Music History II // March 20th

Elements of Schubert’s Style:

1. Melodies
a. Schubert takes after melody like a song writer. He is better in the slow movements
than the faster ones. Long lyrical melodies do not lend themselves to
reorchestration, but to repetition.
2. Harmony
a. In his more advanced works, he becomes a lot more daring. We hear more
German 6ths, dominants with ninths, sudden shifts, and third relationships.
3. Rhythm
a. Unimaginative rhythmically. He is a little monotonous, and clings to the same
rhythmic pattern for a little too long. This leads to a weakness in construction.

The above are applied more to his symphonies, though not his chamber works; they were more
daring. “Static lyricism and rhythm add up to divine length” said one scholar, essentially saying
the symphonies are really goddamn long. “Son of a bitch! Finish the piece!” Tacka’s friend who
played Schubert’s C Major symphony said. That phrase helps one remember the motif in the last
movement. Because apparently it sucks balls

At the beginning of the 19th century, there were developments in tonality and sonority. Tonality is
key, sonority is related to the sound of the instruments. Improvements in the key mechanisms on
woodwind instruments and new keys on brass instruments made new sounds available to
composers. This really affects orchestration. This is also the time when famous orchestras began
to crop up, for example, the Govandhaus Orchestra. It was born in Leipzig in 1781. The
Philharmonic Society of London is from 1813. The Berlin Philharmonic is 1826. Vienna
Philharmonic is from 1842, and in that same year the New York Philharmonic was established.
The difference between an orchestra and a philharmonic is that orchestras are the players. And
philharmonics are the business mechanism. There’s a growth in orchestration in all instrument
families...

1. Strings
a. Cellos are now melodic instruments.
b. Violins are playing in the higher registers.
c. Violas are still Violas.
d. There are a lot of string effects, like tremolos and finger tremolos, multiple
divisions (Some composers score for Violin 1-3), double and triple stops,
exploitation of string color.
2. Woodwinds
a. Key mechanism was improved. If the key is improved, the intonation and tonality
is improved.
b. Clarinets start to replace oboe. sad
c. There is new interest in the low register of the flute
 3. Brass
a. Horn changes the most with the inclusion of keys because they could now play
faster and in different keys.
b. Trombone and trumpet are still similar,
c. There is effective use of softer brasses, but its still denied the flexibility that other
instruments have
4. Percussion
a. Cooler parts lol
b. New tunings are given to percussion instruments on the timps

In Sonata form, there are 4 movements. Composers began to collapse those boundaries, and they
would rearrange movements but still retained the four-movement structure – we know Beethoven
rearranged them: the Pastoral symphony has 5 movements. The subject matter, though, changes.
The symphony becomes autobiographical and can be based on a literary subject. They can also
be inspired be a landscape. Realistic effects are used more often now, like Richard Strauss’s that
uses a vacuum cleaner. A good definition of a programmatic symphony is a work that can be in
several movements, that is inspired by something outside the music. The composer is trying to
create a depiction of an experience. The first person to write a programmatic symphony was
Hector Berlioz (1803 – 1869). He was the son of a country doctor and had a minimal amount of
instruction in music. He had some theory and played the guitar and flute poorly. He only really
reached an amateur proficiency. When he was 18, his father sent him to Paris to study medicine,
but he spent most of the time in the opera. He loved the opera, and then spent the most of this
time studying scores. He enrolled and was accepted into the Paris Conservatory, later. During the
19th century, Paris was back on top as the musical center of the world, with many great French
symphonists and performers. After the French Revolution, the new regime in France attempted to
provide jobs for musicians who lost their jobs during the revolutions. The French government
was conservative, and in some way associated with the Paris Conservatory – a conservative
conservatory. It was this time when Berlioz came around. His musical study was essentially done
on his own. He learned to compose by studying scores. He admired Beethoven, so much so to
where he believed he was Beethoven’s direct descendent. His main piece of music is called
“Symphony Fantastique.” It was written in 1830 and is a 5 movement program symphony. He
wrote another piece, “Harold in Italy.” Paganini went to Berlioz with a viola, and asked him to
write him a viola piece, and “Harold in Italy” was born. Berlioz wrote an instrumental version of
“Romeo and Juliet,” too. Ideé fixe, or “fixed idea,” is Berlioz’s invention. It’s a melody that
recurs but can be modified and transformed. In “Symphony Fantastique,” there are 5 movements:

