The Romantic Period of Music

Published by StringOvation Team on March 20, 2019

Ask most people what they consider a romantic song, and you'll get answers like John Legend's "All of Me" or most anything from Marvin Gaye. But, as you know, the capital "R" in Romantic music is works composed in the Romantic style, which arose during the Romantic Period. But what characterizes Romantic Period music? How did it evolve? These are some of the questions we'll answer here.

At its core, composers of the Romantic Era saw music as a means of individual and emotional expression. Indeed, they considered music the art form most capable of expressing the full range of human emotion. As a result, romantic composers broadened the scope of emotional content. Music was expected to communicate to the audience, often by using a narrative form that told distinct stories.

Romantic composers prioritized the emotional or narrative content of the music above its form, which is why they broke so many of the classical composers' rules. Romantic composers didn't reject or break with the musical language developed during the Classical Period. They used its forms as a foundation for their work but felt unconstrained by them.

Beethoven is the originator of this approach. He lived and worked during the transition from the Classical to the Romantic Period, and was an inspiration to the Romantic composers who came after him.

Beethoven's symphonies "shift[ed] the terrain" for what a symphony could be. He also demonstrated coming Romantic Era characteristics, such as composing auto-biographical works and naming movements, such as the third movement of his String Quartet No. 15 in A minor, Op. 132 (Song of Thanksgiving to the Deity from a convalescent in the Lydian mode).

Ultimately, Romantic composers would evolve and expand the formalist Classical structure into a more complex, rich musical language.

Origins and context of the Romantic Period

Music was a bit late to the Romantic Period party. Historians argue over the start and end dates of the Romantic Period. Some date it as the 19th century, while others place it in the late 18th century. This is true for Romantic literature. Works like William Blake's Songs of Innocence (1789) and Samuel Coleridge's Kubla Khan (1797) are considered examples of early Romantic poetry. The Romantic Era hit its stride in the middle 1800s, encompassing all the arts and popular thought of the time.

The Romantic emphasis on individual self-expression grew out of the political ideas of individualism born during the Age of Enlightenment. However, the Romantics rejected that age's emphasis on logic and rationality. These ideas were as constraining as the rules regarding Classical music forms. They also rebelled against the hallmarks of the Industrial Revolution, such as mechanization, mass production, and urbanization, which were seen as contrary to their vision of an idealized, natural state of being.

Much of Romantic Era art, including music, also reflected the tension and nationalism of war and revolution that swept across Europe from the French Revolution (1789) through the mid-century revolutions and on to the national unifications in the 1870s. Examples of this include the sculpture Departure of the Volunteers on the façade of Paris's Arc de Triomphe, which alludes to soldiers both of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars; and Spanish painter Francisco Goya's paintings depicting Spanish resistance to Napoleon.

These events, ideas, and atmosphere directly contributed to the four primary artistic trends seen in Romantic compositions.

Four primary artistic inspirations of Romantic Era music

Now that you understand the context in which Romantic music developed, it will be easy to understand why these are the artistic themes (defined more broadly than the strict musical sense of "theme") that continually appear in works throughout the period.

Conveying extreme emotional states, whether auto-biographical, taken from a literary character or situation or just a representation of being human.

Exploring nature, particularly its wilder aspects, such as using musical techniques to imitate the sounds of storms or evoke the atmosphere of a dense, mysterious forest.

Fascination with the supernatural as a reaction to scientific advances, that both demystified old beliefs and created uncertainty about where science might take humanity.

Incorporating folk music or stories as a means to proclaim or reclaim national pride.

These four themes aren't clearly delineated, as you can find many or all of them incorporated into a single work. One of the ways Romantic composers did this was by writing pieces inspired by literature. This method gave a composition with both a narrative and emotional framework for the composer.

Mendelssohn's scherzo from A Midsummer Night's Dream

One last – yet critical – artistic inspiration developed in the Romantic Era isn't thematic, but highly personal: The composer as artiste and virtuoso. Romantic composers were often more than just composers. They were likely to also be performers and/or conductors. The virtuoso had both extraordinary technical proficiency and widespread acclaim. Paganini, Liszt, and Brahms are all excellent examples of the Romantic virtuoso.

