The Romantic orchestra (c.1800-1900)• Larger orchestras with more brass and

woodwind instruments (including the piccolo,cor anglais, bass clarinet, contrabassoon andthe development of valved brass, etc.).

• Woodwind & Brass sections were at leastdoubled, if not tripled (i.e. two flutes +piccolo).

• A larger percussion section.

• Harp is also added to the orchestra.

• Brass domination.

• Strings are still the largest section of theorchestra though.

• Improved developments and technicalcapabilities of instruments (such as thebrass).

• Orchestra increases in size: approx. 80-100players.

• Many orchestral additions were innovated byberlioz and eventually became standard inthe largest orchestras.

The Romantic Period1820/30-1900

It is important to remember that the Classical and the Romantic periods are not clear cut. Classical characteristics continued throughout the 19th Century.

The Romantics valued freedom, remoteness, passion, striving, yearning.

Programme music was developed- music which describes pictures, poetry, countries, scenes. The beginnings of this type of music are developed in Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony.

There was a transition from relatively small audiences to huge public audiences. The 19th century was a time of enormous population growth leading to rapid expansion of major cities. Musical life flourished in the cities with public opera houses, large concert halls, choral societies and festivals.

The distinction between the professional and the amateur musician grew

Key genres

A rich variety of types of pieces including large-scale operas, symphonies, concertos and chamber music continued to expand and develop

New genres developed including, the lied, programme music, concert overture, piano music

Romantic forms/melodies/harmony

/tonality/texture/rhythm/instrumentation

• Romantic composers struggled to use the ‘ Sonata Form’ structure. They were now writing long lyrical / expressive melodies ( sometimes constructed from a series of short phrases), with much use of chromaticism, dissonances and wide ranging modulations. Gradually larger works came to be sectionalised, each with a different character.

• Composers explored ways of holding whole sections or movements together by the recurrence of a motif or melody.

• A romantic melody used wide leaps of 6ths ,7ths, diminished and augmented intervals for expressive purposes

• Phrases were not regular and balanced

• There were long delays in resolving dissonances

• 3rds were added onto chords to create chords of the 9th,11th,13th and the diminished 7th was popular to depict emotional tension

• Modulations to the mediant and sub-mediant assumed equal importance to the dominant and related keys. Sudden key changes were common. Minor keys were used for the entire work.

• The texture became denser

• Changing metres and the constant shifting of a steady pulse grew more frequent

• The orchestra nearly trebled in size

• There was a wider mix of sound

• String sections were extended

• Technical virtuosity improved greatly during this period

General musical features of romantic music (C.1800-1900)

• Notable composers include: berlioz, wagner, chopin, Mendelssohn, etc.

• Freedom of form and design – more personal & emotional music – mystery & sense of adventure were often explored.

• great expression in the music - more potential due to the large size of the orchestra – with a variety of tone colours.

• Rich & colourful orchestrations.

• Long lyrical melodies (song-like).

• Use of irregular phrasing with wide leaps.

• Extensive use of Chromatic harmonies & discords/dissonances.

• Bold & Dramatic contrasts of dynamics, register & tone colours.

• Programmatic music – telling a story or depicting a concept. Lots of use of literature, paintings & other stimulus as inspiration.

• Use of recurring themes.

• Sense of tonal ambiguity.

• Vivid contrasts of mood & emotion.

• A variety of melodic ideas within one movement.

• Great technical virtuosity expected of the players – expansion of the range of melodies, wide leaps, arpeggios, long scalic runs and ornamentation.

• Rhythmic complexity & frequently changing tempos (sometimes with use of rubato).

• Use of folk songs (usually eastern European influences) for the basis of melodies & harmonies.

• Textures similar to the classical era - Use of mainly homophonic textures with some polyphony (particularly in the development section of sonata form).

• Continued expansion of musical forms – forward thinking & experimental.

Programme notes of Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique

The romantic symphony• There is no definite line between the classical and romantic periods.

• Beethoven (1770-1827) bridged the two periods but was the main composer who had great importance in changing and developing the symphony.

• Beethoven’s first two symphonies are very clearly in the ‘classical’ style but his later symphonies broke new ground – this was recognised at the time by an ageing Haydnwho died in 1809.

• The romantic symphony is much longer and is an expansion of the symphonic tradition of Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven.

• The final movement is expanded to at least the length of the opening movement, if not longer.

• Looser in structure and normally twice as long as Classical symphonies.

• Berlioz is credited as the ‘first’ romantic composer – ‘Symphonie Fantastique’ is referred to as one of the first true programmatic works.

