ROMANTICISM

MUSIC

Material AICLE Material. 2nd ESO: Romanticism Music 5

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 1.Main Characteristics of the Romanticism

Activity 1
a)Think about these words.
What is more romantic for you?

b)Write them in the proper column.

PROSE - POETRY

FEELINGS – FACTS AND THINGS

OBJECTIVE – SUBJECTIVE

REALITY – IMAGINATION

TOWN – FIELD

MUSIC – NOVEL

IT SEEMS MORE ROMANTIC IT SEEMS LESS ROMANTIC

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Activity 2
Work in groups of two.

a)Compare information and talk about your

conclusions.

b)At the end, both of you should explain your

conclusions to the rest of the class.

-In our opinion…….

-We think that…..

-We aren’t sure, but….

Activity 3
a)read a text about the Romanticism era.

b)Complete the mind map with relevant

facts from the text.

Historial and Social context of Romanticism 1820 – 1880

The idea of Romanticism is almost the opposite to Classicalism. In romanticism,
the imagination is more important than reason, and intuition over
preconception.

The importance of feeling and imagination is that it helps the development of

sensitivity and passion – stimulating and allowing a freer style.

Another feature was the concern for nature, and admiration for the innocence of
rural people. The like for rural life forms part of romanticism's melancholy.

The values of the society were aimed at achieving a freedom that they never
had before. Freedom in work, in love, in expressing feelings and life in general. It
is a passionate society with many dreams, who try to fulfill them through
revolutions.

It is a vital attitude which manifests inall aspects of life and its forms, in art,
politics, religion, literature, poetry and music amonsgt others.

It seeks freedom in ideas, feelings, in expressions and issues, seeking humanity,

the nationalism, the heroic, the divine and the extraordinary.

In politics and social ideas, it identifies with liberalism, constructing a replica of

bourgois society against the excesses of absolute monarchy.

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 The Earth isn't seen through the eyes of the taxman, but from an aesthetic
view. It is in this way that observed landscapes are described as "the worst land
but the most beautiful, dark and lonely corners (...)"; it is evident that the
romantic author and thinker will be quickly rejected by the elite as an individual
dreamer, lazy, a misfit, a vagabond and therefore unproductive.

Some characteristics of the romantic type are:

-Romanticism and youth go together.
-The majority of them die early.
-Nervous temperament, sensitive and good at communicating through art
and aesthetics.
-Bold spirit, more brilliant than profound.
-Original in literary expression and their manners, dress, lexis, in their attitude
to life, in their relationships and principles relating to love, marriage and
death.
-The romantic considers his contemporaries who are backward in their morals,
social and artistic principles – calling them 'bourgeois', hence a certain anti-
bourgeois tone present in the works of a number of romantic authors with
varying intensity.

The protest of the romantics signals the unconformity against all existing and
vague longing for something more. The role of reason as inspiration an guide had
disappeared for the romantics, leaving them only with their imagination and
sensitivity.

Nationalism chronology imagination feelings

rural life bourgeois

ROMANTICISM

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 2.Romantic Music characteristics
Work with your partner.

Here are some sentences which describe features of

ROMANTIC music and CLASSICAL music.

a)Think about them and organise them into two

groups.

b)Write the Romantic ones in the Table at

the end.

-Music used simple melodies C

- Extreme subjectivism, which produced a progressive disintegration of form and harmony.R

- Idea of artistic freedom. The composer wanted a ‘free’ language so that feelings could be
conveyed.. R

-Changes in dynamics happened gradually throughout the musical pieces. C

-Music was performed by an orchestra based on string instruments. C

- An escape from reality is sought (buscan). Fantasy predominates over reality – creating a world
of dreams, imagination and legend. R

- There was a preference for small musical forms, freer structure, like improvisations, which expresses
intimacy. R

- Melodies acquired more expressive curves, and was more colourful. R

- The rhythm became more flexible, freer and less structured. New rhythms were discovered, such as
folkloric. R

-There was a lot of contrast in dynamics throughout the musical pieces

-The piano was very popular

Romantic music

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 3.Music Genres
Activity 1

1. You are going to listen to four different fragments of Romantic music.

a)Talk about the different places.

b)Listen the different fragments of music.

Where do you think they were played?

c)Match the fragments with the place

where they were played.

