A Topical and Narrative Analysis of Napoleonic Era Battle Pieces

University of Northern Colorado Scholarship & Creative Works @ Digital UNC Master's Theses Student Research 5-2019 A Topical and Narrative Analysis of Napoleonic Era Battle Pieces Robert J. Gassner Follow this and additional works at: https://digscholarship.unco.edu/theses Recommended Citation Gassner, Robert J., "A Topical and Narrative Analysis of Napoleonic Era Battle Pieces" (2019). Master's Theses. 88. https://digscholarship.unco.edu/theses/88 This Text is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Research at Scholarship & Creative Works @ Digital UNC. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of Scholarship & Creative Works @ Digital UNC. For more information, please contact [email protected]. UNIVERSITY OF NORTHERN COLORADO Greeley, Colorado The Graduate School A TOPICAL AND NARRATIVE ANALYSIS OF NAPOLEONIC ERA BATTLE PIECES A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Music Robert J. Gassner College of Visual and Performing Arts Department of Music Music History and Literature May 2019 This Thesis by: Robert J. Gassner Entitled: A Topical and Narrative Analysis of Napoleonic Era Battle Pieces. has been approved as meeting the requirement for the Degree of Master of Music in the College of Visual and Performing Arts, Department of Music, Program of Music History and Literature Accepted by the Thesis Committee: _______________________________________________________ Dr. Jonathan Bellman, D.M.A., Advisor _______________________________________________________ Dr. Deborah Kauffman, D.M.A., Committee Member Accepted by the Graduate School ___________________________________________________________ Linda L. Black, Ed.D. Associate Provost and Dean Graduate School and International Admissions Research and Sponsored Projects ABSTRACT Gassner, Robert J. A Topical and Narrative Analysis of Napoleonic Era Battle Pieces. Unpublished Master of Music thesis, University of Northern Colorado, 2019. The instrumental battle piece, as it was at the time of the Napoleonic Wars, was a genre largely reserved for amateur musicians. However, within these commercial compositions there was a distinct topical language. Analysis of multiple pieces that discuss the same battle, but come from composers of different nations reveals that composers of different nationalities often changed the narrative of the battle being portrayed in order to paint their country—or adopted country— in a better light. This can be seen in a comparison of compositions based on the battles of Trafalgar and Waterloo, by composers writing for English and Germanic audiences. This was likely due to composers pandering to their intended audience; a composition intended for publication in England is going to see increased sales if the English forces play a prominent and positive role in the narrative. Daniel Steibelt is the exception to these general traits; His battle pieces are written for his own use as a concert pianist, not the commercial music market. As such, the topical language employed by Steibelt in his compositions is on a whole more creative than other composers, and elements of theater are often incorporated, as are popular songs and opera arias. In addition, Steibelt iii traveled regularly during the time period, and thus his output includes compositions written from both the pro-French and anti-French perspectives. Though the genre of the battle piece is often critically panned, examples of the topical techniques developed in these pieces can be found in more respected orchestral works that depict battle from the mid to late Romantic era, including works by Tchaikovsky and Liszt. Thus, musicologists and others who write off the compositions of Steibelt and his contemporaries are ignoring a part of the repertoire that clearly influenced these later canonical works. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER INTRODUCTION: The INSTRUMENTAL BATTLE PIECE IN THE CONTEXT OF THE NAPOLEONIC WARS…………………………….. 1 I. NARRATIVE AND NATIONALITY IN THE INSTRUMENTAL BATTLE PIECE……………………………………………………………………….. 4 Trafalgar: Lord Nelson’s Great Victory…………………………………... 4 Waterloo: The End of the 100 Days……………………………………… 29 II. DANIEL STEIBELT: A TOPICAL ANALYSIS…………………………… 46 III. CONCLUSIONS……………………………………………………………. 