Nationalism In Nineteenth Century

During the nineteenth century, Europeans felt strongly that their homelands merited loyalty and self sacrifice. These nationalistic feelings were awakened during the upheavels of the French Revolution and Napoleonic wars (1789-1814), when French armies invaded much of Europe. In many countries, military resistance to Napoleon aroused th citizens' sense of national identity. Common bonds of language, culture nad history were strengthened, since now battles were fought by soldiers drawn from the general population - not by mercenaries, as the past. Patriotic feeling was intensified, too, by romanticism which glorified love for one's national heritage. As a revolutionary, political movement, nationalism led to the unification of lands like Germany and Italy that had previously been divided into tiny states. It spurred revolts in countries under foreign rule, such as Poland and Bohemia (later part of Czech Republic). Nationalism was a potent cultural movement as well, particularly regarding language. In lands dominated by foreign powers, the national language was used increasingly in textbooks, newspapers, and official documents. Fo example, in Bohemia, there was a revival of the Czech language, which before1800 had lost ground to the German spoken by Austrian rulers. By the 1830s nd 1840s,important textbooks on astronomy and chemistry were written in Czech, and there were many collections of Czech folk poetry. In every land, the national spirit was felt to reside in the folk, the peasantry. The national past became a subject of intense historical investigation, and there was new enthusiasm for folk songs, dances, legends, and fairy tales. Nationalism influenced romantic music, as composers deliberately gave their works a distinctive national identity. They used folk songs and dances and creates original melodies with a folk flavor. Nationalist composers wrote operas and program music inspired by the history, legends, and landscapes of their native lands. Their works bear titles like Russian Easter Overture (Rimsky Korsakov), Finlandia (Sibelius), and Slavonic Dances (Dvorak). But a genuine feeling of national style does not come merely through the use of folk songs or patriotic subjects. A piece of music will sound French, Russian, or Italian when its rhythm, tone color, texture, and melody spring from national tradition. There were regional traits in music before the romantic period, but never had differences of national style been emphasized so strongly or so consciously. In these revolutionary times, musical compositions could symbolize nationalist yearnings and sometimes stirred audiences to violent political demonstrations. The Italian opera composer Giuseppe Verdi Deliberately chose librettos that fanned public hatred for the Austrian overlords, censors constantly pressured him to change scenes that might be interpreted as anti-Austrian or antimonarchical. A twentieth-century parallel occurred when the Nazis banned performances of Smetana's symphonic poem The Moldau in Prague, the composer's home city. The strongest impact of nationalism was felt in lands whose own musical heritage had been dominated by the music of Italy, France, Germany, or Austria. During th eromantic period, Poland, Russia Bohemia, the Scandinavian countries, and Spain produced important composers whose music had a national flavor. Early in the nineteenth century, Chopin transformed his native Polish dances into great art. After about 1860, groups or schools of composers consciously declared their musical

independence and established national styles. Among the leading musical nationalists were Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, and Borodin from Russia, Smetana and Dvorak from Bohemia, Edvard Grieg (1843-1907) from Norway, Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) from Finland, and Isaac Albeniz (1860-1909) from Spain. Nationalism had an impact on American music as wel. Around the middle of nineteenth century, the leading nationalist composer in the United States was Louis Moreau Gottschalk (1829-1869), the first American concert pianist to gain international recognition. Born in New Orleans and trained in Paris, Gottcshalk used African American, Cuban, and Puerto Rican melodies and rhythms in such works as Bamboula: African American dance and the symphony A night in the Tropics (1858-1859). During the 1890s and the first decade of the twentieth century, Edward MacDowell (18601908)composer, pianist, and teacher-was the outstanding musical figure in America. His bestknown composition incorporating Amercan folk material are the orchestral work Indian Suite (1896)- based on Native American melodies and a set of piano pieces called Woodland Sketches (1896). A leading American composer and conductor of band music was John Philip Sousa (1854-1932), whose work include The Stars and Stripes Forever.