Lesson video

Hello, welcome to today's lesson entitled "The Romantic period." My name is Mr. Norris.

Today, we're going to be delving into this really important period of the Western Classical Tradition, looking at how composers were innovating and changing things from the Classical period that came before and exploring some really interesting examples.

Let's get to it.

Our outcome for today's lesson is I can identify key features of music in the Romantic period and analyze a broad range of Romantic genres.

Some keywords.

First is Romantic period, and this is the period of Western Classical music between roughly 1820 and 1910.

Programme music.

This is music that tells a story or creates an image of something.

Chromatic.

These are notes that are from outside the key, which create more complex harmony.

Leitmotif.

This is a short musical idea that represents a character, a place, or an idea.

And finally, virtuosic.

This is music that shows off a performer's technical skill.

The first part of today's lesson is looking at key features of Romantic music.

In the Romantic period, which is roughly 1820 to 1910, music became much more dramatic, emotional, and complex.

The symmetrical, balanced music of the Classical period gradually gave way to less restrained music in which composers often expressed intense emotions.

Composers such as Tchaikovsky, Brahms, or Liszt often took inspiration from poetry, literature, and nature.

So they were inspired by things from outside of music.

And although the word "Romantic" suggests links with love or romance, this is a bit misleading.

The name actually comes from a related group of artists and writers who were exploring similar artistic ideas to the Romantic composers around emotion, around nature, and other things as well.

So don't think that this is about romance and love.

It's not really about that at all.

We're going to explore now some of the key defining musical features of the Romantic period.

A key characteristic of this period is the use of chromatic harmony.

This is where notes from outside of the key are used, creating more complex harmony.

And this suits the expressive, emotive style of Romantic composers, because using chromatic harmony creates these intense clashes and dissonance that create really effective emotional music.

This famous melody uses complex chromatic harmony, and the result is intense and it's emotional.

If you look at the notation there, you can see there's some flats, some naturals as well, so those are the chromatic notes that don't fit with the key signature.

Let's pause my video and listen to this and see if you can hear how that chromatic harmony creates this really emotional, intense melody.

As well as the harmony becoming more complex, most aspects of music became more complex and more varied in this period.

This includes more complex and varied textures.

For example, one piece might contain many different textures over its course.

Timbre.

Composers experimented with different combinations of instruments and also different ways of playing them.

Structure.

Composers created more complex structures than what came before, and in many cases, you got much longer pieces of music.

And tempo and rhythm, where performers increasingly used rubato, when they slow down and speed up to add expression.

So all these together helped to portray emotion and drama more effectively, and that's fundamentally what the composers here were looking for was being more expressive through their music.

Another theme in the period is the use of programme music.

This is where composers tell stories and paint pictures through their music.

So where music is trying to represent something else.

Many composers were inspired by nature or by literature and art, and they used music as a way of communicating messages or stories, so trying to tell stories.

Now this covered a really broad spectrum of music.

At one end of programme music, composers represented a character or an idea or an image broadly in their music.

So for example, in the "Mephisto Waltz," which is by the composer Franz Liszt, he conjures up an image of Mephisto, who is a mischievous and chaotic demon.

How does this music here suit this strange, chaotic, mischievous character? Pause my video and see if you can think of a few ways it does that.

And you might have said here then that the rhythms, the articulation and the dynamics all sound chaotic because they are constantly changing.

That suits this idea of this demon with this really mischievous character.

And the harmony is chromatic and a bit unusual, which creates a sense of something strange, which suits this idea of this demon from another world.

So there, the composer is using these musical elements to try and represent broadly this character.

At the other end of the spectrum in programme music, composers told really detailed stories through music.

So in "Symphonia Domestica," Richard Strauss portrays stories from his home life with his family and he tries to tell them almost quite literally.

He represents characters, for example, his child and his wife, with their own musical themes, and these themes are called leitmotifs.

Leitmotifs are a really common technique in programme music.

Characters, places, or ideas are represented by them, by these musical themes.

So when the leitmotifs are used or when they are changed, the listener can try to piece together the story.

