Unit 5. Romamticism

Unit 5. Romamticism

1. Introduction

   • Artistic period that runs almost all the 19th century. Romanticism emerged as a reaction against te age of enlightenment exalting freedom and emotions. Music was available to a much wider audience. The composer was no longer a servant of this patron, but he was admired as a “genius” by the audience.

2. Characteristics

   • Rhythm: more complex and irregular. Melody: the main element to express feelings. Harmony: more complicated. Timbre: the orchestra expanded sometimes to huge proportions. Form: the expresion of intense feelings allowed de freedom in form, from small intimate pieces to huge orchrestral compositions. Musical interpretation: greater technical virtuosity. Freedom of expression desire to express emotions and feelings. Programmatic music: many pieces had specific story. Nationalism was a reaction against Italian, Germam and French influences by composers from other countries.

3. Vocal religious music

   • Mass. Oratory. Keep the same forms, but with the time came its decline. Now is more important profane music and isntrumental music. The most important vocal genre-big changes in each country. Directed to a bourgeois audience and uses the vernacular language of each country. Castrati disappear and choirs acquire more importance.

4. Italian opera

   • More operas with realistic scenes than with hsitorical or mythological ones. The main styles are: Bel canto: look for the singers to shine with technically demanding passages Verismo: more realistic arguments, with scenes from every life such as poverty, misery, etc Verdi: most important composer

5. French opera

   • Bizet: most important composer Carmen: based on spanish plot (título de la obra)

6. Lied/lieder

   • Lied: it means song in German. It is a short and simple piece for voice and piano based on a poetic text. Main composers: schubert and schumann.

7. Instrumental music

   • Instrumental music, free languaje, is considered the perfect vehicle for the Romantic expression. This is the age of grand orchestras, but also of solo instruments. More isntruments: mainly percussion and wind.

8. Orchestra music

   • Ther are main types of orchestral music: Romantic symphony: is an expanded version of the classical symphony, with many more instruments and a flexible numbre of movements. Symphonic poem: tell a story. It has just one movement Overture: composers began writting overtures without attaching them to operas Concerto: these clasical forms are cultivated by developing the timbric richness of the orchestra
   • Timbre richness: there are more instruments and new instruments too Audiences: appreciate solo concertos of virtuoso performers such as liszt or paaganini Romatic composers more often choose to express themselves. They used instrumental music to express their emotions

9. German opera

   • Wagner: the most important composer. He considers the opera as a “total work of art” fusion music, poetry, dance and theater He developed leitmotivs: recurring themes often associated with certain characters and concepts/situations

10. Character pieces

    • Written for piano: Nocturne, ballad, prelude, rhapsody, fantasia, impromptu, study, waltz, polonaise, mazurka, etc. Short single-movement forms for piano that usually incorporate many technical difficulties The piano reaches its ultimate technical perfection in this era and it bacames the “king of instruments” capable of expressing a wide range of sounds and feelings Chopin, Schumann and Liszt