Romantic Period Summary

Unit Summary – Module 5
The Romantic Period
21 points
Please complete each question as thoroughly as possible and submit to your professor by the due date.
This summary will function as a one of the study guides for the final exam so it is very important that the information is complete.

1. Describe the characteristics of music in the romantic period. Be sure to include information on each of the following: (6 points)
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Romantic music was associated with emotional intensity. These works tended to have greater ranges of tone color, dynamics and pitch. There was more emphasis on self-expression and individuality of style which reflected the creators’ personalities. Music included flamboyance and intimacy, unpredictability and melancholy, rapture and longing. Nationalism and exoticism played important parts in expressing when the music was created with a specific national identity and the draw on colorful materials from exotic lands. Programs music became popular in the time when its music was associated with literature. Romantic music gave rich and sensuous tone color to obtain a variety of mood and atmosphere. These tone colors include orchestras having close to 100 musicians and increasing the power of the brass and woodwind sections. New chords and novel ways of using the familiar chords were used to create colorful harmony. More emphasis was given to harmonic instability and less to stability and resolution. Romantic composers characteristically expressed themselves in musical miniatures and monumental compositions, meaning that they could last just a few minutes that were to be heard in a home or great works that required many performers, last for several hours and designed for large opera houses or concert halls.

2. Describe in detail the characteristics of romantic literature and painting. (1 point)
- Romantic literature and painting stresses emphasis on passion, emotion, individuality and imagination. It was against classicism and reason. Painters of this time used brighter and bolder colors, emotional themes were used. In literature, the people’s emotional reactions were explored rather than logic. Emotional subjectivity, the supernatural, the fantasy world, nature and human passion were basic qualities in romanticism.

3. Describe the extra-compositional ways (meaning ways other than being a composer) in which the romantic composer could earn a living. (1 point)
- Some composers earned a living by being a musical teacher or by criticizing music (reviewing others works) and being touring virtuosos.

4. What are the reasons for the decline in aristocratic support of music during the romantic period? (.5 point)
- The French Revolution and the Napoleonic wars were the cause of the decline of aristocracy support because the aristocrats couldn’t afford to maintain private opera houses, orchestras and composers in residence.

5. How does the life of a “free artist” musician such as Beethoven differ from the life of musicians in earlier periods? (1 point)
- These “free artists” composed to meet an inner need rather than to fulfill a commission. They were interested in pleasing their contemporaries and being judged well by posterity.

6. Describe the principal stages of Schubert’s career. (1 point)
-Was an early Romantic composer.
-Wrote his first great song at age 17 and went on to compose 143, the next year. By 19 year old he wrote 179 works.
-His works weren’t performed until after he died.
-Composed over 600 songs as well as symphonies, string quartets, chamber music, sonatas, short pieces for pianos and operas.

7. List and describe the three forms most frequently used by art songs. (1 point)
-Strophic: Repeats music for each stanza. Makes song easy to remember
-Through-composed: New music for each stanza. There is also the modified strophic form where two of the three stanzas are set to the same music. Allows music to reflect a poem’s changing moods.
-Song Cycle: Group of songs unified in a set.

8. Describe how a composer can express nationalism in music. (1 point)
- Composers made the intent of getting inspiration from their homeland.

9. Describe Wagner’s “music dramas” and how the leitmotif is used. (1 point)
- The music is flows continuously throughout each act.
- There are no breaks for applause.
- The vocal lines are inspired by the rhythms and pitches of the German text.

10. Define each of the following terms: (.5 point each)
a. exoticism: Quality of music being exotic.
b. program music: Music intended to convey impression of a story, poem, idea or scene.
c. art song: Composition for solo voice and piano. Written to be sung at home, often set to a poem.
d. lied (art song): Type of German song.
e. strophic form: Repetition of the same music for each stanza of a poem.
f. through-composed form: New music for each stanza.
g. song cycle: Romantic art songs grouped in a set.
h. nocturne: Slow, lyrical intimate composition for piano.
i. etude: Study piece designed to help a performer master specific technical difficulties.
j. absolute music: Instrumental music composed as just music.
k. symphonic poem: One-movement orchestral composition based on literary or pictorial ideas.
l. incidental music: Music used before or during a play, which sets the mood for certain scenes.
m. nationalism: National identity in music.
n. leitmotif: Short musical idea associated with a person, object or thought in the drama.
o. idée fixe: Single melody used to represent the beloved.