Introduction to Music

Romantic Era Overview

Romantic Era & Middle Ages/Renaissance Schedule

Wednesday March 12 Exam 2 post, Part 5: Romantic Ch. 1, 2

Friday March 14 Rom 3, 4, 6, 10, 12

Monday March 24 Rom Ch. 6, 7, 9, 10

Wednesday March 26 Rom Ch. 12, 13, 17

Friday March 28 Rom Ch. 18, Part 2: Middle

Ages

Monday March 31 Part 2: Middle Ages,

Renaissance

Wednesday April 2 Part 2: Renaissance

Friday April 4 Rom wrap-up/review

Monday April 7 Exam 3—Romantic Era, Middle Ages,

Renaissance

Tentative!

19thC Romanticism--an overview

1. Revolutionary spirit--dissatisfaction w/ Classical era’s restraints2. Industrialization

agrarian to industrial economy; move to citiesexplosive urban growth wretched living conditionslarger, wealthier middle class pursuing recreationmiddle class music-making university training in

music3. Nature

Culture preoccupied w/Dual view:

serene, beautiful, alluringawesome, foreboding, dangerous

19thC Romanticism--an overview

19thC Romanticism--an overview

19thC Romanticism--an overview

4. Artists, musicians, writers drawn to fantasy world & fascination with:

the past (esp. middle ages)

grotesque, ugly, evil

Mary Shelley Frankenstein

Sir Walter Scott Ivanhoe

Victor Hugo The Hunchback of Notre Dame

19thC Romanticism--an overview

19thC Romanticism--an overview

5. Age of :emotionalism

grandiose, monumental (Eiffel Tower, Crystal Palace, etc.)

miniature (short story, tiny art works)

19thC Romanticism--an overview

1851 Crystal Palaceoriginal photo

Crystal Palace inside

The 19thC Music Business1. Patronage gone

Beethoven--some contributors, but NO patronsSchubert—entirely in free market

2. Music journalism = big business3. Musical celebrities, “stars,” tour Europe, entertain

middle class audiences. What is the connection with journalism?

4. Th/f much music is extremely difficult--for virtuosos

5. Piano = most popular instrument (Every home has a piano!)

6. Instrumental > vocal music

19thC Music1. Primary function of music = Evocation of powerful

EMOTION Th/f

“Message” = more important than form

forms = looser formal “grammar,” i.e., forms are not as clear

and precise as in classical era

2. Individualism = VIMP

Th/f composers develop unique styles

3. Program music popular—chic!

4. Nationalism-- “music with an ethnic flavor”

How might a composer achieve this?

5. Exoticism--interest in the unknown, foreign, wild

Composers & their exotic works:

Dvorak (Czech) New World Symphony (native American themes, melodies)

Rimsky-Korsakov (Russian) Scheherazade (Arabian) or Capriccio Espagnol (Spanish)

Bizet (French) Carmen (set in Spain)

Verdi (Italian) Aida (middle East)

Puccini (Italian) La Bohème (set in Paris) Madame Butterfly (set in Japan, American sailor, Japanese

woman)

For a GREAT overview of the Romantic, aka “Victorian,” era:

Www.victorianstation.com