Franz Schubert and Felix Mendelssohn

Franz Schubert (1797-1828)

• Born and raised in Vienna
• Studied composition with Antonio Salieri at the Imperial Court Chapel
• Contracted syphilis in 1822 leading to 6 years of depression
• Like Beethoven, Schubet composed 9 symphonies
  • These pushed the limits and were sophisticated, stylistically elegant and emotionally compelling
• Schubert was the most important composer of lieder
  • A lied is a song for solo voice and accompaniment, based on German poetry
  • Transformed the lied from simple to romantic
• Lieder contain 3 types of musical form
  • strophic form
  • modified strophic form
  • through-composed form
• "Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel" was composed when Schubert was 17

Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)

• Composed quickly in a tonally based style
• Mendelssohn's most famous pieces are his short, quick "songs without words"
• Introduced the concert overture
  • A 1-movement orchestral composition designed to open a concert
  • A Midsummer Night’s Dream is an example

Robert Schumann (1810-1856)

• German composer who studied piano with Friedrich Wieck
  • Wieck's daughter Clara was a child prodigy who eventually married Robert
• In the 1830s, Schumann focused on composing short piano pieces
• Over 200 lieder was written in 1840, the same year he married Clara
• Carnaval is a notable piano cycle of 21 short character pieces unified by a 4-note motive

Frederic Chopin (1810-1849)

• A child prodigy who studied composition with Josef Elsner
• Pursued a new world of music, settling in Paris in the second half of life
• Taught for 5 hours a day
• Close with Liszt
• Dated Aurore Dupin (George Sand), a novelist, in 1838
• Composed almost entirely for the piano in a highly elegant style
• Influenced by nationalism and the bel canto vocal style
• Exploited the expressive power of chromatic harmony
• Chopin's 4 categories of compositions
  • Sonatas and concertos
  • Stylized dances (mazurkas and polonaises)
  • Character pieces (waltzes, nocturnes, impromptus)
  • Virtuoso pieces (ballades and etudes)
• Nocturne translates to "night piece" - a dreamy, emotional composition
  • Chopin composed 16
  • Nocturne in D flat no. 2 a notable one with 2 contrasting themes building in second presentation

Hector Berlioz (1803-1869)

• French Romantic composer and conductor
• Compositions include orchestral works like the Symphonie fantastique and Harold in Italy

Johannes Brahms

• German Requiem op. 45 is a 7-movement work for chorus, orchestra, and soloists
• Mature style and expressive harmony
• Overall symmetrical form
• The 4th movement is a short Rondo (ABACA)

Gioacchino Rossini (1792-1868)

• Romantic Italian opera composer
• Composed The Barber of Seville, known for opera buffa style
• More lyric style with opportunities for improvisation, unlike Mozart
• Donizetti (1797-1848) and Bellini (1801-1835) are other composers of this era

Guiseppe Verdi (1813-1901)

• Composed Nabucco, a work that made him notable after a depressive period
• Verdi's La Traviata was first performed in Venice in 1853

Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924)

• Stylistically pluralistic and the prominent Italian composer

George Bizet

• French opera composer of Carmen, an opera with a unique plot
• The prelude has an ABAC structure
  • Theme one is loud and powerful
  • Theme C is the toreador march

Carl Maria von Weber

• Romantic Opera in Germany
• Der Freischütz (1821) became the first German national opera
• Euryanthe (1823) was harshly criticized for being 4 hours long

Richard Wagner (1813-1883)

• Conductor from 1843-1849
• Produced Rienzi in 1842
• Wrote important works of music philosophy in Italy around 1850

Bedřich Smetana

• Composed The Moldau, which uses themes of a River and Hunting

Gustav Mahler (1860-1911)

• Composer and conductor
• 4 song cycles with orchestral accompaniment
  • Songs of a Wayfarer
  • the youth's magic horn
  • songs on the death of children
  • the song of the earth
• Unique sound that blends opposites, such as complex and simplistic forms

Russian National School

• Laid by Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka
• A group known as the "mighty five" included Mily Balakirev and his disciples

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)

• Studied at the School of Jurisprudence
• Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet is particularly memorable

20th Century Music Overview

• Reflects the turmoil and diversity of the era

Claude Debussy (1862-1918)

• Originator of musical impressionism
• Followed Tchaikovsky by attending Wagner's operas in Bayreuth
• Only composed 1 opera
• One of the most important piano suites was Children's Corner for his daughter
• Formative influences included training at the Paris Conservatoire
• Contrasted high and low registers and blended unusual sonorities in piano music
• Debussy's Prelude a l'apres-midi d'un faune, completed in 1892, is a symphonic poem which is in ternary form (ABA’)
  • This was Debussy's first major orchestral work

Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)

• Produced piano and orchestral pieces with evocative titles
  • for example Jeux d’eau, and the collection entitled Miroirs

Expressionism

• Achieves emotional intensity through exaggeration and distortion
• Arrived in early 20th century Vienna as an outgrowth of Wagner’s extreme chromaticism
• Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951) was the first practitioner
• Disturbed melodic lines, counterpoints, harmonies and wide leaps
• Berg, Webern, and Schoenberg were dubbed the 2nd Viennese School

Schoenberg

• Pierrot Lunaire

Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971)

• Known for bold rhythms, complex meters, and unconventional harmonies
• Key Work:
  • The Firebird (1910) – A lush ballet influenced by Russian folklore
• Revolutionized 20th-century music with the use of rhythm and orchestration
• Influenced both modernist and experimental composers

Alexander Scriabin (1872-1915)

• Developed a mystical, symbolic style that reflected his philosophical and spiritual beliefs
• Pioneered the use of synthetic chords like the "Mystic Chord" (C-F#) to evoke spiritual experiences

Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943)

• Style and Innovations: Maintained a late-Romantic style with lush harmonies, melodies and emotional themes
• Key Work: -Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor (1901) showing emotional depth
• He was one of the last great Romantic composers
• His works are a staple in the concert repertoire for pianists and orchestras

Anton Webern (1883-1945) and Alban Berg (1885-1935)

• Disciples of Schoenberg

Béla Bartók (1881-1945)

• Named a successor as a piano teacher by Istvan Thoman at age 25
• Conzertized extensively in the 1920s and 1930s
• Commissions led to the composition of many major works
  • Concerto for Orchestra
  • Sonata for Solo Violin

Erik Satie (1866-1925)

• France responded to Russia’s Mighty Five with “Les Six” publishing a piano album
• It was was inspired by Satie

Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953)

• Style and Characteristics: Known for bold harmonies, driving rhythms, and a mix of lyricism and sarcasm
• Key Works:
  • Romeo and Juliet (1935-1936) Dramatic ballet using powerful orchestration
  • Piano Concertos Notably No. 3

Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992)

• Explored religious themes and nature in his works
  • Used birdsong transcriptions and unique rhythmic patterns from non-Western music
• Key Works:
  • Quartet for the End of Time (1941) Composed in a WWII prison camp
  • Turangalîla-Symphonie (1946-48) a large-scale orchestral work using color

György Ligeti (1923-2006)

• Known for micropolyphony (dense, overlapping textures) and experimental techniques
• Utilized clusters of sound over melodies
• Key Work: -Requiem (1963-65) A choral work with intense dissonance -Études for Piano (1985-2001) Complex and virtuosic exploring rhythmic and textural possibilities

American Classical Composers "Mighty Five"

• Charles Ives (1874-1954)
  • Used polyrhythms, tone clusters, and many other experiments
• Aaron Copland (1900-1990)
• Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990)
• John Cage (1912-1992)
• George Crumb (1929-2022)
• Steve Reich (b. 1936)