Developments in Romanticism 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 Literary activities – criticism Teaching

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 response

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 singing

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 players

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 pieces

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 structures

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?