MUSIC 9 – Quarter 3 (STUDY GUIDE)

Lesson 1

Historical and Cultural Background of the Romantic Period

The word romantic does not mean “romantic love,” instead, the term originated from the Medieval romance—a
poem or tale about heroic events or persons. It connotes an ideal world far from reality.

The French Revolution

It was a major event in European history that began in 1789 and ended in 1799. French citizens redesigned the
country’s political landscape by abandoning the feudal system and absolute monarchy.

It started after France’s heavy involvement in the American Revolution. The extravagant spending by King
Louis XVI left France close to bankruptcy, and the peasants and urban poor could not keep up with the
skyrocketing prices of basic goods such as bread.

A national assembly, made up of French citizens, was able to force the King to adopt new policies and create a
new constitution for France. They adopted the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen.

The revolution only ended in 1799 when Napoleon Bonaparte, a young and successful general, staged a coup
d’état. He eventually proclaimed himself Emperor of France in 1804. His reign, known as the Napoleonic era,
was a time marked by France’s dominance over much of Europe.

The Industrial Revolution

The late 18th century was marked by a transition from goods made by hand to goods manufactured by
machines. This was made possible by the invention of the steam engine and water mills, which powered
factories and sped up production of goods such as cloth and thread.

During the Romantic period, new instruments were invented, and old instruments were further improved. By the
late 19th century, the instruments of the orchestra had almost reached their final, modern form. Some examples
include:
● changes to the flute by Theobald Boehm
● the invention of the saxophone by Belgian manufacturer Adolphe Sax
the invention of valves

Revolutions and Romanticism

The French Revolution, which espoused the ideals of Liberté, égalité, and fraternité (liberty, equality, and
fraternity), changed the political landscape of the first half of 19th-century Europe. Peasants and laborers were
finally viewed as citizens rather than subjects of the ruling class.

The middle and upper classes were now able to engage in music-making due to their ability to spend, purchase
instruments, and afford music lessons. Homes became places for friends and family to sing and play instruments
like the piano, violin, flute, guitar, and harp.

Lesson 2

Characteristics of Romantic Music

● freedom of form – Composers wrote more emotional and personal pieces.
● lyrical or song-like melodies
● dramatic contrasts of dynamics & pitch
● big orchestras – due to the invention of valves for brass instruments
● technical virtuosity
Nocturne
A nocturne is a piece of music inspired by or evocative of the night. Nocturne comes from the French word for
nocturnal, which means “night.” The form originated from composer John Field, who published the first
examples of nocturnes in 1814 but peaked during the time of Frédéric Chopin, who wrote 19 examples.

Étude
Muzio Clementi published collections of the first études in the late 18th to the early 19th century, but it was
Chopin who elevated it into a full musical composition when he wrote 27 études.

Polonaise
The polonaise is characterized by triple time, slow to moderate tempo, and march-like rhythm. Like the
étude and nocturne, the polonaise is famously associated with Chopin. Coincidentally, Chopin was born in
Poland. He composed polonaises to connect to his homeland and to make political statements.

Lesson 3

Music up to the Romantic period has always been explicitly about a theme or plot or at least inspired by a story,
an event, or a scene. It was only in the Romantic period that a distinction was made between music that is
“about something,” meant to evoke images and stories (program music), and music that was written solely to
make music (absolute music).

Program Music
Program music recounts a story and is accompanied by a written description called a programme. Concerts
would have distributed pieces of paper that contained the plot or the synopsis of the works that would be
performed.

Absolute Music
Absolute music refers to music that has no story—it is about nothing in particular. The phrase absolute music
was not coined until 1846 when Richard Wagner used it to describe Beethoven’s 9th Symphony.

Lesson 4

Frédéric Chopin
Frédéric Chopin was born in Warsaw, Poland, in 1810. He was a composer and virtuoso pianist who wrote
pieces primarily for solo piano performances. When he was 20 years old, he left Warsaw and moved to Paris,
France—where he stayed until his death in October 1849, possibly due to tuberculosis.

He showed signs of having exceptional musical talent at a young age. He grew up listening to his mother and
older sister play the piano. By age six, he was already playing pieces he heard from others and creating new
ones.

At 16, he enrolled in the Warsaw Conservatory of Music, directed by Joseph Elsner, a Polish and Romantic-
style composer who also taught Chopin music theory. Elsner discovered early on that academic standards
should not suppress Chopin’s creativity and imagination.

Nocturnes op. 15, no. 1 in F Major

This nocturne published in December 1833 is a part of three nocturnes comprising the Opus 15.
It is written in the ternary form (A-B-A) and divided into two main sections.
Lesson 5

Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt was born in Raiding, Hungary (now Raiding, Austria), on October 22, 1811. His father, Adam, was
a multi-instrumentalist and was his first music and piano teacher.
After hearing Franz Liszt play in Vienna, Antonio Salieri—Mozart’s rival—offered to teach him music
composition for free. For the next few months, Liszt would perform for kings and musicians. He had the talent
for improvising a piece from a melody suggested by the audience.
When he was 12, he and his father traveled to Paris, hoping to be enrolled in the Paris Conservatory.
Unfortunately, he was not accepted because he was a foreigner. Despite this, Liszt was put under the tutelage of
Ferdinando Paer, who taught him advanced composition. It was then that he composed his first and only opera:
Don Sanche.

Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2

This was composed by Liszt in 1847 for solo piano, although it has already been adapted for the orchestra. The
composition is written in duple meter and starts in the key of C# minor.

Lesson 6

Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky

Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, a Russian composer, was born in Votkinsk, Russia, on April 25, 1840. He is one of
the most renowned and influential composers of the Romantic period and is known for his compositions such as
The Nutcracker and Swan Lake.
Tchaikovsky studied in St. Petersburg Technological Institute where his father was appointed as the director.
From 1862 to 1865, he studied harmony, counterpoint, and fugue composition under Nikolai Zaremba, as well
as instrumentation and composition, under the founder of the St. Petersburg Conservatory, Anton Rubinstein.
In 1891, he toured America and conducted performances of his compositions. On May 5, he conducted a
performance of his Marche Solennelle at the opening of New York’s Carnegie Hall. This was followed by other
performances of his compositions, such as Pater Noster, Piano Concerto no. 1, and Serenade for Strings. He
died from cholera in 1893.

Swan Lake
Swan Lake is a piece for ballet composed by Tchaikovsky in 1875–1876. The music accompanies a four-act
story, set to dance, about a princess named Odette, who turns into a swan because of a sorcerer’s curse.

Camille Saint-Saëns
Camille Saint-Saëns, a French composer, was born in Paris, France, on October 9, 1835. His widowed mother
and aunt raised him and introduced him to music at an early age by teaching him the piano.
Like the other composers, he was also a child prodigy and displayed the ability of a perfect pitch at the age of
two. He gave his first recital in 1846 and studied organ and composition at the Conservatory of Paris. His
Symphony no. 1 was performed in 1855.
His opera, Samson and Delilah, was his most famous work. The French public initially rejected it because they
were against portraying biblical characters on stage. It was first performed in German in Weimar in 1877 at
Franz Liszt’s recommendation. In 1890, it was finally staged at the Theatre Eden in Paris.

Danse Macabre
Danse macabre or the Dance of Death is an allegory that illustrates the reality of death. This theme was popular
in medieval times and depicted in images and murals of skeletons dancing with men of various social statuses.
It served as a reminder that nobody can escape death, even the rich.