Chapter 2. Romantic Composers and Their Public. More freelancing than previous eras Outside...
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Transcript of Chapter 2. Romantic Composers and Their Public. More freelancing than previous eras Outside...
Chapter 2. Romantic Composers and Their Public
More freelancing than previous erasOutside aristocratic or church patronage
Inspired by Beethoven
Composed to fill an “inner need” rather than fulfill a commission
Partly due to economicsFrench Revolution, Napoleonic wars left aristocrats unable to afford to maintain private music endeavors
Merging of many tiny states into fewer, larger ones, left many musicians unemployed without courts
Industrial Revolution – enlarged middle class
Composers wrote even more for them
Romantic Era a time of many public subscription-based concerts opening
London Philharmonic Society (1813)New York Philharmonic (1842)
Many conservatories opened in Europe and United States
Public captivated more than ever by virtuosity
Best known Romantic virtuosos: Pianist Franz Liszt
Violinist Niccolò Paganini
Private music making more popular than ever – nearly every home had a piano
High demand for solo piano repertoire
Even operas and orchestral works arranged for piano
Few Romantic composers were able to support themselves through composition alone
Other income: lessons - especially to the wealthy, who could be overcharged (Chopin taught wealthy young women); music criticism; conducting
III. The Art Song
The Art Song
Solo voice + piano
Accompaniment is an integral part of the composer’s concept—serves as interpretive partner to the voice
Poetry and music are intimately fused
Often has piano introduction and ending (called postlude)
The Art Song, cont…
One of two forms:Strophic form: repeating same music for each stanzaThrough-composed: new music for each stanza
Song Cycle – romantic art songs grouped in a set
Unified by a story line that runs through the poems or by musical ideas linking the songs
IV. FRANZ SCHUBERT
Franz Schubert
1797-1828Born in Vienna, musically gifted at young ageEarliest master of romantic art songFirst Viennese composer whose income came entirely from compositionTaught at the school where his father was schoolmaster until age 21
Franz Schubert, cont…
Composed rapidly, turned out music at incredible speedsLived “Bohemian” lifestyle – living for one’s art rather than material goodsAge 25: contracted venereal disease
Became moody and despairedCould not get jobs later in lifeDied of syphilis at 31, one year after Beethoven’s funeral
Wrote over 600 songs, symphonies, string quartets, chamber music, sonatas, piano pieces for two and four hands, masses, operatic compositions
Songs vary in mood and types
LISTENING TO SCHUBERT
Der Erlkönig (1815)
LyricsPoem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
4 CharactersNarratorSick sonFatherElf King
The Story
Father rushing his sick son home through the woods at night
The deliriously sick son keeps insisting that the Elf King, the king of the elves, who symbolizes death, is trying to steal him away
Father tries to comfort son and explains things away as being “the fog” or “the trees”
Father gets son home to find that his son is dead
The Accompaniment
Piano plays rapid triplets to simulate horse galloping until the very end when father and son arrive home
Through-composed: different music for
each verse, no repeated stanzas
text painting
The Accompaniment
More text painting
The Vocals
4 Characters sung by one person
Narrator sung in middle range
The Vocals
Father sung in low range
Low register contrasts with the high-pitched outcries of the child, as reassurance
The Vocals
Son sung in high range
Each of the son’s pleas of “My father, my father!” grows louder and higher as he panics
The Vocals
Erlkönig (Elf King) moves up and down
Erlkönig sung pianissimo (very quiet) to seem sneaky and persuasive
The AccompanimentPiano stops before the final line, symbolizing
the horse’s gallop coming to a halt, and to allow a heartbreaking recitative as the narrator tells us, “In his arms the child was dead!”
The Performance
Challenging for pianoRapid hand movement throughout song
Challenging for singerPortraying characters
Books: pg. 287
“The Erlking” by Albert Sterner, 1910
LISTENING TO SCHUBERT
Die Forelle (The Trout; 1817)
Very famous
Nature, folk-like simpicity
A trout swims merrily in a brook before being caught by a clever fisherman
Modified strophic formA (stanza 1)A (stanza 2)BA’ (stanza 3)
Piano intro that reappears as an interlude after the first and second stanzas and postlude after third stanza
First two stanzas, which portray the trout swimming happily, are the same lighthearted melody (A).Piano accompaniment includes short, ascending passages to depict the trout’s leaps and twistsThird stanza is more dramatic, minor, agitated, depicting the trout being caught.
Books: pg. 290
LISTENING TO SCHUBERT
Piano Quintet in A Major (Trout; 1819), Fourth Mvmt
Commissioned by a cellist who admired Die Forelle and asked Schubert to write variations on it
Variations found in 4th and 5th mvmts
Scored for piano, violin, viola, cello, double bass
V. ROBERT SCHUMANN
Born in Zwickau, Germany
Son of bookseller, loved literature
Wrote poetry, composed, decent pianist
Studied law in LeipzigRarely attended lectures and devoted time to literature and music
Age 20 – tried to become piano virtuoso
Developed finger pains/problemsUsed mechanical device to stretch/strengthen fingersDidn’t work – one finger permanently crippled
Still composed many piano worksVery personal, autobiographical
Multiple Personality Disorder“Florestan” and “Eusebius”
Often signed his articles written for the New Journal of Music with these names
Met his piano teacher’s daughter and prize pupil, Clara Wieck, when he was 18 and she was a 9-year-old piano prodigy
Got engaged when she was 17, despite her father’s wishes
Happy marriage, 8 children
Physical and mental health deteriorated
1854: tried to commit suicide, committed himself to an asylum where he died 2 years later
Schumann’s Music
Wrote art songs, piano music, symphonies, chamber music
Much of it organized into cycles or sets
Full of extramusical references – thought of music in emotional, literary, and autobiographical terms
LISTENING TO SCHUMANN
Carnaval (1834-1835)
Cycle of 21 brief pieces with titles evoking a festive masked ball
Varied characters, moods, activities
He called it a “musical picture gallery”Includes
Sketches of fellow musiciansYoung women in his life at the timeStock characters from commedia dell’arteSelf-portraits representing the introverted and outgoing sides of his own personality (Florestan and Eusebius)
Books pg. 294
VI. CLARA WIECK SCHUMANN
Concert Pianist, premiered many of her husband’s works and those of Brahms.
Daughter of well known musicians and teachers
Married day before 21st birthday
Married for 14 years
Considered herself primarily a performer
Wrote art songs, lyrical and virtuoso piano pieces
LISTENING TO CLARA SCHUMANN
Romance in G Minor for Violin and Piano, Op. 22, No. 2 (1853)
Dedicated to a friend of hers who played them for his employer: King George V of Germany, who loved them
The term “romance” was often used for short, lyrical pieces for piano or solo instrument with piano accompaniment.
Displays her gifts as a melodist.
Books pg. 298