Classical, Romantic & 20th Century Music: Forms & Features

Understanding Classical Music (18th-19th C.)

What Does "Classical" Mean?

The word Classical is often used to describe music that isn't pop, rock, or jazz, but it specifically refers to music from the late 18th to the early 19th century.

Key Characteristics

Classical music features characteristics such as:

• A sound that is richer and more structured.
• A freer, more expressive style compared to earlier periods.

Opera Styles

Opera Seria

Opera seria is the Italian term for serious opera. These were 18th-century operas in Italian, typically about ancient Greek gods and heroes.

Opera Buffa

Composers soon began to write operas in a lighter, comic style. In Italy, this new type of opera was known as opera buffa.

Major Classical Music Forms

Key characteristics of major Classical musical forms include:

Symphony

• A symphony is a massive orchestral piece, often lasting more than an hour, utilizing the full orchestra for significant impact.
• A symphony generally shares the structure of a sonata, typically having four movements rather than three.
• Some symphonies incorporate a choir alongside the orchestra.

Concerto

• The soloist features prominently, performing most of the main melodies and showcasing their technical skill.
• The orchestra also plays melodic parts, serving as more than just accompaniment.
• Concertos usually have three movements, following a quick-slow-quick tempo pattern.

Sonata

• Sonatas are mostly written for one instrument (like piano), though some exist for two instruments or two types of instruments playing different parts.
• A sonata is typically divided into three or four sections called movements, with pauses between them.
• At least one movement, usually the first and sometimes the last, is in sonata form.

Sonata Form Structure

The three main sections of sonata form are:

1. Exposition: Where the composer introduces the main musical themes (often a first and second theme connected by a bridge passage).
2. Development: Where the musical material from the exposition is explored in different keys, varied, or developed in some way.
3. Recapitulation: Where the composer repeats the music of the exposition, usually with slight modifications. Often, a concluding section called a "coda" is added to round off the movement.

The Classical Orchestra

Key Instruments and Changes

Main characteristics of the instruments and ensemble in a Classical orchestra:

• Piano: Invented around 1700, it gained popularity over the harpsichord due to its ability to vary dynamics (loudness and softness).
• Clarinet: The clarinet was also invented around this time and became part of the orchestra.
• Orchestra Size: Orchestras grew larger, incorporating more woodwind instruments, trumpets, horns, and expanded string sections.

Music in the 20th Century

Early 20th Century Experiments

In the early 20th century, it was fashionable to experiment with music. Some results might be challenging to understand initially.

Core Features

A key characteristic of much 20th-century music is that harmonies are likely to include a greater proportion of discord (dissonance) compared to earlier periods.

Impressionism in Music

What is Impressionism? Impressionist composers organized sounds in new ways, using:

• Subtly changing harmonies.
• Free rhythms, often sounding improvisational.
• Descriptive instrumental timbres and textures, akin to painters using brush strokes.

Expressionism and Key Composers

What is Expressionism? In music, Expressionism describes a style where composers infused their music with intense emotional expressiveness.

Main Composers: Schoenberg, Berg, Webern.

The Romantic Period in Music (19th C.)

Defining the Romantic Era

The 19th century is often referred to as the Romantic period.

Main Characteristics

The music of the Romantic period offers a wide variety of compositional types and emotional expression.

Romantic Opera Developments

Grand Opera

Grand Opera refers to serious 19th-century opera, entirely set to music, often featuring heroic stories.

Wagner's Music-Drama and Leitmotif

Wagner created a new style of opera known as music-drama, characterized by continuous music without clear breaks between arias and recitative. He used musical themes, or leitmotifs, to represent characters, objects, or ideas.

Operetta

An operetta is a light-hearted play featuring songs and spoken dialogue.

Composer Notes

• One composer who did not write any sacred vocal music was Wagner.
• One composer who did not write any symphonic music was Verdi.

The Romantic Orchestra: Programme Music

A key characteristic of the Romantic orchestra and its repertoire is programme music: instrumental music specifically composed to tell a story or evoke the mood of a poem or picture.

Nationalist Composers of the Era

Many Romantic composers drew inspiration from their native folk music:

• Norway: Grieg
• England: Elgar
• Czech Republic: Smetana
• Spain: Albéniz, Falla
• Poland: Chopin
• Russia: Borodin, Mussorgsky
• Hungary: Liszt, Bartók