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Romantic Period

The Romantic Period in music occurred between 1825-1910, a time of major social, political, and technological changes across Europe. During this era, music evolved to become more emotional, expressive, and focused on telling stories through melody, harmony, and tone color. Composers such as Beethoven helped transition music from the Classical style to the Romantic style through works featuring greater individuality, nationalism, and programmatic elements.

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Serjoe Gutierrez
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399 views22 pages

Romantic Period

The Romantic Period in music occurred between 1825-1910, a time of major social, political, and technological changes across Europe. During this era, music evolved to become more emotional, expressive, and focused on telling stories through melody, harmony, and tone color. Composers such as Beethoven helped transition music from the Classical style to the Romantic style through works featuring greater individuality, nationalism, and programmatic elements.

Uploaded by

Serjoe Gutierrez
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
  • The Romantic Period: Presents an overview of the Romantic period in music spanning from 1825 to 1910.
  • Social and Political Influences: Discusses the industrial and social changes impacting the Romantic period, focusing on urbanization and shifting power dynamics.
  • Meaning of Romantic: Explains the broader artistic context of the Romantic movement and its influence across arts including music.
  • Characteristics of the Romantic Period: Explores the musical characteristics unique to the Romantic period such as emotional expression and tone.
  • Musical Innovations: Highlights the significant innovations in music such as new forms and compositions that defined the era.
  • Composers: Describes changes in composers' roles and patronage during the Romantic period, emphasizing greater artistic freedom.
  • Performer: Focuses on the rise of virtuoso performers and their influence on audience expectations and music performance.
  • Conductor: Discusses the emergence of the conductor role due to increasing orchestral size and complexity.
  • General Musical Characteristics: Outlines the general musical traits of the period including individuality and program music.
  • Musical Elements: Explores specific elements of music like melody and chromaticism during the Romantic era.
  • Texture: Describes the typical texture of Romantic music as thick and homophonic.
  • Dynamics: Explains the dynamic range and expressive tools used in Romantic compositions.
  • Timbre/Instrumentation: Covers the exploration of instrumental timbre and the expansion of the orchestra.
  • Strings: Discusses developments in string sections and their roles in Romantic music.
  • Woodwinds: Highlights innovations in woodwind instruments and their impact on music.
  • Brass: Details the advancements in brass instruments and their contributions to the era's sound.
  • Percussion: Describes the expanded role of percussion instruments in Romantic music.
  • Ludwig Von Beethoven: Examines Beethoven's role in transitioning music from Classical to Romantic styles.
  • Period Instruments: Lists various instruments that characterized the Romantic period.
  • Opera: Discusses the popularity of opera during the Romantic era and its thematic focus.

The Romantic Period

1825 - 1910
Social and Political Influences
 Industrialism
 First occurred in Britain
 Power shifted from
aristocratic landowners
to middle class city
dwellers
 Populations moved
from an agrarian (rural)
center to an urban
center
What does the term Romantic mean?

 The Romantic movement in music coincides with a


general Romantic movement in all arts.
 At this period, the arts of literature and painting began
to influence music.
 In the Romantic era, music acquired poetic or
philosophical meaning.
 Antiquity, folklore, history and exotic cultures were
examined as possible sources of inspiration.
Characteristics of the Romantic Period
 Music is not as reliant on repetition as in Classical
music
 The music often directly tells a story
 Exploration of tone colors
 Much bigger orchestras
 Popularity of chamber music
 Music is highly emotional
 Poetry and music are intimately fused
Musical Innovations
 Invention of the song cycle
 Invention of the symphonic poem
 Great works written for solo piano
 Composers stretched the listeners ear by creating a
great deal of dissonance using chromatic notes, and
extensions of the triad.
 Composers began to drift away from the strong sense
of tonality heard in Classical music.
 Founding of conservatories
Composers
 Composers gradually left the patronage system and became free
agents of their own works.
 This meant that the composer, their music and their livelihood
depended on the public’s approval.
 For the first time, a composer’s work might not be publicly
performed during his or her lifetime.
 Romantics saw themselves as outsiders, isolated from
mainstream society, struggling to express their creative ideas.
 In general, composers held higher social status than in the
Classical period.
Performer
 Rise of virtuosic performers
 the public was captured by virtuosity and
showmanship
Conductor

 Resulted from the orchestras


growth in numbers and
complexity
 Became necessary to have
one person to lead and
control the orchestra
General Musical Characteristics
 Individuality

 Expressive Aims and Subjects

 Nationalism and Exoticism

 Rise and Importance of Program Music


Musical Elements
 Melody
 Age of lyricism – unending melody
 Melodies appealed to the emotions
 Phrases tended to be longer and irregular in length
 Themes were more complex and utilized
chromaticism
 Advent of theme transformation (Berlioz, Wagner)
 Harmony
 Basically tonal
 By end of the 19th century chromaticism
(movement by half steps) stretched tonality
to the breaking point
 Chromaticism imbued greater dissonance and
tension into the sound
 Rhythm
 Rhythmic effects were used for “color” – rubato
 Articulations in the instruments tended to be
heavy and intense
 A new vocabulary of music terms arose that
indicated how to achieve the composer’s
desired sound – cantabile, dolce, con amore,
allegro agitato. These designations produced a
more emotional sound and response.
 Texture
Essentially homophonic
Tended to be thick, heavy and lush
 Dynamics
Gradual
Much wider range – extremes of
dynamic variation
Used extensively throughout the
compositions
Timbre/Instrumentation
 This period saw a full exploration of the instrumental families.
 Instruments were used for both their individual and collective
color potential.
 Instrumental timbre was used to convey mood and atmosphere.
 The orchestra became much larger – from 70 players to more
than 100 (resulting in the necessity of a conductor).
 Instruments could play louder and carry farther.
 Instruments were capable of major changes in dynamics.
Strings

 String sections increased in


size and were given more
difficult accompaniment parts
(scales, arpeggios)
Woodwinds
 Development of new instruments
 saxophone (baritone and tuba) were invented by
Adolf Sax
 piccolo, bass clarinet and English horn were
added.
 Important improvements in wind instruments
 “Boehm system” of fingering for flutes and
clarinets achieved better facility and intonation
for the performer and greater musical range
Brass
 Addition of valves and improvement to valves on
brass instruments allowed the playing of a full
chromatic compass for the first time and to more
easily play quick runs of notes
 Tubas and Trombones were added
Percussion
 Expanded to include bass drum, snare drum,
cymbals and other exotic percussion
instruments (gong, castanets)
Ludwig Von Beethoven
 Crucial figure in the transition from Classical to
Romantic
 The Romantic period really began around
1815. Works from this period are
characterized by their intellectual depth, their
formal innovations, and their intense, highly-
personal expression.
Period Instruments
 Tuba
 Alto, Bass, Contrabass Clarinet
 Contrabassoon
 Euphonium
 Alto, Tenor, Baritone Saxophone
 Alto Flute
Opera
 Very popular during the Romantic era.
 Composers focused on melodies and themes.
 Huge interest in songs written as part of a cycle:
a complete story told with related songs.

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