1830 – 1850 Romantics

1830 July Revolution, Charles X abdicated, France

1830-48 Louis Philippe, France

1837-1901 Queen Victoria, England

1848-49 Revolution



Romanticism in music followed two divergent paths: (1) toward the miniature forms of Lied and character piece for piano as established by Schubert and represented by Schumann, Mendelssohn and Chopin, and (2) toward the spectacular and grandiose in opera and symphony as established by Beethoven and represented by Meyerbeer, Berlioz, Liszt and Wagner.

Vocal Music

Grand Opera

Grand opera began with Daniel Auber's (1782-1871) Le Muette de Portici (1828) in which a dumb girl leaped into the erupting Vesuvius. Rossini's last opera, William Tell (1929), was an attempt to imitate this popular new style characterized by

(a) obligatory spectacular scenes,

(b) death, not happy endings, in librettos by Scribe,

(c) potpourri overture,

(d) extended ornate arias,

(e) chorus and ballet, and

(f) a new heavier type of dramatic tenor as the featured hero.

Other opera were Giacomo Meyerbeer's (1791-1864) Robert le Diable (1831), Les Huguenots (1836) and Le Prophète (1849), and Jacques Halévy's (1799-1862) La Juive (1835).

Italian Opera

This period is called bel canto.  Orchestral accompaniment used throughout the opera broke down the distinction between recitative and aria, resulting in long formally flexible sections in Vincenzo Bellini's (1801-35) Norma (1831), La Sonnambula (1831) and I Puritani (1835) and Gaetano Donizetti's (1797-1848) Lucia di Lammermore (1835).

German opera

Sentimental light operas were Hans Heiling (1833) by Heinrich Marschner (1795-1861), Zar und Zimmerman (1837) by Albert Lortzing (1801-51) and Martha (1847) by Friedrich von Flotow (1812-83). Richard Wagner's (1813-83) Rienzi (1840) was a grand opera, and Der fliegende Holländer (1842) was in the Weber tradition.

Russian Opera

Russian opera was established by Michael Glinka (1804-57) in A Life for the Tsar (1836) and Russlan and Lyudmilla (1842), the first realization of nationalism in music.

Oratorio

Influenced by Bach and Handel, Felix Mendelssohn (1809-47) composed the sentimental oratorios St. Paul (1836) and Elijah (1846). Also considered a secular oratorio is The Damnation of Faust (1846) by Hector Berlioz (1803-69).

Choral Music

Secular cantatas were Mendelssohn's Erste Walpurgisnacht (1832) and Robert Schumann's (1803-56) Paradise and the Peri (1843) and Scenes from Goethe's "Faust" (1844-53). Important liturgical music were Rossini's Stabat Mater (1832) and the huge Requiem (1837) of Berlioz.

Lied

Though Mendelssohn was also important, Schumann was the outstanding Lieder composer, especially in the song cycles Dichterliebe (1840) and Frauenliebe und Leben (1840).

French Song

The first French song cycle was Berlioz Les Nuits d'Été (1841). It became the first orchestral song cycle when he orchestrated it in 1856.

Instrumental Music

Piano

Sonata form almost disappeared and was replaced by collections of unrelated single movements in a completely idiomatic piano style. Though most of the titles are not authentic, Mendelssohn's Songs without Words (1829-45) contained 48 song-like pieces. Schumann added his own titles in Papillons (1830-31), Carnival (1835) and Kinderscenen (1838).



Frédéric Chopin (1810-49) also preferred short forms, as in Nocturnes (1830-46), Impromptu (1834-43) and 24 Preludes, Op. 28 (1839) in all the major and minor keys. He established romantic piano idiom through use of

(a) tempo rubato,

(b) chromaticism,

(c) free modulation,

(d) creative use of the damper pedal, and

(e) melodies from dance or song in

(f) a completely homophonic texture.