If they know that this theme represents that character, then when that theme is heard, we're picturing this character in our head and trying to work out what the story is telling us.

This leitmotif here represents Strauss's child playing.

Have a look at it and let's have a listen to it.

Why does it suit the character of a child playing? Let's have a listen.

(light-hearted oboe music) Just have a quick think.

Why do you think that suits the idea of a child playing? What about it fits that character? And you might have thought some of these points.

There are fast rhythms and there's staccato articulation, which creates a really light, playful, energetic mood which suits that image of a young child playing.

And the major tonality makes it feel positive and innocent.

Again, fitting that idea of a child playing.

It's not serious and dark and heavy.

It's quite light, playful, and positive.

Listen to this longer section of the composition and see if you can pick out the leitmotif here.

Can you identify which instrument is playing it? And why does that choice of instrument suit the character of a young child? So what is it about the timbre of that instrument that fits with this image of a young child? Pause my video and have a listen.

And hopefully there, you spotted that it was played on the oboe.

And this suits the young child because it has a light timbre and a high pitch, which help it feel innocent and playful.

If that was played on a powerful low-pitched tuba, it wouldn't have that same feeling of innocence and playfulness.

So composers have to think about all these different aspects when they're writing programme music to try and represent these characters and tell these stories as effectively, through the different musical elements, as they could.

Let's check your understanding.

What was the overarching theme of Romantic music? Was it that music became more about technical perfection? It became more about emotional expression? It became more about being useful? Or that it was about love and romance? I'll give you a few seconds.

And the correct answer here is, it became more about emotional expression.

So composers were all looking for different ways to express emotions, be really expressive through their music.

It was not about love and romance.

Remember, that's a common misconception.

That was just the name given to the movement, the Romantic movement.

What is programme music? Is it music that changes mood often? Music that is part of a larger work? Or music that represents something? I'll give you a few seconds to choose the answer.

And the correct answer here is, programme music is music that represents something.

It tells a story, it paints a picture, or it represents a character.

In the Romantic period, lots of music was virtuosic, and this means it was designed to show off the technical capabilities of a performer.

So it's trying to show off their skills.

Listen to this extract from a piano concerto from this period.

What aspects of the music make the performer sound impressive? Which aspects are virtuosic? Pause my video and have a listen.

And you might have picked up on the fast rhythms, the dramatic chords, and the complex scales and arpeggios.

These all sound very impressive and virtuosic, showing off that performer's skill.

And this is a really typical example of how virtuosic music was written.

It also uses the whole range of the piano's dynamics and pitch, so it sounds quite impressive to listen to.

A final characteristic is the increasing use of national ideas in music.

Many composers tried to represent nations or groups of people through their music.

And often, this meant using traditional folk melodies or rhythms as the basis of their composition.

For example, in his "Hungarian Rhapsodies," the Hungarian composer Franz Liszt used Hungarian folk melodies and rhythms as the basis of his music.

As these were traditional melodies, traditional folk melodies, they were often based on scales or modes that were not commonly used in the Western Classical Tradition.

So they sounded slightly different to your typical Classical melodies.

Can you pick out the folk melody here that's played by the strings and woodwind? Pause my video and see if you can pick it out.

Let's check your understanding.

Which are characteristics of the Romantic period? And here, I'd like you to choose all that apply.

Expressive, emotive, and dramatic moods.

Representing ideas or stories.

Simple harmony and texture.

And virtuosic playing.

I'll give you a few seconds to choose all that apply.

And the correct answers here are expressive, emotive, and dramatic moods, representation of ideas or stories, and virtuosic playing.

Definitely not simple harmony and texture.

Remember, music was becoming much more complex and varied in this period, so we'd expect to hear quite a complex harmony in many cases and more varied textures.

Which of these is not a Romantic composer? Liszt, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, or Brahms. Choose the one that's not a Romantic composer.

And the correct answer is Beethoven.

He was a Classical composer.

The other three, Liszt, Tchaikovsky, and Brahms, were all iconic Romantic-period composers, So, for Task A, listen to this extract and answer the questions.

How is the harmony typical of Romantic music? This music shows off the performer's skill.

