Chapter 21 The Later Romantics

Trends in the latter 19th century:

• An awareness of “classical repertoire”, with a broader range of music and a
greater proportion of “old” to “new” repertoire.
• An interest in music of the past, the development of musicology. Lassus,
Schutz, Palestrina, and Bach were re-discovered and published.
• The complete works of J. S. Bach was issued between 1851-1899.
• Johannes Brahms, followed the Classic tradition and wrote symphonies and
chamber works worthy of Beethoven.
• Brahms wrote songs and piano pieces rivalling Schubert and Chopin.
• Franz Liszt and Richard Wagner took Beethoven as their departure point and
saw him leading them to music dramas and symphonic poems.
• In German-speaking lands, the two aesthetic viewpoints polarized around
Brahms and Wagner.
• Brahms- [absolute music, tradition]
• Wagner- [program music, innovation]
• The critic, Eduard Hanslick- [1825-1904] in his essay, On the Musically
Beautiful [1854], challenged the principles of program music; that an association
with other arts would enhance music.

Franz Liszt- [1811-1886]

• Liszt was an unsurpassed virtuoso of the piano. He wrote over 400 pieces for the
piano.
• Born in the vicinity of Odgenburg, 50 miles from Vienna, it was an area of
mixed German and Hungarian culture.
• Liszt grew up speaking German but had an early fascination with gypsy music.
• In 1822, the family moved to Vienna to advance his precocious talents in music.
He studied piano with Carl Czerny, [Beethoven’s student], composition with
Antonio Salieri. In Vienna, he was proclaimed a prodigy.
• Fourteen months later, he moved to Paris, studying with Ferdinando Paer,
[1771-1839], and theory with Anton Reicha, [1770-1836], the leading theory
professor at the Paris Conservatoire.
• In 1824, Liszt conquered London with virtuoso music in the style of style
brillante.
• In 1832, he discovered the musical performances of Paganini. Liszt went into
seclusion, practicing five hours a day, “trills, sixths, octaves, tremolos, double
notes, and cadenzas.”
• His Studies in Transcendental Execution [1851], provides insight in piano
technique, paralleled Nicolo Paganini [1782-1840] on the violin. Liszt resolved
to develop advanced virtuosity for the piano to the same extent as Paganini did for
the violin.
• Etudes d’execution transcendante d’apres Paganini [1851], transcriptions of
Paganini’s four solo violin Caprices, Op.1
• In 1848, Liszt gave up touring and settled in Weimar, a German “backwater”
that had an earlier association with the German poets, Goethe and Schiller.
• From 1848-1860, Liszt concentrated on composition, performing, writing, and
teaching. His compositions were for orchestra, with his time spent more on
conducting than piano.
• In the mid-1860’s, Liszt took minor religious orders and became Abbe Liszt,
dividing his time between Weimar, Rome, and Budapest.
• His Relationships:
• Marie d’ Agoult- three children, Cosima later married Wagner.
• Carolyne von Sayn-Wittgenstein-
• Both women were socially more elevated and better educated than he. They also
served as “ghost-writers”, the essays, reviews, and books he authored.
• His piano arrangements of other composers’ music, was an essential part of
musical culture, before the advent of recordings.
• They fell into two categories:
• Transcriptions: faithful re-workings that retained the tonality and the structure
of the original.
• Fantasies: freer pieces that re-shaped the original adaptations into new
compositions.[also called paraphrases.]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9BQ1ylApto
• La Campanella [The Bell] from Paganini’s Violin Concerto No.2 in B Minor.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpfbDLFSZb4
• The Hungarian Rhapsodies evoke the Gypsy style and the cimbalom.
[Hungarian dulcimer]. These compositions reflect his Hungarian roots.
• Superimposed on these ethnic strains, are the external forces from his studies in
Vienna and Paris.
• Liszt modeled his piano music on Parisian and Viennese masters, particularly
the lyricism of Chopin. Liszt also adopted the rubato and harmonic language.
• The Fountains of the Villa d’este [1877], foreshadow the Impressionism of
Ravel.
• His Dante [1856] and Faust [1854] Symphonies have chorale finales; both
written in 1857.
• Liszt established the symphonic poem, an orchestral narrative in which a
musical theme stands for a person or idea. [Mazeppa- a Cossack hero], [1851].
Quotes about Liszt
As a performer, “ he subjugated his listeners with a power that none could
withstand. For him, [Liszt], there was no difficulty of execution, the most
incredible seeming child’s play under his fingers.”
• His long and tapered fingers allowed Liszt to play consecutive tenths as
easily as others played octaves.
• Liszt used his virtuosity to create a following. [The first “rock”-star.]
 • Liszt created the concept of the modern piano recital. The idea of placing the
piano sideways on the stage, to exploit his elegant profile and his hands.