Preferred dances were waltz (19), polonaise (13) and mazurka (51). Longer single-movement forms were the ballade (4 examples) and scherzo (4 examples). He also composed sets of etudes: Op. 10 (1829-32) and Op. 25 (1832-36). Schumann also composed etudes, including Etudes symphoniques (1834).

Chamber Music

The string quartet was still preferred by Schumann with three and Mendelssohn with seven examples, but both men composed other important works for combinations of strings alone or with piano.

Concerto

In the classical form with written out cadenzas, concertos showed the romantic piano idiom in Schumann's concerto (1845), Chopin's Op. 11 (1830) and Op. 21 (1829) and Mendelssohn's Op 25 (1831) and Op. 40 (1837). Mendelssohn also composed a Violin Concerto (1844).

Symphony

The clearest change from the Viennese classic tradition came in the Symphonie fantastique (1830) of Berlioz, which showed all the features of romanticism:

(a) tempo rubato,

(b) frequent tempo changes,

(c) chromaticism,

(d) a new mastery of orchestral color,

(e) the idée fixe, a unifying motive used in all five movements,

(f) transformation as opposed to development of theme (melodies were of such distinctive character they resisted development, and

(g) the use of a complete descriptive program.

Formally, it was still a normal symphony with two scherzo movements, but with a new thematic unity. His Harold in Italy (1834) was a viola concerto while Romeo and Juliet (1840) used chorus and vocal soloists.



The symphonies of Schumann and Mendelssohn used descriptive titles, as in Schumann's No. 1 "Spring" (1841) and No. 3 "Rhenish" (1850) and Mendelssohn's No. 3 Scotch" (1842), No. 4 "Italian" (1833) and No. 5 "Reformation" (1832), but maintained the basic form of the classic symphony without either thematic or programmatic unity.

Overture

While Beethoven's overtures and Mendelssohn's Overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream (1826) were written to precede theatrical performances, Mendelssohn's Hebrides (1832) and Berlioz' Roman Carnival (1844) were character pieces in modified sonata-allegro form composed for concert use.

1803 – 1830 Beethoven and Schubert

1803 Beethoven's Eroica Symphony
1804-14 Napoleon, Emperor of France
1814-24 Louis XVIII, France
1815 Waterloo
1824-30 Charles X

This generation must be subdivided: 1803-15 was Beethoven's second style period and time of greatest influence, including symphonies 3-8 and Fidelio, and 1815-27 was his third style period in which he revived the art of counterpoint, including the Ninth Symphony, Missa solemnis and "Grosse Fuge" for string quartet. Schubert composing in the second half of the period led the transition to Romanticism. Rossini and Weber's operas also fell into the second half of the period.

Vocal Music

Italian Opera

The last generation of the Neapolitan tradition, led by Gioacchino Rossini (1792-1868), composed the last important roles for castrati and last used recitative secco. This is the last generation of opera seria. Rossini began to write out the important virtuosic ornamentation in his 38 operas composed from 1810 to 1829, including the serious operas Tancredi (1813) and Otello (1816), and the comic operas L'Italiana in Algeri (1813), La Cenerentola (1817), and Il Barbiere di Siviglia (1816).

French Opera

Heroic operas in the tradition of Gluck continued with La Vestale (1807) by Gasparo Spontini (1774-1851) and Joseph (1807) by Nicolas Méhul (1763-1817).

German Opera

Beethoven's Fidelio (1808) was strongly influenced by the revolutionary French operas of Cherubini. Transitional works were Undine (1813) by E.T.A. Hoffman (1776-1822) and Faust (1816) by Ludwig Spohr (1784-1859) The model for German Romantic opera was established with Der Freischütz (1821) by Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826). Less successful were his Euryanthe (1823) and Oberon (1826). Some common features were (a) sonata-allegro overture, (b) spoken dialogue, including melodrama in Fidelio Freischütz, (c) chorus, (d) dramatic arias and (e) important orchestral accompaniment.

