MUS 3032 Music History III Dr. Alicia Wallace Department of Music Southeastern Oklahoma State University

1. Chapter 26
Lecture Slides
A History of
Western Music
TENTH EDITION
by
J. PETER BURKHOLDER
DONALD JAY GROUT
CLAUDE V. PALISCA

2. Classical Genres in Romantic Style
Romantic
Style applied
to all
Classical Era
Choral Music
Classical Era Chamber
Music
Classical Era Orchestral Music

3. Romantic Choral Music
Most choral music composed for amateurs
◦ amateur status, less prestigious than orchestral music and opera in
the Romantic Era
◦ three main types
◦ short choral works on secular texts
◦ oratorios, similar works for large chorus and orchestra
◦ liturgical works, anthems, hymns (Church music)
◦ Amateur choirs
◦ choral societies - members paid dues, purchased music, and pay
conductor
◦ occupy leisure time, develop sense of unity, elevate musical tastes, &
encourage spiritual, ethical values
◦ Festivals - singers from across a region gathered to perform together

5. Romantic Choral Music
Part songs – a song for more than one voice, often
the choral parallel to Lied or parlor song
◦ staple of smaller, mixed men’s and women’s choirs
◦ For domestic music-making or public performance
◦ patriotic, sentimental themes; nature was often a
favorite subject (Romantic ideals!)
◦ Franz Schubert wrote 100 part songs
◦ Schubert’s Die Nacht for male voices in four parts
◦ strophic, lyric poem
◦ important words emphasized with melodic peaks,
dynamics
◦ relatively simple, easy to sing, intriguing challenges

6. Romantic Choral Music
Felix Mendelssohn (1809–1847)
leading German Romantic composer
◦ precocious musical talent equal to Mozart
◦ renowned pianist, organist, conductor
◦ music combines Romantic expression with Classical
and Baroque forms and techniques
◦ grandson of Moses Mendelssohn, leading Jewish
philosopher of the Enlightenment
◦ Felix and sister Fanny trained by excellent teachers
from an early age
◦ age 11 began composing; composed at astonishing
rate
◦ 1843, founded Leipzig Conservatory
major works: 2 oratorios, 5 symphonies, violin concerto,
2 piano concertos, 4 overtures, incidental music,
numerous chamber works, numerous pieces for piano
and for organ, choral works, over 100 songs

7. Oratorios and other large works
◦ Handel and Haydn oratorios were the core of the repertory for large
choruses
◦ 1829, Mendelssohn conducted J. S. Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, which
began revival of Bach’s vocal music
Mendelssohn’s oratorio
◦ St. Paul (1836)
◦ Elijah (1846)
◦ rooted in Baroque tradition but manifested something new, up-to-date
◦ excerpt from St. Paul
◦ recitatives, choral fugue (spirit of Bach)
◦ interweaving of homophonic and fugal textures: evoke Handel choruses
◦ melodies, orchestration, dramatic effects: Romantic style
Romantic Choral Music

8. Chapter 26
Lecture Slides
A History of
Western Music
TENTH EDITION
by
J. PETER BURKHOLDER
DONALD JAY GROUT
CLAUDE V. PALISCA

9. String quartets & other chamber works
increasingly played in public
• Concerts played by professionals
• Chamber music was treated as seriously as
symphonies
• Beethoven’s middle string quartets as defining
model
Romantic Chamber Music

10. Schubert‘s early works for home performance (Hausmusik)
• Trout Quintet (1819), fourth movement variations on his
song “Die Forelle” (for piano & string quartet)
• late string quartets were dramatic concert music
• String Quartet in A Minor (1824)
• String Quartet in D Minor (1824, modeled on another of
his songs - Death and the Maiden)
• String Quartet in G Major (1826)
• Quintet in C Major (1828)
• Schubert’s lyricism with the drama of Beethoven
• composed two months before his death
• string quartet with second cello
• instruments as equals
• one instrument often pitted against two pairs
• strong contrast of mood and style, within and between
movements
Romantic Chamber Music

11. Robert Schumann, “chamber music year” 1842–43
◦ Op. 41 string quartets, piano quintet, piano quartet
◦ strongly reflect influence of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven
(see how important Beethoven was!)
◦ 1847: Piano Trios No. 1 in D Minor, Op. 63, and No. 2 in
F Major, Op. 80
◦ study of Bach, more polyphonic approach
◦ influential works on Brahms, other German composers
Clara Schumann
◦ Piano Trio in G Minor (1846), inspired Robert’s trios
◦ traits from Baroque, Classic, Romantic models
Romantic Chamber Music

12. Chapter 26
Lecture Slides
A History of
Western Music
TENTH EDITION
by
J. PETER BURKHOLDER
DONALD JAY GROUT
CLAUDE V. PALISCA

13. Romantic Orchestral Music
The 19th century orchestra
• The orchestra was central to public concert life
• number of orchestras increased significantly, some made up of
primarily amateurs
• professional orchestras were established
• London Philharmonic (founded 1813), New York Philharmonic (1842),
Vienna Philharmonic (1842)
• size and composition
• new and redesigned instruments
• Woodwinds with elaborate systems of keys by midcentury
• valves added to horns and trumpets
• wider range of orchestral color
• winds and brass more equal to strings
• other percussion joined the timpani
• fully chromatic pedal harps, often played by a woman