• His harmonies predicted the harmonies of Wagner.

• Liszt was the champion, [through his pianistic skills, his conducting and his
writing], of Berlioz, Grieg, and had a historical importance of shaping the future
of serious music.
• The notation of the score seems to indicate three hands; however the left hand
plays the lowest staff, the right, the middle staff, and whatever available hand for
the top stave.
• Sonata in B Minor- [1853]- is a masterpiece of formal innovation. The work is an
extended movement, with three sub-divided sections, based on four themes that
are transformed and combined in a rhapsodic manner.
• Much of Liszt’s music is paraphrases, arrangements, and transcriptions of the
music of Schubert’s songs, Berlioz and Beethoven symphonies, Bach organ
fugues, and Wagner music dramas. The effect was to present this music to a
wider audience, through his piano recitals and the publications of these works.

NAWM 136- Trois Etudes de Concert P.466

No.3 Un sospiro [“A Sigh”] [5:39]
• In these etudes, Liszt aims at addressing technical problems. In the third etude, he
projects a slower moving melody outside or within fast broken chord patterns.
• The pedal sustains the chords while the hands create treacherous leaps, building
the floating pentatonic melody.

Liszt’s Orchestral Music:

• In 1848, Liszt retired from concert work and as a touring pianist, and accepted a
position as court music director at Weimar, where he focused on composition.
• Following Berlioz’s, he was the foremost composer of symphonic poems, writing
twelve between 1848-1858. Liszt wrote a 13th in 1881-1882.
• Symphonic poems- Each poem is a one-movement work, with sections that are
contrasted in tempo and character. These pieces are linked by analogy to literary
poems, but are symphonic in sound, weight and development. The poems often
follow sonata-allegro form or some part of the symphonic structure.
• Prometheus- [1850-1855]- relates to the myth and the poem by Herder.
• Mazeppa- [1852-1854]- tied to the poem by Victor Hugo.
• Orpheus- [1853-1854]- related to Gluck’s opera, and the Ertuscan vase held at
the Louvre, depicting Orpheus playing the lyre.
• Les Preludes- [1854]- He applies the method of thematic transformation [where
a theme is transformed to fit the mood that portrays the programmatic subject.
 • Piano Concerto in Eb major [1855]- the four movements of this concerto are
linked by modification of one theme for each movement.

Choral Music:
St. Elisabeth- [1857-1862]
Christus- [1866-1872]

Liszt’s influence:
• Liszt was more influential as a composer than a virtuoso. Smetana, Franck,
St. Saens, Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Richard Strauss and Ives took up
the symphonic poem form.
• Liszt’s chromatic harmonies had a great influence on Wagner.
• His interest in dividing the octave in equal divisions had an effect on
Russian and French composers.