Lied

Though the simple strophic style of the Second Berlin Song School prevailed in the early period, the through-composed Romantic Lied was established with Franz Schubert's (1797-1828) "Gretchen am Spinnrad" (1814). His over 600 songs included the song cycles Die schöne Müllerin (1823) and Winterreise (1827) on texts by Wilhelm Müller. Beethoven's An die ferne Geliebte (1816) is considered the first song cycle. Carl Loewe (1796-1869) was most successful in songs in the ballade form.

Mass

Symphonic masses in the form established by Haydn were Beethoven's Mass in C (1810) and Schubert's 6 masses. Beethoven regarded his Missa solemnis (1822), a huge choral symphony in five movements, as his greatest work.

Instrumental

Piano

The four classes of romantic piano pieces were established in this generation.

• Beethoven brought the full force of symphonic style to the piano sonata. Though retaining the basic classical structure, he experimented with expressive content and thematic development in Op. 53 "Waldstein" (1804) and Op. 57 "Appassionata" (1804). From the late period came the last five of his 32 sonatas, including Op. 106 "Hammerklavier" (1818). Schubert composed 22 sonatas which emphasized theme over development.
  

• Sets of variations were composed both as sonata movements and as individual pieces, including both as sonata movements and as individual pieces, including 21 sets by Beethoven who transformed them into0 character pieces with only a motivic relationship to the theme, especially Diabelli Variations, Op. 120 (1823).
  

• Short single movements called character pieces led the transition to romantic piano style, including Beethoven's Bagatelles Op. 119 (1823) and Op. 126 (1825), Weber's Momento capriccioso (1808) and Schubert's Moments musicals (1828), Impromptus (1827) and Klavierstücke (1828).
  

• The 100 etudes of Muzio Clementi's Gradus ad Parnassum (1817-26) set the example for later sets.
  

Concerto

Greater importance of the orchestra balanced more virtuosic solo writing in Beethoven's No. 4 (1805-6) and No. 5 "Emperor" (1809) Piano Concertos and his Violin Concerto (1806). Violin technique advanced in the First Violin Concerto (1820) of Niccolò Paganini (1784-1840).

Overture

Beethoven's "Cariolan" (1807) and "Egmont" (1810) were overtures for plays. Fidelio had four overtures composed at different times: Leonore I (1805), Leonore II (1805), Leonore III (1806) and Fidelio (1814).

Chamber Music

• Beethoven's 16 string quartets, including Rasoumovsky Quartets, Op. 59 (1807), were increasingly contrapuntal, climaxing in the "Grosse Fuge" Op. 133 (1825). Schubert's quartets, including No. 14 "Death and the Maiden" (1826) were homophonic.
  

• The piano trio was composed nine times by Beethoven, including No. 7, Op. 97 "Archduke" (1811). Two examples were by Schubert.
  

• Most important of Beethoven's ten violin sonatas was No. 9, Op. 47 "Kreutzer" (1803); also five cello sonatas.
  

• Other chamber combinations by Schubert included the Cello Quintet in C (1828) and the "Forellen" Quintet, Op. 114 (1819) for violin, viola, cello, bass and piano.
  

Symphony

Still the dominant form, the symphony reached its peak in Beethoven's No. 3 in Eb "Eroica" (1803), No. 4 in Bb (1806), No. 5 in C minor (1808), No. 6 in F "Pastoral" in five movements, often considered the first program symphony (1808), No. 7 in A (1812), No. 8 in F (1812), No. 9 in D minor "Choral," with Schiller's Ode to Joy set for chorus and vocal quartet in the last movement (1823), Traits were:

(a) variation movements (3, 5, 7),

(b) scherzo replaced the minuet,

(c) introduction, development and code sections lengthened to include more thematic development,

(d) lengthened cadences, a cliché of the generation, e.g. the last 40 measures of the finale of No. 5,

(e) orchestral recitative (especially No. 9),

(f) expanded winds (3, 5, 6, 9),

(g) mastery of the relationship of theme and tonality, and

(h) great emotional intensity.

