Romantic Musical Examples

Early Romantic

Ludwig van Beethoven: 4th movement from Symphony No. 9, Op. 125 [symphony] 1822-25--[click here to see score excerpt from Movement 4]

https://www.wmich.edu/musicgradexamprep/Beethoven_Symphony9_mvt4_Ode.mp4

Performance Notes:
Beethoven’s 9th symphony completely challenged the standard perception of what a symphony could be:
- It is over 70 minutes long (twice as long as any other symphony in his day)
- It has an unusual movement order and key structure
- It has an unusual instrumentation (see score excerpt): complete woodwind group plus contrabassoon, 4 horn, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, timpani, strings
- It showcases instruments such as the timpani (mvt. 2) and double bass (mvt. 4) who aren’t normally heard from as symphonic soloists
- It adds solo singers and chorus to the last movement (see score excerpt)

Why did Beethoven do this? He is writing this piece about speaking out in a society muted by censorship.
After Napoleon Bonaparte declared himself Emperor of France in 1804, for the next decade he waged wars attempting to conquer the rest of Europe. In fear, the people of the Austrian Empire begged the Emperor Francis I for protection. The Emperor put Prince Klemens von Metternich in charge of a powerful, massive spy network that severely censored media and the arts and controlled education in an effort to control the dissemination of subversive ideas. Even after Napoleon was defeated ultimately at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, the “Metternich System” of censorship persisted until Metternich died in 1848.

Three of Beethoven’s previous symphonies had socio-political implications (Nos. 3, 5 and 6). By 1822, he hadn’t written a symphony in nine years, and the post-Napoleon censorship of the arts in the Viennese Empire had been going on for seven years. Beethoven felt compelled to respond with a wake-up call to humanity, one that took three years to finish and that was beyond the capabilities of the public orchestras of the time to perform. Although deafness took away Beethoven’s abilities to hear and eventually to talk clearly, it did not stop him from speaking out through his music; similarly, he felt that censorship should not hold back the people of his time who were perfectly able to speak and hear the truth.

Beethoven’s 9th symphony is a 4-movement work with an unusual structure that by the end of the fourth movement reveals its true meaning, with the orchestra representing the masses under censorship:

Movement 1: (D minor) Allegro ma non troppo (fast)- un poco maestoso [sonata form]
This movement is unpredictably chaotic, tragic, restless, and introductory. It starts with a flash (allegro) and then stops in its tracks (maestoso—slow) timidly sounding as if the orchestra is afraid to move forward and make a real statement [prolonged censorship has made them this way].

Movement 2: (D minor) Fast [scherzo & trio form]
This movement is in the same key as the first (should be in a new key, but the orchestra has refused to move). The Scherzo & Trio would normally be the third movement, not the second—so in this way, Beethoven has implied an urgency to get to that scherzo movement instead of a slow, serene traditional 2nd movement. That is because a scherzo is a common people’s rustic, circular whirlwind dance--but in this case it is too fast—out of control [the common people are afraid, angry, frustrated, but unfocused and unable to accomplish what they want]. The timpani (who are never heard in this capacity) have several soloistic passages.

Movement 3: (Bb major) Andante moderato [ternary form ABA]
This is the serene slow movement that would normally have been the second movement. Beethoven has put it after the frantic and unfocused scherzo because he is showing that it is this peaceful, unagitated state that the people want to get to [peace--not anger or “getting even”].

Movement 4: (D minor/D major) Allegro assai [theme & variations form]
The final movement starts with a frantic introduction, then the double basses/cellos act as a “voice of reason” playing what sounds like a bass’ operatic recitative in an obvious attempt to try to “speak” to the rest of the orchestra (the timid masses) and get them to move forward. The orchestra replays a bit of movement 1 (refusing to try something new) but the double basses/cellos recitationally reject it. So, the orchestra plays a bit of movement 2 again, and this is recitationally rejected by the double basses/cellos. The orchestra starts to play the main them of movement 3, but this time the double basses/cellos ponder the tune--not rejecting it right away, as if this is closer to the new idea they are calling for. Finally, they reject it, so the orchestra starts a completely new tune that the double basses/cellos praise in a final recitative-like passage, after which the double basses play the tune by themselves in an ultra-low register as if it is in the underground, initiating a series of theme & variations which bring this tune from deep underground in the orchestra to shimmering heights. (Important note: this is a completely new theme by Beethoven, and has no connection to the "Ode to Joy", which is a literary poem written by Friederich Schiller in 1785, in which the original included the word "Freiheit" ("freedom")--not "Freude" ("Joy"); Schiller changed the word fearing reprisals from government officials who had already jailed him twice for his political views.

This goes on for several minutes—THEN, as if something isn't right or quite clear enough, halfway through the movement Beethoven suddenly starts it over with the same frantic introduction, but this time he surprisingly brings in a baritone solo singer on the recitative that started this movement with the double basses, and then eventually adds three more soloists (soprano, also, tenor) and a full chorus to finally give the symphony orchestra a real voice!

[Translation of the rest of the 4th movement]

(Baritone recitative)
O friends! No more of these [oppressive] sounds! Let us commence with more cheerful songs--more full of joy! [chorus responds "Joy?"]

