Romantic Period

Principles of the Romantic Era

• Restriction no longer important• Emphasis on emotion rather than

reason• Nationalism• Stories depicted• Nature in a mystical way• Exotic

Characteristics of Music

• Departure from Classical era– Message in the music (One word

description? Ex: Beethoven’s 5th)

• Use of dynamics• Orchestra grew in size

Characteristics of Music

• Emotional directions• Folk songs• Longer symphonies• Virtuosos • Underlying themes carried throughout the

symphony

Beethoven• Bridged Classical and

Romantic periods• Manifested Romantic ideal

– Symphony No. 6 (Pastoral)– Symphony No. 3 (Eroica)– Symphony No. 9 ("Ode to Joy")– Piano Sonata No. 8 (Pathetique)

Hector Berlioz

• French composer• Story printed in program• Symphonie Fantastique

Franz Schubert • Vienna Austria• Child prodigy• Wrote lieder—songs with

emotional theme– Erlkönig

• Song cycle• Wrote for fewer instruments

– Unfinished Symphony– Symphony in C major

• Many works were lost

Felix Mendelssohn

• Early life• Tried to preserve Classical

style– Brought Bach out of obscurity

• Symphonies were classical form and romantic tone

• Midsummer Night’s Dream

Nicolo Paganini

• Italian• Violin virtuosos• Ghoulish appearance• “The Cannon”

Frederic Chopin

• Child prodigy• Sickly his whole life• Made money by giving

piano concerts• Composed mazurkas,

preludes and polonaises– Etude Opus 10– Polonaise in A flat major– Minute Waltz

Franz Liszt

• Hungarian child prodigy• Greatest showman• Kind to other musicians• Several love affairs• Les Preludes• Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2• Wilde Jagd

Richard Wagner

• German nationalism• Not a prodigy• Immoral life• Opera

– Leitmotif

• Depicted myths and heroes– Die Walküre (Ride of the Valkyries)– Tannhäuser (end of the overture)– Tristan and Isolde (Unresolved – Liebestod)

Giuseppe Verdi

• Greatest Italian style opera– Aida– La Traviata– Rigoletto

• La Donna e Mobile

• Innovation– Focus on human emotion– De-emphasis on bel-canto style

• Rossini: Barber of Seville

– Excellent librettos– Orchestra an important component

Bedrich Smetana

• Czech• Bartered Bride• Die Moldau

– River running through Prague

Johann Strauss

• Father was excellent composer

• Played in father’s orchestra• More popular than his father• Waltzes

– Embodiment of Viennese life– Blue Danube Waltz– Tales of the Vienna Woods

Johann Brahms

• German• Imitated Beethoven• Mentored by Robert and Clara

Schumann• Hungarian Dance #5

Russian Composers

• Moussorgsky,Balakirev, Borodin, Cui, Rimsky-Korsakov– Russian Easter Overture

• Used Russian themes• Helped each other• Flight of the Bumble Bee• Night on Bald Mountain

Almaty, Kazakhstan

Peter Ilych Tchaikovsky

• Russian• Used French style• Ballets are most famous

– Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty– Romeo and Juliet

• Deep emotion for his sad life– Symphony No. 6 – Pathètique

Edvard Grieg

• Norwegian• Peer Gynt

– Hall of the Mountain King

Antonin Dvorak

• Czech• Inspired by Smetana• Head of Conservatory in

Prague• Director of a NY music

conservatory– 3 years– Composed New World

Symphony

Gustav Mahler

• Jewish• The Hunters’ Funeral

Procession

Principles of Art

• Abandoned strict rules of neoclassical

• Conveyed personal feeling of artist• Used nationalism• Depicted the exotic• Landscapes became important

"If you want to do art you must first study the rules, second study the great masters, third forget the rules, because genius begins where trite rules end but you can't get there until you've obeyed the rules first."

– Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792)

Francisco Goya -Classical Period

Franciso Goya – Romantic Period

3rd of May 1808

Goya

Saturn Devouring One of His Sons

Eugene DelacroixLiberty Leading the People

DelacroixThe Death of Sardanapalus

Joseph Mallord William TurnerThe Fighting "Temeraire"

Joseph Mallord William TurnerThe Slave Ship

"From the early 16C to the end of the 18C common opinion held that religious and history painting were the highest genres. The one edified, the other reminded; both decorated. Portraits came next, landscapes lagged behind. For nature was not yet loved for itself alone. In the early Renaissance it served as a background only, and even then it was 'humanized' by the presence of temples, columns, or other architectural fragments, along with actual figures."

– Barzun, Jacques, From Dawn to Decadence, Perennial, 2000, p71.

John ConstableHay Wain

Literature

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

• Raised the level of German literature

• The Sufferings of Young Werther

• Dr. Faustus

Sir Walter Scott

• Scotland• Historical novels• Influenced by Goethe• Popular in his own life• Ivanhoe• Lady of the Lake

William WordsworthSamuel Taylor Coleridge

• English• Lyrical ballads

– Rime of the Ancient Mariner

• Themes: relationship between humans and nature

Lord Byron

• Art was an inner expression• Participation in revolutions• Strong personality• Italy and Switzerland• Childe Harold• The Flying Dutchman• The Wandering Jew

Percy Bysshe Shelley• English • Strongly liberal• Friends with Lord Byron• Married Mary Wollstonecraft

– Frankenstein

Leo Tolstoy

• Russian• War and Peace• Anna Karenina• Born to nobility but lived

on simple farm• Freed the serfs

Victor Hugo

• Son of Napoleonic general• Involved in French politics• Les Miserables• Hunchback of Notre Dame

Alexandre Dumas

• Imitated style of Scott• Novels supported

extravagant life– Employed several people

• Count of Monte Cristo• The Three Musketeers• The Man in the Iron Mask

Thank You