Schubert's included No. 5 in Bb (1816), No. 8 "Unfinished" (1822) and No. 9 in C "The Great" (1828)

1780 – 1803 Haydn and Mozart

1780 Death of Maria Theresa, Austria
1781 Mozart moved to Vienna
1786 Death of Frederick the Great, Prussia
1789 French Revolution

This was the generation of Mozart's maturity, Haydn's late style and Beethoven's first style period.

Vocal Music

Opera seria

The mature operas of Mozart followed the established forms of his day and included two opera seria, Idomeneo (1781), considered his best in this form, and La Clemenza di Tito (1791) on a libretto by Metastasio.
 

Opera seria	Opera buffa	Opéra-comique & Singspiel	Reform opera
Secco and accompagnato recitative	Secco recitative	Spoken dialogue (melodrama)	Orchestral recitative
Arioso, da capo arias, ornamentation	Flexible arias	Popular songs	Flexible arias, less ornamentation
Little chorus or ensemble	Ensemble finales	Singspiel:  ensembles and choruses	chorus
No ballet	No ballet	No ballet	Ballet

Opera buffa

Mozart composed his best operas in this form on librettos by Lorenzo da Ponte (1749-1838): Le Nozze di Figaro (1786), Don Giovanni (1787), considered a dramma giocoso (including elements of both seria and buffa), and Cosi fan tutte (1790). Elements of his style included characterization through music, even in the complex ensemble finales, and elaborate orchestration which made the orchestra equal in importance to the voices. Other important opera buffe were Giovanni Paisiello's (1740-1816) Il Barbiere di Siviglia (1782), on the same libretto as Rossini's famous opera (Mozart's Figaro may be considered a sequel), and Il Matrimonio segreto (1792) by Domenico Cimarosa (1749-1801).





Mozart cadence

Singspiel

This was the third type of opera composed by Mozart, including Die Entführung aus dem Serail (1782), Der Schauspieldirektor (1786), and Die Zauberflöte (1791). Except for the use of spoken dialogue, Mozart's style resembled his opera buffa. Other popular examples were Doktor und Apotheker (1786) by Karl Ditters von Dittersdorf (1739-99) and Der Dorfbarbier (1796) by Johann Schenk (1753-1836).

French Opera

Operas in French continued in the heroic style of Gluck, including Piccinni's Atys (1780) and Didon (1783), Luigi Cherubini's (1760-1842) Lodoiska (1791), Médée (1797) which used melodrama, Les Deux Journées (1800), an early rescue opera, and Antonio Salieri's (1750-1825) Les Danaïdes
(1784). The first rescue opera was Richard Coeur de Lion (1784) by Gretry.

Oratorio

Influenced by Handel after trips to England in 1791-2 and 1794-6, Haydn composed the important oratorios The Creation (1798) and The Seasons (1800) on texts translated into German by Baron Gottfried van Swieten (1737-1803). He used simpler arias than Handel, but added a symphonic overture and descriptive orchestral passages. At this time Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) composed his Christus am Ölberg (1800).

Mass

In a new form, these were symphonic masses with contrapuntal choruses and a quartet of soloists integrated into the choral movements. Examples were Haydn's Lord Nelson Mass (1798), Missa in tempore belli (1796) and Harmoniemesse (1799); also Mozart's Requiem (1791).

Second Berlin Song School

Influenced by Goethe and Klopstock, an important early collection was Lieder im Volkston (1782) by J.A.P. Schulz (1747-1800). The composers, including Johann Friedrich Reichardt (1752-1814) and Carl Zelter (1758-1832), self-consciously imitated folk style in strophic songs with subordinate accompaniment. A new form was the ballade, usually through-composed songs on narrative poems by Johann Zumsteeg (1760-1802).

Instrumental Music

Sonata Form

Most instrumental genres were built on the mature sonata form.

