Lieder in the First half of the 19C, Schumann

Terms
- Absolute Music: Music that is independent of words, drama, visual images, or any kind of
representational aspects
- Program Music: Instrumental music that follows a narrative or other sequence of events
o Often spelled out in an accompanying text called program
- Lied: Song with German words or for voice with accompaniment
o Used for polyphonic songs in the Renaissance and songs for voice and piano in the 18
th

and 19
th
centuries
- Ballad: A long narrative poem, or musical setting of such a poem
o Imitated the fold ballad of England and Scotland
o Was set to music by German composers
o Expanded the Lied
- Modified Strophic Form: Variant of strophic form
o The music for the first stanza is varied for later stanzas
o There is a change of key, rhythm, character, or material
- Through-Composed: Composed throughout
o When each stanza or other unit of a poem is set to new music rather than in a strophic
manner to a single melody
- Song Cycle: A group of songs performed in succession that tells or suggests a story
Central Issues and Reflection
- What kind of role did the piano play in domestic spaces in the 19C?
o Teachers expected daily practice keeping energetic young women occupied at home
o Also helping many of the women achieve astonishing fluency
o Clara Wieck (Clara Schumann)
o Designed to attract a spouse and entertain family and friends, rather than a career
- Explain the 19C technical innovations for each of the instrumental families
o Piano: Amount of pianos produced increased and the price decreased
Design improved
Damper pedal
Metal frame
Felt-covered hammers
Standard Range: Six octaves (1820) then seven octaves (1850)
o Harp: Traditionally tuned to a single diatonic scale
Fork mechanism: Seven pedals
o Brass instruments
Valve technology of the steam engine to the design of trumpets and horns
o Wind instruments
Boehm-system: An all-metal instrument with large holes that were closed not
with the bare fingers bit with the padded keys
o String instruments: Create a bigger, more dramatic tone
Greater string tension, a higher bridge, and a tilted fingerboard
- Discuss the new 19C valuation of instrumental music in the context of "absolute" and
"program" music.
o Absolute Music: Refers to nothing but itself
A powerful idea that lay behind numerous developments
o Program Music: Suggests a mood, personality, or scene
Usually indicated in its title
Not a 19C invention
- What kind of role does Schumann assign to the piano in Dichterliebe? Give at least three
specific musical examples.
o 1) Piano is as important as the voice
The music is the equal partner of the words in conveying meaning and emotions
o 2) Used single figuration throughout to convey the central emotion or idea of the poem
o 3) Arranged the poems to suggest course of a relationship as recalled after it has ended
- How are the Romantic tropes of the "distant beloved" and "dreams of reconciliation" and
"resignation" employed in Dichterliebe?
o Blossoming of newborn love in springtime
o Expressed in the harmonic ambiguity of the opening
o Longing and Desire: Suspensions and appoggiaturas
o Music signals that his love may remain unrequited by refusing to settle into a key and
ending on a dominant seventh
o Piano is as important as the voice
- Describe Clara's Schumann's professional career as a concert pianist and her role in Robert's
compositional career.