The origins of the musical virtuoso are both artistic and practical.  Romanticism is about self-expression, particularly through an artist's self-expression. Thus, Romantic composers felt free to strain and twist the Classical musical forms in increasingly personal ways. Today we call it "branding." Yet even then, Romantic composers were searching for a way to develop their voice through their music, one which was recognizable to audiences.

Composers of the time had more personal, creative freedom because they no longer worked under the noble patronage system that defined the Baroque and Classical Eras. Composers and musicians no longer worked at the pleasure of a duke or prince. The Industrial Revolution lead to a population boom, and many people were living in the growing cities. A broad middle class developed that had some disposable income and time to appreciate the arts. The artists followed the people, performing at festivals and other public concerts. The arts centers had moved away from the castles in the countryside to the cities.

In short, Romantic composers could find popular and financial success by composing audience-pleasing works. However, this also led to an artistic tension that remains today: The degree to which the composer gave full expression to their personal, artistic motivations (the artiste side) or whether they restrained themselves to please ticket-buying audiences. This rise of the musical virtuoso is also one reason why the Romantic Era saw the growth of the music critic, like E.T.A. Hoffmann. Music critics helped laymen audiences navigate this new artistic world.

How Romantic Era music separated itself from Classical music

he language of Romantic Era music didn't break with its Classical predecessors so much as it expanded its vocabulary and felt free to ignore Classical formalism. For example, Schubert's Unfinished doesn't confine itself to traditional eight-bar phrasing.

Nor did composers feel constrained to limit a work's exploration of different keys, as evidenced in Mahler's Symphony No. 2.

In addition to breaking existing rules, Romantic composers also developed new techniques or reinvigorated lesser used ones to express a more extensive array of emotional and narrative states. They used more extended melodies, broader ranges of tone, pitch, and tempo – more sophisticated harmonies. 

Chromatic harmonies were making greater use of semitones and unusual chord progressions.

Melodies associated with an external reference, like a character or emotion being expressed. Wagner pioneered this idea with the leitmotif.

Not relying on cadence to resolve a passage, but allowing for "unending melody."

Use of rubato, adjusting tempo to reflect the level of emotional intensity the music should convey at that moment.

Increased tempos and complicated rhythms that demanded extraordinary precision and technical skill to be performed.

Greater use of techniques like sul ponticello (bowing near the bridge) and sul tasto (bowing near the fingerboard).

Romantic composers took advantage of a variety of mechanical innovations to explore richer dynamics and tones. Specifically, improvements in instrumental construction, as well as the creation of new instruments. The broader range and improvement of instruments allowed Romantic composers to express more precise gradations of volume and tone. This included longer, soaring crescendos and diminuendos. It also allowed them to make greater jumps in tone and volume, creating a new sort of discordance.

Changes in Instruments during the Romantic Period

The piano significantly evolved during the Romantic Period. For example, the number of physical keys expanded from five to eight octaves. The materials used to construct piano frames shifted from wood to metal, and the durability of the metal used to manufacture its strings improved. These improvements enriched the pitch range and tonal quality of the piano.

Similarly, the materials used to construct woodwind instruments also improved and expanded their musical quality and variability. Innovations, such as developing the valve for brass instruments, also contributed to a more abundant variety of sounds. As did the invention of entirely new instruments, like the Wagner tuba.

However, one of the most significant changes to instrumentation during the Romantic Era wasn't the nature of the instruments individually, but changes in the instrumentation of the works.

Changes to the orchestra during the Romantic Period

A critical means of expanding the expressiveness of the music  – primarily through tonal color, broader dynamics, and richer harmonies – was by increasing the number of instruments required to perform the composition. An extreme example of this is Mahler's Symphony No. 8 in E-flat major (Symphony of a Thousand), which requires two choirs and 120 musicians, including over 70 string musicians.

Orchestras from the Classical Era typically had around 30 musicians. The orchestra continued to grow and evolve throughout the Romantic Period, settling into the orchestra we know today.

As alluded to above, the wind and brass sections grew through the addition of a variety of instruments, such as the piccolo and contrabassoon, both of which greatly expanded the tonal range of the music. The percussion section also saw numerous instruments added, from bass drums to the triangle.

The string section also expanded. It remained comprised of the same four instruments: violin, viola, cello, and double bass. However, the number of each string instrument increased. Enlargin the number of strings allowed for the creation of more subsets within the string section. Romantic composers would use different configurations of small groups of strings to deepen the texture and contrasts within a work.

