The Romantic Period
The first musical period whose musicians named themselves, the Romantic Period derives its name from the romances (or from the German word Roman, meaning “novel”) of the middle ages: long tales of epic deeds, hideous monsters, unattainable love and heroes struggling against the world. Romantic Period music was all about drama, sometimes acted out on stage but always implied within the music. To achieve this, strict forms became less important and the orchestra was expanded in all directions; more instruments, greater dynamic contrast, wider tessituras, and above all as much expression as possible. Chromaticism, quickly changing keys, and extended techniques (basically musical sound effects) came into widespread use during this time.
Early in the nineteenth century, Franz Schubert popularized the Lied, a piece written for piano and voice. Lieder (the plural of Lied) were often performed at home rather than in a concert hall. The Hungarian pianist Franz Liszt was also active at this time, touring Europe with an intense and passionate virtuosity.
The first quintessential piece of orchestral Romantic music may have been Hector Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique, a five-movement orchestral work that tells a complete story of love, magic, and death, all popular themes in Romantic music. In Germany, orchestral music was largely dominated by Johannes Brahms, who wrote in a traditional style and was considered by many as a successor to Beethoven. Opera was completely monopolized by Richard Wagner, whose concept of Gesamtkunstwerk (“total work of art,” sometimes translated “music drama”) began paving the way to modern music. Wagner’s most influential achievements may have been Der Ring des Nibelungen (a epic series of four operas that takes sixteen hours to perform) and Tristan und Isolde (in which Wagner began to stretch the boundaries and conventions of traditional harmony.) Some Romantic works were so lengthy that composers abandoned traditional musical forms in favor of leitmotif, a short theme that becomes associated with a particular character, place, or event. The appearance and variation of leitmotifs gives continuity to a piece whose form would otherwise be too long to process. In Italy, the operas of Giuseppe Verdi became so popular he is still considered the Italy’s national composer. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was the first Russian composer to gain international attention, along with the “Mighty Handful:” Mily Balakirev, César Cui, Modest Mussorgsky, Nikolai Rimsky- Korsakov, and Alexander Borodin.
The Romantic Period largely survives today in motion picture soundtracks, most of which are written in a Romantic style.
The Romantic Period at a Glance New Genres New Techniques New Media Composers Lieder Leitmotif Orchestras now close to 100 Franz Schubert, Franz Gesamtkunstwerk Polyrhythm members Liszt, Hector Berlioz, Meter changes Johannes Brahms, Frequent modulation Giuseppe Verdi, Color tones (use of mutes, Richard Wagner, Peter extended techniques) Ilych Tchaikovsky, Gustav Mahler Important Terms Lied (pl. Lieder) – a short piece for piano and voice Leitmotif – a short theme associated with a particular character, place, or event