Power point 21. The Romantic Era: Early Romanticism in Classic Forms

1. Early Romanticism in Classic Forms:
Orchestral, Chamber, and Choral Music
1820-1850

2. ‘Classics’ performed in public concerts
• ‘classic’—music outlasts composer’s death
– in the Romantic era, the classics were viewed as absolute music—
music refers to nothing but itself
– orchestral
• romantic composers influenced by Beethoven, Haydn, Mozart
• conductor
• virtuoso performers playing others’ works (concertos)
– chamber
• home and public
• romantic composers influenced by Beethoven, Haydn, Mozart
– choral
• romantic composers influenced by Handel, Haydn

3. Schubert
• Orchestral
– Symphonies 8 & 9 not performed until long
after Schubert’s death
• No. 8 “Unfinished”
• No. 9 discovered by Schumann, performed by
Mendelssohn conducting the Gewandhaus
Orchestra
• Chamber
– “Trout” Quintet
• piano, violin, viola, cello, double-bass
• 4th movement is a set of variations on his song Die
Forelle
– String quartets
• d minor “Death and the Maiden”
– 2nd movement: variations on song “Death and the
Maiden”
– String Quintet in C
• string quartet plus 2nd cello
• symphonic

4. Mendelssohn
• Orchestral
– 4 symphonies
– A Midsummer Night’s Dream
– Violin Concerto
• movements linked structurally and
thematically
• reduced ritornello sections
• cadenza before recapitulation
• Chamber Music
– piano quartets
– violin sonata
– string quartets
– piano trios
– octet
• Choral Music
– Oratorio: Elijah

5. Schumann
• 1841—symphony year
– Symphony #4 in d minor
• cyclical
• 1842-3—chamber music year
– studied Mozart and Haydn
quartets, then wrote:
• 3 quartets op. 31
– wrote that a quartet is
a 4-way conversation
• piano quintet
• piano quartet
– more polyphonic approach
after studying Bach
• 1847 piano trios

6. Hector Berlioz (1803-1869)
• orchestral
– Symphonie Fantastique
– program music—recounts
narrative or sequence of events
– unconventional form
– cyclical
• idée fixe
– large orchestra
• English Horn
• Harp
• chamber music—considered a classic
medium and music of the past, was
shunned by Berlioz and Liszt