Another orchestral innovation of the period was intermittent use of non-traditional instruments. Say, cannons needed for Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture as one extreme example.

An expanded orchestra was needed to perform the longer, more dramatic symphonies from the Romantic Era. While the symphony exploded to new intensity during this time, the period is also notable for composers creating a variety of types of "miniature" works.

Changes in musical forms during the Romantic Period

We've seen that formal Classical structures, such as composing symphonies with only four movements, were set aside by Romantic composers. They also composed single-movement works in a variety of distinct forms:

The etude was a short composition intended to both showcase virtuoso skill and as a training exercise for students. Paganini's 24 Caprices for Solo Violin falls into this category, as do many of Chopin's works for the piano.

The prelude, used in earlier eras to introduce a more complete work, was composed as a stand-alone work. Romantic composers did the same with the overture, such as Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet.

The impromptu was a short piece meant to sound as if it was being improvised at that moment. As such, impromptus were typically single instrument works. Most impromptus were written for the piano, yet can be arranged for string instruments.

There were also many formats originating from national or folk music, such as the German lied, Polish polonaise and mazurka, and Viennese waltz.

Another important sub-genre of Romantic composition was intended to tell a specific story or paint a particular scene – program music, which may be a single movement or may have multiple movements.

Rise and scope of program music in the Romantic Period

Program music is music that tells a discrete story. It could be a story from the composer's life or his imagination. Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique: An Episode in the life of an Artist, in Five Parts, was the detailed recounting of the composer's unrequited love for a famous actress of the day. Each movement is named:

Passions

A Ball

Scene in the Fields

March to the Scaffold

Dream of a Night of the Sabbath

As you can tell from the names of the movements, the arc of this story doesn't go well for the artist. Berlioz handed out programs at the performances to explain the story.

In other cases, the story was taken from literature, mythology, or local folklore. Dvorák's The Golden Spinning Wheel is a work based on a Czech poem that tells the story of doomed love and murderous women.

The assumption of program music is that it must have program notes to share with the audience and explain the work. That may have been true when it first gained its greatest popularity during the Romantic Period, but handing out notes isn't the defining characteristic of program music.  In part because program music didn't have to tell a narrative story, but could be used to evoke the spirit of a time or place.

The symphonic or tone poem, a popular form of program music from the Romantic era, was intended to paint a scene where it transports the listener, which may or may not be a narrative story. For example, Sibelius composed numerous tone poems from old Finnish mythology, but composed others meant to invoke the spirit of his country and inspire patriotism, such as Finlandia.

Thus, Romantic Era tone poems run the full gamut of Romantic Era inspiration, from sharing intense emotional journeys, re-telling stories from Greek mythology or European literature, exploring fantastical settings (both natural and supernatural), and as odes to a country or culture.

Nationalist expression in Romantic Period music

Sibelius's Finlandia is an example of overt nationalism in Romantic music. In some cases, the work wasn't meant as a patriotic song per se but explicitly drew on folk music traditions the composer wanted to highlight. During the Classical Era, which prioritized the universality of strict, logical forms including strains of folk songs in music composed for nobles, would have been seen as provincial – at best. However, the self-expression popular during the Romantic Period often came out as patriotic love for local traditions during a time of war. Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsodies exemplify this approach.

One need not have been of a particular nation or ethnicity to include its music in new works. German Protestant Brahms turned to Hungarian-Jewish violinists to explore Hungarian themes he used in his Hungarian Dances. Dvorak was hired as Music Director of the National Conservatory of Music of America in part to develop an American classical musical language based on American folk music. His New World Symphony was the result.

The approach of using lands foreign to the composer as inspiration was akin to the nationalist trend and called "exoticism." The distinction between exoticism and nationalism could get blurry. Verdi's Aida, a story placed in Egypt, was commissioned by Cairo's Royal Opera. Puccini's Turandot, based on a commedia dell'arte play written in the 18th century, was set in China.

Exploring Romantic Composers and Their Works

We've covered a number of Romantic Era composers and some of their works. As an artistic epoch spanning anywhere from 80 years to slightly over a century, it spawned a huge volume of amazing composers and music. We named our Spotify list of Romantic Era music "20 Hours of the Best Music from the Romantic Era," and it covers a lot! You'll see we broke it up by form, from symphonies to tone poems through concertos and string ensembles and closing off with the operas and ballets.

