• J. Peter Burkholder, A History of Western Music
• Chapter 25—The Romantic Generation: Song and Piano Music, pp. 595-632
• Chapter 26—Romanticism in Classic Forms: Orchestral, Chamber, and Choral Music, pp. 633-660
• Chapter 27—Romantic Opera and Musical Theater to Midcentury, pp. 661-684
• J. Peter Burkholder, Norton Anthology of Western Music, Vol. 2 (NAWM)
• NAWM 121-140, pp. 332-709
• Hector Berlioz, Evenings with the Orchestra (RESERVE)
• Third Evening [Weber, Der Freischütz], p. 52
• Fourth Evening: A Debut in Freischütz, pp. 53-57
• Robert Schumann, On Music and Musicians (RESERVE)
• Liszt as performer, pp. 155-157
• Richard J. Wingell, Writing about Music (RESERVE)
• Chapter 6, “Other Kinds of Writing Projects,” section on “The Seminar Presentation,” pp. 83-88
• Further recommended readings in Romantic Virtuoso Research Project below

I. Romantic Virtuoso Research Project

Overview

For this second research project, students will form into small groups, research the relevant historical background of one composer/performer, and explain the central musical features of one representative composition by this composer. Each group will present its research and analysis in a 15-minute presentation before your peers in class (10 minutes of talk and up to 5 minutes of music). Each group should include 4 or 5 members. Each group will decide which composer they would like to focus on, either Paganini or Liszt (as part of the Rise of the Virtuoso lecture on March 5) or Schumann or Chopin (as part of the Romantic Piano lecture on March 9). Each group must choose a different composer - we do not want to listen to two presentations on the same composer! The following composers & compositions are available:

• Niccolò Paganini—Caprice No. 24 (violin solo)
• Franz Liszt—Transcendental Etude No. 10 OR Sonetto 104 del Petrarca
• Robert Schumann—Carnaval, Op. 9 (any two works, one slow and one fast–but NOT the ones in NAWM)
• Fryderyk Chopin—Etude No. 3 in E Major, Op. 10, No. 3 OR Preludes, Op. 28 (any two, one slow and one fast)

Scores and recordings are available in the Research Project Materials folder in the Blackboard Assignments module or on library RESERVE as indicated.

Guidelines

Each group presentation should include the following features. I recommend dividing these features among group members and have each student present his/her research to the class. Consult the required Wingell reading (Ch. 6, pp. 83-88) for additional guidance for both your verbal and written presentation!

• Relevant Historical Significance of the Composer
• When/where did the composer live?
• Did he have any clear musical mentors?
• Why is he important to musical development in the 19th century?
• Relevant 19th-Century Comments about the Composer
• Discuss comments by or about your selected composer (or the selected composition) from the 19th century.
• What did 19th-century musicians and audiences have to say about this composer?
• See Readings below for advice locating these Primary Source Resources
• Relevant Background and Reception History of the Selected Composition
• What genre does the selected composition belong to? Why?
• Was this a common genre during the 19th century?
• Where/when was the selected work composed or published?
• Who was the intended audience?
• Who might have performed this work at its premiere? (Two students can work on the genre background together!)
• What did 19th-century musicians and audiences have to say about this work?
• Close Musical Analysis of the Selected Composition
• Create a chart that displays the form of the work. Label all themes, indicate the key for each, and include measure numbers. The class should be able to see your chart, either projected on the screen (PowerPoint or JPEG image?) or on a handout (bring copies for all). Finally, it is ALWAYS a good idea to double-check your analysis with your instructor a day or two before your presentation!
• In your presentation, discuss the formal structure, key themes, harmonies, and unique features of the composition (Two students can work on the analysis together!)
• The NAWM notes that follow each score in the anthology provide some excellent models for the kinds of things you will want to include in your close analysis.

