The 19th Century saw several revolutions in many countries throughout Europe following America’s successful revolution from Great Britain. It was a time in which the ideals of liberty were spreading. Just prior to the 19th century the civilization also witnessed the collapse of the Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Holy Roman and Mughal empires. This paved the way for the growing influence of the British Empire, the German Empire and the United States, spurring military conflicts as well as advances in science and exploration. After the defeat of the French Empire and its allies in the Napoleonic Wars, the British Empire became the world's leading power, controlling one quarter of the world's population and one fifth of the total land area.
The 19th century was an era of invention and discovery, with significant developments in the fields of mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, electricity, and metallurgy that lay the groundwork for the technological advances of the 20th century. The Industrial Revolution was beginning in Europe.
It was also a time of reaction against the Classic period (Age of Reason) which emphasized the primacy of deductive reasoning. By contrast, Romanticism emphasized intuition, imagination, and feeling, to a point that has led to some Romantic thinkers being accused of irrationalism.
During the Romantic era, melodies got longer and homophonic composition styles became the norm. Individual works even became longer. For instance, a four-movement Haydn symphony may take 15 minutes to perform whereas some of Beethoven’s later symphonies took 10 minutes to perform just the first movement. In fact, the last movement of Beethoven’s last symphony, the Ninth, took more than 40 minutes to perform; the entire symphony nearly an entire hour.
As stated earlier, music in the Romantic period became more expressive and emotional, expanding to encompass literature, art, and philosophy. Famous early Romantic composers include Schumann, Chopin, Mendelssohn, and Berlioz. The late 19th century saw a dramatic expansion in the size of the orchestra and in the role of concerts as part of urban society. Famous composers from the second half of the century include Johann Strauss II, Brahms, Liszt, Tchaikovsky, Verdi, and Wagner. Between 1890 and 1910, a third wave of composers including Dvořák, Mahler, Richard Strauss, Puccini, and Sibelius built on the work of middle Romantic composers to create even more complex – and often much longer – musical works. A prominent mark of late 19th century music is its nationalistic fervor, as exemplified by such figures as Dvořák, Sibelius, and Grieg. Other prominent late-century figures include Saint-Saëns, Fauré, Rachmaninoff and Franck.
The patronage system declined with the rise of the middle class. Composers, as a result, became responsible for promoting themselves. This created a need for concert managers (impresarios), music publishers, and music critics. Many music artists became celebrities (virtuoso) because of their abilities at playing the more difficult music. To keep up with the trend of classical music performance, the music teaching profession grew.
The absolute music of earlier generations gave way to the "program" music as people wanted music that told stories or aligned with the emotional sentiment of the age. Programmatic music tries to depict moods, build images, tell stories, and thematically develop characters.
Melody, over complex harmonies, became more important. The complex harmonies called for a firm development of techniques involving "chromaticism", playing the notes of a key beyond the seven diatonic notes. Syncopation took on a new role in bringing interest to rhythm in music.
The orchestra became larger and more diverse instrumentally. Many orchestras were founded in Europe and in the United States to satisfy the needs of entertainment for society.
Other forms and genres in music developed. The sonata continued to exist be became less strict. The symphonic poem became important and common.
Opera continued to exist with Italy becoming the "opera capital" of the world. Some important opera composers are Verdi, Wagner, Rossini, Puccini, and Richard Strauss. Many operas written during the Romantic era are still performed today by opera groups around the world.
Ballet was developed. Originally, it was the dance sections inserted in operas but soon became a standalone concept featuring solos, pairs, and dancing groups. Tchaikovsky was, perhaps, the most famous composer of music for the ballet. Some of his famous ones are Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, and The Nutcracker.
The piano became the most important instrument of the time. It changed in its construction from the early part of the 19th century to become the instrument we are familiar with today. Short pieces, called piano miniatures, were composed to be used in chamber concerts. These, "character pieces" took on unique names including impromptu, nocturne, mazurka, polonaise, and waltz.
Solo vocal music developed. Vocal music called for accompaniment by the piano. Most vocal solos can be performed in less than six minutes. Franz Schubert wrote over 600 songs for vocal soloists. Usually the words are in German, his native language, and are still performed in German today. The songs are usually strophic.
The important composers of the period include Ludwig van Beethoven, Felix Mendelssohn, Frédéric Chopin, Johannes Brahms, Franz Schubert, Pyotr I’yich Tchaikovsky, Giuseppi Verdi, and Richard Wagner. Other prominent composers include Hector Berlioz (France), Antonin Dvořák (Bohemia), Edvard Grieg (Norway), Franz Liszt (Hungary), Gustav Mahler (Austria-Hungary), Giacomo Puccini (Italy), Sergei Rachmaninoff, Nicolay Rimsky-Korsakov (Russia), Gioachino Rossini (Italy), Robert Schumann (Germany), Bedrich Smetana (Bohemia), Richard Strauss (Germany)
Prof. Songer
JCTC - Downtown
