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Terms
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- Bayreuth
- To the north of the city of Bayreuth is the “Bayreuth Festspielhausâ€, an opera house specially constructed for and exclusively devoted to the performance of Wagner's operas. The premieres of Wagner’s Ring Cycle and of Parsifal took place here.
- Beaumarchais
- An eighteenth-century play-writer best known for his three Figaro plays. Two of these plays were used as the basis for operas by Mozart and Rossini.
- Bel canto
- Elegant Italian vocal style of the early nineteenth century marked by lyrical, embellished, and florid melodies that show off the beauty, agility, and fluency of the singer’s voice
- Chromaticism
- The use of many notes from the chromatic scale in a passage or piece
- Clara Wieck
- A German musician, composer, and one of the most distinguished pianists of the Romantic era. Her husband was composer Robert Schumann.
- Concert Etude
- An instrumental piece, designed to develop a particular skill or performing technique, which contains significant artistic content and is played in concerts
- Daemonic
- Forces guided by the devil (i.e. Kaspar, Samiel, Mephistopheles, etc)
- Davidsbundler
- “The League of Davidâ€; Schumann’s imaginary music society found in his writings, created to defend the cause of contemporary music against its detractors; Schumann occasionally mentioned the group in his music, such as in the finale of Carnaval
- Dumas fils
- Nineteenth century author and dramatist who wrote The Lady of the Camellias, which Verdi’s La Traviata was based on
- Eusebius/Florestan
- These two main members of “The League of David†were supposed to symbolize the extroverted/masculine (Florestan) and introspective/feminine (Eusebius) sides of Schumann’s personality
- Exoticism
- Nineteenth-century trend in which composers wrote music that evoked feelings and settings of distant lands or foreign cultures
- Gesamtkunstwerk
- Term coined by Richard Wagner for a dramatic work in which poetry, scenic design, staging, action, and music all work together toward one artistic expression
- Goethe
- German author who wrote the two-part drama, Faust, which was the inspiration for operas and oratorios by Schumann, Berlioz, and Gounod, as well as symphonic works by Liszt, Wagner, and Mahler
- Heinrich Heine
- One of the most significant German romantic poets, remembered chiefly for selections of his lyric poetry; his poems were set to music in the form of lieder (art songs) by German composers. For example, his Buch der Lieder (Book of Songs, 1827) was set to music in Schumann’s Dichterliebe.
- Leitmotif
- In an opera or music drama, a motive or theme associated with a person, thing, mood, or idea, which returns in original or altered form throughout
- Libretto
- Literary text for an opera or other musical stage work
- Liebstod
- "Love's Death"; in the opera Tristan und Isolde by Wagner, it is the final, dramatic song of the opera, as Isolde mourns over the body of Tristan. When used as a literary term, liebestod refers to the theme of erotic death or "love death" meaning the two lovers' consummation of their love in death or after death.
- Mazeppa
- Ivan Mazaeppa, a Ukrainian man whom Lord Byron wrote a poem about and Franz Liszt subsequently based a symphonic poem off of
- Mazurka
- A type of Polish folk dance in triple meter, characterized by accents on the second or third beat and often by dotted figures on the first beat, or a stylized piano piece based on such a dance.
- Nocturne
- Type of short piano piece popular during the romantic period, marked by highly embellished melody, sonorous accompaniments, and a contemplative mood.
- Pierrot/Harlequin
- Stock characters of Commedia Del Arte Pierrot’s character is that of the clown; he is naïve, foolish, and oblivious; he is portrayed in the second part of Schumann’s piano composition Carnaval Harlequin is a comic servant character portrayed in the third part of Schumann’s piano composition Carnaval
- Rubato
- Technique common in romantic music in which the performer holds back or hurries the written note values
- Transcription
- Arrangement of a piece for an instrumental medium different from the original, such as a reduction of an orchestral score for piano
- Verismo
- Nineteenth-century operatic movement that presents everyday people in familiar situations, often depicting sordid or brutal events
- Virtuoso
- Performer who specializes in one instrument and dazzles audiences with his or her technical prowess
- Revolutionary Etude, Op 10, No 12
- Chopin, 1830
- Nocturne in Db, Op. 27 No. 2
- Chopin, 1840
- Carnaval
- Schumann, 1840
- Dichterliebe
- Schumann, 1840
- Transcendental Etudes After Paganini: La Campanella
- Liszt, 1850
- The Barber of Seville
- Rossini, 1830 -Overture -Act I: Largo di factotum (Figaro) -Act I: Una voce poco fa
- Der Freischutz
- Weber, 1820 -Overture -Act II: Finale, Wolf's Glen Scene
- La Traviata
- Verdi, 1850 -Prelude to Act I -Act III, Scene and Duet (Alfredo and Violetta)
- Tristan Und Isolde
- Wagner, 1860 -Prelude to Act I -Act I: Scene V, The Love Potion
- Carmen
- Bizet, 1870 -Prelude to Act I -Act I: L'amour est un oiseau rebelle -Act I: Seguidilla and Duet
- Schumann's Writings on Chopin and Brahms
- Chopin Opus 2: Though young, Schumann used Eusebius and Florestan to promote Chopin as a genius. Brahms: Schumann also promoted a young Brahms, commenting on his daemonic piano pieces, lieder with deep vocal melody, etc.
- Large Romantic Genres
- Symphony, Chamber Work, Symphonic Poem, Concerto
- Small Romantic Genres
- Lied, song cycle, piano piece
- Piano Pieces
- Ballade, Scherzo, Nocturne, Intermezzo, Rhapsody, Etude, Prelude, Song Without Words
- Absolute vs. Poetic Music
- For the supporters of "absolute" music, formal perfection rested on musical expression that obeys the schematics laid down in previous works, most notably the sonata form then being codified. To the adherents of program music, the rhapsodic expression of poetry or some other external text was, itself, a form. They argued that for the artist to bring his life into a work, the form must follow the narrative. Both sides used Beethoven as inspiration and justification. The rift was exemplified by the conflict between followers of Johannes Brahms and Richard Wagner: Brahms' disciples took him to be a pinnacle of absolute music, while Wagnerites put their faith in the poetic "substance" shaping the harmonic and melodic flow of his music.