Chapter 18:The Late Romantics

Responses to Romanticism

Key Terms

Classicism

Double stops

Cross-rhythms

Romantic nostalgia

Parody

Round

Responses to Romanticism

After 1850, music continued to develop along Romantic lines•Seemed increasingly out of place in a world

devoted to industrialization & commerce•Music became an emotional fantasy-world for a

society that suppressed feelings in real life

Composers responded in different ways•Brahms used Classical models to temper

Romanticism’s unbridled emotionalism•Mahler’s music laments Romanticism’s loss of

innocence & credibility

The Renewal of Classicism:Brahms

Rejected many early Romantic innovations•Went back to Classical genres & forms•Wrote string quartets & other chamber works,

symphonies, and concertos•Found new life in Classical forms – sonata

form, theme & variations, rondo

Beethoven’s music was a lifelong model•Brahms was inspired by his nobility & power•Brahms tried to temper the richness & variety

of Romantic emotion with Classicism’s strength & poise

Johannes Brahms(1833-1897)

Son of a bassist in Hamburg

Started musical studies at age 7•Later played piano in taverns & wrote tunes

Met Robert & Clara Schumann at age 20•They befriended & encouraged Brahms

Part of Brahms-Wagner controversy•Signed manifesto against Wagner’s music

Uneventful bachelor existence in Vienna•Steadily wrote symphonies, concertos, piano

works, chamber music, German Requiem, etc.

Brahms, Violin Concerto in D

Concertos written to show off virtuosos•Often the composer – e.g. Mozart or Chopin•Brahms wrote this one for Joseph Joachim•Joachim helped out, even wrote 1st movement

cadenza

Brahms uses Classical movement plan•Three movements, fast-slow-fast•1st movement double-exposition sonata form•Last movement rondo form, the most common

Classical concerto ending

Brahms, Violin Concerto, III (1)

Rondo theme has a spirited gypsy-like lilt•Exoticism – gypsy fiddling popular in Vienna•Double-stops add to virtuoso fiddling effect

•Cross-rhythms at the end disrupt meter

Brahms, Violin Concerto, III (2)

Episodes provide various contrasts•Romantic sweep in B

•Lyrical tune in C

•Short cadenzas feature soloist

Brahms, Violin Concerto, III (3)

Thematic transformation in coda•Swinging march version of rondo theme (over

a drum beat) in very fast compound meter

Romantic Nostalgia: Mahler

Embraced Romanticism’s excesses•Wrote huge program symphonies, some with

solo singers and choruses•Often attempted to express profound spiritual

or metaphysical messages•He once said a symphony is “an entire world”

But he could not fully enter this Romantic fantasy world•He pits lost innocence against cynical realism•Music feels uneasy, exaggerated, distorted

Gustav Mahler(1860-1911)

Born & raised in a dysfunctional familyMusical training at Vienna ConservatoryPursued rising career as a conductor•Led many of the finest orchestras of his day•Ten years at Vienna Opera – but anti-Semitism

made for a stormy tenure there•Ended career with Metropolitan Opera & New

York Philharmonic

Could only compose during the summer•Wrote 10 long symphonies & 6 song cycles

Mahler, Symphony No. 1

At first a one-movement symphonic poem•Grew into a five-movement symphony•Finally revised into four movements

Includes fragments from his songs•Songs about lost love

Originally a program symphony•Hero overcomes distress of lost love

Individual style of orchestration•Contrapuntal melodies pass from instrument to

instrument in kaleidoscopic fashion

Third Movement:Background

March inspired by a nursery picture•The Huntsman’s Funeral Procession•Forest animals shed tears as they follow the

hearse of a hunter•Full of pomp & ceremony – torches, solemn

gowns, a banner, pallbearers, a bell, a choir, & a complement of mourners

•Why would animals mourn the death of their tormentor in such a lavish manner?

•The painting’s innocuous qualities mask its incongruities

Third Movement:Use of “Frère Jacques”

Similar incongruities pervade the March•On first hearing the music seems genuinely

solemn, mournful, perhaps even tragic•This feeling is completely deflated when you

finally recognize the tune – “Frère Jacques”!•Distortions make the tune harder to recognize•Mahler casts the tune in minor mode, slows

down the tempo, & alters a few notes•Tune introduced by the last instrument you

would expect – a bass playing in high register•Vulgar dance band phrases also deflate mood

Third Movement:Funeral March (1)

Very free march-trio-march form

Ironic funeral march & personal lament•March theme a distorted minor-key parody of

children’s round “Frère Jacques”•Trio taken from a Mahler song about lost love

March theme treated as a round•Over mournful, monotonous drumbeat

Third Movement:Funeral March (2)

Section 2 present dance-band fragments•Exaggerated, parodistic, even vulgar phrases

•Return to funeral-march motives at the end

Third Movement:Funeral March (3)

Trio offers a complete contrast•Begins with warm major-mode sounds•Trio’s theme is a delicate, lyrical melody•Tune from a nostalgic song about lost love• Its innocent quality soon turns bittersweet

Third Movement:Funeral March (4)

March returns in final section•Faster tempo with new counterpoints

•Dance-band phrases interrupt at even faster tempo for a wild moment of near chaos

•Return of funeral-march motives that ended Section 2 – the music dies away