o Wrote several collections of Lieder
Coauthored one with Robert
o She was recognized as a child prodigy from her first public appearance
9 years old
o Toured Europe
Stopped touring but continued performing and composing with children
o One of the leading pianists in Europe by the age of 20










The 19C Virtuoso, Music for Piano
Central Issues and Reflections
- What makes Liszts Un sospiro virtuosic? (Consult the anthology analysis)
o The third of three concert studies
o Piano solo
o Crossing over hands so the left hand plays the melody
o Meter: 16
th
notes in groups of 7 or 14
o There is a key change in measure 19
- Identify five of the figures in Danhausers painting from 1840 and explain why they are
important (both in real life and, if appropriate, from a symbolic standpoint). What was the
main purpose of the painting? (consult the PowerPoint slides and the about Danhausers Liszt
at the Piano notes)
o The scene is fictional
o Conrad Graf: Name is legible on the name board
Famous and successful piano builder of the period
Included his signed piano as the centerpiece in a circle of friends
o Beethoven: Bust is floating above the piano
The three musicians in the group are looking in his direction
The other four in the group are looking in different directions
o Franz Liszt: The only pianist in the group
Looking in the direction of the bust of Beethoven
o Countess Marie Catherine dAgoult: Head is resting on the piano
Became involved with Liszt
A biography reported that she kneeled in rapture at the piano when Liszt played
o George Sand: French novelist and feminist
Dressed in drag and smoking a cigar
Right hand rests on Dumass closed book
Left leg rest on a thick book that is closed
Look is fixed on Liszt
- Describe the importance of Beethovens legacy in relationship to this painting and Liszts
activities
o Arranging piano scores of Beethovens symphonies was a means of learning the work
Helps to explain how he was able to have immediate success as a conductor of
the symphonic works of Beethoven
o Liszt is glancing at the bust of Beethoven
o Beethoven seems to be larger than life and to preside over the moment
Questions 4-7: Consult HWM reading, class lecture notes, and the article The Battle Against
Instrumental Virtuosity in the Early Nineteenth Century
- Discuss the aesthetic dichotomies that were often part of the dialogue about virtuosic music
in 19C Germany.
o Too much instrumental brilliance distracts from the discursive logic of a composition
o Double-notes and octaves give an attractive, superficial shine to musical ideas
o Virtuosity loses expression in pursuit of astonishment
o Preserving and expanding the domain of their interests meant demanding deep changes
in the distribution of social power
Questions 5-7: Discuss some central issues involving the debate around Lisztomania, including:
- How the differences between the Capellmeister and the Virtuoso set the stage for
professional misunderstanding and jealousy
o Capellmeister: Distinguished by the breadth of his musical knowledge
German highest professional virtues
Traveling virtuosos saw that executive skill on an instrument was becoming
divorced from wider musical and philosophical learning
o Virtuoso: Appeared to be nothing more than a glorified dilettante
Posed particular problems for the musical life of its predominantly medium-
sized towns
- The 19C concern for the boundaries between public and private
o Strongest in central-northern Germany
o Its middle classes were cultivating this interiorized model of selfhood
o Integrated it into their musical pursuits
o Critics supported the inner self against the outer world for performers and the audience
Suspicion that middle-class audiences only went to concerts to show themselves
It was far stronger for audiences at virtuoso concerts than at symphony concerts
- The elements of Liszts performing style and concerts that protected him from anti-virtuosic
criticism. How did he manage to avoid charges of materialism, sensuality, decadence, and
egoism?
o Framed his concerts in ways that drew audience attention toward the events social,
political, cultural, or humanitarian purpose
o For the most part, Liszts audiences were persuaded he was not giving so many concerts
from a profit motive
This helped him to escape one of the most common concerns of critics
The perception that modernity was characterized by a crass materialism
o Escaped the charge of excessive egotism










Public Concerts in the 19C and the European Canon
Terms
- Ide Fixe: Fixed idea or obsession
o Used to represent the obsessive image of the heros beloved
o Transformed to suit the mood and situation at each point in the story
Central Issues and Reflections
- Explain how orchestras changed in the 19C, focusing in particular on the new role of the
conductor
o 18C orchestras were led from the harpsichord or the leader of the violins.
o Conductors gradually took over in the 19C
o Louis Spohr: Introduced conducting with a baton while rehearsing the London
Philharmonic in 1820
o At first the conductor simply kept the orchestra together
o 1840s: Conductors were drawing attention to themselves as interpreters of the music
- Discuss the development of a permanent classical repertory
o The effect on audiences
The seriousness of the repertoire was matched by the concert behavior
Audiences were expected to be quiet and listen instead of being free to
converse and socialize
o The effect on performers
Conductors and virtuosos
The primary way to prove themselves as performers
Gradually shifted from performing to playing the classics
A profound change that altered the nature of performers work
o The effect on composers: Beethovens Legacy
Fullest effect was left by composers beginning in the late 19C
Beethoven was the most important
Orchestral works constructed as artistic statements by the composer
- Summarize the content of Symphonie Fantastiques program
o Dwells on passions aroused by his fantasies about a woman whose love he hopes to win
o Based on Berliozs own infatuation with Harriet Smithson
o Ide fixe
o First Movement: Dreams and Passions
Slow introduction followed by an Allegro
o Original not only in bending the symphony to serve narrative and autobiographical
purposes but also in his astounding ability to express the emotional content of his
drama in music of great communicative power.