• 
  
  Sonata-allegro (Tonic)
  
  Exposition Development Recapitulation
  
  ||: A ........B.........:|| A....... B...............A........B........Coda
  
  Tonic - domanant Various keys Tonic – Tonic - Tonic
  
  

• Adagio or andante (subdominant or relative major)
  

1. Song form ABA
   
2. Modified sonata-allegro
   
3. 
   
   
   Variations AA'A''A''' etc.
   
   
   
   

• 
  
  
  
  Minuet and trio
  
  Minuet...........Trio............ Minuet
  
  ||: A :||: BA :||: C :||: DC :|| ABA
  
  
  
  
• allegro finale (Tonic)
  

1. rondo ABACA or ABACABA
   
2. variations
   
3. sonata-allegro
   

Increasingly, two contrasting themes became associated with the two key areas of the sonata-allegro exposition, and the real development of these themes occurred in the development section. The minuet in a somewhat faster tempo became the standard third movement in symphonies and string quartets and appeared occasionally in piano sonatas.

Keyboard

The piano had become the preferred instrument.

• The sonata was not yet the serious dramatic form found in the classic symphony but was increasingly influenced by the sonata form. Haydn composed 52 keyboard sonatas, Mozart 21. Influential in the development of piano technique and style were the early sonatas of Muzio Clementi (1752-1832), Op. 13 (1785). The first fifteen sonatas of Beethoven belong to this period, including the Pathétique Sonata, Op. 13 (1799) and Moonlight Sonata, Op. 27, No. 2 (1892).
  

• Mozart composed 17 sets of variations.
  

• A fantasia was a sectional improvisatory work, as in Mozart's Fantasia in C minor, K.475 (1785).
  

Concerto

There was greater equality between the keyboard and orchestra, fuller orchestration, and cadenzas sometimes appeared in all three movements. Mozart's 17 Vienna Concertos were in modified sonata form, including No. 21 in C major, K.467 (1785), and Beethoven's No. 1 (1797), No. 2 (1795), and No. 3 (1800).

Chamber music

• Traits of the mature classical string quartet were
  

1. greater equality of parts with a new kind of classical counterpoint,
   
2. four movement sonata form, and
   
3. true development sections.
   

Haydn's mature style was established in Op. 33 (1781); of his 83 quartets, the Emperor Quartet, Op. 76, No. 3 in C major (1799) was an important example. Others were Mozart's Six Haydn Quartets (1785, he composed 26) and Beethoven's Op. 18 (1798-1800).

• Mozart composed significant chamber works for other combinations of instruments, including the G minor viola quintet, K.516 (1787), the clarinet quintet, K.581 (1789), piano trios, violin sonatas and piano quartets. (A quintet is named for the instrument added to a string quartet. A piano trio includes piano, violin and cello.)
  

Divertimento

Mozart's most important example was Eine kleine Nachtmusik (1787).

Opera Overture

Mozart's opera overtures were usually in first movement sonata-allegro form.

Symphony

The mature classical symphony (a) omitted the continuo part, (b) was in four movement sonata form with some slow introductions, especially in Haydn, (c) included variation movements in Haydn, and (d) used an orchestra composed of five-part strings, woodwinds in pairs, including flutes, oboes, and bassoons with clarinets occasionally, two natural horns, optional trumpets and two timpani. Examples were Mozart's No. 39 in Eb, No. 40 in G minor and No. 41 "Jupiter" in C, all from 1788, Haydn's Paris Symphonies, Nos. 82-87 (1785-87) and his London Symphonies, Nos. 93-104 (1792-95), including No. 94 "Surprise" (1792) and No. 104 "London" (1795), and Beethoven's No. 1 in C (1800) and No. 2 in D (1802).

Theory

Historisch-biographisches Lexicon der Tonkuenstler in two volumes (1790, '92) by Ernst Ludwig Gerber was an early biographical dictionary of musicians.