Romantic Style in Music

Romantic Era Music More 19 th century music is performed today than any other period Larger orchestras & better instruments –Brass with valves –Woodwinds with new fingering and better tuning –Violins capable of more powerful sound –Pianos with iron frames, thicker wires and pedals

Romantic Era Themes Love Nature Heroes The Supernatural

Definitions Art Song – songs that combine poetry and music Program Music – instrumental music endowed with specific literary or pictorial content Etudes – an instrumental study designed to improve technique Arpeggio – playing the notes of a chord in rapid succession

Beethoven Symphony No. 9 “Choral,” Presto Considered one the greatest accomplishments of Western culture Beethoven’s original score sold for $3.3 million European Union’s theme

Schubert Erlkonig (The Erlking) Art Song Introduction establishes tension and distress –Storm –Horse ride Each voice is in a different vocal register

Berlioz An Episode in the Life of an Artist Opus 14 “Symphonie fantastique” Program Music Written at 27 His “passion” for Harriet Smithson Opium induced dream where the lover takes the form of a melody in the artist’s head

Berlioz Symphonie fantastique “March to the Scaffold” is a movement intended by the composer to create a sense of frenzy and fear as the convicted killer is led through the streets to the scaffold holding the guillotine where he will be executed. The movement uses dramatic and brilliantly colorful orchestration to create a dizzying array of effects, from the approach of distant drums, to wild and chaotic crowds pressing to view the spectacle, and even the sound of the convict’s severed head dropping into the basket.

Chopin Etude in G-flat Major, Op. 10, No. 5 Etudes Rapid play on the black keys Still used to demonstrate technical precision

Ballet Tchaikovsky –Swan Lake –The Nutcracker –Sleeping Beauty

Ballet Maria Taglioni –Tutu –Arabesques –Sur les points –Floating leaps

Ballet Arabesque –position in which the dancer stands on one leg with the other extended behind and one or both arms held to create the longest line possible of the body.

Opera Wagner Der Ring des Nibelungen –(The Ring of the Nibelung) 4 operas and 15 hours long Quest for a powerful, but cursed, ring that can control the universe Opera is filled with giants, dragons, dwarves and heroes

Wagner Die Walkure (The Valkyrie) Orchestra sets mood of excitement Famous “Ride” theme Continuous fabric of music and singing