Unit 8
 
Music after Beethoven: Romanticism-Chapter 16

Step 1

  • Read Chapter 16: "Romanticism" from Listen 8th ed. using the textbook or ebook

  • Listen to chapter examples using the streamed format located in Launchpad

  • Store notes in your Unit 8 ePortfolio

 

Step 2

  • Submit these on-line quizzes through Launchpad

  • Store the results from these assessments in your ePortfolio using screen shots

 

1. Test your knowledge of concepts from Chapter 16 using the Listen Site Reading Quiz

 

 

  

The Early Romantics-Chapter 17

Step 1

  • Read Chapter 17: "Early Romantics" from Listen 8th ed. using the textbook or ebook

  • Listen to chapter examples using the streamed format located in Launchpad

  • Store notes in your Unit 8 ePortfolio

 

Step 2

  • Submit these on-line quizzes through Launchpad

  • Store the results from these assessments in your ePortfolio using screen shots

1. Test your knowledge of concepts from Chapter 17 using the Listen Site Reading Quiz

2. Test your knowledge of concepts from Chapter 17 using the Listen Site Listening Quiz

 

 
Romantic Music Overview

Step 1

  • Listen to the 3 examples below to answer the following questions

  1. Share your overall impression of Romantic Period Music. The Romantic period music is full of harmonies, and takes a more complex approach when dealing with chord progressions and expression with phrases. 

  2. How does this music sound different to Classical Music? I think that the Romantic Music is more... emotional and, well, romantic. There is more usage of chromatic scale patterns in the music, as well as extended repetoire into the realm that hadn't really been explored. There is a huge increase in the orchestra: you can see the addition of the tuba, and brass now had valves (yay!), note the compositions for the piccolo, the bass clarinet, and the double bassoon. There was the combination of instruments that had never been combined before, and that just made weird music. Movements were much shorter compared to the Classical Era. 

  3. How does this music sound similar from Classical Music? Romantic Music is similar in the way that a lot of the same instrumentation is the same, which mostly pertains to the woodwind and brass section (we have a few improvements, but the flexibility is relatively the same). Music was still written in concertos and sonatas. 

A.  Finagals Cave by Felix Mendelssohn

B.  Slavonic Dances by Anton Dvorak

C.  Song without Words by Fanny Mendelssohn

 

Step 2

  • What musical elements help create the emotion and imagery of Love Dream by Franz Liszt?

(Musical Elements; Pitch, Rhythm, Dynamics, Tempo, Texture, Timbre, Form, Purpose, Harmony, Melody, Expression, Mood, Language, Style, etc.) I noticed a lot of ties/slurs. The song is taken at a rubato style, so I guess he speeds up and slows down when he feels like it, going with the emotions he's feeling at the time. The dynamic change from beginning to end is incredible; there are a lot of points where Liszt gets louder with higher notes and slower and quieter with low ones. The rolling phrases are just deLigHtFuL. The tempo increases as the piece builds, and there are longer pauses closer to the end. 

 

Step 3

  • Describe the instrumental timbres used in Brahms Symphony No. 1. What I noticed was that there were a lot of strings, violins especially. There is some counterbalance with woodwinds and brass. I can hear some flutes and oboes, which give the piece a brighter timbre. The piece evolves into something resembling angst and darkness, with changes in tempo and dynamic usage. 

 

Step 4

  • Answer the following questions regarding Waldesnacht No. 3 by Brahms (2017-2018 All State Audition piece). 

  1. Provide a text translation for this excerpt. 

 

Wondrously cool woodland night, 

whom I greet a thousand times:

after the uproarious tumult of the world,

o how sweet is your rustling!

Dreamily I nestle my weary limbs 

in your tender moss, 

and it seems to me as if once more 

I were free from all my insane anguish. 

Distant fluting song emerge and

stir a wide yearning, 

with the thoughts of the beloved, 

ah! beguile the resented distance! 

Let the woodland night lull me, 

still every pain,

and a blissful satisfaction

permit me to drink in with its fragrances. 

In narrow, secret circles, 

you, wild heart, will know well 

that peace hovers above with hushed

wing-beats, slowly descending. 

Lovely birds, sing your lovely songs, 

sing me gently into slumber!

Distracting torments, dissipate agin; 

wild heart, now good night!

 

 

  1. Is this an example of a miniature or grandiose composition? This is a miniature :)

 

 

Step 5

  • Describe musical elements of Wedding March by Felix Mendelssohn

(Musical Elements; Pitch, Rhythm, Dynamics, Tempo, Texture, Timbre, Form, Purpose, Harmony, Melody, Expression, Mood, Language, Style, etc.). The song starts with a lot of brass, with a lot of call and response between the orchestra and powerful trumpets. Both come together and accent every beat they deem important, giving the song a heavy, steady feel. Perhaps the "steady" feel is helped by the constant tempo that goes throughout the song. The major key allows the song to progress happily without being hindered. 

 

Step 6

  1. What is a nocturne? A nocturne is a musical composition that is inspired by the night. It's either inspired by night, or it alludes to the night, typically on a piano. It was common for the piece to have several parts that were played at different times of the night (so a lot of them would start at 11 PM). The word originates from the french "nocturne". 

