The Romantic period (c. 1820–1900)
History of music · The piano through history · Level 4 · 16 min
The 19th century is the century of the piano. The instrument enters every middle-class parlour, grows more powerful, and composers entrust it with their most intimate feelings as well as their dreams of grandeur. Romanticism puts the individual, feeling, nature and the imagination at the heart of art.
Characteristics
- Song: long, expressive melodies inspired by Italian opera (bel canto, Chopin's model).
- Richer harmony: chromaticism, distant modulations, ninth chords, chromatic mediants.
- Virtuosity: Liszt, inspired by the violinist Paganini, invents the solo recital and pushes technical limits.
- Character pieces: short poetic pieces with evocative titles; and at the other extreme, vast sonatas and ballades.
- Programme music: music that tells a story or paints a landscape.
- National schools: Chopin (Poland), Liszt (Hungary), Grieg (Norway), Albéniz and Granados (Spain), Mussorgsky (Russia).
Composers and works to hear
| Composer | Works |
|---|---|
| Franz Schubert (1797-1828) | Impromptus D. 899, Moments musicaux, Sonata D. 960 |
| Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) | Songs without Words |
| Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849) | Nocturnes, Preludes Op. 28, Waltzes, Mazurkas, Ballades, Études |
| Robert Schumann (1810-1856) | Scenes from Childhood Op. 15, Album for the Young Op. 68, Carnaval |
| Clara Schumann (1819-1896) | Romances Op. 11, Preludes and Fugues Op. 16 |
| Franz Liszt (1811-1886) | Consolations, Liebestraum No. 3, Hungarian Rhapsodies, Années de pèlerinage |
| Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) | Intermezzi Op. 117 and 118, Waltzes Op. 39 |
| Edvard Grieg (1843-1907) | Lyric Pieces |
| Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) | The Seasons, Album for the Young |
A texture example: the waltz
M:3/4
L:1/4
%%staves {RH LH}
V:RH clef=treble
V:LH clef=bass
K:F
[V:RH] "F"c2 f | "C7"e2 g | "Dm"f3/2 e/ d | "C7"c2 B | "F"A3 |]
[V:LH] F,, [F,A,C] [F,A,C] | C,, [E,G,B,] [E,G,B,] | D,, [D,F,A,] [D,F,A,] | C,, [E,G,B,] [E,G,B,] | F,, [F,A,C] [F,A,C] |]
A deep bass on beat 1, light chords on beats 2 and 3: the left hand leaps, and the pedal connects bass and chords.
Playing in style
- Singing legato and a melody projected above the accompaniment (right-hand “voicing”: fingers 4 and 5 with more tone).
- Syncopated (legato) pedalling: change the pedal just after playing the new bass (lift and press again immediately), to connect without blurring harmonies.
- Rubato: in Chopin, the left hand stays supple but steady while the melody “floats”; what you take in time, you give back. Good rubato never sounds like slowing down.
- A huge dynamic palette, from ppp to fff, and long phrases that breathe.
Sing the melody before playing it, then look for the same curve and the same breaths at the piano. This was Chopin's advice to his pupils.
A frequent excess: constant rubato and blurry pedal. Romantic music needs a solid underlying pulse for its freedoms to make sense.
← The Classical period (c. 1750–1820) · Impressionism (c. 1890–1920) →