1. Passions – A man with a sick sensitivity and an ardent imagination, poisons himself with
opium. The dosage is not strong enough to kill him but plunges him into a nightmare in
which his beloved turns herself into a melody that he encounters in several places.
2. A Festival – He is attending a dance. The orchestration for this movement is stunning –
its got the harps.
3. Scene in the Fields – Nothing much happens in this movement. The theme is two pipers
piping to each other, but at the end of the movement you hear distant thunder.
4. March to the Scaffold – In this movement, he dreams he killed the one he loves. He’s
being taken to the scaffold to be executed.
 5. Dream of a Witches Sabbath – All the miscreants are gathering for arrival of his dead
lover, but, you’ll noticed that the ideé fixe becomes jovial-like.

Berlioz’s ideal orchestra is 825 performers... wayyyyy to large. He was in love with one Harriet
Smithson, an Irish Shakespearian actress. He stalked her for over a decade. They ended up
getting married in the end, but Berlioz outlived her and it wasn’t a happy marriage.

In the 19th century, we have musicians who are looking to alter peoples’ perceptions completely,
to take them to places they’ve never been before.
Music History II // March 22nd

The nineteenth century becomes more and more interesting because more rep was created for
individual instruments more than in any other century. A significant deal more was made for
piano. The instrument was now mass produced and a common staple in a home. The big thing
that happened with the piano was that the metal frame was added. This allowed the pins to be
inserted into metal instead of wood, which permitted greater tension and carrying power for
string sound. Along with the metal frame came a hammer action, which means the piano could
be played very quickly. The pedal greatly improved and there was a fascination with a
“sostenuto” pedal which allowed notes to linger in the air. There is a coloristic feature to piano
music at the time. Pleyel pianos were Chopin’s favorite. Niccolò Paganini (1782 – 1840) was a
phenomenal performer, the likes of which no one had ever seen before. People believed he sold
his soul to the devil, a rumor he did not attempt to dispel. He had a tremendous effect on piano
technique, believe it or not. Liszt, Clara Schumann, and Chopin all had an effect from this.
“Character pieces” are a new genre that has several titles, like “scherzo,” “nocturne (always in
ABA form),” “prelude,” “intermezzo,” “bagatelle,” and “ballade.” Some composers wrote
dances, like rhapsodies, waltzes, and polish dances. Études have begun being popular, like
Liszt’s “transcendental” études. Composers did still write some sonatas, but they turned their
attention to writing character pieces. Fredrick Chopin (1810 – 1849), another tragic romantic,
was not great at writing in large forms, with only 3 sonatas and 2 concertos. He was an incredible
composer and pianist, otherwise. There are a lot of contemporary account of hearing Chopin
play, and is famous amongst the general population. According to accounts, he was most musical
when improvising. He met a woman who’s pen name was “George Sands” in France and lived
with her. Unfortunately, as a woman, she was unable to get anything published, though when she
had a pen name she was wildly popular. Frans Liszt (1811 – 1886)’s style is brilliant. He had
very large hands and exploited the resources of the keyboard. He did so much to popularize the
piano. Not only did he write many pieces, but he was also very famous for writing piano
transcriptions. He wrote piano transcriptions of Schubert’s art songs, Mozarts operas, and of
every Beethoven symphony. Even though he had an incredible reputation as a womanizer, he
finally retired from giving performances, he taught anyone and everyone for free. He was
unparalleled. He achieved incredibly notoriety. He knew Paganini, the Schumanns, the
Mendelssohn’s. He travelled widely but wasn’t particularly wealthy. He had several children and
never married... uh oh. The best known child is Cosima, who was the second child of an affair
with a French countess. Liszt came to composition late in his life, and wrote a very specific kind
of symphonic work, called a symphonic poem. If it’s a symphonic poem, it has 1 movement. It’s
a one movement work with a unifying factor called a “transformation of theme.” He writes a
theme and transforms it. This is how he generates a composition. When he started to compose, he
hired two people to orchestrate for him, and then make changes. He used them for a period of
years and, as he learned the craft, he didn’t need the orchestraters anymore. He wrote 15
symphonic poems, the most famous being Le Prelude.

Berlioz wrote a lot about music performed in the second and third quarter of the nineteenth
century. He is one of two composers who wrote books about orchestration. This book has been
translated and is still in use. The other composer is Rimsky-Korsakov. Berlioz also wrote a book
called Evening with the Orchestra, which is a compilation of his personal music critiques. It was
published in 1852 and 53. It was a best seller. It is rarely out of print and translated into many
languages, as well as indirectly biographical. He chronicles musical performances over a period
of 20 years. He talks about three ideas.