  2. Describe characteristics of Romantic music conveyed in this piece. This nocturne is has a mix of quick and slow, with a sad, yet peaceful mood. There are a lot of places where it goes from major to minor and back again, which gives it the feeling of an ocean tide ebbing back and forth. Or even between the day and night. There is a delicate usage of the sustain pedal, so notes can be held as long as the performer wants, depending on his/her mood. The emphasis on simple melodies, with slight chromatic embellishments are a defining characteristic of the romantic nocturne.  

  

 

Period Research

  • Gather resources of your own choosing to answer the following questions

 

A. Provide approximate dates for the Romantic Period punctuated with notable world/historical events

 

  1. What impact did female composers have on the music of the Romantic Period? Women were essential to the music movement. They started advancing their careers, and there were a lot of times where they would marry a composer and highlight that composers works at a recital/performance (I'm thinking of Clara Schumann right now). Piano allowed women to start gaining musical information, and was a great place to vent, seeing as they couldn't do much as women. Performing women were now socially acceptable, they could now be singers, composers, and instrumentalists. 

  2. What impact did the Industrial Revolution have on the music industry? The Industrial Revolution was so, so important in improving instruments and getting better sound quality and amplitude. There were resources that hadn't been available to instrumentalists and composers, which allowed a lot of stylistic liberties. There was a lot of production of instruments, which made them cheaper and more accessible to the public, which in turn encouraged musical literacy. As music became the intellectual property of the mass, it was appreciated more, and a lot of composers could turn to the public for employment. There were advances to instruments, like valves to brass instruments, which allowed some interesting additions to music... you could now bend your pitch! There were a lot of compositions that protested against the creation of visual pollutants, like ugly buildings and dirtied rivers, etc. A lot of music began concentrating on the pre-industrial revolution nature. Kinda like today. 

  3. Provide titles of Romantic Period Orchestral music that featured the English Horn. There is Gaetano Donizetti's Concertino for English Horn and Piano (1816). This sheet music was arranged by Nora Post. 

  4. Provide titles of Romantic Period Orchestral music that featured the Harp. There is a Ricordanza di Paganini op. 51 (1831). Here is a copy of the sheet music (legally obtained, of course), written by Théodore Labarre himself. 

  1. Use adjectives to describe the similarities between French Impressionism and the music of Debussy. Atonal, abstract, frustrating, calming, suggestive, complex, fluid, changeable, explorative, boundless, mysterious. 

  2. Choose an impressionistic art image that best partners with The Afternoon of a Faun. Done :)

 

  1. Choose a musical selection by Debussy that best parters with Water Lilies. I think Debussy's Estampes would go along really well with them. Here's some sheet music :)

  • Bonus Credit:  See your instructor to access the DVD; Song of Love. Great movie... definite 10/10... sad at the end :/

 

 

 

 

HONORS TRACK

Can Fanny & Clara come out to play?

 

Option 1

See your instructor for 1 of the following supplemental Books/DVD

  • Love Triangle: Song of Love (DVD)

 

Please submit the following

1.  Title, Length, CopyRight Date, Creators, Actors & Authors. "Song of Love", presented by M-G-M. Copyright date is 2010, by Turner Entertainment Co. and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. This was a Clarence Brown Production, with Leo G. Carroll, Henry Daniel, Henry Stephenson. The notable actors are Katharine Hepburn, Paul Henreid, and Robert Walker. 

2.  Brief Summary of the Material to include 3-5 quotes/passages(include time stamp/page numbers)

"Robert, look at me, I can make the money so easily. Why? Because I'm a performer, nothing else. What I do is here today and forgotten tomorrow. But you create, Robert. The things you do will last forever. If they don't make money today, that's not important. You must be free to write your music." -Clara Schumann (52:07). 

"I want a drink of water. With lemon in it. Sugar. Thank you, Uncle Brahms. I'll drink it later. Now, tuck me in! Hold my hand!" -Elise Schumann (59:54)

"I'm getting stronger everyday. Clara, how long has it been? Without you I lose all track of time. The children! How are the children? I seem to be getting along quite well... I've been working. You know, I was afraid perhaps I couldn't work anymore. I was silly, I work just as easily. I'd like to play you something I've just written." -Robert Schumann in the asylum. (1:36:04). 

 

3.  Please answer the following

    •    Describe your thoughts, feelings and/or emotional response to the material. I adored the movie, and I was especially impressed by Katharine Hepburn's take on Clara Schumann. Whether or not she actually played like that is unimportant... she faked it well enough in the movie. I loved that she was a better pianist than Schumann himself; that must have caused a lot of tension. 

    •    What was the most important insight you gained? I learnt that Clara loved her family more than her performances, as spectacular as they were. I saw how defiant she was towards her father when she got married, and I have no doubt that that was what actually took place. 

    •    What surprised you the most? I was surprised that Clara and Brahms didn't get married at the end of the movie. I get that Clara loved Robert forever, but c'mon! THERE WAS CHEMISTRY! I was also surprised at how long she outlasted Robert... 40 years of performing his & her songs. Definitely one of the greatest pianists ever. 

    •    What did you already know? I knew that Robert Schumann had been committed to an insane asylum, and he and Clara had a lot of children. 

    •    In what ways might you be able to apply this material to your musical interests? I could see where Schumann influenced Brahms, although Brahms did have an awfully different stylistic approach. What I'm going to enjoy is the difference between Clara & Robert's compositions, versus Brahms. Love 'em all.