Welcome to Music History III: Music of the Nineteenth Century
Fall 2008
Listening Quiz Study Guide (includes Quiz Dates)
Classical Music Index (links to our library website)
Composer's
Date Book - click for daily music
facts and recordings
Supplementary Websites (links to more information about composers and their music)
Scores in the Public Domain: International Music Score Library Page
Additional (or at least more specific) Objectives (see syllabus for others)
- Be able to give an example of each of the following kinds of pieces, in
each case mentioning the name and nationality of the composer:
- a program symphony
- a German Lied
- a suite of incidental music
- a Romantic opera
- a symphonic poem
- a Romantic piano concerto
- a 19th-century choral work
- a concert overture
- Be able to explain each of the following:
- nocturne
- symphonic poem
- incidental music
- absolute music
- etude
- virtuoso
- Lieder
- through-composed
- leit-motiv
- nationalism
- Which piece or pieces that you have listened to this semester seem(s) to be most typical of 19th century romantic style? Describe which qualities or features of the work(s) led you to this choice.
- Imagine being at a concert where you hear a Classical symphony followed
by a Romantic symphony. What differences would you expect to notice
between the two works.
Study Questions - Prelude to Part V
Discuss how the political nationalist movements of the century affected romantic compositions and how composers musically incorporated nationalist elements in their works
Discuss the role of the composer as "high priest" in the romantic period. How were composers received by their public and what aspects of the 19th century composer helped encourage this perception?
Explain how the romantic interest in originality relates to the historicist movement that occurred during the 19th century.
Discuss the debate between absolute music and program music, including the ideals and composers associated with each side of the debate.
Discuss the stylistic differences between music of the romantic era and music of the classical era in terms of texture, melody, harmony, form, etc.
Objectives for Chapter 15
Chapter 15 focuses upon developments in orchestral music in the first half of the 19th century. It begins with a summary of social, cultural, economic, and technological factors that changed the status and accessibility of orchestral music. The chapter then continues with a detailed discussion of the growing emphasis upon the symphony, with a particular focus on the symphonic works of Beethoven, drawing examples from his Symphony #3, Eroica (pay particular attention to the Composer Profile on pp 414-17). It goes on to discuss later developments after Beethoven, with particular emphasis on Berlioz's programmatic Symphonie Fantastique (make sure to read the Berlioz Composer Profile on pp 424-25), and on variations in form in the concert overture (read the Mendelssohn Composer Profile on pp 426-27). It concludes with a discussion of the concerto and links the popularity of this genre to the 19th-century interest in virtuoso instrumentalists.
After reading this chapter, you should be able to:
- Discuss the impact of economic trends on presentation of orchestral
music, including development halls, ensembles, and instruments.
- Summarize the state of the symphony around 1800, citing common
instrumentation, new additions, critical reception, and philosophical goals,
using the symphonies of Beethoven as examples.
- Discuss in detail the organization of Beethoven's Eroica.
- Summarize Beethoven's career and show how it reflects new trends for
19th century composers.
- Discuss developments in orchestral music after Beethoven (in both works
titled "symphonies" and works assigned to other genres like the overture),
citing examples from Berlioz and Mendelssohn.
- Summarize the lives, works, and philosophies of Berlioz and Mendelssohn.
- Discuss the rise of the concerto and cite key virtuoso soloists who helped shape public perceptions of the genre.
MID TERM STUDY GUIDE - These questions cover information from your text as well as information we have discussed in class - they will provide fodder for short and long answer questions.
- What are the characteristics of Romantic Music? i.e. what subjects did composers explore, what inspired them, what sort of characteristics does the music have?
- Summarize the factors that drove musical change in the 19th century,
including population, the Industrial Revolution, Romanticism, and politics
(be sure to look at the Timeline on pp 380-81).
- Describe ways in which the experiences of individual composers reflect changes in how musicians created and shared their works.
- Explain why and how programmatic instrumental music came to be valued
more highly than absolute or vocal music.
- Discuss the 19th-century obsession with originality, composers' own
sense of historical self-consciousness, the awareness of composers and other
artists to issues of national identity, and the growing division between art
and popular music.
- Summarize stylistic changes in music of the Classical era versus that of the 19th century.
- Summarize Beethoven's career and show how it reflects new trends for
19th century composers.
- Discuss changes in technical expectations as revealed in Beethoven's
piano sonatas and string quartets.
- Explain the factors that converged to develop the Lied and to expand its
significance, describe the contexts in which it was composed and performed,
and give examples of important Lieder (see the Composer Profile on Schubert
on pp 436-37).
In case you are interested - here are all the YouTube videos for the Verdi Requiem Dies Irae
Dies irae Rex Tremendes Ingemisco Lacrimosa (a different performance, but completes the movement)