(Baritone aria--on Friederich Schiller's text, An die Freude ("Ode to Joy")--Beethoven links his new theme to Schiller's poem about the brotherhood of mankind, and originally about FREEDOM [this is a direct hit against the censorship issue of Beethoven's day--see "Performance Note", above]
Joy, o wondrous spark divine, Daughter of Elysium, Drunk with fire now we enter, Heavenly one, your holy shrine.
Your magic powers join again what traditions strictly did divide; Brotherhood unites all men Where your gentle wing's spread wide. [echoed by SATB chorus]

(Soprano, alto, tenor, baritone vocal soloists)
The man who's been so fortunate to become the friend of a friend, The man who has won a fair woman - to the rejoicing let him add his voice.
The man who calls but a single soul somewhere in the world his own! And he who never managed this - let him steal forth from our throng! [echoed by SATB chorus]

(Soprano, alto, tenor, baritone vocal soloists in intricate counterpoint)
Joy is drunk by every creature from Nature's fair and charming breast; Every being, good or evil, follows in her rosy steps.
Kisses she gave to us, and vines, And one good friend, tried in death; The serpent she endowed with base desire and the cherub stands before God. [echoed by SATB chorus]

(Heroic march-like instrumental interlude)

(Tenor vocal soloist)
Gladly as His suns do fly through the heavens' splendid plan, Run now, brothers, your own course, Joyful like a conquering hero.[echoed by SATB chorus]

(Dramatic scherzo-like instrumental interlude)

(Subdued transition, then final strong statement by full SATB Chorus)
Embrace each other now, you millions! The kiss is for the whole wide world! Brothers - over the starry firmament A beloved Father must surely dwell. Do you come crashing down, you millions? Do you sense the Creators presence, world? Seek Him above the starry firmament, For above the stars he surely dwells.
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Franz Schubert: Erlkönig [Lied] (1815)--[click here to see score excerpt]

https://www.wmich.edu/musicgradexamprep/Schubert_Erlkonig.mp4

Performance Notes:
During his brief 18-year compositional career (1814-28), Schubert wrote 1000 works—symphonys, string quartets, piano sonatas, song cycles, and approximately 630 German solo songs with piano accompaniment (Lieder) that made art-song a legitimate art form. Over 250 of them were written in 1815-16, including Erlkonig (1815), based on a text by Goethe.

This highly-dramatic song requires one singer to portray four distinct characters with their voice: the narrator, a father, his young son, and the Erl-King (“King of the Elves”)—a spectre of death in German folklore. Over the course of 4 minutes, this song takes the listener on an intense, fearful ride that accelerates in tempo, increases in volume, and rises in pitch and harmonic center until is sudden tragic conclusion. [Large-scale harmony goes from Gmi - Bb – B minor – C major – C# minor – D minor – Eb – D minor – G minor]

[Translation and musical structure]

G minor
(Piano introduction--depicting the horse's pounding hooves)

(Narrator): Who's riding so late through night, so wild? It is the father who's holding his child;
He's tucked the boy secure in his arm, He holds him tight and keeps him warm.

(Father): My son, why hide you your face in fear?"
(Son): "See you not, father, the Erl King near? The Erl King in his crown and train?"
(Father): "My son, it's just a streak of mist."

Bb major
(Erlking--trying to entice the boy): "Sweet lovely child, come, go with me! What wonderful games I'll play with you; Many-colored flowers grow along the shore. My mother has golden garments for you."

B minor
(Son--screaming): "My father, my father, and can you not hear What Erl King is promising into my ear?" (Father--getting more alarmed): "Be calm, stay calm, o child of mine; It's just the wind rustling the dried leaves."

C major
Erlking--trying harder to entice the boy): "Will you come with me, my handsome boy? My daughters will royally wait on you; My daughters lead the nightly dance, and they'll rock and sing you to sleep. To swing and to dance and to sing thee to rest."

C# minor
(Son--screaming higher) "My Father, my father, and can you not see the Erl King's daughters there in the shadows?"
(Father--now as faerful as the boy): "My son, my son, I see it clear; The ancient willows so grey do appear."

D minor-Eb major-D minor
(Erlking--growing impatient): "I love you, I'm delighted by your beautiful figure; If you won't come with me willingly, I'll take you by force!"

D minor
(Son--screaming even higher): My father, my father, the Erlking has hold of me, and he's hurting me!

G minor
(Narrator-as the tempo accelerates): The father shudders, riding on even faster. He holds the groaning child in his arms.

(Narrator-in recitative style as the tempo slows down): He reaches the town, weary and anxious, but in his arms...the child was dead.

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Giocchino Rossini: "Largo al factotum" from Il Barbieri di Siviglia ("The Barber of Seville") [Opera buffa] (1816)

https://www.wmich.edu/musicgradexamprep/Rossini_Barber_Largo.mp4

MAIN CHARACTER in this scene:
- Figaro: A common barber (baritone)

Operatic Scenario:
Il Barbieri di Siviglia ("The Barber of Seville) is one of the most famous and beloved comic operas of all time. It tells the hilarious story of a cunning town barber (Figaro), who is hired by Count Almaviva to trick an over-the-hill physician (Dr. Bartolo) so he can win the hand of his ward (Rosina). The scheme that Figaro plots requires the Count to impersonate a commoner (Lindoro), creating crazy scenes of mistaken identity, mistrust, and mischief.

Performance Notes:
Rossini was a prolific composer who wrote 38 operas in a 19-year span (1810-29). Around 1815, Rossini's flamboyant new style of bel canto opera began to take Europe by storm, focusing on great singers, memorable melodies, exciting orchestral accompaniment, colorful costuming and staging, with intricate story lines. Il Barbieri di Siviglia ("The Barber of Sevile") is one of Rossini's earliest, yet most popular operas. It was written in 1816, when the mature Classic style was still in full swing in Beethoven's heyday.