1. How is art to be financed in a modern world?

In the later nineteenth century, most pieces were short “character pieces.” Louis Moreau
Gottschalk (1829 – 1869), another tragic romantic. He is an American composer, pianist who
died in Brazil. He had a lot of multi-cultural music that reflected America’s “melting pot.” While
he lived at the same time as many European composers, he had a different style. He wrote
Bamboula, a piece for the listening test. He wrote based on American folk song. He grew up in
New Orleans, and was exposed to Black and Creole music and traditions.

Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn (1809 -1847), (1805 – 1847). Felix Mendelssohn was from a very
well-known Jewish family, and part of the Jewish Intelligencia. Mendelssohn had a well known
philosopher Grandfather, and a banker father. His mother, Lea, was a gifted woman who was
well educated and had a keen interest in music, especially Bach. She hired tutors to teach Felix
and Fanny piano. She was fluent in French and knew enough English to interpret and understand
English. She could read Greek, as well. She was a competent pianist and encouraged Fanny’s
talents as well of that of Felix. Abraham, the father, said he grew up as “the son of his father,”
with little to no distinction in his life, and when his son became prominent he referred to himself
as the “father of his son.” He was proud of his kids’ Jewish heritage; however, they were
baptized Christian. Later, He himself and his wife were baptized too. As children, Felix and
Fanny received the same education. They were both raised at the same time every day, 5 am, and
taught every day other than Sunday. They began piano at 3 and 7 respectively, every day. They
were taught English, Italian, and Felix was taught Latin. They were well educated. Later, both
Felix and Fanny were brought up on classical repertoire, like Bach, Mozart, Beethoven,
Frescobaldi, etc. At 13, Fanny memorized all of volume 1 of the Bach Well Tempered Clavier for
her father’s birthday. In 1819, Felix and Fanny began studying theory and composition. Felix
was 13, Fanny was 17. She was writing songs and piano arrangements, but Felix was writing
string sinfonia. In Felix’s String Sinfonia in D minor, he uses Corelli Clashes. There was a lot of
music and cultural events in the Mendelssohn home. The family moved to Berlin in 1812 and
established themselves there. The home became a salon – a venue, of sorts – for plays, poetry
readings, concerts, and more. There were plenty of musical events. Orchestras were hired so that
Felix and Fanny could play solo concertos. The kids started their own newspaper in the summer
and winter, that consisted of the events in the home. The brother and sister were very close.
Fanny was a critic and confidant of her brother; he refers to her, years later, as his “cantor,”
meaning he essentially submitted everything to her for review. Fanny and Felix were protective
of each other in a somewhat extreme extent when it comes to interpersonal relationship. In 1829
they went on different paths: Felix began to travel widely. In 1829, he decided he would do a
performance of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion at 20. From 1829 to 1835 he went on extensive
European travel. He wrote 5 symphonies. He went all over England, Scotland, where he got his
idea for a symphony called the Scottish Symphony, as well as Italy, where he got his idea for the
Italian symphony... funny. He was offered a job of the Berlin Music School but turned it down.
He left Germany and traveled. In 1831 he was all over Italy, Genoa, Naples, Milan. He met
Chopin and Liszt in Paris. Composers at this time knew one another well. Mendelssohn was
known as a pianist and composer but also a conductor. He was the fifth conductor of the Leipzig-
Govandhaus orchestra. He conducted Liszt, Clara and Robert Schumann, and more. He founded
the Leipzig Conservatory in 1843, but he was kind of sickly and, after 1846, he stopped
performing. In 1947, he was on a return trip from England when he heard about his sister’s
death; he went into hysterics. He died within 6 months. He left two piano concertos, 5
symphonies, a violin concerto, and more. Fanny, however, went down a different path. Lea and
Abraham were unhappy with her marriage to a famous painter who was 11 years older than her.
He painted portraits of each of the family members to whittle down their opposition. Hensel
encouraged his wife’s talents, unlike her father, who wrote to her on her 23rd birthday essentially
telling her to give up her passion and become a housewife, to which she responded by writing 3
cantatas, an operetta, and an oratorio. Fanny had frequent nosebleeds in her life, and experienced
numbness in her hands, and died suddenly while rehearsing a piece of her brothers’.