What is the term for this? This piece represents the legend of Mazeppa, who is a man who's punished by being tied to a wild horse.

How does the music suit this story? Think about how the musical elements fit this story.

And finally, which year is this most likely to have been composed? 1765, 1815, 1865, or 1915.

You can pause my video now.

Give this task your best shot.

Let's go through this task.

So for question one, the harmony is typical because it's complex, chromatic harmony.

You might have mentioned that it was using notes from outside of the key.

It shows off the performer's skill.

That is called virtuosic music.

Now, it suits the story of the legend of Mazeppa.

There's lots of things you could have said here.

Some of the main ones are, you might have said it sounds chaotic, there are fast rhythms and dramatic articulation, and these features create a feeling of chaos, speed and action.

You might have mentioned the fast tempo and the dramatic dynamics as well.

So all of these combine to help paint this picture of this story.

And which year is this most likely to have been composed? Well, the answer is 1865 because that's the only date from those four that falls within the Romantic period.

Remember, it's 1820 to 1910.

So well done if you picked that one.

Now we're going to move on to look at orchestral music in the Romantic period.

The orchestra was a key ensemble of the Romantic period and it expanded to a larger size than the Classical orchestra.

Large Romantic orchestras could include four or more of each normal woodwind and brass instrument.

So that means four clarinets, four bassoons, four trumpets, four trombones, and so on.

And often, in many cases, it would be more than that.

And also, additions such as the piccolo, the bass clarinet and the cor anglais.

So the brass and woodwind sections grew and became more varied with these extra instruments.

The percussion section also became larger and more varied, using a wide array of different instruments.

And sometimes, we get the harp and the piano, which became more commonly used.

The string section also grew even further in terms of size.

So you get these huge Romantic orchestras.

This expanded orchestra gave composers a very powerful ensemble, if it wanted to, could play with real intensity and drama, but also, it could create a wide range of different timbres because it's got all these different instruments to choose from.

This perfectly suited the demands of Romantic music, to create emotive, expressive, and dramatic music.

This also gave increased importance to the woodwind and brass section, who often now played the main melodic lines.

So they became more important in the orchestra in the Romantic period.

This composition by Gustav Mahler perfectly illustrates this.

It's known as the "Symphony of a Thousand" because it is written for such a large orchestra with a choir as well.

Although often it's not quite a thousand people that are on stage.

It's slightly exaggerated, that.

Have a listen to it.

What is the effect of this huge ensemble playing together? Pause my video and have a listen.

And clearly there, that huge ensemble creates this intense, powerful music.

And that's what Mahler was going for here was this really dramatic, exciting music.

In the Romantic period, composers continued to write orchestral genres that were popular in the Classical period.

So the symphony remained a very popular choice.

Many Romantic symphonies still used the typical four-movement structure that we had in the Classical periods.

So the sonata-form first movement, the slow second movement, the light, fast dance-like third movement, and then the fast and energetic, exciting fourth movement.

Often, the movements in Romantic symphonies were much longer and some composers avoided this four-movement structure altogether.

So some composers decided to get rid of the structure, create their own structures that better suited the purpose of their composition.

Which movement do you think this is from? And what tells you that it's a Romantic symphony rather than a Classical one? Pause my video.

Have a listen.

Hopefully there, you guessed that that's from the fourth movement because it's fast-paced and it's very dramatic.

It's very exciting.

And the chromatic harmony, the complex melodies, and the large orchestra suggest that this is a Romantic symphony instead of a Classical one.

So well done if you identified some of those features.

The concerto was the ideal genre for showing off technical skill.

So many Romantic concertos were highly virtuosic.

Remember, virtuosic means showing off the performer's skill.

Most concertos still used the traditional three-movement fast-slow-fast structure.

Listen to this example by Max Bruch, who was a German composer.

What features of the violin melody would you describe as virtuosic? Pause my video and have a listen.

And there are a few things you could have mentioned here.

You might have mentioned the fast arpeggios, the scales and trills, all of which sound technically impressive.

There's the complex technique.

So for example, it uses double-stopping, playing multiple strings at once.

That shows great technical skill.

And there's the use of the full range of the violin as well.

