Mid-Late Romantic Era

Mid-Late Romanticism

u  1850s to 1870s

u  Most important works were solo piano works, symphonic program music, and opera.

u  Most important composers were Franz Liszt, Giuseppe Verdi, Richard Wagner, and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

u  Works for solo piano

u  Solo piano music was appealing to Romantics because of the focus on the individual.

u  The focus was on musical expression and technical prowess.

u  First performer-hero at the piano was Franz Liszt.

u  Opera

u  Three national schools of opera were the French, the Italian, and the German.

u  Each had a distinct national identity by the time of the mid-Romantic period.

u  Italian opera was dominated by the achievements of Giuseppe Verdi.

u  German opera was dominated by Wagner.

Franz Liszt (1811-1886)

u  Hungarian

u  Liszt learned to play piano from his father.

u  After moving to Vienna, he studied composition with Antonio Salieri, who had taught Schubert and Beethoven.

u  At 13, the family moved to Paris

u  He began to tour Europe as a piano virtuoso.

u  Known as a fabulous showman

u  Incredible technique

u  At age 20, he heard Paganini and decided to achieve the same level of virtuosity on the piano.

u  His fingers were unusually long and thin, and he could play tenths with ease.

u  Liszt and Wagner are considered the most avant-garde composers of the mid-19th century.

u  Liszt's piano music is quite varied.

u  Transcendental Études

u  Contain some of the most difficult piano music ever written

u  Transcendental Étude No. 10 in F Minor

u  Composed in 1826 when Liszt was only 15 years old.

u  Revised and reissued later in 1839 "ten times more difficult than before"

u  Explored every possible demanding piano technique

Verdi & Wagner

u  Each became the symbol of opera for his own country.

u  Verdi in Italy

u  Wagner in Germany

u  They both had long careers, writing their last operas in their 70s.

u  They made opera the central genre of mid-Romanticism.

Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901)

u  Some of his most famous operas:

u  Rigoletto (1851)

u  La traviata (1853)

u  Verdi became a very wealthy man and was admired while still quite young.

u  During his life he became a national symbol.

u  After Italian independence in 1870, he was name an honorary member of parliament.

u  When he died (at age 88), Italy declared a national day of mourning.

u  Secret to his operatic success was his beautiful melodies.

u  He also specialized in writing stirring rhythms that can set the heart pounding.

u  True essence of a Verdi opera is in the drama.

u  Strong emotional resonance

u  Violent contrasts

u  Quick action

Richard Wagner (1813-1883)

u  Born in Leipzig, Germany

u  Father died when he was an infant, and his mother remarried.

u  Educated under the influence of his stepfather, who was a writer and an artist

u  He studied Shakespeare and Homer and heard Beethoven's music.

u  Studied music at Leipzig University, but left before finishing his degree to take a job at a small opera house

u  For six years there, he learned about opera from the inside, both as a chorus director and as a conductor.

u  He married an actress, Minna Planer, and composed his first operas.

u  Left Germany in debt, fleeing in the night to Paris with his wife

u  They were very poor.

u  He made money selling his music.

u  The Ring of the Nibelungs

u  Four long operas based on medieval German legend, involving gods and goddesses, dwarfs and giants, and human heroes.

u  Four operas

u  The Rhinegold

u  The Valkyries

u  Siegfried

u  The Twilight of the Gods

u  The Ring of the Nibelungs

u  Music and poetry were both written by Wagner.

u  The work took over 25 years to complete.

u  Music describes and illuminates the poetry.

u  Leitmotivs

u  Musical phrases associated with objects, characters, events, thoughts, and feelings

u  Added meaning to the text and offered psychological insights into the characters

Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)

u  Had piano lessons as a child and did some composing.

u  At age 14, after his mother died, he turned to music as a strong emotional outlet.

u  Earned his living as a government clerk until age 19, but when the new St. Petersburg Music Conservatory was founded, he quit and enrolled full time.

u  A year after graduating, he was appointed professor at the music conservatory in Moscow; after this he devoted his life to music.

u  Although he was gay, he decided to get married in 1877, which led to a nervous breakdown and a suicide attempt.

u  He gradually recovered and turned to music once more.

u  Some of the best known of his music was written in his later years.

u  The Nutcracker Suite, a ballet

u  Sixth symphony called Pathétique

u  Died of cholera in 1893

u  Some suggest he committed suicide because he feared being exposed as a gay man.

u  A master of melody

u  Wrote some tunes that became the basis for popular songs or soundtracks for movies.

u  Highly emotional with a great range of expression.

u  Ballets

u  The Nutcracker Suite

u  Swan Lake

u  Sleeping Beauty

u  Operas

u  Eugene Onyegn

u  The Queen of Spades

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)

u  Born in Hamburg, Germany

u  Father was an orchestral and band musician, and mother came from a wealthy family.

u  Was a child prodigy at the piano

u  As a child, he wrote pieces for his father's band.

u  As a youth, he was exposed to Hungarian gypsy music.

u  He was a quiet, reserved person who never married.

u  Was seen as a symbol of conservatism and the leader of an "anti-modern" movement.

u  Deliberately attempted to avoid modern genres such as the symphonic poem and the music drama

u  Preferred solo piano pieces, songs, choral works, chamber music, concertos, and symphonies

u  Highly original music in Classic and Baroque forms

u  Romantic songs follow those of Schubert and Schumann.

u  Main themes are love, nature, and death.

u  Most famous of these is "Lullaby" Op. 49, No 4 (sometimes called "Brahms' Lullaby").