As seen in the video clip, "Largo al factotum" ("Make way for the Do-everything Guy") is a lively, virtuosic aria from the first act, accompanied by a large, colorful orchestra. It requires great vocal skill, agility, and control. Most performances include improvised ornaments showcasing the singer's individual talents. This aria gets faster and faster, louder and louder,which is a hallmark of Rossini's musical style that made his works so popular. In this monologue, Figaro introduces himself directly to the audience, making sure they know how important this town barber really is in the scheme of things. He congratulates himself for being constantly in demand--saying he gives the best haircuts, and whenever anyone needs anything else taken care of, he's the one they constantly call:

[Translation of this aria]
Ah, bravo Figaro...Bravo, bravissimo! A most fortunate man indeed!
Ready to do everything night and day...Always on the move.
A cushier fate for a barber--a more noble life is not to be had.
Razors and combs, lancets and scissors, at my command
Everything's there. Here are the tools of my trade

With the ladies...with the gentlemen...
Everyone asks for me, everyone wants me,
Ladies, young lads, old men, young girls:
Here is the wig...the beard is ready...
Here are the leeches...the note is ready...

Figaro! Figaro! Figaro!, etc.
Ah, what frenzy! Ah, what a crowd!
One at a time, please!
"Hey, Figaro!"...(exasperated) I'm here... Figaro here, Figaro there,
Figaro up, Figaro down,
Swifter and swifter, I'm like a thunderbolt:
I'm the jack-of-all-trades of the city.
Ah, bravo Figaro! Bravo, bravissimo,
You'll never lack for luck!

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Felix Mendelssohn: “If With All Your Hearts Ye Truly Seek Me” from Elijah [oratorio] 1846

https://www.wmich.edu/musicgradexamprep/Mendelssohn_Elijah.mp4

Performance Notes:
The German composer/conductor Mendelssohn revived interest in the music of JS Bach and his legacy of German cantatas and oratorios. Elijah is in that spirit, but with the flavor of Romantic melody and harmony.This work was written in German, but its first performance was given in English at the Birmigham Festival in England in 1846.

The video shows that this excerpt (sung by the Old Testament prophet Obadiah) begins with a recitativo obbligato (accompanied by orchestra), followed by a dramatic aria in ternary form:

[Text in English]
No. 3: Recitative (by Obadiah)
Ye people, rend your hearts and not your garments. For your transgressions, the prophet Elijah hath sealed the heavens through the word of God. I therefore say to ye: forsake your idols, return to God; for He is slow to anger, and merciful, and kind, and gracious, and repenteth Him of the evil.

No. 4: Aria (by Obadiah)
"If with all your hearts ye truly seek Me, ye shall ever surely find Me." Thus saith our God. Oh! that I knew where I might find Him, that I might even come before His presence!

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Hector Berlioz: Movement 5 from Symphonie fantastique ("symphonic fantasy") [program symphony] 1830
--[click here to see score excerpt]

https://www.wmich.edu/mus-history/gradex/Berlioz_Symphonie_Fantastique_mvt5.mp4

Performance Notes:
Berlioz was one of the most daring and unique composers in history. His Symphonie fantastique (“symphonic fantasy”) was written only five years after Beethoven’s 9th symphony, and completely breaks even that non-traditional mold. The work is highly-innovative in its use of orchestral color and programmatic imagery.

The entire five-movement program symphony tells the story of a young man’s infatuation and ultimate obsession with a beautiful but disinterested woman. Distraught over her, the man decides to kill himself with an overdose of opium—but he mistakenly only takes enough to put in to sleep where he has a sequence of five vivid and increasingly morbid drug-induced dreams in which he is haunted by her image—represented as a melodic idée fixe (an "obessive" theme that is always recognizable but gradually distorted as the man’s view of his beloved becomes more negative). To clarify the story to his audience, Berlioz provided printed “program notes” for his audience—the first such instance in Western history.

From the video clip and the score excerpt, it is clear that this symphony uses a massive orchestra, with a colorful combination of instruments, with ample instructions written in French into the score. Berlioz uses both trumpets and cornets in the score, as an indication of how particular he was about certain orchestral colors.

It has the following 5-movement structure:

Movement 1: "Reverie" (Passions)--C major [sonata form]
In this dream, the man falls in love at first sight (the idée fixe is beautifully rendered--the way he first envisions her)

Movement 2: "A Masked Ball"--A major [waltz & trio form [same design as minuet & trio form or scherzo & trio form]
In this dream, after she rejects him, he attends a masked costume ball where he sees her waltzing with another man (idée fixe is transformed into an intimate waltz theme that devastates him).

Movement 3: "A Scene in The Country"--F major [ternary form]
In this dream, he has him fled into the countryside to forget his troubles, where he witnesses a shepherd slowly being rejected by a shepherdess (idée fixe is bounced back and forth as a love tune between the shepherd and shepherdess--until the shepherd's idée fixe love call goes unanswered).

Movement 4: "March to the Gallows"--G minor [ternary form]
He dreams he has murdered his beloved and thereby is condemned to death by guillotine. He is taken from prison and paraded through a crowd gathered to watch his execution. He is marched up the gallows' steps, and as the drum rolls his head covered by a bag and placed on the block. The guillotine blade gets closer and closer--faster and faster. Then, at the last moment before he dies, he hears his beloved's idée fixe which is interrupted by the blade hitting the mark. As his head is cut off, a victory theme signals that he should notw be free of his torment (not the case, as he is haunted for eternity in the afterlife of movement 5).

