1. Music, Theatre, Dance, Art 1825-1900

2.  Form  character pieces, concertos, dances, etudes and variations  Harmony  chromatic harmony, accidentals, diminished, and dominant sevenths and modulation to distant keys  Thick textures with full chords were popular  Piano was main instrument of this period  Rhythm  Complex rhythms with two notes against three were used  Sycopation  Style  Expressive personal feeling, singing (cantabile) lines, varied accompaniment figures, varied phrase lengths and varied dynamics and tempos were popular.

3.  Symphony  Tone Poem  Concert Overture  Opera  Lieder

4.  Expansion of the Classical Symphony  Many movements (more than 4), many instruments  Program Music- Told a story, uses musical themes to represent characters  Hector Berlioz- Symphonie Fantastique  Told story of a young man’s love for a woman  Listen to the Symphony & see if you can recognize reoccurring themes & music arranged to depict emotion and action.  Tone Poem- similar to symphony because it tells a story, but is one long movement.  Ricard Strauss- Don Juan

5.  Overture-  Introduction to an Opera, also program music  Mendelsshon’s Fingal Cave Overture  Opera  Famous composers of Romantic Opera:  Verdi, Wagner  Lieder  German for “song”  Melody (usually sung) accompanied by piano  Poetry set to music  Shubert’s Erlkonig - listen to the story it tells!

6.  Before, most music was borrowed from Germany, France, or Italy regardless of composer’s nationality  Composers used native folk songs for melodies in their music  Russian Composers-  Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky, Rimsky- Korsakov  Rimsky- Korsakov’s Flight of the Bumblebee  Czechoslovakian Composer  Dvorak

7.  Age of Independence  Rise of the middle class, increase in population in cities & towns  Classical period ideas gave rise to more individual thought and want of rights

8.  Abiding Trust in nature’s goodness  Emotions & instinct more important than reason  Equality of People  Era of revolution (civil war in the United States)  Premium on detail  Details are important on the pathway to truth  Ultimate Truth  Artist became misunderstood geniuses, common people could not understand  Lead to melancholy in the arts  Art served an exhalted purpose  The purpose of art was to lead people and resolve conflict.  Subjective  Democratic criticism- one’s interpretation was as good as another’s

9.  Goethe- Faust  Schiller- William Tell  Backdrops similar to today  Gaslight lighting  More special effects with traps doors, running water, and moving backdrops

10.  Brought the ballerina to new heights of glamour and popularity  Male dancer's role decreased  1830-1840 - The Golden Age of Ballet  Ballet became supremely popular during the Romantic Era.  The most important composer and ballet choreographer is Tchaikovsky

11.  The Romanticism movement saw the Golden Age of ballet develop, as we see in Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite. The ballet is a narrative fantasy, for it shows the toys of a child coming to life and having an adventure. Part of the Nutcracker Suite is the "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy," a fantasy of magic, whim, and emotion typical of the Romantic period. The Nutcracker shows two key elements of the Romantic Period: 1. a tendency to portray life as it is not; it may distort the real world in order to escape from it, and 2. reason came in second to feeling and intuition. Writers abandon the old rules and started using stylized methods.

12.  Exposition  A mysterious magician and toymaker once invented a trap that killed off half the mouse population.  In revenge, the wicked Mouse Queen cast a spell on Drosselmeyer's nephew, Hans-Peter.  Transformed him into an ugly nutcracker doll.  The only way to break the spell is for the Nutcracker to slay the Mouse King and for a young girl to love and care for him in spite of his awful appearance.

13.  Drosselmeyer gives his nephew to Clara as a Christmas gift, hoping to end the curse.  At the end of the Christmas party, Clara goes downstairs and finds Drosselmeyer waiting to put her into a magical land  The magician summons the Mouse King and he and The Nutcracker fight.

14.  The Nutcracker slays the Mouse King, but only through the intervention of Clara, who, out of compassion, saves the Nutcracker's life.  Hans-Peter is restored to his real self.  Clara and The Nutcracker (now Hans-Peter) travel to the Land of Snow, then the Sugar Garden in the Kingdom of Sweets, where they meet the Sugar Plum Fairy  Drosselmeyer honors them for their bravery.

15.  Returning to reality, Clara runs out to Drosselmeyer, but sees the human form of The Nutcracker instead  Drosselmeyer prays that his efforts will be rewarded.  His nephew returns; the spell has indeed been broken.  Watch a portion of The Nutcracker- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9nn6Bco RYo&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9nn6Bco RYo&feature=related

16.  Romanticism was a reaction to Neoclassicism  deeply-felt style which is individualistic, exotic, beautiful and emotionally wrought  North American Romantic artist  Hudson River School  Painter’s inspired by Thomas Cole’s paintings of the American Wilderness Thomas Cole’s River in the Catskills