Page 192 - ESSENTIAL LISTENING TO MUSIC

LiSTeN TO . . . Example 11.1 online.
little of the aggressive dissonance of more modern music. The Romantic style is luxurious and consonant, and our psyche cannot resist its pull.
The distinctive sound of the Romantic period is, in truth, heavily indebted to the music that preceded it. Indeed, the works of Romantic composers represent not so much a revolution against Classical ideals as an evolution beyond them. Throughout the nineteenth century, the Classical genres of the symphony, concerto, string quartet, piano sonata, and opera remain fashionable, though somewhat altered in shape. The symphony now grows in length, embodying the widest possible range of expression, while the concerto becomes increasingly virtuosic, as a heroic soloist does battle against an orchestral mass. The Roman- tics introduced no new musical forms and only two new genres: the art song (see “The Art Song” in this chapter) and the tone poem (see Chapter 12). Instead, Romantic composers took the musical materials received from Haydn, Mozart, and the young Beethoven and made them more intensely expressive, more per- sonal, more colorful, and, in some cases, more bizarre.
Romantic Melody
The Romantic period saw the apotheosis of melody. Melodies become broad, powerful streams of sound intended to sweep the listener away. They go be- yond the neat symmetrical units (two plus two, four plus four) inherent in the Classical style, becoming longer, rhythmically more flexible, and increasingly ir- regular in shape. At the same time, Romantic melodies continue a trend that had developed in the late eighteenth century, in which themes become vocal in con- ception, more singable or “lyrical.” Countless melodies of Schubert, Chopin, and Tchaikovsky have been turned into popular songs and movie themes—Romantic music is perfectly suited to the romance of film—because these melodies are so profoundly expressive. Example 11.1 shows the well-known love theme from Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet. As the brackets indicate, it rises and falls, only to rise higher again, a total of seven times, on the way to a fortissimo climax.
Example 11.1 > love theme from romeo and juliet
Colorful Harmony
Part of the emotional intensity of Romantic music was generated by a new, more colorful harmony. Classical music had, in the main, made use of chords built upon only the seven notes of the major or minor scale. Romantic composers went further by creating chromatic harmony, adding chords constructed on the five remaining notes (the chromatic notes) within the full twelve-note chromatic scale. This gave more colors to their harmonic palette,
170 chapter eleven romanticism and romantic chamber music
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