Movement 5: "Dream of a Witches' Sabbath"--C major/E-flat [through-composed design--no discernible form]
In this dream, the woman emerges as a witch who haunts the man for eternity Berlioz makes a macabre gesture by contrapuntally combining the sacred "Dies Irae" chant from the Requiem Mass with the occult "Witches' Dance based on the idée fixe.

[Musical Structure of the 5th movement: "Dream of a Witches' Sabbath"]:

-(Larghetto): Foreboding images in the orchestra as an introduuction

-(Allegro): idée fixe played by the clarinet when the woman appears (this time as a witch), and the orchestral goblins gives out a howl of joy at her arrival. The woman mocks the man in a grotesque parody "witches' dance" of the movement 2 waltz. Suddenly, everything stops and bells are heard--they are the chimes of the Catholic "Mass for the Dead" (Requiem Mass).

-Dies Irae: The tubas and bassoons play a grotesque, distorted version of the "Dies Irae" (Day of Judgment) chant from the Requiem--indicating that the man is dead, and they are having his funeral.

-The Witches' Dance and the Dies Irae quotation are put in counterpoint against each other (shocking and scandalous in Berlioz' day to put a sacred chant with an occult reference!)

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Fréderic Chopin: Nocturne in E-flat major, Op. 9 No. 2 [character piece] (1830-32)
--[click here to see score excerpt]

https://www.wmich.edu/musicgradexamprep/Chopin_Nocturne.mp4

Performance Notes:
Chopin was one of the great piano virtuosos of the Romantic era. He is primarily known for writing approximately 150 single-movement character pieces, with picturesque titles such as “Nocturne” (night time), “Prelude”, “Etude” (study piece), or names of Polish nationalistic dances such as “Polonaise” or “Mazurka”.

The Nocturne in E-Flat Major, Op. 9 No. 2 is a beautiful example of Romantic expression. It is in a rondo form (ABABA), with each returning “A” section more ornamented than the previous one.

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Robert Schumann: Carnaval [piano cycle] 1834-35

https://www.wmich.edu/mus-history/gradex/RSchumann_Carnaval1to6.mp4 (excerpt=Nos. 1-6)

Performance Notes:
Robert Schumann was a promising young pianist who damaged one of his hands and then tuned to composing and being one of the first professional music critics. He wrote song cycles, symphonies, a piano concerto, and several piano cycles, such as Carnaval (1834-35)—a cycle of 21 character pieces.

As seen in the video clip, Schumann's writing is colorful, and has sudden changes of mood, theme, character, tempo and dynamics.

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Mid-Romantic Composers

Franz Liszt: Movement 1 from Piano Concerto No. 2 in A major [concerto] (1839-40)

https://www.wmich.edu/mus-history/gradex/Liszt_Piano_Concerto_no2_mvt1.mp4

Performance Notes:
Franz Liszt was the most spectacular pianist of the Romantic age, and he wrote many works to showcase his amazing techincal and interpretive skills. He also known for his programmatic works for orchestra.

The Piano Concerto No. 2 in A major was written during his virtuoso period, when he was travelling all over Europe as a solo pianist. It is one continuous work divided into six sections connected through thematic transformation of several themes. The writing is complex and virtuosic, with constantly-shifting mood, key, dynamics and tempo.

- Adagio sostenuto assai
- Allegro agitato assai
- Allegro moderato
- Allegro deciso
- Marziale un poco meno allegro
- Allegro animato

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Richard Wagner: "Wotan's Farewell" (final scene of Act III) from Die Walküre (2nd night of Der Ring des Nibelungen) [Musikdrama] 1848-74--[click here to see score excerpt]

https://www.wmich.edu/mus-history/gradex/Wagner_Walkure_Wotans_Farewell.mp4
(fast forward to final scene that starts at 11:45)

Performance Notes:
While living in exile in Switzerland (having fled Germany after helping to instigate the failed Dresden revolt of 1848), Wagner wrote several political treatises and worked on the story and music of this “Ring Cycle”—which after 26 years (1848-74) led to a 4-night Musikdrama cycle (over 20 hours of performance time on consecutive nights). Wagner embedded over 200 Leitmotifs that allow the orchestra to tell much of the story.

This excerpt from the Ring Cycle comes from the end of the last act of Die Walküre (the second night of the Ring cycle), in which Wotan must take away the immortality of his beloved daughter (Brünnhilde), because she disobeyed his direct command to kill Siegmund. Wotan kisses her to induce her into a magic sleep (Leitmotif), then lies her down on a rock, and summons Loge (The God of Fire) to surround it with magic fire (Leitmotif). At the end of this scene, he foretells that only a hero with the courage to pass through the flames will be able to awaken her with a kiss and posses her (the Leitmotif he is singing at that point tells us it will be Siegfried who will brave the flames in the next night’s show).

The video clip and score example show that this is a massive undertaking, with a huge colorful, brass-predominated orchestra, dramatic singing and staging--all written and designed by Wagner himself!

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Giuseppe Verdi: "Bella figlia dall'amore" [quartet] from Rigoletto [opera seria] 1851

https://www.wmich.edu/mus-history/gradex/Verdi_Rigoletto_Quartet.mp4

Performance Notes:
Verdi was the most important Italian opera composer of the late Romantic era. Rigoletto (based on Victor Hugo's play Le roi s'amuse)

Main characters in this scene:
The Duke of Mantua (tenor): a womanizing aristocrat
Rigoletto (baritone): the Duke's aged hunchbacked jester
Gilda (soprano): His daughter
Maddalena (contralto): sister of the assassin Sparafucile

Earlier in this opera, a courtier puts a curse on the Rigoletto for helping the Duke seduce his daughter. Later, in this scene from Act III, Gilda has fallen in love with the Duke, but he is already trying to seduce Maddalena (as seen at the start of this scene). Gilda and Rigoletto look on from their hiding place, as Rigoletto shows his daughter that the Duke is not to be trusted.

