Late Romanticism and national schools (1860–1920)

Until then Germany, Italy and France had dominated art music. In the second half of the 19th century other countries asserted their identity: this was the time of the national schools. Composers drew on the songs, dances and legends of their people.

In Russia, “The Five” (including Mussorgsky and Rimsky-Korsakov) wanted a Russian music freed from German models; Tchaikovsky blended Europe and Russia. In Norway, Grieg brought peasant dances to the piano; in Bohemia, Dvořák made Czech rhythms sing; in Spain, Albéniz and Granados made the piano sound like an Andalusian guitar.

These musics brought new colours: old or folk modes, irregular dance rhythms, drones in the manner of bagpipes. At the same time, late Romanticism (Mahler, Richard Strauss, Rachmaninoff, Puccini) pushed the orchestra to its maximum and stretched Romantic harmony to its limits.

For students it is a very vivid repertoire: short, picturesque pieces (Grieg’s Lyric Pieces, Tchaikovsky’s Album for the Young, Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition) that teach you to convey a character and a colour.