So we're going up to incredibly high notes and really exploring the possibilities of the instrument.

These are all typical ways that concertos were virtuosic in the Romantic period.

One key development in Romantic orchestral music was the growth of the tone poem.

This is usually a single movement of programme music that tells a story or represents an idea or image through music.

So rather than being a symphony with separate movements, often it's just one long movement or one long movement with different sections within it.

Many tone poems used leitmotifs to represent characters, places, or ideas.

Remember, leitmotif is a musical idea that represents one of those.

Listen to this tone poem that tells the story of witches gathering on a wild mountain at night.

How do the musical features help to set that scene and paint that picture effectively? Pause my video and have a listen.

And hopefully, you identified some of these.

We've got the minor tonality and the chromatic harmony that creates a dark, sinister mood, suitable for this setting of witches gathering on a wild mountain.

And then we've got fast scales, sudden changes in dynamics and pitch which create a sense of wild weather and a really wild, dramatic setting.

So all these features are used by the composer to paint this picture in this tone poem.

Let's check your understanding.

Which two genres of orchestral music were popular in both the Classical and Romantic periods? Symphony, tone poem, or concerto.

Choose two.

I'll give you a few seconds to do so.

And the two genres that were popular in both periods were the symphony and concerto.

The tone poem really came into its own in the Romantic period.

It was not really a thing in the Classical period.

So well done if you chose those two.

Identify two ways that the orchestra changed in the Romantic period.

You can pause my video while you think of these.

And here, we could have said, there's a larger woodwind, brass, percussion, and string sections.

So all four sections grew in size.

There was a greater variety of instruments.

Things like the cor anglais, the piccolo, the bass clarinet were much more common.

And there was also the addition of the harp and piano you could have said as well.

Now for Task B, you're going to listen to each of these extracts and answer the questions.

First is from "Symphony No.

5" by Mahler.

Now this is from the first movement of a symphony.

What would you expect the structure of this movement to be? And then identify two aspects of the instrumentation that tells you this is from a Romantic symphony.

The second is from "Vltava" by Smetana, who was a Czech composer.

First question is, what is programme music? And then, this music portrays a river.

I'd like you to identify two ways that the music evokes this image, growing from small springs to a huge, powerful river.

So the music follows this evolving river down its course.

You can pause my video now and give this task your best shot.

Okay, let's review this task.

So, for Extract A, the structure we'd expect it to have would be sonata form.

You might have said exposition, development and recapitulation, which are the three sections of sonata form.

Remember, that's typical of a first movement of a symphony.

Two aspects of the instrumentation that tells it's a Romantic symphony.

You could have said a large brass section.

A large woodwind section.

A large percussion section.

Or you might have said that the brass, woodwind and percussion have prominent roles, more so than you'd expect in earlier periods.

You might have also said that the size of the overall orchestra is huge.

So we can hear that it's a really large orchestra playing here, which, remember, is one of the things that happened in the Romantic period.

Programme music is music that tells a story, paints a picture, or represents something musically.

And in this case, this piece is representing a river.

It does that because the multiple swirling woodwind melodies create an image of lots of swirling currents and streams. So the woodwind parts try to imitate the movement of the water.

The swells in the dynamics mimic the movement of water as well, and waves brushing up against the side.

And the gradual thickening of the texture matches a river growing in size.

So this piece tells the story of this river growing from small streams up to a huge, powerful, forceful river, and the texture tries to match that as well.

Hopefully there, you can see a few ways that Smetana was trying to present that image of this river musically.

Finally, we're going to move on to look at Romantic piano music.

The piano was one of the most important instruments in the Romantic period.

It was popular with composers due to its wide pitch range, which was bigger than any other instrument.

There's no other instrument that can play quite as high and low as a piano.

Its wide dynamic range.

It can play very loud, but it can also play very quietly.

Its ability to play complex textures or multiple lines at once.

And its ability to play it in a virtuosic style.

And all of these features made it perfect for Romantic composers who could exploit those different abilities to create expressive, virtuosic, and emotive music.

So it became one of the key instruments of the period.