Anton Bruckner- [1824-1896]- The works of Bruckner were influenced by his country;
Austria, and his Catholicism. Bruckner absorbed the style of Wagner, combined it with
traditional symphonic writing, and wrote music that had a reverent, liturgical approach.
• Bruckner was schooled in counterpoint, served as organist for the cathedral in
Linz.
• Born in upper Austria, to a family of schoolmasters, the duties of which
included playing the organ, and teaching music.
• In 1837, after his father’s death, he was educated at St. Florian monastery and was
trained as a chorister. He was taught piano, rudiments, organ, and violin.
• In 1856, he was appointed organist at Linz, which freed him from teaching
duties and allowed him to devote for time for composition.
• He served as court organist in Vienna from 1867 to his death.
• Rustic, conscientious, cautious, and naïve, he remained reserved, a man of simple
taste, and totally uncomfortable in the intellectual society of Vienna.
• He had help from Kitzler in orchestration, but was still tentative and insecure in
his abilities.
• He first heard Tristan in 1865 and met Wagner for the first time.
• Bruckner was appointed teacher of counterpoint and organ at the Conservatory in
Vienna, becoming full professor in 1872.
• He made several pilgrimages to Bayreuth and was befriended by Wagner.
Bruckner responded by dedicating his third symphony to Wagner.
• He was internationally known as an organ virtuoso throughout Europe.
• In Vienna, he was applauded by the followers of Wagner, but was reviled by the
publisher, Hanslick, a champion of Brahms.
• Bruckner never felt comfortable in the sophisticated city of Vienna, and was
deeply hurt when the press and the audience rejected his symphonies.
• His Symphony No.4[ WAB104] was successful but still poorly reviewed by
Hanslick. Hans Richter premiered it in Vienna, with great acclaim. The nickname,
Romantic, was used by the composer himself.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHJtTO_Hp1k
• Symphony No. 5- composed in 1876, but not performed until 1894.
• Symphony No.6- was not performed in its full form until after Bruckner’s death.
• Symphony No.7 in E Major was not premiered in Vienna, but given in Leipzig
[1884], under the direction of Nikisch. Widely acclaimed, the applause lasted for
15 minutes!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MESO0Ck5SaQ
• Symphony No.8- written in 1892.
• Symphony No.9- was left incomplete, [without a finale], at his death. He had
spent so much time, revising his earlier symphonies. Its first performance was in
1903, given in an unauthentic version.
• Bruckner allowed drastic revisions to his symphonies
• A major part of his works consists of settings of Catholic liturgical texts, and
actual use in the service.
• Festival Mass in D Minor- [1864]
• Festival mass in F Minor- [1872]
• Except for his string quintet and works for the organ, his instrumental output is
completely symphonic.
• Bruckner wrote a ‘Study’ Symphony and a Symphony No.0,[ which he
discarded]
• Bruckner wrote nine numbered symphonies, of which there are many versions.
Some revisions were written by the composer, others were unauthorized
editorial work.
• All his symphonies are in four movements, purely orchestral and non-
programmatic. [The ninth is unfinished, with only three movements.]
• Bruckner looked to Beethoven’s Symphony No.9 as a model for procedure,
proportions, and religious spirit.
• Retiring in 1891, he spent the remaining years of his life in the Belvedere Palace,
which was granted by the Emperor.
• When he died, he was not known outside of Germany, except for his skills as an
organist.
• The Bruckner Society, in the 1930’s, presented the original scores and proved
these editions were highly individual. In his day, Bruckner was misrepresented as
a Wagnerian symphonist. His composing was highly original, the length of his
works can relate to Wagner; there is also no connection to Beethoven.
• In non-symphonic terms, his works are tied to his strong Catholic faith, and his
awe for nature and his surroundings.
• His scherzos reflect the rough dances and songs of the peasants.

NAWM 157- Bruckner- Virga Jesse, WAB 52 [P.469] [4:42]

 Bruckner’s choral music combined modern elements with a revival of the 16th a
cappella style.
• His motets range from strictly modal works to swiftly changing harmonies.
• His choral works reflect the many hours spent in front of church choirs, and draws
on the church music of the 16th and 17th centuries.
• He fuses the spirit and idioms of the late Renaissance with 19th century
techniques.
• He regarded his Te Deum as his greatest work.
• Bruckner was not typical of his age. Literature meant nothing to him.
• He had a sub-servient attitude to his colleagues and some psychopathic
compulsion for girls in their early teens.
• “Whatever the man, his music remains unassailable in its splendour and
originality.”