14. Conductors
• conducting developed first at the Paris Opéra (originally started
with Lully in the Baroque Era)
• baton used to beat time and cue entrances
• By the 1840s conductors were considered interpreters of the
music
Audiences and concerts
• primarily a middle-class audience
• orchestral music: special prestige, lasting impression of
Beethoven symphonies
• programs offered diversity of works, ensembles
• variety of performing forces, alternation of instrumental and
vocal music
• concert music for single medium late in the century,
inaugurated by Liszt, 1839
Romantic Orchestral Music

16. The rise of the classical repertoire
• emergence of repertoire of musical classics from composers of the past
• Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra played mostly music of past composers
• factors behind change
• Haydn and Beethoven: such popularity in their lifetimes, performances after their
deaths
• cheaper to publish, more readily available, easier for amateurs
• musicians and critics promoted music of the past
• effect on audiences and performers
• new seriousness in concert behavior, silent audience
• performers as interpreters of the classics
• young virtuosos popularize concertos of older composers
• effect on composers: Beethoven’s legacy
• orchestral works of Beethoven: artistic statements
• later composers labored in his shadow
• series of varied responses to Beethoven’s example
Romantic Orchestral Music

17. The new Romantic style of Schubert
• focus on songlike melodies and adventurous
harmonies, very innovative
• Textures used colorful instrumentation
• strong contrasts with heightened emotions
• Unfinished Symphony (1822), Schubert’s first
large-scale symphony
• completed only two movements
• first movement: soulful, singable melody
• Influence of Beethoven
Romantic Chamber Music

18. Classical Romanticism of Mendelssohn
• Mendelssohn’s works had a more Classic sound because he was
trained in classical genres
• mature symphonies follow classical models, however departures
show impact of Romanticism
• Symphonies
• Symphony No. 5 in D Minor (Reformation, 1830, rev. 1832), last movement
based on Luther’s chorale “Ein feste Burg”
• Symphony No. 2 in B-flat Major, Lobgesang (Song of Praise, 1840), solo
voices, chorus, organ
• Symphony No. 3 in A Minor, Scottish (1829–42); Symphony No. 4 in A Major,
Italian (1833)
• Violin Concerto in E Minor (1844)
• three movements played without pause
• linked by thematic content, connecting passages
• violin and orchestra equal partners
• contrasts delineate form, create variety, convey deep feelings
• virtuosity with lyric expression, solo with orchestra
Romantic Orchestral Music

19. Chapter 26
Lecture Slides
A History of
Western Music
TENTH EDITION
by
J. PETER BURKHOLDER
DONALD JAY GROUT
CLAUDE V. PALISCA

20. Program Music & Hector Berlioz (1803–1869)
• Program music – instrumental music that tells a story or follows
a narrative or other sequence of events, often spelled out in an
accompanying text (program)
• Berlioz was a French composer, leader of Romantic radical wing
• studied composition at Paris Conservatoire
• 1830, won the Prix de Rome – a composition competition
• Influenced by Beethoven symphonies, Shakespeare’s plays
• Had an obsession with Harriet Smithson, Irish actress
• music criticism was his chief profession (like Schumann)
• brilliant writer; literary composer
• codified his practice, Treatise on Instrumentation and
Orchestration (1843)
• 1835, began to conduct; one of first to make career of orchestral
conducting
• major works: 3 operas, 4 symphonies, 4 concert overtures, over
30 choral works, orchestral song cycle
Romantic Orchestral Music

21. Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique (1830)
• He reconceived the symphony as a
programmatic work; musical drama, words
read silently by the audience in the program
• autobiographical program about his
infatuation with Harriet Smithson
• This symphony established Berlioz as leader of
radical wing composers in France
• idée fixe (fixed idea): melody representing
hero’s beloved in the symphony
• transformed in each movement, suits mood and
situation
• outlines of traditional symphony
• unified by recurring theme, established a
precedent
• array of instrumental colors
Romantic Orchestral Music

22. Berlioz’s Program to Symphonie Fantastique
• Mvmt. 1 “Dreams and Passions” -
first time we hear the idée fixe: long,
arching line of an operatic aria
• Mvmt. 2 “A Ball” - waltz, enacting
scene at a ball, harps
• Mvmt. 3 “In the Country” - pastorale,
piping shepherds, offstage oboe, bird
calls reminiscent of Beethoven’s
Pastoral Symphony
• Mvmt. 4 “March to the Scaffold” -
dreams of his own execution before
he is guillotined
• Mvmt. 5 “Dream of a Witches’
Sabbath” - transformations of the
idée fixe, two other themes, church
bells, grotesque caricature of idée
fixe, and the chant Dies irae, symbol
of death, the macabre, the diabolical

23. “The luck of having talent is not
enough, one must also have a talent
for luck.”
“Love cannot express the idea of
music, while music may give an idea
of love.”
“Time is a wonderful teacher, but it
kills all its students.”
Hector Berlioz