Just like in the Classical period, the piano sonata remained popular.

And in the Romantic period, composers generally kept the same three-movement structure, but they often experimented with it by changing it in different ways.

However, whereas the sonata was the main solo piano genre in the Classical period, in the Romantic period, composers created and explored many more varied genres.

So it was an important genre, but there were many others that the composers were exploring as well.

These included piano miniatures, which are very short, single-movement compositions that briefly explore a mood or emotion.

So rather than having this long, complex musical journey of a sonata, they're sort of sound bites.

They are little short snippets that might just last one or two minutes long, exploring something very specific.

In this example that you're going to listen to now, the composer Robert Schumann tries to create the mood of a dream.

Have a listen to it and see if you can think about some of the ways that the composer is trying to create that mood of a dream.

Pause my video now.

And there you might have picked up on the gentle dynamics, the sort of soothing mood and rhythms of it that create this sort of dreamlike, sleepy state.

Other popular genres for composers on the piano in this period included dances.

And this one is an example of a waltz.

Pause my video.

See if you can feel the dance-like rhythms that are used in this one.

Another genre was the study or etude.

And these were virtuosic showpieces.

They were written to encourage performers to practice and improve and show off their technical skills.

So they were often highly virtuosic and sound very impressive.

Have a listen to this example and see if you can hear some of those virtuosic features.

Pause my video now.

Some other genres included rhapsodies and nocturnes, which were genres that were designed to create very distinct moods.

For example, a nocturne is a short composition that evokes the night and tries to create a sense of the night.

Pause my video.

Have a think about how this example achieves that.

And these are just some of the many different genres of piano music in the period.

All of them explored the dynamic and pitch range of the instrument to exploit its expressive power.

And while the sonata was still an important genre, as we can see, there are lots of different genres that piano composers were exploring.

True or false? The piano sonata was not used in the Romantic period.

I'll give you a few seconds.

And the correct answer here is false.

And that's because it was one of many different genres that were used for the piano.

Yes, it was still important, but there were many others as well.

Now, some of the key composers of the Romantic period were highly skilled on the piano, and one particularly important figure was Frederic Chopin, who we can see in that image there.

He wrote hundreds of piano compositions, including sonatas, concertos and many different types of miniature, like some of those examples we've just been looking at.

We're going to analyze his famous "Raindrop" prelude.

And a prelude is just another genre of piano composition from the time.

Now, that prelude opens with a lyrical melody with a simple accompaniment.

I'd like you to listen to the accompaniment in this clip.

Why do you think many people call this the "Raindrop" prelude? Pause my video and have a listen.

And you might have heard there that constant, repeating note that goes throughout, which is an A-flat, that has been interpreted to imitate the gentle sound of constant, repeating raindrops on the roof.

Well done if you managed to make that link.

Performers often use rubato when they're performing this.

This is where you bend the tempo to speed up and slow down, adding expression.

Pause my video and listen to this example.

Can you hear the changes in tempo that the performer creates through that use of rubato here? Have a listen.

Now in the second section, the mood becomes much darker and more ominous.

Have a listen to this clip.

Have a think about how Chopin manages to create that contrasting mood.

What are some of the ways he uses musical elements here to create that contrast? Pause my video and have a listen.

And you might have picked up there on the minor tonality.

So it goes from a major key to a minor key, and the very low-pitched melody that creates a sense of something darker and more ominous.

I'd like you to listen to that same clip again.

Can you identify the feature that's being carried over from the first section? Pause my video and see if you can pick it out.

So well done if you spotted that that repeating raindrop sound, the A-flat, plays all the way through both sections, which creates continuity.

So it's a really interesting musical feature that Chopin's used here.

He's managed to get that repeating note going throughout pretty much the entire piece, even with this contrast in the different sections.

The final section ends back in the original major key, so it creates a ternary form, A, and then contrasting B, and then back to A.

It develops the original melody slightly, and uses lots of rubato.

And unusually for Romantic piano music, the harmony isn't very chromatic here.

However, Chopin does decorate the melody with some fast chromatic notes in this final section.