Johannes Brahms- [b. May 7,1833-1897]- was from Hamburg, but chose to spend his
career in Vienna. He was the leading German composer in every field but opera, and
was an important influence on 20th century music.
Frei aber Froh-“Free but Glad”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shdgLPvcjo0&spfreload=5#t=150.805634432
• Brahms, the second child, was born in a poor tenement in the “red-light” district
of Hamburg.
• His favourite toys, as a child were his lead soldiers, which he would abandon, if
he heard a musical instrument.
• His early, excellent teachers were Cossel and Eduard Marxen, and instructed
Brahms in piano technique, sight-reading, counterpoint, and composition.
• Brahms, by age ten, was good enough to prompt a visiting impresario to plan an
American tour for him.
• He made money by playing in dance halls, teaching piano, as accompanist at the
municipal theatre, slinging together opera pot-pourris, and publishing under the
fictitious name of G.W. Marks.
• At age 15, Brahms augmented his family income by playing recitals and also
playing in dockside taverns, or arranging tunes for publishers.
• [1853]-He toured with the Hungarian violinist, Eduard Remenyi, was introduced
to the violinist, Joseph Joachim, and played some of his compositions for Liszt
at Weimar.
• He had a lifelong taste for Hungarian-Gypsy music, which contributed to
many compositions.
• Brahms, who clung to the tradition of structure and orchestration as developed by
the Viennese symphonists, gave the symphony increased density and weight. His
compositions, were, for the most part, influenced by Northern Germany, and
Protestantism.
• He developed a love for past composers and edited works by C. P.E. Bach and
Couperin.
 • Brahms received a letter of invitation to Liszt in Weimar, who received him with
cordiality. He realized he was not a disciple of the modern programmatic music
and went to Gottingen on Joachim’s invitation.
• Brahms met Robert and Clara Schumann in Dusseldorf when he was twenty,
[1853] and they praised his talents in print, helped launch his career and secure a
publisher for his earliest compositions.
• Piano Sonata in F-, Op.5
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Abby2S5OSXM
• The first composition he played was the Piano Sonata in C, Op.1.
• Schumann wrote in the Neue Zeitschrift fur Musik that “he that should come…
the new Messiah of music.”
• While Schumann was institutionalized, he cheered him with his Variations on a
Theme of Robert Schumann, Op.9 and the Ballades, Op.10.
• Schumann lingered on for two years while Brahms stayed with Clara. What
began as devotion, ripened into a relationship? Clara, seventeen years older, with
seven children, appreciated his loyalty. When Schumann passed, Brahms was torn
between love and freedom, and left her. For two decades, he continued to write
citing his love for her.
• Because of a premature publication of their repudiation of Liszt’s attack on their
musical conservatism, Brahms, Joachim, and others fared badly in light of the
new German music.
• Brahms is considered a ‘conservative’ in that he resisted the association of a
‘program’ to his instrumental works.
• Brahms made a living from performing and conducting, as well as his music
publications.
• In 1862, he decided to move to Vienna. The notable musicians of Vienna were:
Goldmark, Tausig, Cornelius, Nawratil and Hellmesberger.
• He matured as a composer in a period where the standard orchestral repertoire
performed was by dead composers. Brahms realized that writing music for
concert- goers who enjoyed work of the past, had to be new and appealing while
embracing the past.
• His symphonies resisted the widening of the ‘orchestral palette’, and his
symphonic form is traditional.
• Brahms was also an innovator in his use of cross-rhythms, extensive use of the
hemiola, his dense textures, and his individual phrasing.
• Brahms’ music contains strong contrapuntal writing, in melodies, and in the use
of canonic and fugal techniques.
• He was disciplined in his writing of chamber and choral music, a skill that
inhibited most Romantic composers.

Piano Music:
• Trained as a pianist, Brahms developed a piano style characterized by rich
sonorities and textures.
 • [1852-1853]-Brahms wrote three, large sonatas that showed off his brilliant
pianistic skills. These sonatas combined the tradition of Beethoven, with the
chromatic language of Chopin and Liszt, as well as song-like melodies similar to
Schumann.
• Sonata in F#-, Op.2 [1852]

Start- Thursday, March 9,2017

• Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Handel- Op.24 [1861]-While modeled on

The Goldberg Variations and the Diabelli Variations, these 25 variations are a
series of character pieces without titles. [a Hungarian rhapsody, a French
musette, an Italian Siciliana, a scherzo, a march.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9tbCkACbGU
http://ks.petruccimusiclibrary.org/files/imglnks/usimg/c/c3/IMSLP08435-
Brahms_-_Variations_Op.24_-_Sauer.pdf
• Variations on a Theme of Paganini- Op.35 [1863]
• The following works, written in his later years, were his greatest contribution to
19th century keyboard literature.
• ABA in form, these miniatures resembled song without words, with deft
counterpoint, showing Brahms’ great knowledge of counterpoint, from Bach to
his age.

Brahms composed intermezzos, ballades, romances, and rhapsodies but their content is
far removed from the meaning of the titles, or the mood of his contemporary composers
in that idiom.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4nnjhHe15U
• Brahms expresses gruff humour and very little charm.
• His sonatas differ in form from these works only in structural form.

Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor [1858]-Both concertos was heavy and clumsy,
compared to other concertos of the day. Their appeal is in their massiveness and structural
tensions. The work was misunderstood at its premiere at Hanover and Leipzig, where the
majority of the audience hissed following its performance. The three- movement work
contains 1.) Maestoso-D Minor, 2.) Adagio, 3.) Rondo: Allegro non troppo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXd0omiCuA4
Piano Concerto No.2 in Bb -Op.83 [1881]. A four-movement work, he played the
premiere and reached instant acclaim.