Fragment 1: Fragment 2:

Fragment 3: Fragment 4:

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 GENRE TYPES MUSIC THEORY

Intimate pieces for soloists. In one time, for a short duration. Written primarily for piano.

Prelude. Bagatela. Estudio. Impromptu. Nocturne.

Chamber music. for groups of 2 to 10 musicians. Duos. Trios…

Symphonic music. Symphony and concert.

The symphony and concert developed and adapted to romantic ideals.

Music Programme. It was very important in this type of symphonic music, as it wanted to express
an idea, a story, etc., and communicate to the listener using the programme as an argument.
The music programme gave birth to the Symphonic Poem.
Programme music is descriptive, suggesting visual images or 'telling a story'.
The descriptive idea or story-line is known as the programme.

Symphonic Poem. Work of a solo movement in which, musically, an argument is developed.

It is the grand romantic form, which establishes a union between music and poetry.

Scene/scenario music. Opera and Ballet.

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 4.Instrumental Music
Activity 1
Match the words on the left with the
definition on the right.

- related to the instruments

- instrumental - 1820-1880
- Romantic - delicate
- dramatic - emotions
- wealth - evasion from reality; imaginary
- Classical - funny
- compositional styles - artistic manifestation
- artificial - sentiments
- comic - rich, lot of money
- libretto - what is needed to do something.
- technical requirements - similar to something else
- piano - orchestra
- resembled - symphonies

Activity 2

You are going to hear a text about instrumental music during the Romanticism era.

Fill in the gaps with words from the

Previous activity:

“In the ______________ (romantic) period ____________ instrumental music was

considered to the most__________ ____________ (artistic manifestation) of them all,
basically because of its great capacity to express _____________ (emotions) without
words. For the romantics, instrumental music was able to express ______________
(sentiments) that no other art could achieve.
For them, art was a form of____________ (evasion) from realty, with a capacity to
create____________(imaginary) and fantastical worlds.

As for the formation of the ______________, (orchestra) this had increased spectacularly
in number. In addition, __________ (soloist) became increasingly important and great
values was placed on ___________ (virtuoso) interpreters Paganini,Liszt.

The ___________ (piano) adapted perfectly to the musical demands of the age, as it
could be played in small private reunions in a home of an artist or inside an orchestra.
The piano express a range of feelings from soft to passionate (remember there was a
trend towards extreme sensations in this period).
The piano was capable of producing sounds in the most___________ (delicate) of
fashions or in much more powerful ways, making it ideal for meetings in salons and for
concerts.

On the other hand Beethoven would become the most influential musician in the
Romantic period, especially in instrumental music, for his orchestrations and
_______________ symphonies.””

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 5.Composers of Instrumental Music
Activity 1

a)Look these pictures and read the clues.

b)Match each picture with his name.

Schubert Mendelsohn Schumann

Chopin Liszt

Beethoven

Clues
1.He's good at breaking the piano

2.His arms... Is he a spider?

3.He has nice legs!

4.His hairdresser must be crazy.

5.Looks like he could be in The Simpsons

6.He can create music with his hands (literally)

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 6.Vocal Music

Activity 1

You should know that the romantic vocal music is

centred on the Lied and opera.

a)Try to explain to your classmates what an

Opera is.

b)Take a look to the next pictures. Find

opera pictures and explain your choice

The Lied
The Lied actually functions as a national symbol of central-European countries, especially in
Germany. The Lieder is performed, on principle, in homes and houses. The Lied is an intimate and
domestic music.

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The world 'lied' means ‘song’ (in German). It is about a short composition in which you can put
music to a poem, forming a very intimate union between them, the Lieder represented the union
between poetry and music.

The Lied was a form of music where we have a voice (soprano, contralto, tenor or bass)
accompanying the piano, where the piano not only accompanies but also illustrates.

Schubert composed many Lied. He gave music to all the German poets. Other great composers
were Schumann and Brahms.

The Opera

During Romanticism the opera underwent an evolution which brought the genre to its peak and
made it the preferred spectacle of the borgeouisie.

They created theatres all over Europe and the singers became almost gods thanks to the vocal
displays of their arias.

The principal Italian composers of this opera of bel canto (opera which has as its objective the
exhibition of the singer through melodic passages of great technical existence) asre: Rossini, Bellini
and Dionizetti, which develop a very characteristic vocal style, of a high melodic feeling which
influenced even instrumental music.

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