[Translation of this famous quartet from Act III of Rigoletto]

Duke (to Maddalena):
Fairest daughter of love, I am a slave to your charms; with but a single word you could relieve my every pain.
Come, touch my breast and feel how my heart is racing.

Maddalena:
Ah! Ah! That really makes me laugh; talk like that is cheap enough...
I, my fine sir, am quite accustomed to foolish jokes like this...

Gilda:
Ah, these are the loving words the scoundrel spoke once to me!
O wretched heart betrayed, do not break for sorrow.

Rigoletto:
Hush, weeping can do no good. Haven't you seen enough?

Rigoletto has already made arrangements with Sparafucile to murder the Duke that night, but he doesn't tell Gilda--who still is in love with the Duke. After the quartet, Rigoletto tells Gilda to follow his instructions and dress like a man then leave for Verona, where he will meet her later. Maddalena learns that her brother plans to kill the Duke, and she asks to spare his life. Sparafucile says he will if someone else comes by that they can kill and put in the gunny sack by midnight. Gilda overhears this and decides to give her life to save the Duke's. Dressed as a man, on this stormy night she comes as a beggar to Sparafucile, and he stabs her. At midnight, when Rigoletto comes to pay the assissin and get his sack, he hears the Duke singing, and realizes he has been tricked. He is distraught to open the sack and find Gilda there, hearing her last dying words of love for the Duke..and for her father. The curse is fulfilled.

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Jacques Offenbach: "Galop infernal" (Infernal Dance) from Orphée auf enters (Orpheus in Hades) [opéra boufee] 1858

https://www.wmich.edu/musicgradexamprep/Offenbach_Orpheus_In_The_Underworld.mp4

Performance Notes:
Offenbach is remembered for his nearly 100 operettas that he wrote in the 1850s, 60s, and 70s. His first full-length operetta was Orphée auf enters ("Orpheus in Hades"), which hilariously spoofs Gluck's reform opera, Orpheus et Euridice, written nearly 100 years earlier.

In this spoof, Orpheus and Euridice are newly married but can't stand each other, especially since Euridice hates string music, and Orpheus is a bad vioilin teacher. Orpheus actually loves the nymph Chloe, and Euridice loves the shepherd Aristée. When Orpheus mistakenly goes after Euridice thinking she is Chloe, Euridice wants to annul their marriage, but Orpheus is afraid of backlash from the powerful God named Public Opinion. Pluto (God of the Underworld) is in love with Euridice himself, so he plots with Orpheus to kill Euridice so he can have her in the land of the dead (Hades). When Orpheus doesn't go into Hades to rescue Euridice, Public Opinion frowns upon him, so he reluctantly goes into the abyss. There, he sees the Gods having a wild party and dancing the "Galop infernal" (better known today as the "Can-Can" music).

The video clip shows a modernized version of the farce.

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Charles Gounod: Final scene from Faust ("Faust") [grand opera] (1859)

https://www.wmich.edu/mus-history/gradex/Gounod_Faust_Finale.mp4

Main characters in this scene:
Faust: An aging scholar who sells his soul to be young again
Méphistophélès: The Devil
Marguerite: A young religious woman who is seduced by Faust and falls in love with him

Performance Notes:
Faust is a French grand opera in five acts, loosely based on the story from Goethe's Faust, Part 1.

Operatic Scenario:
In this operatic version, Faust (an aging scholar) feels he has wasted his whole life working, so he sells his soul to the Devil (Méphistophélès) to be made young again. The youthful Faust falls in love with Marguerite, gets her pregnant, then abandons her. Marguerite misses Faust desperately, so when she gives birth and her child looks just like Faust, she goes insane, kills her baby, and is put in prison and sentenced to be hanged. Méphistophélès is thrilled at all this mayhem. Faust finally has to pay his own debt, and goes into Hell with Méphistophélès, who promises him an orgy with many of the most beautiful women in history. Faust realizes true love is what he longed for, so he calls out for Marguerite, and is taken by Méphistophélès to her prison cell just before she is scheduled to die. Méphistophélès proclaims that only a mortal hand can save her, but she prefers to trust her fate to God. Faust professes his love for her, then kills her so her soul can rise to heaven before Méphistophélès takes possesion of her. The video clip shows the intensity of the drama, the expressiveness of the singing, and the richness of the orchestration, harmonies, and melodies, as seen in this final scene.
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Modest Musorgsky: "Promenade" (No. 1) and "Gnomus" (No. 2) from Pictures at an Exhibition [piano cycle] (1874) [click here to see score excerpt ]

https://www.wmich.edu/mus-history/gradex/Mussorgsky_Pictures.mp4

Musorgsky was is known as one of "The Five" Russian Romantic composers who endeavored to make a national musical style for their country. His most famous work is his piano cycle Pictures at an Exhibition (1874), which was vividly orchestrated by Maurice Ravel in 1922.

This cycle has 15 movements, held together thematically by a "Promenade" that symbolizes Musorgsky walking through a exhibition of paintings and sketches by his deceased close friend, Viktor Hartmann, held in his memory at the Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg. The "Promenade" moves from one artwork to the next, each illustrated programmtically by Musorgsky's music. "Gnomus" is the first drawing.