• Every group should play a few minutes of a recording of the selected composition as part of their musical analysis
• You can use the recordings in the Research Project Materials folder, those on library RESERVE, any other recording of your choice, or a live performance if you feel ambitious!
• Visual images and music notation excerpts (in PowerPoint, chalk board, etc...) are always welcome but not required. Each group’s goal is to prepare a quality, informative presentation on their topic!

Each student should prepare a one-page written summary of their research and comments for class. Consult the required Wingell reading (Ch. 6, pp. 83-88) for additional guidance on your written summary! (Given limited presentation time, no more than 1 page is expected or desirable.) On a second page, include a bibliography listing all research sources consulted. Immediately after each group presentation, group members will hand in their individual written summaries and bibliographies. Every student in each group will be graded independently for their written comments and verbal presentation.

Readings

There is only one required reading for this project, pp. 83-88 from Wingell’s Writing about Music (RESERVE). But, in order to prepare a thorough historical and musical presentation of your composer and composition, you will need to conduct scholarly research on your own. Search appropriate scholarly sources for information about your composer and work (Books available on RESERVE or in the library stacks, Oxford Music Online, RILM, JSTOR, Project MUSE, etc.). In addition to Wingell, your bibliography should include at least six scholarly sources listed in MLA format. It is strongly recommended that you include a good biography for your composer, a good period history (on Romantic music!), at least one scholarly article from a journal or periodical, and at least one of the RESERVE sources listed below.

The following books on RESERVE in the Library include many primary source comments from 19th-century composers, critics, and audiences. Check the table of contents and rear index of these books for information relating to your selected composer and composition!

• Berlioz, Evenings with the Orchestra (780.944 B515e 1999)
• Fisk, Composers on Music: Eight Centuries of Writings (780.8 M851c 1997)
• Gibbs & Gooley, Franz Liszt and his World (780.92 L774yg)
• Karasowski, Frederic Chopin: His Life and Letters (780.92 C549yk)
• Liszt, An Artist’s Journey: Lettres d’un bachelier ès musique, 1835-1841 (780.92 L774a)
• Sachs, Virtuoso: The Life and Art of Niccolò Paganini, Franz Liszt, ... (780.92 S121v)
• Schumann, On Music and Musicians (780.8 S392o)
• Solie, Strunk’s Source Readings in Music History, Vol. 6: The Nineteenth Century (780.9 S927s 1998 v.6)
• Weiss & Taruskin, Music in the Western World: A History in Documents (780.9 M987)

Deadlines

• Romantic Virtuoso Presentations (Paganini & Liszt)—In class on Monday March 5
• Final choice for Paper Topic—Due Wednesday March 7
• Romantic Pianist-Composer Presentations (Chopin & Schumann)—In class on Friday, March 9

II. Paper Preparation

Listening Assignment 3

Romantic Song, Character Pieces, Classic Forms, & Opera

• Composer, title, & section
• Genre—character piece? French grand opera? German Romantic opera? Italian bel canto opera? Italian opera buffa? Lied? program symphony? string quintet? symphony? violin concerto?
• Form or vocal type—cabaletta? cantabile? ensemble (duet, trio, etc.)? chorus? melodrama? sonata form? sonata-rondo form? strophic form? through-composed form? other?
• Two style features (present in the excerpt) that are typical of the composer
• Style features describe how a specific composer uses elements of music (melody, harmony, rhythm, texture, color, instrumentation, form, etc.)
• For some excerpts, answer additional questions drawn from Study Questions below

Each cluster of works listed below is accompanied by a set of Study Questions. The Study Questions and recordings together will help you prepare for the Early Romanticism Quiz. They require no written report. As always, you really want to read the NAWM notes and follow the score for every work from NRAWM.