Chamber Music:
In chamber music, Brahms was the true successor to Beethoven.
• He wrote 25 in all, rivalling Beethoven in quantity, as well as quality.
• Several of his works feature piano with strings, including three piano trios and
three piano quartets.
 [NAWM156] Piano Quintet in F Minor,OP.34 [P.471]
Mvt.1- Allegro non troppo [11:21]
• The first movement is a powerfully knit sonata allegro form, built around
an opening theme that germinates and develops other themes throughout
the work. Schoenberg later labelled this compositional technique,
developing variation.
• See examples on P.471
Violin concerto in D, Op.77- [1879]- first performed ,by the soloist, Joachim. Being a
non-violinist, he consulted with the soloist on idiomatic writing for the violin.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqqSJfS3Lm4

Piano trios-
Piano Trio in B, Op.8
Piano Quartets-
Piano Quartet No.2 in A Op.26
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyjvTl8q9rE

Symphonies: His symphonies are unsurpassed in the late Romantic period for conception
and design.

• Variations on a Theme by Haydn [1873]-also scored for two pianos. Since the
theme, [St. Anthony’s Chorale], is no longer considered to be written by Haydn,
the work is now titled St. Anthony Variations.

• Symphony No.1 in C Minor [1876]- Brahms was concerned with taking his
place with the earlier and current masters of symphonic works. He worked slowly
and was very self-critical of his works, over a period of twenty years.

• He followed a fast, slow [E Major], a lighter intermezzo [Ab Major] ,

concluded with a fast movement [B Minor- C Minor /Major].

• The final movement features a hymn-like theme that parallels Beethoven’s

choral finale.

• Symphony No.2 [1877]-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyjvTl8q9rE
• Symphony No.3, Op.90 [1883]- Rugged melodies and vigorous rhythms, as well
as the use of brass and woodwinds in the lower registers, are characteristic of his
music.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhB_umc9F84
 • Movement 1:Allegro con brio
The opening three notes in the winds constitute a motive that pervades the first
movement and returns in the last. The main theme is a downward striding,
vigorous theme, played by the violins, outlining the I chord.
The second theme; pastoral in character, is played by the clarinets in half
voice. He displaces the same notes on different beats of the measure.
Both themes are subjected to the development section. The recapitulation
follows with a lengthy coda.
The horn section is prominent throughout, generating a warm tone that is
reticent, typical of Brahms’ own emotions.
Movement 2- an Andante in 4/4 metre, is ABA in structure. The opening theme is
espressivo, played by the clarinets, supported by the bassoons and horns, and echoed by
the strings.

Movement 3- The poco allegretto is a lyrical, impassioned, darkly coloured orchestral

song.

Movement 4- The Finale is a dramatic sonata-allegro form with concise themes and
abrupt changes of mood. The first idea, played by the bassoons and strings is a searching
melody with narrow range. The contrasting theme is a festive theme played by the horns
and cellos in unison.
• Symphony No.4 [1885]- Brahms conducted its premiere with the Meiningen
court orchestra. He took the orchestra and the symphony on tour to western
Germany and the Netherlands before publishing the score in 1886.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pT6SN4tPbv8&t=1556s

NAWM 156- Brahms, Quintet for Piano and Strings in F Minor, Op.34 [P.470]
Mvt.1- Allegro non troppo (not too fast) [11:21]

This is Brahms’ most popular chamber work.

• The opening theme unifies the movement with the technique of developing
variation, where Brahms uses motives of the first theme to germinate new
themes:
• a) an original theme
• b) a piano figure
• c) a woven into a lyrical violin melody
• d) a piano variant, answered by the strings.

NAWM 155- Brahms- Symphony No. 3 in E minor, Op.98 [P.471]

 Mvt.1-Allegro non troppo
The first theme begins with a chain of thirds,[and inversions], introducing all of the
notes in the E minor harmonic scale.
Mvt.2- Andante
Mvt.3-Allegro giocoso
Mvt.4 – Allegro energico e passionate [10:09]
The fourth movement is a chaconne, a set of variations built on an ostinato bass, as well
as its harmonic pattern. Brahms had a fascination with Baroque form and adapted the
bass line from Bach’s Cantata 150, and was influenced by Buxtehude, and by
Beethoven’s “Eroica Variations” in the finale of Symphony No.3
• Variation 5- wide melodic leaps in the violin.
• Variation 14-The triple meter is contradicted by the duple motive.
• Variation 24- Brahms presents a combination of simple and compound metre,
which serves as a recapitulation for the first four variations.

