Harmony
overloading; increased chromaticism
modulations to distant keys
Form
idiosyncratic variants of conventional forms explicated by programs
cyclically unified structuresSlide8
Questions for discussion
How is it that Romantic composers seem to have had multiple talents and careers more often than composers of earlier periods?
Why did Romanticism affect music in Italy more slowly than in other countries?
How should we distinguish between the “characteristic” and the “programmatic” in nineteenth-century music?