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Georges Bizet: "Habañera" from Carmen ("Carmen") [opéra comique] (1875)

https://www.wmich.edu/mus-history/gradex/Bizet_Carmen_Habanera.mp4

Main characters in this scene:
Carmen (mezzo-soprano): A young, wild, cruel gypsy woman
Don José (tenor): A young corporal in the French military
Michaëla (soprano): A long-time friend of Don José's who is in love with him

Performance Notes:
Today, Carmen is the most popular of all operas, but its premiere performance was a dismal failure—three months later, Bizet died at the young age of 37.

Operatic scenario:
Carmen is the story of a young, wild gypsy woman (Carmen), who loves to manipulate other people for her own entertainment. She gets into trouble and is put under the guard of a young corporal (Don José), who she eventually seduces, and drives insane with unrequited love. Carmen begins her seduction with the “Habanera”, in which she warns Don José and his childhood sweetheart (Michaëla) that love is a very fickle thing. In the video clip you will notice the exotic and erotic melodic/harmonic chromaticism and orchestration, and that there is spoken French dialogue between the musical numbers.

[Translation of this scene]
Love is a rebellious bird that nobody can tame, and you call him quite in vain if it suits him not to come. Nothing helps, neither threat nor prayer. One man talks well, the other's mum; it's the other one that I prefer. He's silent but I like his looks.

Love! Love! Love! Love!

Love is a gypsy's child, it has never, ever, known a law; love me not, then I love you; if I love you, you'd best beware! etc. The bird you thought you had caught beat its wings and flew away ...love stays away, you wait and wait; when least expected, there it is!

All around you, swift, so swift, it comes, it goes, and then returns ... you think you hold it fast, it flees...you think you're free, it holds you fast.

Love! Love! Love! Love!

Love is a gypsy's child, it has never, ever, known a law; love me not, then I love you; if I love you, you'd best beware!
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Bedrich Smetana: Vlatava (The Moldau) [symphonic poem] 1874

https://www.wmich.edu/mus-history/gradex/Smetana_Moldau.mp4

Performance Notes:
Smetana was the first significant musical figure from Bohemia (today, the Czech Republic). His music has strong nationalistic political overtones, as seen in his character pieces, operas, and especially in his collection of 6 symphonic poems called Ma Vlast (“My Country,” 1874-79).

The most famous of the set is The Moldau, a symphonic poem about the majestic Czech river that is a national landmark. This work programmatically depicts the river endeavoring to make its way from its source high in the mountains, through Prague (the Bohemian capital), and finally to merge with the Elbe River. Along the way, the river reflects on the scenes of Czech life and history that compel is to keep moving on despite the obstacles it faces (the rocky rapids). In this way, Smetana symbolically tells his Bohemian countrymen who were under foreign domination at the time (Austrian Empire) that the river is always free and their symbol of hope.

The Moldau is in a rondo form (A B A C A D A)

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Late Romantic Composers

Anton Bruckner: 2nd movement from Symphony No. 7 in E major [symphony] (1881-83)

https://www.wmich.edu/mus-history/gradex/Bruckner_Symphony_No7_mvt2_Themes12.mp4

Performance Notes:
Bruckner’s Symphony No. 7 in E major is one of his best-known symphonies. It was written between 1881 and 1883 and was revised in 1885, and is dedicated to Ludwig II (King of Bavaria)—the same young monarch that commissioned the construction of the unfinished Medieval-fantasy castle Neuschwanstein, and who was a devotee of the music and extravagances of Richard Wagner. Symphony No. 7 has four movements:

Movement 1: Alllegro moderato: E major (fast, sonata form)
Movement 2: Adagio: C-sharp minor (slow)
Movement 3: Scherzo: A minor (fast, scherzo & trio form)
Movement 4: Finale: (E major: slow, sonata form with themes reversed in the recapitulation)

The video excerpt is from the start of the 2nd movement (“Adagio”), composed between January and April 1883. Bruckner began writing it in anticipation of Wagner's death and funeral, as he was in poor health. The first part of the movement features four Wagner tubas. It also features a bass tuba, which Wagner had invented, and was the first appearance in a symphony (see score excerpt).

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Johannes Brahms: Movement 3 from Symphony No. 3 in F, Op. 90 [symphony] 1883--[click here to see score excerpt]

https://www.wmich.edu/mus-history/gradex/Brahms_Symphony_No3_mvt3.mp4
(Movement 3)

Performance Notes:
Although Brahms lived during the late Romantic era, he chose to write in standard “Classic” genres (symphony, string quartet, sonata, etc.) and employed modified Classic forms, which had fallen into disuse by many of his contemporaries. Among his greatest works are his four symphonies, which stood as examples of “Absolute Music” at a time when programmatic approaches were the norm. In this way, Brahms felt he was preserving an important part of Beethoven’s legacy—letting music speak for itself without a blatant story line.

The Symphony No. 3 is a 4-movement work using Romantic sound within Classic form and structure:
- Movement 1: Allegro con brio (fast, F major) [sonata form]
- Movement 2: Andante (slow, C major) [rondo form]
- Movement 3: Poco allegretto (moderate, G minor) [scherzo & trio form]
- Movement 4: Allegro (fast, F minor/major) [sonata form]

As shown in the video example and score excerpt, the third movement is a melancholy reflection of a scherzo, with a conservative orchestra in both size and color, but the style is still highly expressive—building to a climax very gradually by the end of the movement, and then pulling back, as if there is much more pain being held in that he refuses to let other see. The third movement has the following design:

Scherzo:
A (D minor)—repeated
B (D major)—repeated
A (D minor)

Trio: (sweeter; other keys)
C--repeated
D—repeated

Scherzo:
A (D minor)—no repeat
B (D major)—no repeat
A (D minor)
Coda
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Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky: "March" from The Nutcracker [ballet] (1892)--[click here to see score excerpt]

https://www.wmich.edu/mus-history/gradex/Tchaikovsky_Nutcracker_March.mp4

Performance Notes:
Tchaikovsky was the first internationally-renowned Russian composers, and one of the greatest orchestrators in history. He is known primarily for his colorful symphonies and ballets.