If you prefer to start with the "must-know" list of Romantic Era composers, then check out this list of ten of the most influential. You'll find some composers already discussed, plus a few others. For each composer, we've also linked one extraordinary performance of one their most important works.

Romanticism evolves to its logical conclusion: Post-Romanticism

As the foundation of Romantic artistic ideas was personal expression and rule-breaking. It's not surprising that the musical style continued to evolve in significant ways, and by the late 19th century, composers were becoming more abstract in regards to the atmosphere and sentiments they wanted to express – a musical form of Impressionism. They were also starting to break the "rules" of the Romantics by returning to Classical forms inspired by popular Romantic themes of mysticism and the grotesque. Mahler is a prime example of a composer who bridges the Romantic and Post-Romantic Eras. Eventually, the rule-breaking pioneered by the Romantics evolved to the Modernists and Post-modernists, like John Cage, who seems to have rejected the idea of aesthetic rules entirely.

It's no wonder the music of the Romantic Period, with its expressiveness and penchant for telling dramatic stories, remains one the most popular eras of classical music.

Mendelssohn's scherzo from A Midsummer Night's Dream

 

 

 

7 Steps to Start Your Music Career

 

Technology has opened a host of new professions and opportunities for people around the world. In fact, the music industry has been part of the growth – changing, expanding and evolving to meet new demands. Instead of competing for traditional jobs in an orchestra, among chamber musicians, or as soloists, emerging string musicians are looking at alternative careers that utilize their skills in new ways.

Undergraduate students have more opportunities than ever to enter a music career. With social media and global communications, the prospects are wide open. In fact, you can build your music career on your own terms. However, there are certain steps you need to take to ensure that you reach the goals you have in mind.

1. Build your entrepreneurial mindset

To forge a new path, you have to be willing to take risks. That’s what entrepreneurs do. They take an idea and develop strategies that will allow them to make it a reality. The most successful use determination and drive to make their vision materialize. This means that you’ll need to learn to write a business plan. There are many free resources available online if you search ‘music business plan.’ Remember, you’ll need to do your homework on this. The greatest idea will fail without the right planning.

2. Understand exactly what you want to do

This is sometimes easier said than done. Perhaps you know you want to have a professional music career, but the exact nature of the idea is rather hazy. While writing your business plan, you’ll discover that you’ll need to outline your specific goal. To understand that point, you'll need to be able to articulate your specific intent. Having a few, explicit sentences ready when people ask you about your plan will also keep you on the path of success. Your intent should outline your immediate and future goals.

3. Build a network of contacts that support your idea

In the music industry, much like other industries, who you know can make all the difference between success and failure. For your career, cultivate relationships with new and old colleagues. People who can help you gather ideas and new perspectives for your career projects. It’s also a good idea to build an advisory board of your closest contacts to help counsel your decisions. Effective entrepreneurs understand that they can’t do it alone. They need alternate insights and other's specialties to succeed.

4. Build your selling skills

This doesn’t mean take a course in used car salesmanship. It means that you need to build your charisma. Can you easily describe your vision so that it inspires others? That’s what you need to cultivate. Your performance ability is just as important as your verbal and written skills. Cover letters, grant proposals and other solicitations require strong communication to be effective. If you can articulate your dream so that it compels others, you’ll be able to achieve your goals faster.

5. Plan your work, work your plan

This adage applies to every activity. In order to realize your short and long term goals, you must plan and then do. Break down the steps you need to accomplish to achieve a specific objective. This means having daily “to-do” lists that work toward the end result. Each objective should be part of the steps required to complete another stage in your plan. Although this is part of your initial business plan, writing down a series of tasks to fulfill each day helps keep you motivated and on track.

6. Utilize the Internet in every way

Successful promotions no longer require huge amounts of money to ensure they work. The Internet has leveled the playing field for a number of business enterprises, including the music industry. You can build a following for your music on social media, websites, and YouTube. If you aren’t really computer savvy, there are self-help books available by the millions. Do a little research before launching your online marketing campaign. You can also employ experts to fulfill that part of the process, but remember, the Internet is essential for building a music career.

7. Employ sound budgeting and outreach strategies

No business can operate without a clear budget. By understanding your income and expenses, you’ll be able to make smart decisions about the next steps in your plan. Also, consider employing an agent, if you don’t already have one. An agent will work from commission, so you can earn funds and keep your performance skills sharp while you’re building your music career.

