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Week 5, Section/Lecture 1The Early Romantic Period[MUSIC]In this class, I'll talk about the circumstances thatled to the Romantic Period in the early 19th century.Some people mark the beginning of this new erasometime after 1827, the year Beethoven died. Someuse 1830 as the beginning, the year of Berlioz's Symphoniefantastique. But the roots of the Romantic Period goback a little farther than that, so for our purposes,we'll start in 1815, which is the beginning of Beethoven'sLate Period. It's difficult to mark an end to the RomanticPeriod, since elements of Romanticism continued intolater eras and overlapped with the newer musical styles ofthe late 1800s, so some use the year 1900 as a convenience.The Romantic Period gets its name from the "Medievalromance," a literary work usually characterized by amysterious, idealized hero-knight, like King Arthur, doingnoble deeds, often rescuing a woman or princess fromdanger. There are often supernatural elements andimaginary lands in these stories, and of course, the heroalways prevails, usually after some struggle, oftenbenefitting his nation or his people. The type of music

written during the Romantic Period has some of thosesame characteristics: heroic stories, triumph over struggle,and an escape from reality to imaginary worlds ofidealized characters, kind of like movies today.[PAUSE]In the Baroque, composers tried to incorporate a rangeof affections, or emotions, in their music to achievebalance. In the Classical style, the emphasis was onform and structurelike theme and variations, or sonata form.The music of Haydn and Mozart was meant to be elegantand simple, objectively beautiful and universally understandableand likable. The mark of a good composer was not necessarilythe inventiveness of the theme itself, it was how that theme

was developed and expanded throughout the piece.Romantic music, on the other hand, focused on individualexpressiona composer's originality was marked by the melodyand harmony itself. Themes were personal, interesting, andexpressive, which sometimes led to extremes of range,dynamics, and orchestration. For example, the size of theorchestra greatly expanded, thanks to Berlioz. His Symphoniefantastique called for over 90 instrumentalists in 1830,only three years after Beethoven's death. And his Requiemin 1837 called for almost 220 instrumentalists and achorus of over 200. This was unusual and did not becomethe norm, thankfully, but it shows how composers werelooking for new sounds and exciting combinations of instruments,

and employing wider ranges in the orchestra to achieve this.With more personal expression came a return to a moreequal balance of major and minor keys in the Romantic era,with about half of the symphonies, on average, writtenin a minor key. This includes two of four Brahms symphonies,five of nine from Bruckner, four of nine from Dvorak, fiveout of ten from Mahler, and five out of six from Tchaikovsky.One way to be original was through the use of folk music.As the aristocracy declined and the concept of "nations"emerged, there was an emphasis on the "common people,"

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musically exemplified in folk melodies. This leads to Nationalismin music, or the use of national or folk melodies as themesin a piece, as an expression of a nation's rootsor as a way of showing national pride.Many Romantic composers still used Classical forms, likesonata form for a symphony or string quartet, but emotionalexpression within those traditional forms was now the focus.These composers are often described as continuingin the Classical tradition, like Brahms and Mendelssohn.Then there were composers who, through the creationof expanded forms or highly chromatic or expressive music,are seen as creating a newer, more Romantic path,like Berlioz, Liszt, and Wagner. And both groupsclaim Beethoven as their inspiration.[PAUSE]Writers and critics in the Romantic Period categorizedinstrumental music into three types: program music,which tells a story or sequence of events, often writtendown in accompanying program notes; a character piece,which portrays a scene or character or mood, usually nottoo long, with a descriptive title; and absolute music,music without stories or images, or any type of extra-musicaleffects. This describes the music of the Classical periodand almost all instrumental music before that, but

giving it a name and calling it "absolute music" as opposedto "program music" was new in the Romantic Period.Writing was very important in the Romantic period, asmany composers would write their own program notes.Berlioz, Schumann, Liszt, and many others were alsomusic critics and wrote essays on new music, introducingand supporting new composers in their writings.And Wagner even wrote his own librettos.Public concerts became more and more popular inthe 19th century, with an increasing number of professionalorchestras, and talent ranging from touring virtuososlike Paganini, Liszt, and Chopin, to amateur choral societies.In the 1780s, concerts consisted of about 85% new music,

by living composers, while only 15% of the musicwas from the past. As new Romantic music wasbeing written, a growing number of ensembles continuedto play "the classics"pieces from the past that becamepermanent staples of the repertoire, including Handel'soratorios, and the symphonies and string quartetsof Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven.In the Baroque, the leader of the orchestra was theharpsichordist. In the Classical period, the leaderbecomes the concertmaster. But as orchestras grew,there became a need for a dedicated leader and thenew profession of conductor emerged. Over the courseof the Romantic Period, conductors became the great

interpreters of the classical repertoire, and soloistschampioned the concertos and piano music of Beethoven.Eventually, the numbers gradually flipped so that bythe 1880s, about 75% of the music performed in concertwas from the composers of the past. Ultimately, this affectedliving composers who aspired to have their musicbecome the "classics" of the future.[PAUSE]Thanks to the advances in technology as part of theIndustrial Revolution, by around 1800, there were

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new methods of printing that cut down on costand production time. This, in turn, led to a massiveincrease in the publishing and buying of printedmaterials like theory books, method books, music criticism,full scores, and piano reductions of symphonies and operas.Many of the popular genres in the Classical Periodcontinued into the Romantic Periodsymphonies,string quartets, opera, etc. Although the middle classwas growing and tickets to performances were moreaffordable, public concerts were still infrequent bytoday's standards. And of course, there were norecordings or CDs, let alone the instant access we havetoday with YouTube and iTunes. The main way thatpeople became familiar with instrumental music wasto play it or hear it played at home or in a smallvenue, often as a piano reduction.As instruments and sheet music became more affordable,making music at home became more and more popular.Playing through string quartets with friends, or singingand playing the piano with family were fun activities,and offered an escape from everyday problemsand stress. There were method books for amateurs,and piano music featured dances, character pieces,and sonatas and various levels of difficulty.

Lieder, or German art songs, which required onlya singer and piano accompaniment, were amongthe most popular at home, combining music and poetry.Composers chose texts and poems that lent themselveswell to musical expression, and themes, keys, and formwere carefully crafted to best convey the imageryin the text. Musically, the piano was an equal partnerto the voice when it came to reinforcing the meaningof the poetry. Collections of lieder were published,often grouped by theme or by the author of the poems,and sometimes stories were told through the successionof songs. Schubert is considered the great master ofthe German Lied, with over 600 songs, and Schumann

continued that tradition with hundreds of his own.This week, the Two Songs, Opus 91, by Brahms highlightsthe Romantic Era's focus on lieder, while his Horn Trio,Opus 40, exemplifies the Romantic notion of personalexpression and story-telling in music. In the next video,we'll talk about Brahms's life and influences, and howhe carried on the great traditions of Beethovenand the Classical Era into the Romantic period.Okay, let s review with a simple quiz.[MUSIC]