ROMANTICISM TO MODERNISM AN IN-DEPTH STUDY OF THE GREAT ROMANTIC COMPOSERS HST 423 ROMANTICISM TO MODERNISM - INTRODUCTIONS Brian J. Isaac Conductor | Music Educator - Artistic Director, Alexandria Choral Society, Williamsburg Choral Guild, and Church Circle Singers - Managing Director, Arts Laureate - MM, Peabody Conservatory ROMANTICISM TO MODERNISM - COURSE EXPECTATIONS ROMANTICISM TO MODERNISM AN IN-DEPTH STUDY OF THE GREAT ROMANTIC COMPOSERS Week 1/2 A Brief Review of Music History / Music as Passion and Individualism, Schubert, Schumann, and the Early Romantic Lied, and Early “Popular” Song Week 3 Romantic and Programmatic Piano Music Week 4 Romantic Program Music Week 5/6 Absolute Music in the Romantic Era, Italian Romantic Opera, and German Romantic Opera Week 7/8 Fauré and the Requiem and Program Music at the End of the Nineteenth Century ROMANTICISM TO MODERNISM - DANCING AT THE KEYBOARD: CHOPIN AND ROMANTIC PIANO MUSIC “To be a great composer, one needs an enormous amount of knowledge, which … one does not acquire from listening only to other people’s works, but even more from listening to one’s own.” - Frédéric Chopin (1810 - 1849) The Nineteenth-Century Piano - Central to the Western musical tradition - Learning to play was a staple of refined education - Popular with amateur musicians because melody and harmony could be performed on one instrument - Technical improvements led to greater access, power, and dynamic range - American manufacturer Steinway emerges at the Paris Exhibition of 1867 - Rise of the virtuoso pianist Let’s check out a brief history of the piano together! ROMANTICISM TO MODERNISM - DANCING AT THE KEYBOARD: CHOPIN AND ROMANTIC PIANO MUSIC “My life [is] an episode without a beginning and with a sad end.” - Frédéric Chopin (1810 - 1849) The Short Lyric Piano Piece - Equivalent to the song, the short lyric piano piece projected dramatic moods - Composers specializing in these works: Schubert, Chopin, Liszt, Felix Mendelssohn, Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, Robert and Clara Schumann, and Brahms - Works were given with fanciful, descriptive titling Frédéric Chopin (1810 - 1849) - Born in 1810 in Warsaw to a French father and a Polish mother - Moved to Paris at the age of 21 - Composed numerous concertos, ballads, sonatas, preludes, études, mazurkas, polonaises, scherzos, waltzes, impromptus, nocturnes, chamber music, and songs Chopin: Prelude No. 4 in E Minor, Op. 28 LISTEN, THINK, and SHARE: - What differences do you hear in interpretation, tempo, and the use of rubato? - Which performance do you find more effective, and why? - Chopin always insisted his piano “sing” - which pianist makes the instrument “sing” best? Chopin: Polonaise in A Major, Op. 40, No. 1 (Military) - performed by Cyprien Katsaris Chopin: Polonaise in A Major, Op. 40, No. 1 (Military) - performed by Vladimirr Horowitz Frédéric Chopin ROMANTICISM TO MODERNISM - DANCING AT THE KEYBOARD: CHOPIN AND ROMANTIC PIANO MUSIC “I have called my piano pieces after the names of my favorite haunts … they will form a delightful souvenir, a kind of second diary.” - Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel Women and Music in Nineteenth-Century Society - Women made great strides in establishing careers as professional musicians - Public conservatory training - Middle and upper-class women became piano teachers, as well as students - A few women overcame the social stereotypes surrounding composition, and found success Interview: Adelina De Lara speaks of her time with Clara Schumann Clara Schumann ROMANTICISM TO MODERNISM - DANCING AT THE KEYBOARD: CHOPIN AND ROMANTIC PIANO MUSIC Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel (1805 - 1847) - Composer and pianist, raised in Berlin - Sister of Felix Mendelssohn - Actively discouraged by her father from a career in music - Composed a great deal of chamber music, over 125 piano works, vocal music, and over 250 Lieder LISTEN, THINK, and SHARE: - How does the image of a bare-footed woman by a stream impact/guide your listening experience? - What about the Goethe text? Flow, flow, dear river Never will I be happy. - Do you think the imagery and the text are necessary? Mendelssohn Hensel: September: At the River, from The Year Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel ROMANTICISM TO MODERNISM - WEEK 3 ASSIGNMENT ROMANTICISM TO MODERNISM AN IN-DEPTH STUDY OF THE GREAT ROMANTIC COMPOSERS Assignment for 10/1 LISTEN: Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique, IV and Symphonie fantastique, V .