The Nutcracker (1892) is based on a story by E.T.A. Hoffman, in which two young siblings (Fritz and Clara) have fallen asleep on Christmas Eve, with the images of their parents’ Christmas party still spinning in their heads. At midnight, Clara is awakened by the magical Nutcracker she received from her Godfather (not yet realizing that the Nutcracker is actually her Godfather's young nephew under a curse). The Nutcracker then brings to life all the of Clara’s international dolls, and all of Fritz’ toy soldiers, to amass an army to battle the evil Mouse-Queen who cursed him into the form of that Nutcracker.

Each movement of the ballet is a uniquely orchestrated and costumed dance. The “March” is in ternary form (ABA):
A: Trumpets and plucked strings (the "tin" sound of the trumpets is not because of mutes--it is from oboes doubling the trumpet parts)
B: Brass and woodwinds
A: Trumpets and plucked strings, with an added wave-like crescendo background by the entire spectrum of the string family—in a rising continuous line from double basses to cellos to violas to violins

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Gabriel Fauré: "Une sainte en son auréole" (Movement 1) from La bonne chanson
[song cycle of French mélodie] (1892-94)--[click here to see score excerpt]

https://www.wmich.edu/mus-history/gradex/Faure_La_Bonne_Chanson.mp4

Performance Notes:
La bonne chanson ("The Good Song"), Op. 61, is a song cycle of nine melodies written originally for tenor voice and piano in 1892–94; in 1898 he created a version for voice, piano and string quintet. The cycle is based on nine of the poems from Paul Verleaine's collection of the same name. The song cycle contains a number of musical themes which recur from song to song.

Structure of the cycle:
1. "Une sainte en son auréole"
2. "Puisque l'aube grandit"
3. "La lune blanche luit dans les bois"
4. "J'allais par des chemins perfides"
5. "J'ai presque peur, en vérité"
6. "Avant que tu ne t'en ailles"
7. "Donc, ce sera par un clair jour d'été"
8. "N'est-ce pas?"
9. "L'hiver a cessé"

Fauré's ordering of the settings does not correspond to that of their appearances within Verlaine's collection of 21 poems.

[Translation of Song 1]
1 . "Une sainte en son auréole" (A Saint in Her Halo)

A Saint in her halo, a mistress of a chateau in her tower,
Everything that human speech contains of grace and love;
The golden note sounded by a horn far off in the woods,
United with the tender pride of noble ladies of yesteryear!
Together with the remarkable charm of a fresh triumphant smile
That has opened within the whiteness of a swan and the blushing of a child bride;
Pearly hues, white and pink, a gentle patrician harmony:
I see, I hear all these things in her Carolingian name.
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Giocomo Puccini: "Che gelida manina" movement from La Bohème ("The Bohemian") [verismo opera] (1896)

https://www.wmich.edu/mus-history/gradex/Puccini_La_Boheme.mp4

Main characters in this scene:
- Rodolfo: A struggling poverty-stricken writer
- Mimi: A seamstress neighbor, who has tuberculosis

Performance Notes:
Puccini advocated a style of Italian opera known as “verismo”, in which the stories were intended to be more true-to-life (as compared to Wagner’s). The traditional segmentation of recitatives and arias is avoided to make a smoother, more realistic flow.

Operatic Scenario:
La Bohème is based on a French novel documenting the lives of several real immigrants who came to Paris hoping to make their fame and fortune. In this story, Rodolfo is living in a squalid, freezing apartment with three roommates who are barely scraping by day to day. As fate would have it, he is visited by an unfamiliar neighbor (Mimi), and this scene shows how they fall in love after Rodolfo risks it all to open his heart to her, as she looks for her lost apartment key.

[Translation of this scene]
What a frozen little hand, let me warm it for you. What's the use of looking? We won't find it in the dark.
But luckily it's a moonlit night, and the moon is near us here.
Wait, mademoiselle, I will tell you in two words, who I am, what I do, and how I live. May I?
Who am I? I am a poet. What do I do? I write. And how do I live? I live.
In my carefree poverty I squander rhymes and love songs like a lord.
When it comes to dreams and visions and castles in the air,
I've the soul of a millionaire. From time to time two thieves steal all the jewels out of my safe, two pretty eyes.
They came in with you just now, and my customary dreams my lovely dreams, melted at once into thin air!
But the theft doesn't anger me, for their place has been taken by hope!
Now that you know all about me, you tell me who you are. Please do!

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Antonín Dvořák : 2nd movement from Symphony No. 9 ("From the New World") [symphony] (1893)

https://www.wmich.edu/mus-history/gradex/Dvorak_Symphony_No9_mvt2_maintheme.mp4

Performance Notes:
Dvořák was a Bohemian (Czech) composer, who became quite famous after he was promoted by Brahms. Later in his career, Dvořák resided in the United States to serve as was the first Director of the National Conservatory of Music in New York City. It was there that he wrote his famous Symphony No. 9 (“From the New World”), as he was missing home and family, but excited by the possibilities of his new surroundings.