o Transformed his themes and using astonishing array of instrumental colors
- How does Berlioz create a cohesive series of musical tableaus in the above work?
o Muted Strings: Suggest dreaming
o Harps: For the ball
o English Horn and an offstage Oboe: Imitating shepherds pipes
o Snare Drum and Cymbals: The march to the scaffold
o Tubular Bells: Church bells
o Violins played with the wood of the bow: Create a dry sound for the witches dance
EXTRA CREDIT
- What kinds of conclusions can we draw about Mendelssohns attitude toward virtuosity
judging from the musical content of his Violin Concerto in E minor?
o Emphasized the musical content, seeking to achieve the same balance of audience
appeal and lasting value
o For Mendelssohn, a concerto was an expression of the composer for which the virtuosic
display of the soloist was a vehicle, not a purpose in itself
- How does Mendelssohns concerto reformulate the conventions of the concerto genre?
o The three movements are linked by the thematic content and connecting passages
o A transition leads from the opening Allegro to the lyrical Andante
o An introduction to the last movement alludes to the first movements opening theme


























Italian Opera, Verdi and The Risorgimento
Terms
- Cantabile: Songful
o First section of an Aria or ensemble
o Slow and representing a calm mood
o Developed by Rossini
- Cabaletta: Last part of an aria or ensemble
o Lively and brilliant and expressed active feelings, such as joy or despair
- Tempo di mezzo: Middle section of an aria
o Little movement
o Usually an interruption or a transition that falls between cantabile and cantabiletta
o Developed by Rossini
- Tempo dattacco: Opening section in which characters trade melodic phrases
- Bel canto: Elegant style or singing marked by embellished and florid melodies that show off the
beauty, agility and fluency of the singers voice.
o Beautiful singing
- Risorgimento: The political and social movement that agglomerated different states of the
Italian peninsula into the single state of Italy in the 19th century
- Realism: Developed first in literature and art
o Aims to critique modern society by showing the real suffering of the poor and
hypocrisies of the elite and well-to-do.
Central Issues and Reflections
- Discuss the significance of the 1848-49 revolutions in Europe. Where did they occur? How did
the new nationalist sentiment play out differently in France, Britain, Russia, Germany and
Italy?
o A growing movement for political reform in the 1840s culminated in a series of popular
uprisings that swept Europe in 1848-49
o The first revolution was in France, establishing the second French republic
o The 1848 revolutionaries in Germany tried to unify through negotiation, but failed
o In Italy, the 1848 revolts against foreign rule and for democratic reforms were initially
successful
By summer 1849 all the changes had been decisively reversed
o The revolution however did not reach Russia, Britain or the Unite States.
- Define the term Risorgimento, what were the results of this nationalist impulse?
o Risorgimento was the political and social movement that agglomerated different states
of the Italian peninsula into the single state of Italy in the 19th century
o The results were a concise Italian state and the leading role it played in the Roman
antiquity and the Renaissance.