Felix Mendelssohn’s music has two main characteristics. They were neat, and clean.
Mendelssohn was a colorful orchestrater, as opposed to a doubler. Doublers are composers who
double melodies in different voices. You can identify his Italian symphony with a big pizzicato.
Mendelssohn is a colorful composer. Each choir of instruments is heard separately. You can
identify Mendelssohn when you hear elves...?
Music History II // March 29th

Robert Schumann (1810 – 1856) is a tragic romantic, and we know him as a composer who
wrote four symphonies. One of his talents was journalistic writing. He wrote about every
composer during his lifetime, in a journal he created called New Pathways for Music. When he
wrote about a composer, that composer was instantly known throughout Europe, as this journal
was translated and very well known. When he met Chopin, he wrote about him praising his
music. At the end of his article, he said “Hats off, gentlemen: he’s a genius!” Shortly before
Schumann went crazy, a 20 year old Johannes Brahms went to the Schumann house to introduce
himself. Clara and Robert were impressed at his piano skills, and Schumann wrote and forecast
Brahms’s skill as a performer and composer.

Schumann worked in in Leipzig, one of many cities. Mendelssohn hired Schumann, though he
was suspicious of him as he was known of more as a writer than a musician. In Leipzig, he tried
to conduct, though he was phlegmatic, or a stutterer, and he couldn’t make himself understood to
his players. Clara would come and interpret often. Schumann also met Liszt in Leipzig, and he
was not a fan of his bombastic style. An argument between Schumann and Liszt created a rift in
Leipzig. Leipzig was then known as a place for more conservative music, and Weimar was a city
for more experimental and avant-garde (for the time) musicians like Liszt and Wagner. The cities
were in a kind of culture war for roughly 10 years.

In 1840, he married Clara. In this year he wrote 100 pieces and a song cycle. In 1841 he wrote
his first symphony, and in 1843 he began teaching at the Leipzig Conservatory. That was the year
he founded his journal. It was originally issued twice weekly, and had large oversight over the
paper, including adding somewhere from 1000+ pages into the journal. When he wrote, he would
seldom sign Robert Schumann. He would sign different names. When he was being outspoken,
prophetic, making a statement, he’d sign the article “Florestan.” When he was being more
introspective, he would sign “Eusibius.” There was one character between the two of them,
“Raro.” Weird shit bro. When in Leipzig, both Schumanns were active. While Robert was on his
MPD shit Clara was travelling and playing, notably in St. Petersburg. Robert suffered several
strokes and had to give up his teaching gig. He moved to Dresden, the most important composer
was Wagner, and Schumann was not a fan. Wagner found Schumann to be wayyyy too
conservative like some Ron DeSantis shit. Schumann had some real mental setbacks at this time,
however, he composed piano concertos and other music. He was offered a position in
Dusseldorf, which started well, though he slowly fell out as he was not a conductor just like Vera
Volchansky. He was unable to express himself verbally due to his stuttering. In 1853 he suffered
his final paralytic stroke. In 1854 his symptoms became significantly worse and he was admitted
to an insane asylum. He had to be straightjacketed often, and he was having mental breakdowns
just like Tell School of Music students when they have to practice or music ed majors when they
have to actually practice their lesson plans and be teachers instead of pretending they’re in their
6th year of high school. There was likely a chemical imbalance in his brain. Clara, however, got
him out of the asylum for one whole day before he had a failed suicide attempt. He stayed at
home for a few days until he went back to the asylum. In 1855 Clara was summoned to the
asylum as he wasn’t expected to be living much longer. She and Brahms stayed at the asylum
and Robert died within the day. This asylum is now a music museum.

Schumann wrote 4 symphonies. The most famous is his third symphony, which is supposed to
depict the Rhine River. Schumann’s achievement is that he tries to obliterate the tyranny of the
bar line, similarly to Beethoven. The musical line does not always adhere to strong beats.

Clara Schumann (1819-1896) was born in Leizpig. She was the daughter of Fredrick Weick. She
began her piano study at the age of 5. She played with the Govandhaus orchestra at 9, and her
first recital at the age of 11. When she was 18, she stunned the Viennese public giving a
performance of the Appassionata Sonata. Beethoven’s 32 piano sonatas were only known and
performed by such a small group of people as they were so difficult. Clara’s was most likely the
first performance a woman ever gave of the Appassionata Sonata. She was one of the great
pianists of the 19th century, and her talent was thought to be superior to that of Liszts. By this
time, she had a lot of concerts behind her in Dresden, Paris and more. She was the leading
woman pianist of the 19th century.