Pause my video, have a listen, and see if you can hear some of those elaborate decorations of the melody where he uses some fast chromatic notes to add a little bit of embellishment to the melody.

Pause my video.

Have a listen.

So to summarize, this "Raindrop" prelude by Chopin encompasses many typical features of Romantic piano music.

It has highly expressive melodies.

It uses rubato, that bending and speeding up and slowing down of time.

It exploits both the dynamic and the pitch ranges of the piano, using very high and very low notes, and also using louds and quiets to create contrast and emotion.

And it attempts to convey a specific mood, emotion or image.

That's really one of the defining features of Romantic piano music.

However, this isn't as virtuosic as a lot of Romantic piano music.

It doesn't show off the technical skill of the performer in the way that some Romantic piano music does.

And the harmony is also not as chromatic as some Romantic piano music.

Let's check your understanding.

Which is not a typical feature of Romantic piano music? Is it chromatic harmony? Conveying a specific mood, emotion, or image? Use of rubato? Or a narrow range of dynamics and pitch? Give you a few seconds to choose which one is not a typical feature of Romantic piano music.

And the correct answer here is, the narrow range of dynamics and pitch.

You'd expect Romantic piano music to have a large or a wide range of dynamics and pitch, really exploiting the capabilities of the instrument.

Which of these Romantic composers was particularly well known for his piano compositions? Was it Tchaikovsky, Wagner, or Chopin? I'll give you a few seconds.

And the correct answer here is Chopin.

Both of the others did compose for piano, but Chopin was the one who was really particularly well known for his piano compositions, and the majority of his most famous music is written for piano.

For Task C, I'd like you to analyze this extract from a Romantic piano piece.

The title is "Waltz." What does this suggest about it? Identify one way that the composer exploits the capabilities of the piano.

Identify two other musical features that are typical of Romantic piano music.

And then name a composer who might have written this.

You can pause my video, test your knowledge of Romantic piano music here, and give this your best shot.

Let's review Task C.

So the title "Waltz" suggests it is based on a dance.

It has this upbeat, light, dance-like feeling.

One way that the composer exploits the capabilities of the piano, you might have mentioned that it uses a large pitch range or it uses a large dynamic range.

You could have also said that it involves very fast technical playing that the piano is well suited to playing.

Two other musical features that are typical of Romantic piano music, where you could have said there's a virtuosic style.

There's these fast scales and runs that is often a defining feature of Romantic piano music.

There's the use of rubato, that slight speeding up and slowing down of the tempo to add expression.

There's the use of chromatic notes, those notes from outside the key.

And there's the short miniature form as well.

So it's not a long sonata, a long composition that goes on a big, musical journey.

It's quite a short, compact piece that explores a specific mood or emotion.

You can also mention that it's highly expressive.

The melody is really expressive and emotive.

And name a composer who might have written this.

Well, if you said Chopin, well done because that was the correct answer.

That was by Chopin.

But equally, if you guessed Liszt or Schumann, Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky, or Brahms, they would've all been good guesses.

Any of the main Romantic composers would've been a good guess here.

Let's review today's lesson then.

In the Romantic period, composers often focused on creating dramatic, emotive and highly expressive music.

It used complex chromatic harmony and varied textures, timbres and articulation to create vivid musical moods.

Many composers wrote programme music, using techniques like leitmotif to tell stories or evoke images through music.

The orchestra became larger and more powerful and, as well as symphonies and concertos, tone poems became a key genre.

Remember, that's a single-movement style of programme music.

And finally, the piano was important, with composers like Chopin exploiting its expressive and virtuosic qualities in various different genres.

So that brings us to the end of our exploration of the Romantic period.

Hopefully now, you feel like you've got a better grasp of what this period was all about.

And hopefully, you're also feeling inspired to explore some of the music from this period.

I think it's some of the richest and most interesting music of the Western Classical Tradition.

There's so much intense, powerful, dramatic, really emotive music from this period that I strongly encourage you to go and explore.

And when you're doing that, think about some of these features that we've been talking about today, thinking about how composers using those different elements to portray images in programme music or to create specific emotions or moods as well.

Thanks for taking part in today's lesson and I hope to see you in another one.