Return to top
 

Listening List

The Romantic Generation: Song & Lied

B) NAWM 122—Franz Schubert, Winterreise (song cycle)

• Der Lindenbaum (Lied)—CD8, tracks 78-81

C) Development of Western Music, Vol. II (DWMA)—MCD D489 1998

• DWMA 145—Franz Schubert, Erlkönig (Lied)—CD3, track 4
• For the words see Alternate Recording: Blackboard Assignments module—Encounter Listening—Encounter 3—Schubert Erlkönig

D) NAWM 123—Robert Schumann, Dichterliebe (song cycle)

• No. 1: Im wunderschönen Monat Mai (Lied)—CD8, track 82

Study Questions on A-D:

• 1. For each song, first read the poem. Then listen.
• a. For each song, did the composer’s musical expression of the poem sound the way you expected? Why or why not? Mention any important features that support your argument, such as the use of melody, accompaniment, texture, and so on.
• b. For each song, what form is used? Strophic? Through-composed? Something in between (modified strophic?)? Based on your reading of the poem, is that form what you expected? Is it appropriate for that poem? Why or why not?
• 2. Consider Schubert’s use of characterization in Erlkönig. How does he let us know (musically) which character is singing—narrator, father, son, or erlking? Further, how does Schubert contrast the real, natural world in which the father lives with the supernatural realm of the erlking? In what ways is this song frightening?
• 3. Some writers commenting on Im wunderschönen Monat Mai contend Robert Schumann doesn’t understand this poem. Do you agree? Why or why not?

The Romantic Generation: The Virtuoso & the Character Piece

E) NAWM 125—Robert Schumann, Carnaval, Op. 9 (cycle of character pieces)

• Eusebius (character piece)—CD9, track 1
• Florestan (character piece)—CD9, track 2
• Alternate Recording:VIDEO 784.262 C615—Claudio Arrau DVD

F) NAWM 127—Fryderyk Chopin, Nocturne in D-flat Major, Op. 27, No. 2 (character piece)—CD9, tracks 7-13

G) NAWM 128—Franz Liszt, Trois études en concert, No. 3: Un sospiro (character piece)—CD9, tracks 14-19

H) NAWM 129—Louis Moreau Gottschalk, Souvenir de Porto Rico (Marche des Gibaros), Op. 31 (character piece)—CD9, tracks 20-28

Study Questions on E-H:

• 4. Romantic character pieces are short, Romantic works for solo piano that convey a specific mood or character—never the same mood twice! And they go by many different names—nocturnes, preludes, etudes, songs without words, album leaves, and so on. What different mood does each specific pieces express? Are these works absolute music, program music (see definition in Study Question 9 below), or somewhere in between? Can you fully appreciate, enjoy, understand (these can be scary words to use, so pick one or use a word of your own) these pieces without knowing if the composer intended any specific extra-musical associations?
• 5. As you listen to each piano work, how would you describe its mood and the ways composers use melody, accompaniment, tempo, meter, texture, & pianistic techniques (etc.) to create it?
• 6. Carnaval deals with Schumann’s alter egos, Eusebius and Florestan. How do Schumann’s depictions of these characters differ from each other?
• 7. Compare the Liszt etude (Un sospiro) and the Chopin Nocturne. What do you think are the important similarities and differences? What’s nocturnal about Chopin’s nocturne? (Do you notice any similarities between this nocturne and Casta diva from Bellini’s Norma below?) What makes the Liszt piece an etude (a study-piece)? As you listen to Un sospiro, does Schumann’s description of Liszt ring true or not (RESERVE reading from Schumann, On Music and Musicians, pp. 155-157)?
• 8. In what ways would this Gottschalk Souvenir sound exotic to European listeners?

