Reminders

1. Reminders • Exam postponed until 4/8 • Activity 2 due next Thursday (3/20)

2. Review • What are some main tenets of Romanticism? • In what ways was the piano a significant instrument in the 19th century • Who were some virtuoso pianist-composers?

3. Review • Chopin • What country was he from? • What types of pieces did he write?

4. Clara Schumann • Concert artist and composer • Wife of Robert Schumann • Composed pieces for herself to play

5. C. Schumann, Scherzo • Listening guide 43 • What does Scherzo mean? • Form: scherzo section alternates with trio… • Trio section contrasting in character. Usually calmer and smoother

6. C. Schumann, Scherzo • Here there are two trios • Form: • Scherzo • Trio 1 • Scherzo • trio 2 • Scherzo • Or: ABACA

7. C. Schumann, Scherzo • What is jesting about the scherzo? • In 3/4 time, third beat is emphasized (rather than first)

8. More Romantic traits • Romantic melody... • Lyrical-song-like • More expressive • Romantic vs Classic • Romantic melodies tend to be less balanced • Romantic melodies tend to have a wider range

9. Romantic Harmony • more dissonance: • So harmony in Romantic era is more expressive too • chromatic harmony • -chords not built from the diatonic scale of the "home-base" (tonic) key) • So harmony is more complex and less predictable

10. Romantic Form • Basic tendencies • A) Classic forms are expanded • B) new ideas of cyclic unification are developed • However, these are • C) based more on sectional contrast (A vs B) instead of development (like Beet. 5th)

11. Debate in Romantic Era • Between ABSOLUTE MUSIC-- music that refers only to itself and • Program Music, where the music depicts a story, has an “Extra-musical” subject… • 2 genres or program music • Program Symphony- multiple movements • Symphonic Poem- 1 movement

12. Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique • Listening guide 44 • Story of obsessive lover • the narrator takes opium and has a series of hallucinations • each becomes a musical movement of the symphony

13. Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique • may have been based on Berlioz’s actual obsession and affair with Harriet Smithson, an actress • the lover is portrayed musically by an “idèe fixe” -- a melody associated with her that recurs obsessively • the “idèe fixe” occurs in each movement

14. Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique • Movements=hallucinations • I: Reveries, pasions - introduces idèe fixe = “she” • II: A Ball-- she appears at a dance • III: Scene in the Fields-- she brings a storm

15. Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique • IV: March to the Scaffold- he kills her • V: Dream of the Witches Sabbath- in hell he is taunted by her still

16. Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique • Fourth movement: March to the Scaffold • March rhythm • Two main themes, A and B, that are developed in the middle • The idée fixe comes at the end (when is thinking of the Beloved. • Interrupted by the axe that chops his head off

17. Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique • Fifth movement: Witches’ Sabbath... • Spooky opening • Then distorted version of idée fixe • Then funeral bell tolling • Then Berlioz quotes Dies irae, a Gregorian chant melody that was used at funeral Masses.