Choral Music:
Brahms’s choral music was written for amateur choruses. He arranged German folk
songs for mixed, women’s, and men’s choruses [unaccompanied], and larger works with
orchestral settings.

Ein deutsches Requiem, Op.45- [1868] for soprano, baritone, chorus, and orchestra.
• The composing period spanned nine years. This work established Brahms’
reputation as a major composer, and was performed frequently throughout
Europe. [It was performed 21 times over Europe in1869.]
• Originally written as a monument to Schumann, Brahms added a fifth movement
in memory of his mother.
• The text is not from the Latin Requiem, but were selected passages, [by
Brahms], from the Old Testament, Aprocrypha, and the New Testament.
• Brahms draws on Schutz and Bach, and shares their concern with mortality and
their hope for salvation.
• These solemn thoughts are wrapped in opulent Romantic harmonies.

This was followed by a perfect contrast, the charming Liebeslieder Waltzes, Op.52 for
four hands piano, and a mixed quartet of singers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKkEyeMSoXw

Rhapsody for Alto, Men’s chorus and orchestra, Op.53

Lieder:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBxiKfhu-mo https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=km5qkqrcxP0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9QoFhGopg4
Piotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky- [1840-1893]-Tchaikovsky was the most prominent Russian
composer of the 19th century. He successfully blended his Russian musical heritage with
influences from Italian opera, French ballet, and German symphony and song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yA5enI0J82I&list=PL65EECBB93A8B76EA
• His father was a mining engineer; his mother was French, musical and a capable
linguist.
• At the age of six, started formal piano lessons.
• His family moved to St. Petersburg when he was a child; graduated from law
school at 19, and served as a civil servant for four years.
• In 1854, his mother died of cholera. Tchaikovsky was obsessively fond of her and
never fully recovered from this loss.
• He then enrolled at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, studied with Anton
Rubenstein.
• In 1859, he made an indifferent lawyer at the Ministry of Justice.
• In 1863, he resigned his post and entered the Moscow Conservatory.
• He was appointed a teaching position, teaching harmony at the Moscow
Conservatory, where he taught for twelve years.
• In 1861, the Czar freed the serfs as an aid to modernize Russia. Two factions,
“the Slavophiles” [nationalists], and “the Westernizers”, influenced the
direction of music and culture in Russia.
• Slavophiles opposed western academic training citing it would hinder their
originality.
• Westernizers included Anton Rubenstein, pianist and composer [1829-1894],
and his brother, Nikolay Rubenstein, pianist [1835-1881], who founded the
Moscow Conservatory, raised the standard of musicianship that led to a
continuous legacy of leading pianist, violinists, and composers to this day!
• In 1866, he composed his first symphony, Winter Dreams, a quiet, elegiac piece
elegantly scored. In terms of comparison, it falls between Mendelssohn and
Sibelius.
• In 1868, he was invited to meet Balakirev and his group of the Russian Five. He
never fully supported their movement of nationalism in music, due to his shyness
and the fact that he despised Cesar Cui. Tchaikovsky liked and admired both
Rimsky-Korsakoff and Borodin.
• In 1869, Borodin advised and closely supervised his fantasy overture, Romeo
and Juliet. This work is the first evidence of his flowering musical genius,
poised, brilliantly coloured and rich in melody.
• This period of time had him teaching in Moscow, and composing while on
vacation in the south. He composed Symphony No.2, the opera, Oxana’s
Caprices, and his first two string quartets.

Piano Concerto No.1 in Bb Minor- [1874]

 • This work caused a crisis between Tchaikovsky and Nicholas Rubenstein, with
Rubenstein stating that the work was vulgar, ill-proportioned,
and difficult to play. Rubenstein did perform it, but this affair tarnished their
friendship.
• This work, is, actually is full of fantastic colours, beautiful melodies, and
ingenious musical devices.