- What was the single most popular element of Verdi's operatic style?
o Verdis operatic style was of dramas centered on interpersonal conflict and finer
psychological portrayal of character
o Musical characterization, dramatic unity and melodic invention are examples of Verdis
style of dramatization
o The secret to his popularity was his ability to capture the character, feeling, and
situation in memorable melodies that sound both fresh and familiar
- How does Verdi create dramatic cohesion in La traviata? Use the anthology example from Act
III, Scena and Duet, to explain specifically how Verdi does this.
o Follows the structure that was common for duets
o A scena in recitative, accompanied by the orchestra
o A tempo d attocco in which the characters trade phrases of melody in dialogue.
o Follows a slow, lyrical cantabile that expresses a relatively calm feeling such as sadness
or hope
o A tempo di mezzo expresses a more active emotion such as joy or anger
o Verdi fills out this conventional structure with a variety of contrasting styles and
textures that delineate the plot and intensify the drama.







































Brahms and the Symphonic Tradition
Terms
- Developing Variation: Process of deriving new themes, accompaniments, and other ideas
throughout a piece through variations of a germinal idea.
o Schoenberg
- Thematic Transformation: A method used by Liszt to provide unity, variety and narrative like
logic to a composition
o Transforming the thematic material into new themes, in order to reflect the diverse
moods needed to portray a programmatic subject.
Central Issues and Reflections
- Describe the new interest in music of the past in the 19C and how it was formalized through
the development of musical scholarship.
o Created in order to study and make available the music of previous generations.
o Scholars unearthed and published music by the great composers of past eras, issuing
editions of the complete
o These editions and numerous less comprehensive performing editions helped to form a
canon of composers whose music comprised the center of the repertoire and the
mainstream of music history
o Later in the 19C, performers and audiences had available to them an increasing supply
of older music that was new to them.
- How did Brahms and Wagner appear to be polarized for German-speaking audiences?
o The dispute polarized around Brahms and Wagner and around the dichotomies between
absolute and program music, between tradition and innovation, and between classical
genres and forms and new ones
o What is clear in retrospect is that partisans on both sides shared the common goals of
linking themselves to Beethoven, appealing their own music in the increasingly crowded
permanent repertoire
o Became known as classical music because it was written for similar performing forces as
works represented in the classical repertoire
- Describe Brahms's attitude toward music of the past.
o Often called conservative
Was actually a path breaker
o Among the first to view the entire range of music of the present and past material to
draw upon in composing his own and highly individual music
o He developed subtle and complex techniques that were enormous importance to later
composers
- How were Robert Schumann, Clara Schumann and Brahms involved personally and
professionally?
o Robert and Clara Schumann were Brahms strongest supporters
o After Schumanns suicide attempt and confinement for mental illness, Brahms helped
take care of the family while Clara returned to her life as a performer
o He fell in love with her, but whether they had more than platonic relationship, even
after Schumanns death in 1856, is not known
o Had a series of attachments with other women but chose to remain a bachelor,
surrounding himself with a close circle of friends.
- Describe the structure of the last movement of Brahms's 4th Symphony. How does this
structure reflect both his historist impulses as well as his contemporary imagination. Mention
specific musical examples.
o The finale of Brahms 4th Symphony is a chaconne
o It is at once a set of variations on a bass ostinato and on a harmonic pattern.
o Brahms drew the rising bass figure from the final choris of Bachs cantata Nach dir, herr,
verlanget mich, BWV 150
o Bachs chaconne finale from partita no 2 in D minor, Bwv 1004, which Brahms had
transcribed as a left hand exercise for piano
o Constantly varies the theme itself through figuration and registral placement and by
giving each variation on distinctive type of material in other voices.
- Summarize Hanslick's and Liszt's arguments in relation to debate between absolute and
program music.
o Hanslick claims that we understand music as a beauty that is self-contained and in no
need of content from outside itself.
o He condemns the view of music as full and empty, claiming it as misguiding.
o The more beautiful the music is, the prettier the meaning will become
o On the other hand, Liszt induces the composers to write programmatic music and
defends the idea of notes, embellishments and any type of sound to be representative
of something
o He assures that the audience will be taken to whatever the composer wants to


























Wagner and the Gesamtkunstwerk
Terms
- Leitmotif: In an Opera, a motive or musical idea associated with a person, thing, mood or idea,
which returns in original or altered form of throughout.
