Romantic Composers: Spohr, Beethoven, Paganini

• The emotional and dramatic compositions of late Classical composers like Beethoven inspired a generation of Romantic composers.
• Music became a way of expressing emotions and ideas for the Romantics.
• Inspired by nature, country's music, and history, they experimented with new rich harmonies.
• The 19th century was the start of Europe's age of exploration, discovery, new scientific ideas, the Industrial Revolution and colonial expansion.

Louis Spohr (1784-1859)

• A German composer and violinist.
• Influenced many Romantic composers by combining structured Classical forms with expressive, rich-sounding harmonies.
• Spohr wrote more than 90 songs inspired by love poems.
• He was one of the first to use a baton as a conductor.

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)

• An image of the musician is present.

Niccolò Paganini (1782-1840)

• An Italian composer, an outstanding violinist.
• Technically challenging, imaginative, well-crafted violin solos inspired Romantic composers.
• Composers began to use instrumental brilliance as a way of conveying expression in their music because of Paganini.
• A signed score made by Paganini in 1829 is shown.

Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826)

• Weber's opera Der Freischütz, first performed in 1821, marked the beginning of German Romantic opera.
• Weber showed how opera could be based on national folk tales and folk tunes.
• Mountain Out of the Mist, 1865, by Albert Bierstadt, inspired Romantic artists.

Early Romantic Period

• Romantic composers were inspired by drama and poetry.

Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)

• Mendelssohn was inspired by his musical sister, Fanny (1805-1847).
• At age 17, Mendelssohn composed A Midsummer's Night's Dream, the first of his many concert overtures, or short orchestral works.

Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849)

• A brilliant pianist.
• Chopin composed short, melodic pieces, including those based on Polish dances.
• He is famous for composing the Minute Waltz, which some pianists try to play in one minute.

Emilie Mayer (1812-1883)

• Like many Romantic composers, Mayer often used existing stories and poems as themes for her songs.
• She composed pieces for a full orchestra, which was rare for a woman at that time.

Franz Schubert (1797-1828)

• By age 17, Schubert was composing exciting and adventurous melodies.
• He broke away from the Classical style and composed emotional, imaginative music more typical of the Romantic style.
• He died young at 31 but composed a huge amount of music.
• He is especially known for his German art-songs or Lieder - poems set to music for singer and pianist.

The Piano in the 19th Century

• The piano had developed its full, rich tone, and became a popular instrument in the home.
• Brass instruments now had valves so they could play a larger range of music.
• Improved instruments gave Romantic composers a greater variety of sound.

Middle and Late Romantic Period

Anton Bruckner (1824-1896)

• This Austrian composer wrote nine famous large-scale symphonies.
• The long sections allowed his music to develop slowly, giving the pieces a spiritual quality of sound.

César-Auguste Franck (1822-1890)

• Franck was a Belgian composer.
• He influenced the revival of the traditional structured symphony.
• He used "cyclic form" in music, where several movements had themes linked to a main melody motif.

Franz Liszt (1811-1886)

• Liszt was a composer of Hungarian Rhapsodies
• He introduced the term "symphonic poem" for a large-scale, one-movement piece of music taken from a dramatic play, historical event, or mythology.

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)

• A German composer, Brahms rejected new Romantic forms.
• He composed masterpieces in the Baroque and Classical style developed from J.S. Bach to Beethoven.

Georges Bizet (1838-1875)

• Bizet was a French opera composer.
• Bizet is known for his opera Carmen performed in 1875 which shocked audiences.
• The opera included lifelike characters and realistic on-stage murder.

Richard Strauss (1864-1949)

• Strauss was a masterful storyteller.
• He began his musical career composing songs and symphonic poems, such as Don Juan.
• He ended composing great operas, such as Der Rosenkavalier ("The Knight of the Rose").

Explore Romantic composers like Louis Spohr, Ludwig van Beethoven and Niccolò Paganini. Spohr, a German composer and violinist, influenced many. Beethoven's dramatic compositions inspired many. Paganini's violin solos inspired Romantic composers.