Professional Documents
Culture Documents
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.
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]
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.
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]
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
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.
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.