Personal life:
• While his career was successful, his personal life was a mess. Troubled by the
growing knowledge of his homosexuality, he became depressed and suicidal.
• In 1877, he entered into a hasty and disastrous marriage with a 28 year old,
blonde, neurotic Antonina Milyukova. Within five days, the marriage was over.
• “Physically, she is totally repulsive.”-Tchaikovsky

Nadezhda von Meck- She was a wealthy, widowed, mother of eleven children and
especially fond of music. By mutual agreement, they decided never to meet but would
correspond at length, and she agreed to pay Tchaikovsky an annual allowance of 6000
roubles. In Nadezhda, he had the affection, security and lack of sexual contact he
desired.

Ballet:
Tchaikovsky scored a big success with his ballets, even surpassing the native
French in terms of spectacular staging.
• His ballet scores reveal his melodic fertility.-
Swan Lake Op.20 - [1876]- Initially a fiasco, it was poorly conducted and poorly
played. However, the ballet was a masterpiece with richly scored dance
movements, the plaintive oboe melody that acts as the swan’s leitmotif. The
work describes a world of wonder and describes doomed and beautiful
characters.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqZfoK25lnY
The Sleeping Beauty- [1889] This ballet is the richest and most consistently
inspired of his ballet scores.
Tchaikovsky took the Viennese waltz form and made it a cornerstone of his
ballets and elevated the waltz in its symphonic treatment.

The Nutcracker – [1892] It was written during a year of nervous collapse and an
exhausting trip to New York City. He was invited to take part in the inaugural
ceremonies connected to the opening of Carnegie Hall.
• This ballet has more than twenty waltzes, most strung together as a
medley or dance set.
 • His orchestral style combines memorable Russian melodies and
rhythms, colourful orchestration, gestures of classic ballet and a fairy-
tale atmosphere surrounding the plots.
•

Opera:
Eugene Onegin- [1879]- This opera was based on the writings of Alexander
Pushkin with the story describing a tale of young love destroyed by ruthless
charm.. [1799-1837].
• This opera was written during a period of depression and his tiring of his
work at the Moscow Conservatory.
•

The Queen of Spades- [1890]- This opera re-creates the spirit of 18th century
Russia, during the reign of Catherine the Great. This opera still is an effective
stage piece and was written before the tragic break with Nadezhda von Meck.

Symphonies:
• His symphonies are noteworthy for their lyricism, dramatic quality, and
orchestration.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZRsNzIwYAA
• Symphony No.2 “Polish” was fitful and desultory and was written during
a time of renewed depression. the Andante elegiac is a rescue from this
symphony of gloom.
The sustained transition from the third movement to the finale is characteristic of
the Romantic’s need to unify the symphony.
• The last three symphonies within four massive, long movements
emphasize power, with dynamics and accents.
Symphony No.4- The horns and bassoons open the symphony, and are joined by the
trombones and tubas, before the change of key entry by the trumpets and high
woodwinds.
• This symphony contains a novel pizzicato movement.
• In 1888, he has a new creative upsurge.
Symphony No. 5 in E Minor [1888]
• The brooding theme introduced in the beginning recurs in all four
movements.[in the development of mvt.1; before the coda in the
Andante; the coda of the third movement; in the introduction of the
finale.]
• His mastery of orchestration enables him to pit instrumental choirs against
each other.
• In the Andante, he combines syncopated rhythms in the strings against the
soaring melodies of the winds.
• Tchaikovsky replaces the scherzo with a waltz.
 NAWM 160- Tchaikovsky- Symphony No.6 in B Minor, (Pathetique),[1893] [P.
476]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvEzdij0dlk
Mvt.3- Allegro molto vivace [9:14] Op.74
• This work was written quickly with great intensity during the last year of
his life. [1893]
• Tchaikovsky had a private program in mind but never discloses the
meaning.
• In the Sixth Symphony, we have a sense of modern consciousness,
troubled, and self-alienated.
• The St. Petersburg’s audience, coolly received the Sixth Symphony, at the
premiere.
• He begins with a sombre theme in B minor that strives upward but never
reaches its goal. This is balanced by a consoling, pentatonic second theme.
• He also introduces a quote from the Russian Orthodox Requiem that
brings out the dark mood.
• Instead of a ¾ minuet, Tchaikovsky replaces it with a 5/4 waltz.
• The third movement begins with a light scherzando and gradually
evolves into a triumphant march.
Tchaikovsky introduces an unprecedented 5/4 metre for the entire third movement.
• Unlike Beethoven, Tchaikovsky ends the work with a despairing slow movement,
filled with lamenting figures that fade away over a low pulse in the strings.
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvEzdij0dlk
Additional Major Works:
• 1812 Overture
• Roman Carnival
• Caprice Italien
• Serenade for Strings
• Piano Sonata
• Piano Trio
• Three Piano Concertos.