Establishing a music career has never been easier, but that doesn’t mean the journey won’t be hard. Remember to keep your love of music alive and motivate yourself during the process. It’s rare that entrepreneurs become successful overnight. If you maintain your strategies, you can successfully realize your dreams.

Published by StringOvation Team on July 25, 2017

The Story Behind Vivaldi's Four Seasons

Antonio Vivaldi (1678 - 1741)  was a prolific, 18th-century Baroque composer who wrote more than 500 concertos. About 230 of those concertos were written for the violin. The most famous of all of Vivaldi’s works is "The Four Seasons” (“Le quattro stagioni”) violin concerto.

Vivaldi’s "Four Seasons": a radical violin concerto

Young people in the 21st-century can have a difficult time envisioning any piece of music as “radical.” In the world of contemporary pop culture, “radical” music means the inclusion of profanity, pejoratives, or rebellious language and sentiments. 

During the Baroque period, the idea of radical music was anything that veered from the traditional way of doing things. Other “radical” classical composers of their time periods include Mozart and Stravinsky. Unlike those composers, however, historians cannot claim that Vivialid’s “The Four Seasons” caused any riots. That said, the first performances in Italy, France, and throughout the European continent had frequent concert-attendees and music theorists up in arms about what to make of his newfangled musical notions.

Vivaldi’s inventive music program

One of the reasons Vivaldi’s Four Seasons was so unique is that it was one of the first classical compositions to implement and follow a dynamic music program. You’re probably familiar with the concept of a “music program,” where the music aligns with a specific text. In fact, that style of performance wasn’t made popular until the Romantic era. 

“The Four Seasons” movements are actually part of a larger body of 12 total concertos, including "The Four Seasons." The larger work is called, “Il cimento dell’armonia e dell’inventione,” or, “The Contest Between Harmony and Invention.”

Speaking of invention and innovation...

While the program format was one “radical” innovation implemented by Vivaldi, so were some of the techniques required by Vivaldi to play the piece. While he was a lover of opera, the brilliant mind of Vivaldi was captivated by the idea of being able to describe landscapes or scenes in ways that correlated with human behavior and emotions, but without setting the music to specific words.

So, while "The Four Seasons" were composed to honor the themes put forth in the previously-linked sonnets, Vivaldi composed the music in such a way that the technical playing and interpretations of the string musicians told the story - sans narration. 

He also included unique dynamic instructions that remain intact in the scores today. The musicians get to use their imaginations, and the imagination of the conductor, to interpret what Vivaldi imagined in his head when he wrote notes to the musicians. For example, asking violinists to play “like a sleeping goatherd” or the viola players to imagine “a barking dog.”

Also worth noting is that the concerto format as we know it didn’t really exist at this time. It was actually Vivaldi, and pieces like "The Four Seasons" setting solo instruments apart (frequently the violin) supported by a chamber ensemble, that gave rise to the concerto form we’re familiar with today.

Part of an early feminist movement

Besides Vivaldi’s musical genius and passion for opera, his appreciation for women and what they could set Vivaldi apart from many of his contemporaries. Vivaldi composed "The Four Seasons" between 1720 and 1723 while employed at “El Pio Ospedale della Pieta,” which was a girls school dedicated to orphaned girls. He worked as the Maestro de Violino (violin teacher) there and wrote some of his most famous works during that period of time. 

While we can’t say that he was truly a feminist, we can’t help but appreciate that Antonio Vivaldi spent a significant portion of his working life (1703 - 1733) mentoring talented young female musicians. And, with talent and fame such as his, he certainly had a choice in the matter. 

In honor of that, we recommend giving yourself the 48 minute and 54 second gift of the very talented female violinist, Janine Jansen as she plays Antonio Vivaldi’s “"The Four Seasons"” at Internationaal Kamermuziek Festival 2014. Enjoy listening to a narrative that Vivaldi’s musical genius brings to life in the mind’s eye.

Published by StringOvation Team on April 07, 2021

11 great LGBTQ+ conductors you should know

LGBTQ+ conductors: Leonard Bernstein, Marin Alsop and Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Picture: Getty

By Rosie Pentreath, ClassicFM London

@rosiepentreath

 

The conductors, past and present, who’ve waved the metaphorical pride flag loud and proud with every gesture of their baton.