Symphony No. 9 is a four-movement work:
- Movement 1: Adagio-Allegro (slow intro then fast, E minor) [sonata form]
- Movement 2: Largo (slow, D-flat major) [rondo form]
- Movement 3: Molto Vivace (E minor) [moderately fast, scherzo & trio form]
- Movement 4: Allegro con fuoco (fast "with fire", E minor) [sonata form]

This excerpt from Movement 2 (Largo) gets its heart-wrenching beauty by use of an english horn (tenor oboe) on its main theme.
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Gustav Mahler: “Nun will die Sonn’ so hell aufgeh’n” (Movement 1) from Kindertotenlieder [song cycle] 1901-04--[click here to see score excerpt]

https://www.wmich.edu/mus-history/gradex/Mahler_Kindertotenlieder_No1.mp4

Performance Notes:
Kindertotenlieder (Songs on the Death of Children) is a German song cycle for voice and orchestra. The original Kindertotenlieder were a group of 428 poems written by Rückert in 1833–34 in reaction to the illness and death of two of his children from scarlet fever. Mahler selected five of Rückert's poems to set as Lieder, which he composed between 1901 and 1904. The songs and their texts reflect a mixture of feelings: anguish, fantasy resuscitation of the children, resignation. Musically, the last word of the Kindertotenlieder: that death is powerful, yet love is even stronger. The poignancy of the cycle is increased by the fact that four years after he wrote it, Mahler lost his daughter, Maria, aged four, to scarler fever.

The cycle takes about 25 minutes to perform, and is scored for a vocal soloist (usually baritone or mezzo-soprano) and a colorful orchestra (see score excerpt).

Structure of the cycle:
1. “Nun will die Sonn’ so hell aufgeh’n” (“Now the sun wants to rise as brightly”)
2. "Nun seh' ich wohl, warum so dunkle Flammen" ("Now I see well, why with such dark flames")
3. "Wenn dein Mütterlein" ("When your mommy")
4. "Oft denk' ich, sie sind nur ausgegangen" (“I often think they have only just gone out”)
5. "In diesem Wetter" ("In this weather")

[Translation of Song 1]:
Now the sun wants to rise as brightly as if nothing terrible had happened during the night.
The misfortune had happened only to me, but the sun shines equally on everyone.
You must not enfold the night in you. You must sink it in eternal light.
A little star went out in my tent! Greetings to the joyful light of the world.
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Transition to early Modern Style--(while late Romanticism is still occurring)

Claude Debussy: "Nuages" from Trois Nocturnes [impressionist nocturne] 1899--[click here to see score excerpt]

https://www.wmich.edu/mus-history/gradex/Debussy_Nuages.mp4

Performance Notes:
Impressionism was a direct reaction against the excessive Romanticism of Wagner and his followers. Debussy fostered subtlety, flowing moods and colors in this new impressionistic style (named after the slightly earlier style of French painting by Claude Monet and others). The sound features whole-tone scales, chromatic Japanese-influenced melodies, and the predominance of woodwind colors and harp (instead of strings, or Wagnerian brass).

Trois Nocturnes (Three Noctunes, 1899) is a 3-movement set of programmatic symphonic poems inspired by a series of impressionist paintings, also entitled "Nocturnes" by James Whisler:

1. Nuages (Clouds)
2. Fêtes (Festivals)
3. Sirènes (Sirens--as in the dangerous and beautiful creatures that lured sailors to their deaths in Greek mythology)

In his preface, Debussy says "The title Nocturnes is to be interpreted here in a decorative sense...[depicting] all the various impressions and the special effects of light that the word suggests....Nuages' renders the immutable aspect of the sky and the slow, solemn motion of the clouds, fading away in grey tones lightly tinged with white." Debussy illusttates this musically with cloud-like melodic "planing" (lines moving up and down in parallel motion), whole tone scales, woodwind-predominated orchestral colors, and a usually subdued dynamic range with occasional swells.

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Richard Strauss: "Sunrise" from Also Sprach Zarathustra [symphonic poem] 1896--[click here to see score excerpt] (Wagnerian German post-Romanticism, as counter-response to Impressionism)

https://www.wmich.edu/mus-history/gradex/RStrauss_Also_Sprach.mp4

Performance Notes: The German composer, Richard Strauss (not to be confused with the Viennese waltz-King, Johann Strauss Jr.) was the most powerful force in German Romanticism after Wagner. He was a highly successful conductor who composed operas and symphonic poems.

Also Sprach Zarathustra ("Zarastro Also Spoke") is a symphonic poem based on quotations describing a German "super-race" from an unfinished book by the German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche. Strauss employs an enormous orchestra including a full-sized organ [see score excerpt]. In the opening prologue entitled "Sunrise", Nietsche urges the German people to transform themselves from "night-walkers" into "day walkers";
hence Strauss' alternating minor/major musical passages depict this "dark" vs. "light".

[Structure of this excerpt]

-Segment 1: The organ's C is so low is is more felt than heard. The trumpets introduce Strauss' "nature theme", which alternates minor/major while it suddenly crescendos and decrescendos.

-Segment 2: Timpani add tremendous impact to the sound, followed by the resurgence of the trumpets (now reversing the major/minor alternation)

-Segment 3: Timpani enter again, and the trumpets play an extended version of the theme.

-Segment 4: The music gradually gains power and dynamic volume. At times, the brass are so loud that the massive sound of the organ cannot be heard distictly.

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