71 BIBLIOGRAPHY…………………………………………………………… 78 v 1 INTRODUCTION THE INSTRUMENTAL BATTLE PIECE IN THE CONTEXT OF THE NAPOLEONIC WARS The Napoleonic wars were a time of chaos and turmoil in Europe, as monarchies fell before the French armies, and the continent’s other traditional powers, fearful of what the spreading of revolutionary ideals would do in their own nations, scrambled to preserve the remaining monarchies and defeat France. The turmoil of this period was also a source of inspiration for a number of composers, who wrote music about the heroes, battles, victories, and tragedies that took place. These compositions were often battle pieces, a genre dating back at least to the Renaissance.1 The Napoleonic Wars perhaps saw the pinnacle of compositional technique, output, and popularity for the genre, as there seems to have been more battle pieces composed during this period than at any other time in the history of western music. The rise of the battle piece during this time period was not only due to patriotic fervor, Napoleonic 1 William Byrd’s keyboard piece The Battell from My Ladye Nevells Booke (1591) is just one example of battle music from the Renaissance era. The genre continued into the Baroque, where Claudio Monteverdi often used a style known as stile concitato to depict battles, and can be seen in his eighth book of Madrigals: Madrigali guerrieri e amorosi. There were, of course, other battle pieces written during the Renaissance and Baroque, but these are perhaps the most well known works. Byrd’s Battell is especially similar to the piano fantasia-based battle pieces of the Napoleonic Wars. 2 propaganda, or a desire for music about current events, but was also the result of market forces. In the latter half of the eighteenth century, the growing middle class was increasingly able to afford luxuries such as music lessons, especially for their children. This created a growing need for compositions that were technically suitable for the amateur or student pianist, but were also captivating enough to both allow the performer to appear talented, and to entertain both performer and audience alike. Two compositions in particular took the piano fantasia and applied it to the battle piece, creating popular and influential works: Both The Battle of Rossbach, and The Battle of Prague (1788), attributed to the Bohemian František Kočvara, proved to be popular with the emerging market of amateur musicians, and commercially successful for publishing companies. These pieces, following the model of older battle pieces, such as William Byrd’s Battell, were broken up into several sections, each depicting a different episode of battle, and often given a caption so that performer and audience alike would be aware of what was being depicted.2 Piano was perhaps the most common vehicle for the battle piece, although not every piece written for the Napoleonic Wars was a piano fantasia. Among those composed for instruments other than the piano: Beethoven’s Wellingtons Sieg, perhaps the most famous battle piece from the time period. While the instrumentation and genre of the compositions varied, one element 2 Though The Battle of Rossbach is an exception, and has no captions. 3 that was quite common in battle pieces of the Napoleonic Wars was national narrative. The pieces predictably fall into pro-Napoleon and anti-Napoleon categories. pro-Napoleon compositions almost always depict French victories, while anti-Napoleon compositions usually depict battles in which the French were defeated. Often, the narrative of the composition does not accurately reflect the historical realities of the battle: in many cases, the national origin of the composer, or of the intended audience, can often explain the differences between the compositional narrative and the historical record. 4 CHAPTER I NARRATIVE AND NATIONALITY IN THE INSTRUMENTAL BATTLE PIECE Trafalgar: Lord Nelson’s Great Victory The Battle of Trafalgar was a naval battle that took place in the fall of 1805, and would live on in English history, commemorated in Trafalgar Square in London. The British forces, under Vice Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson, had (after months of dogged pursuit) finally found and defeated the combined Franco-Spanish navy, commanded by Admiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve although Nelson was mortally wounded in the battle. The ultimate result of the battle was a status quo that remained for many years: French forces would be unmatched on the continent, but the British Navy was the supreme power at sea, and kept Napoleon’s ambitions limited to European shores. Nelson’s heroic victory and subsequent death was a source of compositional inspiration for at least two composers: Johann Baptist Wanhal and Johann Bernhard Logier. Wanhal (1739–1813), of Czech origin,3 was a Viennese contemporary of Mozart and Haydn. His piano fantasy on Trafalgar is titled Seeschlacht bei Trafalgar und Tod des Admirals Nelson (The Naval Battle of 3 As such, several spellings of his name exist, including Vanhal and Van Hall. A modern Czech version also exists: Jan Křtitel Vaňhal. Despite the confusion, and his Czech origins, Wanhal himself was known to prefer the Germanic version of his name. See: Paul R. Bryan,

Load more