Movement ITypically follows a basic sonata-allegro form and often features a long & expressivedevelopment section (with free modulation) and a slow introduction.

Movement IIUsually a slower and highly lyrical movement with varied moods. Sometimes in sonata-allegro form, ternary form or Theme & Variation structure.

Movement III Became an energetic Scherzo (+ Trio) but can sometimes vary in tempo & mood.

Movement IV

This movement was designed to balance with the 1st movement in terms of length sobecame a larger movement than in previous styles. Follows a sonata-allegro form orrondo form. Typically closes on a triumphant mood. Berlioz

Later RomanticLater Romantic

Berlioz, Liszt and later Strauss all pushed the boundaries of the traditional symphony

with much increased programmatic content and development of the orchestra – in

the case of the second two they largely abandoned the symphony in favour of the tone

poem (symphonic poem), which offered a freer form within which to unfold their ideas.

Schumann and Brahms, on the other hand, largely developed their ideas within a more

traditional symphonic framework as did the later Tchaikovsky. Some later Romantic

composers took inspiration from the folk music of their countries, using dance rhythms

and folk-like melodies (Dvorak’s symphonies and Smetana’s tone poems are good

examples). Bruckner and, slightly later, Mahler vastly increased the scale and proportion

of their symphonies, with Mahler’s third, for example, weighing in at nearly 1 ½ hours,

compared to a bit more than twenty minutes for a typical Mozart or Haydn symphony.

1830 – Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique

1834 – Berlioz Harold in Italy

1850 – Schumann Symphony No. 3 (Rhenish)

1854 – Liszt, Les Preludes, No. 3

1874 – Bruckner Symphony No. 4 (Romantic)

1875 – Smetana Ma Vlast

1883 – Brahms Symphony No. 3

1885 – Brahms Symphony No. 4

1888 – Strauss Don Juan

1888 – Mahler Symphony No. 1

1888 – Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 5

1889 – Dvorak Symphony No. 8

1893 – Dvorak Symphony No. 9 (New World)

1893 – Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 6 (Pathetique)

1894 – Mahler Symphony No. 2

1830 – Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique

• The Symphonie Fantastique is an example of programme music. It tells the story of a

talented artist with a lively imagination who has poisoned himself with opium in the

depths of despair because of hopeless love.

• Berlioz provided his own programme notes for each movement of the work.

• The Symphonie Fantastique is a highly original work of its time in terms of both its

treatment of melody, rhythms and harmony and Berlioz’s ability to express moods

and drama through music. The symphony shows unity through the use of an idée fixe,

a recurring theme, which acts as a structural foundation of the work.

• There are five movements, instead of the usual four movements that were

conventional for symphonies at the time. Each movement is given a descriptive title

by the composer.

• The Symphonie Fantastique requires a large symphony orchestra. The orchestra

expands further in the proceeding movements, with two harps added in the second

movement. The third movement has a significant solo role for cor anglais in a

pastorale-style movement and additionally two timpani to represent a thunderstorm.

Snare drum, cymbals, bass drum, ophecleides (a type of keyed bass-bugle) appear in

the fourth and fifth movements.

1854 – Liszt, Les Preludes

Liszt’s symphonic poem, Les Preludes, is based on , and takes its name from a poem by the French Romantic writer, Lamartine. The music parallels the change of mood in the poem, and is a significant example of Liszt’s art of thematic transformation. The work is based on the three-note motif (Idee Fixe). It has 5 different sections and is written for a large orchestra

1875 – Smetana Ma Vlast

Má vlast, meaning "My homeland" in the Czech language) is a set of six symphonic

poems composed between 1874 and 1879 by the Czech composer Bedřich Smetana.

While it is often presented as a single work in six movements, the six pieces were

conceived as individual works.

In these works Smetana combined the symphonic poem form pioneered by Franz Liszt

with the ideals of nationalistic music which were current in the late nineteenth century.

Each poem depicts some aspect of the countryside, history, or legends of Bohemia.

1888 – Mahler Symphony No. 1

This was composed between late 1887 and March 1888.

Mahler almost always referred to the work as a symphony, the first two performances described it as a

symphonic poem or tone poem.

Written in 4 movements for a large orchestra

1893 – Dvorak Symphony No. 9 (New World)

The Symphony No. 9 in E minor, popularly known as the New World Symphony, was composed by Antonín Dvořák in 1893 while he was the director of the National Conservatory of Music of America from 1892 to 1895. It is by far his most popular symphony, and one of the most popular of all symphonies.

Dvořák was interested in Native American music and the African-American spirituals he heard in North America.