Romanticism in Classic Forms

• Hector Berlioz, Symphonie fantastique (cyclic program symphony)
• mvmt. v: “Dream of a Witches’ Sabbath”—DVD track 6 (follow NAWM 130 score as you listen!)
• Alternate Recording: NAWM 121, CD9, tracks 16-29

J) NAWM 131—Felix Mendelssohn, Violin Concerto in E Minor, Op. 64 (violin concerto)

• mvmt. iii: Allegretto non troppo–Allegro molto vivace (sonata-rondo form)—CD9, tracks 43-53

K) NAWM 132—Robert Schumann, Symphony in D Minor, Op. 120 (symphony)

• mvmt. i: Ziemlich langsam–Lebhaft (sonata form)—CD9, tracks 54-61

L) NAWM 133—Franz Schubert, String Quintet in C Major, D. 956 (string quintet)

• mvmt. i: Allegro ma non troppo (sonata form)—CD9, tracks 62-40

M) NAWM 135—Felix Mendelssohn, Elijah, Op. 70 (oratorio)

• And then shall your light break forth (chorus)—CD9, tracks 74-76

Study Questions on I-M:

• 9. Starting with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6 (Pastoral), program music became an important new genre, especially in orchestral music. Program music is instrumental music that “tells a story or follows a narrative or other sequence of events.” This Berlioz symphony is an excellent example of program music. What links do you hear between the music and the program Berlioz provided for this movement (see Assignments module—Support Materials)? What would you make of this music without knowing about the program? Can you figure out the form? Is the form even important in this movement? What is most important here?
• 10. Do you need to know the “story” to appreciate, enjoy, understand program works? Does knowing the story make a difference to you? So should concert goers be given a program for these works? How do the examples of absolute music (Mendelssohn, Schumann & Schubert) compare with the program music by Berlioz? Which is more original? Which is more carefully crafted? Which would you rather listen to?
• 11. What about orchestration in this Berlioz symphony?—do you hear anything new, weird, or striking? How is the Berlioz symphony different from Beethoven’s 3rd Symphony (Eroica)? Or is it not different? How is it different from Haydn symphonies?
• 12. Which features of the Mendelssohn concerto sound Classical? Which features sound Romantic? Does Mendelssohn seem more or less radical than the other early Romantic composers?
• 13. How do Schumann and Schubert compare with Beethoven in their use of sonata form? Which seems more lyrical? Which relies most heavily on pianistic idioms?
• 14. What are the similarities and differences between this Mendelsohn oratorio chorus compare and the Handel choruses we heard last December—from the oratorios Saul and Messiah?

Early Romantic Opera

• Act I, no. 7: Una voce poco fa (cantabile and cabaletta)—CD9, tracks 77-83

• Act I, scene 4: Casta diva (cantabile)—CD10, tracks 4-7

• Act II, closing scene (ensemble and chorus)—CD10, tracks 8-16

• Act II, Finale: “Wolf’s Glen Scene” (melodrama)—CD10, tracks 17-30

Study Questions on N-Q:

• 15. Opera underwent many changes in the Romantic era. In each excerpt, how does each composer use the music, voice(s), and orchestra to tell the story. Which was most important for each composer: music, voice, or orchestra? Consider specific musical elements where necessary, such as melody, accompaniment, tempo, texture, vocal or instrumental effects, and so on.
• 16. What about the Rossini aria shows that it is very much about the singer? What does the music tell us about Rosina?
• 17. What’s different about the Bellini piece compared to the Rossini? What about the vocal line, orchestra, form, scale, drama? Is this all about the singer? Why or why not?
• 18. What makes Meyerbeer’s grand opera grand? Is this all about the singer? Why or why not? What role does the Protestant chorale, “A Mighty Fortress,” play in this opera?
• 19. Weber’s opera struck such a nerve with German audiences that it became the quintessential German Romantic opera, the work that defined the genre for all subsequent composers. How does this work differ from any operatic work we’ve heard before? For instance, what’s different about Weber’s use of the orchestra? Is this all about the singer? How does the story differ from earlier operas?
• 20. What do you think of Weber’s melodrama (spoken word with orchestral accompaniment) sections? Are they effective? How are they revolutionary? (Weber was not the first to use them!) How does your reaction compare with Berlioz’ description (Berlioz, Evenings with the Orchestra, pp. 52-57—on RESERVE)?