Music

Unit 4:VOCAL MUSIC OF THE

ROMANTIC PERIOD
 Introduction
How do you express your feelings? Is it
through writing, painting, dancing, singing,
or acting? What do you feel when these
emotions are not expressed?
Vocal music is one of the best tools for expressing one's feelings. This
form of expression became more evident during the Romantic Period.
Romanticism coincided with the Industrial Revolution in Western
Europe that brought about the rise of socialism and capitalism. The
Romantic Period's basic quality is emotional subjectivity. Composers
explore feelings of grandiosity, intimacy, unpredictability, sadness,
rapture, and longing.
 Romantic vocal forms like the art song and operas were about
fantasy, supernatural, romance, and the nature as mirror of the
human heart. Virtuoso performers are not only instrumentalists but
also singers. One singer some-times sounds like several characters
by use of different vocal register. To fully understand and appreciate
vocal music of the Romantic Period, this unit will let you experience
the cultural developments and artistic forms of expression of the
period. By understanding the past we learn to appreciate the things
we enjoy today.
 What to know
The parallelisms of music and literature were clearly
evident in almost all forms of vocal music during the
Romantic Period. Composers interpret poems, mood,
atmosphere and imagery into music. Musical
compositions such as the art song was written for solo
voice and piano. Like all program music, art song has its
inspiration from poetry in this period. Mood is often set at
the beginning with piano introduction and concluded with
a piano postlude.
Romantic artists found inspiration in landscapes. Their
subjects were tra-ditional myths, legends, and folklore
that usually deal with the supernatural, grotesque, and
less ordinary.
Vocal music in this period require singers to perform a
greater range of tone color, dynamics, and pitch.
Because of this, Opera became an important source of
musical expressions. The birth of the opera houses
came. It was the place where all the arts converged:
not only music, but poetry, painting, architecture, and
the dance as well.
OPERA COMPOSERS OF THE
ROMANTIC PERIOD
 Franz peter Schubert

The proper name for Franz Schubert's

songs is actually lieder, which is the
German word for "songs." Schubert
developed lieder so that they had a
powerful dramatic impact on the
listeners. He tapped the poetry of
writers like Johann Goethe.
 He is considered the last of the Classical composers and
one of the first romantic ones. His famous vocal music
works/lieder were: "Gretchen am Spinnrade," "Erlkonig,"
"Ellens Gesang III" ("Ave Maria"), and "Schwanenge Sang"
("Swan Song"). He also wrote piano pieces, string
quartets, operetta and the Symphony no. 8 in B Minor
("Unfinished Symphony").

Schubert was born on the 31st of January 1797 in

Himmelpfortgrund, Austria and died in 1828 in
Vienna, Austria at age 31.
 Giuseppe Verdi
A name associated with Romantic
opera is that of Verdi. His characters
are ordinary people and not those of
the royal family like those found in
German operas. He insisted on a good
libretto and wrote operas with political
overtones and for middle-class
audience.
 Verdi was born in Parma, Italy on October 9, 1813. He studied
in Busseto and later went to Milan where his first opera
"Oberto" was performed in La Scala, the most important opera
house at the time. Almost all of his works are serious love story
with unhappy ending. Expressive vocal melody is the soul of a
Verdi opera. He completed 25 operas throughout his career. His
final opera ends with "All the world's a joke." Some of his
famous operas are still being produced and performed
worldwide. His much acclaimed works are; "La Traviata,"
"Rigoletto," "Falstaff," "Otello," and "Aida" were he wrote for
the opening of the Suez Canal. He died in Milan, Italy on
January 27,1901.
 Giacomo Puccini
was born in a poor family on December
22, 1858 in Lucca, Italy. He studied at
the Milan Conservatory. He belonged to a
group of composers who stressed
realism, therefore, he drew material from
everyday life, rejecting heroic themes
from mythology and history.Puccini's
famous operas were: "La Boheme,"
"Tosca," "Madame Butterfly," and
"Turandot."
 Richard Wagner

Wilhelm Richard Wagner was born in

Leipzig, Germany on May 22, 1813.
He attended Leipzig University. He
was very much in-spired by Ludwig
van Beethoven.
Wagner exerted a strong influence on the operatic medium. He was
an advo-cate of a new form of opera which he called "music drama"
where musical and dramatic elements were fused together. He
developed a compositional style in which the orchestra has of equal
importance in dramatic roles as the singers themselves.The
expenssiveness is aided by the use of leitmotifs or musical se-
quences standing for a particular character/plot element.

His famous works are; "Tristan and Isolde", "Die Walkyrie," "Die
Meistersinger," "Tannhäuser," and "Parsifal." His work would later
influence modern film scores, including those of "Harry Potter" and
"Lord of the Rings" film series. Wagner died of a heart attack on
February 13,1883 at age of 69.
 Georges Bizet
was registered with the legal name
Alexandre-Cesar-Leopold Bizet, but
was baptized Georges Bizet and
was always known by the latter
name. He was born October 25,
1838 in Paris, France. He entered
the Paris Conservatory of music at
a very young age
Bizet became famous for his operas. His most famous opera
is "Carmen." However, when "Carmen" first opened in Paris,
the reviews were terrible. The shows were criticized in
horrible ways that resulted in poor audience attendance.