- Gesamtkunstwerk: Term for 1920s to describe music that was socially relevant and useful,
especially music for amateurs, children, or workers to play or sing.
o Utilitarian music or music for use
Central Issues and Reflections
- Define the term Gesamtkunstwerk. How does Wagner's concept of opera differ from earlier
operas?
o Believed in the absolute oneness of drama and music
The two are organically connected expressions of a single dramatic idea
o Poetry, scenic design, staging, action, and music work together to form what he called
Gesamtkunstwerk
o In traditional opera, voices lead and orchestra supports, punctuates, and comments
o In Wagner drama, the ramatic trhead is in the music itself, led by the orchestra, and the
voices give it definition and precision through words.
- What are some of the elements of Wagner's "expressive palette?" Provide two musical
examples.
o The opening motive of the opening prelude of Tristan und Isolde is a characteristic of his
expressive palette
Begins with a rising sixth followed by a chromatic descent; suggesting longing
o The first chord (F B-D#-G#) has a striking sonority which is not evidently resolved.
Another typical characteristic of Wagner is his tendency not to give clear resolutions,
leaving the audience at peak at all times.
- Summarize Wagner's concept of "nationalism."
o Wagner applied to music a new view of nationalism that was beginning to emerge
o Idea that only people who shared the same ethnicity could truly be part of a nation
o That Jews could never be German, no matter how many generations their families had
lived in Germany, spoken German, and participated in German Culture.













Debussy, Wagnerism and French Poetics
Terms
- Whole-Tone Scale: a scale consisting of only whole steps
- Octatonic Scale: a scale that alternates whole and half steps
- Pentatonic Scale: A musical scale with 5 notes per octave as opposed to heptatonic (7 note)
Central Issues and Reflections
- Describe the elements of Debussy's ambivalent attitude toward Wagner as a composer and
creative personality.
o Debussys music was focused on the mood, atmosphere and or scene
Why we label Debussys music as impressionistic
Drew his influence from his French tradition
Also from Russian composers
Used parallel organum
Kept us in the mood by little resolution there is in his music
More based on pleasure than theory
o Wagners music was very dramatic and expressed deep emotion that told a story
Why we label Wagners music as Romantic
- How is the syntax of symbolist poetry comparable to Debussy's musical processes?
o His use of the poetrys text for songs and dramatic works
o Considered impressionistic but is still closely related to symbolism because of his
relationship with symbolist poets
o Music syntax is often disrupted when our attention is drawn to the individual images
that carry the works structure and meaning
o Creates musical images through motives, harmony, exotic scales (whole-tone, ocatonic,
pentatonic), and instrumental timbre
Motives often dont develop but are repeated with small changes, &
dissonances are not resolved.
- HWM describes Debussy's music as having an air of "detached observation." Discuss the
reasons given in HWM and then offer your own assessment of Debussy's music (support your
argument with specific musical examples).
o In Debussys Lisle joyeuse mm.23-29 we see the detachment in measures 26 and in 28
o Measure 26 is considered detached because of its pentatonic filigree
The next measure (27) follows with a repeat of the same motive found in 25
o That measure is detached from the past measures with its ornaments giving the piece a
measures break from its main mood
o Measure 28 and a few measures after as well, is also considered a detachment from the
piece because of its chromatic lines
o The reasons given in HWM of Debussy's music having an air of detached observation
are; "rather than expressing deeply felt emotion or telling a story, as in much Romantic
music, Debussy's typically evokes a mood, feeling, atmosphere or scene."