Bedrich Smetana- [1824-1884]- The “father of Czech music.”

• At the age of seventeen,[1841], he spent considerable time playing piano in the
wealthier homes of citizens in his town.
• In 1843, he decided to gain his fortunes in Prague and to “become a Mozart in
composition and a Liszt in technique.”
• He was lucky to be taken in under for instruction in piano and counterpoint.
• He became the resident piano teacher for the family of Count Leopold Thun.
• He met Berlioz, Robert and Clara Schumann while they were touring Prague.
• After deciding to open a music school, he wrote to Liszt to obtain advice, to
secure a loan and sent his Six Characteristic Pieces, dedicated to Liszt.
 • In 1848, the year of revolutions in Europe, the lands of Bohemia, existed as part
of the Austrian Empire, with life being intolerable for most musicians.
• Most would move to London, Paris, or Vienna. At this time, Smetana spoke only
German and did not attempt to write in Czech until 1856.
•
Bohemia,[later Czechoslovakia, and in the late 20th and 21st century, the Czech
Republic,]which was under Austrian domination, was finally permitted to develop their
indigenous cultural institutions.
• With the establishment of a Czech-speaking theatre in Prague, Smetana
returned from his self- imposed exile in Sweden, and gave the country a national
opera in The Bartered Bride [1866].
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2c2hj2c7js
• Its story is one of Bohemian folk village life but the music has artistry, sparkle,
vigour and refinement.
• This opera contains folk- inspired songs and dances, comic humour, and a
vitality that made in a perennial favourite of the people.
• Dalibor [1868]- a heroic opera that exhibits his talent.
• Smetana admired Liszt and took the symphonic form and turned the form into
his own expression.
• Smetana wrote a cycle of six symphonic poems entitled Ma Vlast [My Country]
[1874-1879]. The most famous one is the second, Vltava, [the Moldau- in
German], that runs through the countryside on its way to the city of Prague.
• Tabor- This stirring symphonic poem describes the city where religious followers
of Jan Hus, build a fortress that became a symbol of Czech resistance to outside
oppression.
• The symphonic poem is structured on a Hussite chorale.

Antonin Dvorak-[1841-1904]-was influenced by Wagner in his earlier works.

• Sometimes called, “ the Bohemian Brahms. ” He emulated Beethoven and
Brahms and transformed the medium from abstract ideas to a form that expresses
heroism and nationalistic elements in the music.
• Inspired by Bedrich Smetana, he drew on native dance rhythms and the melodic
inflections of rustic popular music.
• Dvorak is the greatest of all Czech composers. In terms of musical discipline, he
follows Haydn. In terms of being a natural melodist, Dvorak follows Schubert
and his friend, Tchaikovsky.
• He came from a peasant background and resisted the temptation of giving up the
Czech countryside for Vienna or Prague.
• He became a professor of composition at the Conservatory of Prague. Dvorak
often travelled to London, where his choral works were very popular.
• Through his friendship with Tchaikovsky, he visited Russia
 • Dvorak’s most famous trip was his hiring and move to New York. He was hired
in the expectation that he would lead the New World on a path to a new national
style of art music.
• Dvorak enriched chamber music by introducing Czech folk elements and
adopting national forms.
• Polka; scocna [a reel]; furiant [a quick dance with changing rhythms].
• Dvorak’s nine symphonies secured him a place in the Viennese symphonic
tradition. He believed that national music could only be forged from the folk
tradition.
• For this symphony, Dvorak used Native America melodies and Negro
spirituals.
• His most famous symphony, From the New World No.9 [1893], written when
Dvorak was hired to teach in New York City.
• Consensus states that his Symphony No. 7 in D, and his Symphony No. 8 in G,
contains native Czech elements.

NAWM 161- Dvorak- Slavonic Dances Op.46 [P.480]

No. 1- Presto [4:04]
The two sets of Slavonic Dances, were orchestrated from his original piano duets.
• These are original compositions in folk style and not mere arrangements of folk
melodies. This collection contains Serbian, Ukrainian and Slavonic dances,
which were extremely popular among German and English audiences.
• He avoided Czech tunes but simulated a national character with national dances
and folk rhythms.
• The first dance is a furiant, beginning with hemiolas set in triple meter before
settling into a rapid triple note feel.