During the first round of "Carmen" performances, Bizet died

(June 3, 1875). He was only 36. Four months later, "Carmen"
opened in Vienna, Austria and was a smash hit. It is now
one of the most popular operas ever written. Bizet never
knew that audiences would come to consider it as his
masterpiece
 Romantic opera
Opera became increasingly popular during the
Romantic period. It is a musical composition
having all or most of its text set to music with
arias, recitative, cho-ruses, duets, trios, etc. sung
to orchestral accompaniment. The opera is
usually characterized by elaborate costumes,
scenery, and choreography.
Components of
an opera
Libretto - the text of an opera. Librettist and the
composer work closely together to tell the story.

Score - the book that the composer and librettist

put together. The score
has all the musical notes, words, and ideas to
help the performers tell the story. Often, there
are operas with overtures, preludes, prologues,
several acts, finales, and postludes
 Recitative - Declamatory singing, used in the prose parts and dialogue of
opera. Different roles in operas are created taking into account different
types of voices. Each role requires a different type of singer, not only
able to sing a given vocal range but also with certain voice
characteristics, color, and power.

Aria - an air or solo singing part sung by a principal character. This song is
what the public will remember best when leaving the opera house. Properly
and well sung, a beautiful aria can bring an audience to its feet and decide the
fate of an entire opera.
It is also important to know the types of voice of singers. This will serve as a
guide for singers on their choice of songs and vocal quality expected of a
singer or opera character.
 For the male voice :

1. Tenor - highest male voice

2 Baritone - middle male voice, lies between Bass and

Tenor voices. It is the common male voice.

3. Bass- lowest male voice

 For the female voice:
Soprano - highest female voice
Coloratura - highest soprano voice
Lyric - bright and full sound
Dramatic - darker full sound
Mezzo-Soprano - most common female voice; strong
middle voice tone is darker or deeper than the soprano
Contralto- lowest female voice and most unique among
female
Duet, trio, and other small ensemble
Chorus
Orchestra
Acts - main divisions of an opera
Scene - setting or place
 Composers like Verdi, Puccini, and Wagner saw
the opportunity to explon ways to develop the
vocal power of a singer. Greater range of tone
color, dynamio and pitch were employed.

Dynamics and vocal embellishments were used to

further affect the way singers sing. Some musical
terms are used like:
A Capella - one or more singers performing without instrumental
accompaniment
Cantabile - in a singing style
Capo- head, the beginning
Coda - closing section appended to a movement or song
Dolce sweetly
Falsetto - a weaker and more airy voice usually in the higher pitch ranges

Glissando - sliding quickly between 2 notes

Passagio - parts of a singing voice where register transitions occur
Rubato - slight speeding up or slowing down of the tempo of a piece at the
discretion of the soloist
Tessitura - the most comfortable singing range of a singer
Vibrato - rapidly repeated slight pitch variation during a sustained note, to
give a richer and more varied sound
Music by Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901)
Libretto in Italian by Francesco Maria Piave, based
on "La Dame aux Camélias," play by Alexandre
Dumas after his novel by the same name. The play
is known in English as "Camille." Premiere: Venice,
March 6, 1853.
Categorized as a Romantic tragedy
Set in Paris, France during 1850
Oiginally in three acts, but present-day productions
are usually in four acts dividing the original Act II
ACT I: Violetta's Paris salon, luxuriously furnished
ACT II: A villa near Paris
ACT III: Ballroom in Flora's mansion
ACT IV: Violetta's bedroom
 Synopsis
At one of her brilliant supper parties, the beautiful but
frail demi-mondaine (a woman supported by a wealthy
lover-Merriam Webster Dictionary), Violetta Valéry, meets
the well-born Alfredo Germont. They immediately fell in
love and she decided to abandon her life of pleasure.

Alfredo's father did not approve of their lifestyle in the

country and demands that Violetta renounce Alfredo.
Violetta, determined to make the sacrifice, then
departs and leaves only a note for Alfredo.
She appears at a ball in Flora's house on the arm of an old admirer,
Baron Douphol, which makes Alfredo angry. Alfredo challenges the
Baron to play cards where Alfredo wins consistently. Unable to
persuade Violetta to go with him, Alfredo insults her. Violetta
becomes ill, and all her friends desert her, leaving her virtually
penniless

Alfredo returns to Violetta. His father told him of the real story behind
Violetta's departure from their country house, and urged him to seek
her for-giveness. Overjoyed at the sight of him, Violetta attempts to
rise but falls into Alfredo's arms. As Germont and the doctor enter,
Violetta dies.
 MADAME BUTTERFLY
• Music by Giacomo Puccini (1858-
1924)
• Libretto in Italian by Giuseppe
Giacosa and Luigi Ilica. From the
short story by John Luther Lung,
derived from Pierre Loti's tale
Madame Chrysantheme.
• Romantic tragedy. Set numbers;
recitative. Setting: Nagasaki, Japan,
at the beginning of the 20th
century. Two acts; Act 2 with two
parts
 Synopsis
When American naval vessels frequented Japanese seaports,
American Lieutenant Benjamin Franklin Pinkerton met Cio-Cio-
San ("Butterfly") and was captivated by her beauty. Pinkerton
rented a Japanese house and part of his rental package is his
"betrothal" to Cio-Cio-San.
Treating the marriage merely as a casual affair, Pinkerton returns to
America after the wedding leaving Cio-Cio-San loyally waiting for
his return. He marries an American woman named Kate. When he
returns to Japan three years later with his American wife, he learns
that he bore a son with Cio-Cio-San. Upon learning that Pinkerton
had married another woman, Cio-Cio-San kills herself to make sure
that Pinkerton takes their son with him.
Thank
you