The Second Viennese School
Terms
- Atonality: A term for music that avoids establishing a tonal center
- Chromatic Saturation: The appearance of all 12 pitch-classes within a segment of music
- Expressionism: Music avoids all traditional forms of beauty in order to express deep personal
feelings through exaggerated gestures, angular melodies and extreme dissonance.
o Early 20C term derived from art
- Sprechstimme: A vocal style in which the performer approximates the written pitches in the
gliding tones of speech, while following the notated rhythm.
o German-speaking voice
o Arnold Schoenberg
- Commedia dellarte: Italian for comedy of craft
Central Issues and Reflection
- How did Schoenberg view his own relationship to tradition? What were his views on the role
of art? (See especially "New Music and Tradition" HWM pg 813)
o View of his own relationship to tradition
The tradition of classical music was a legacy of innovation, and it was his job as
a composer to weave threads from the past and the present into something
truly new.
o View on the role of art
There is no great work of art which does not convey a new message to
humanity; there is no great artist who fails in this respect. This is the code of
honor of all the great in art, and consequently in all great works of the great we
will find that newness which never perishes
- The songs in Pierrot lunaire are not rooted in functional harmony. Schoenberg relies on other
kinds of formal logic to organize them. How does developing variation fulfill this role? What
other kinds of strategies are used?
o Integrating melody and harmony through a process he called composing with the tones
of a motive
Manipulates the notes and intervals of a motive to create new melodies
o One way this worked was to treat the notes of a motive containing three or more
pitches just as we might a triad or other tonal chord: as a collection of pitches that could
be transposed, inverted, and arranged in any order and register to generate melodies
and harmonies
- Schoenberg had an imaginative approach to timbre. Describe at least 5 specific places in the
score where Schoenberg explores the outer boundaries of instrumental technique. Also
describe his revolutionary treatment of the vocal part.
o Using Sprechstimme
An innovative idea that blends the traditional notions of song and melodrama
o The inexact pitches evoke an eerie atmosphere for the symbolist text
Stravinsky in Paris
Terms
- Petrushka Chord: Combines F# and C major triads, both part of the same octatonic scale
- Neoclassicism: Trend in music from the 1910s to the 1950s in which composers revived,
imitated, or evoked the styles, genres and forms of pre-romantic music of the 18C
- Neotonal: Term for music since the early 1900s that establishes a single pitch as a tonal center,
but does not follow the traditional rules of tonality
- Serial Music: music that uses the 12 tone method; uses especially for music that extends the
same general approach to series in parameters other than pitch.
Central Issues and Reflection
- Briefly describe the stylistic changes that occurred in Stravinsky's three compositional periods,
using one musical example from each period.
o Russian Period
Used Russian folk music & folklore
In Petrushka he introduced several of the stylistic traits that became closely
identified with him
The opening scene of the ballet depicts a fair in St. Petersburg during the final
week of carnival season
Here we find his characteristic blocks of static harmony with repetitive
melodic and rhythmic patterns as well as abrupt shifts from one block to
another
o Neoclassical period
1919-1951: Turned away from Russian folk music and towards earlier Western
art music as a source for imitation, quotation or allusion
Was asked by Diaghilev to orchestrate pieces by the 18C. composer
Pergolesi to accompany a new ballet Pucinella.
Symphony of Psalms (1930): Mixed chorus and orchestra on psalms from the
Latin Vulgate Bible
Also used Latin not only because of the ritualistic language left him free
to concentrate on its phonetic qualities, but its use also refers back to
the long tradition of Latin texts in Western church music, all which he
had borrowed the ideas from Baroque features.
o Serial period
1953 on
His best known works
Song cycle IN MEMORIAM DYLAN THOMAS (1954) which only uses a
series of 5 notes.
- How can Rite of Spring be understood as an "anti-modernist" work?
o Its emphasis on a strong primitive rhythm
As well as the primitive choreography Marked by primitivism
o Goes back and uses primitive technique as its main inspiration instead of modernism
- How was Stravinsky's move to a neo-classical style advantageous for his competitive stature
as a pan-European composer, especially in relation to Schoenberg?
o Moved away from his Russian music culture to Western Europes music culture
More audience accepted his work
Also because many opposed Russias government of Communism