Romatic Period and 20th Century

Keval Patel
Hum 125

The Romantic Period It was the period come after Classical period and from 1825 to year 1900. It was also known as Romanticism. In the 19th century, the French revolution fostered the rise of a middle-class or society. The slogan of the French revolution was “liberty, equality, fraternity” and that inspired hopes and visions to which artists responded with zeal. Romantic period started to abandon the conservative ideas and turned to passion. During this period, romantic poets and artists turned to passionate and fanciful subjects. The nineteenth century novel explored deep human conflicts and exotic settings and subjects. Because of industrial revolution the musical instruments were become new and advanced. Therefore, musician made sounds more flexible and affordable. Several new wind instruments were developed as well as tuba and saxophone during this period. The gradual democratization of an industrialized society broadened educational opportunities across Europe and the America. Music moved from place and church to the public concert hall. During this era, Orchestras were increased in size and composers were giving more varied and colorful means of expression. New and improved instruments such as the piccolo, English horn and contrabassoon were introduced and extended the extreme high and low range of the orchestra. Romantic composers used nationalism (love for their country, pride in country), folkloric and exotic subjects. Berlioz, Brahms and Tchaikovsky, the three famous musicians, were part of the orchestra. Their orchestra consists of their own strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion. Romantic music is characterized by memorable melodies, richly expressive harmony and broad forms. Women musicians excelled as performers, teachers, composers and music patrons. In 19th century musicians were able to present their music which expresses emotional atmosphere and they were able to create a mood. They scores are dolce( sweety), cantabile (songful) , dolente (sorrowful ) , maestros ( majestic ) , gloiso (joyous) and conamore (with love, tenderly ). In the 19th century, two main melody structures developed. I) strophic form (the same melody is repeated in every stanza of poem, hymns or carols) and ii) through-composed form (starts from beginning to end without repetitions of any full sections). And some of melodies from in between two is called modified strophic form. The German art melody for solo voice and piano was a favored romantic genre. Composers wrote song-cycles that unified a group of poem or theme. Franz Schubert, Elf king, and Robert Schumann were the famous composers who created several song-cycles. Overall, during Romantic period music was developed tremendously. New music instruments were made and more people got involve in music. Romantic period was the era of new invention and revolution.

Listening
Berlioz: symphonie fantastique, IV
Berlioz was one of the boldest innovators of the 19th century. His approach to music was wholly individual and his sense of sound unique. The genre of the piece is a program symphony with five movements. Its melody is in two main march themes (A and B) where both are strongly accented. The rhythm is a duple meter march, where the harmony is in minor mode. It has sonata like form with two themes introduced, developed then recapped. Expression of the piece is diabolical mood and sudden dynamic changes. The timber is prominent timpani where instruments were played in unusual ranges.
Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel : September: at the river from the year Fanny Mendelssohn was born in highly culture family and create lots of famous piece.The genre of the music is character piece which is from a programmatic cycle of 12. The melody is a show placed melody in middle range of piano which is much chromatic. The rhythm is in 6/8 meter a constant running in sixteenth notes. The harmony is begun and ends in B minor. And it modulates through various distant keys in middle. The texture is polyphonic. The form is in ternary (A-B-A`) with short introduction and coda. The expression is free push and pull of beat (rubato).

Brahms : symphony no.3 in F major
The genre of the piece is symphony. It is third movement of Brahms symphony’s four movements. it has poco allegretto from in c minor. The melody is lyrical melancholic. The rhythm is moderate triple meter. The harmony is alternates minor-major key and chromatic in middle section. The form is in three parts (A-B-A’). The expression is arched dynamics and subtle rubato. The timbre is woodwinds featured in middle section.

Impressionism and early 20th century This is the era music turned in to different mood. This period is rite after the romantic era. In this era musician come up with many different ideas. One of them was impressionism. Impressionism was a French movement developed by painters who tried to capture their " first impression" of a subject through varied treatment of light and color. In response of impression there was the other term call symbolism, where writings are suggestive of images and idea rather than descriptive. The diverse artistic trends was a reaction against romanticism. In time of first world war (1914-1918),European arts tried to break away from over refinement and to capture the spontaneity and freedom from inhabitation that was associated with primitive life. The two influential art movements arose which were futurism and Dadaism. The counter part of part to French impressionism was expressionism. There were many musician in 20th century, some of the best were Igor Stravinsky, Debussy, Ravel, and Pluralism. In early 20th century composers revitalized rhythm by increasing its complexity. For example, changing meter, metrical flow shifted constantly sometimes with each measure. And polyrhythm, which means simultaneous use of several rhythmic patterns. Furthermore, In ninetieth century, melody is fundamentally vocal in character, in 20th century composers tried to make the instrument sing. They come up with new concept of harmony, and put music beyond the traditional system of tonality. There were polychords, polytonality, and atonality. Polychords forming highly dissonant six and seven notes. Polyharmony means the emergence of complex " skyscraper chords brought increased tension and dissonance to music and allowed the composers to play two or more streams of harmony against each other. Stravinsky found polytonality, which is a further step followed logically, heightening the control of two keys by presenting them simultaneously resulted in this. The idea of expressionism came in 20th century. Schoenberg was a composer who wrote chromatic yet tonal, post romantic, reorganize the pitch. He started serialize and organized twelve tone row. In the twelve tone row, once used pitch cannot use again and they have to use all 12 pitches in one piece. Moreover, music of 20th century have grate impression in America. America had lot to offer . They won WWII. Struggling for identity in 1900's. American composer Aaron Copland used the early American songs simple gift in his famous ballet Appalachian spring, commissioned by the great choreographer/dancer Martha Graham. French loved Jazz was catching in America. This is our current music era, where technology have entered in to improve music in many different ways. Musician have started thinking differently than ever before. They started making music with the combination of more than one instruments. people got more attraction to music due to the versatility in compositions.

I) Stravinsky: The rite of spring, part I, excerpts Stravinsky was a leader in the revitalization of rhythm in European art music. He was the one of the best composer of all time. This piece came out in 1913. The genre of music is Ballet, which is often performed as a concert piece. There are two part in this piece. First one is adoration of earth. In introduction, closing measures. The melody of piece is Disjunct, floating folk-song melody. Rhythm is free shifting, the 4 note rhythmic idea establishes duple pulse. Expression is hunting mood. The tempo is slow. Timbre is in high range.