Many classical music performers, composers, and conductors – from history, and living today – are on the queer spectrum, but some prefer not to come out as openly LGBTQ+ in their public lives.

As well as it being important to come out on your own terms, it’s clear that work isn’t the natural forum for talking about private lives anyway, and some may feel no need to pigeonhole themselves under a particular banner, or fly the flag for a whole vast community as part of their professional oeuvre.

But there are some figures in classical music who have been openly LGBTQ+, balancing an acceptance and honesty about their sexuality or partners in a way that has not distracted from their work making beautiful music at the podium.

Here are some of the prominent LGBTQ+ conductors in classical music you should know.

Read more: Here are some of the best LGBTQ+ classical music ensembles around the world

1. Yannick Nézet-Séguin (1975-)

   Canadian conductor and pianist Yannick Nézet-Séguin is currently music director of the Metropolitan Opera, the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Orchestre Métropolitain in Montreal. His partner is violist Pierre Tourville.

   “We can be examples, in a way, to inspire young musicians who fear that this is going to be a problem in their profession and career advancement,” Nézet-Séguin said, speaking to The New York Times about being an openly gay conductor. “I want to embrace that role more and more.”

   

   Conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Picture: Getty

2. Marin Alsop (1956-)

   Marin Alsop is the trailblazing music director of the Baltimore Symphony (until August 2021) and São Paulo State Symphony Orchestras, chief conductor of ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, and at the helm of several festivals and artist residencies. An incredibly successful and inspiring woman in a still-male-dominated field, her long-term partner is Kristin Jurkscheit, who currently runs the Taki Alsop Conducting Fellowship. They have been together since 1990.

   Speaking in the Bloomberg Business Week podcast recently, Marin Alsop describes Leonard Bernstein, who is a fellow LGBTQ+ conductor (see below), as her inspiration for becoming a conductor. He was a mentor and good friend of Alsop’s, and she says, “He was my hero, and he exceeded all of my hopes and dreams. He was a wonderful human being, very generous, very giving and a great citizen of the world.”

3. Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990)

   The great composer-conductor Bernstein’s sexuality remains shrouded in mystery, but mainly because history had him down as married to a woman.

   He had a relationship with actor Felicia Cohn Montealegre, who he did eventually marry, but he was openly gay. Montealegre recounted the fact in The Bernstein Letters, stating, “you are a homosexual and may never change – you don’t admit to the possibility of a double life, but if your peace of mind, your health, your whole nervous system depend on a certain sexual pattern what can you do?”.

   And Arthur Laurents, who collaborated with Bernstein on West Side Story, clarified that Bernstein was “a gay man who got married” who “wasn't conflicted about it at all. He was just gay.”

   Marin Alsop on her musical hero, Leonard Bernstein

4. Michael Tilson Thomas (1944-)

   Michael Tilson Thomas is the founder and artistic director of the New World Symphony, music director laureate of San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, and conductor laureate of London Symphony Orchestra, Classic FM’s Orchestra in the City of London.

   The eleven-time Grammy winner is openly gay, and married to orchestral manager Joshua Mark Robison since 2014.

5. Dimitri Mitropoulos (1896-1960)

   Dimitri Mitropoulos was a remarkable conductor who debuted with the world-famous Berlin Philharmonic in the 1930s and was known for conducting very physically and intensely, without a score or a baton. He led top orchestras, including Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic.

   He never married, and was known to be homosexual, with rumours that he had a relationship with Leonard Bernstein (see above).

6. Aaron Copland (1900-1990)

   Copland found unrivalled success with his compositions, which marked him out as ‘the Dean of American Composers’. But he was a conductor in his own right too.

   He studied conducting in Paris in 1921, and conducted major orchestras in his own works and those of others. He was a famously private individual, but letters have been unearthed which reveal his close relationships, cohabitation and travels with other men, including photographer Victor Kraft and artist Alvin Ross.

7. Thomas Schippers (1930-1977)

   Thomas Schippers was an American conductor, particularly revered for his operatic interpretations.

   He was married to shipping heiress, Elaine Phipps, but he was known to be gay and is thought to have had a relationship with composer Gian Carlo Menotti, who was the partner of fellow composer Samuel Barber.

   Read more: 15 great classical composers who also happened to be gay

   

   Conductor Thomas Schippers. Picture: Getty

8. Frieda Belinfante (1904-1995)

   Born into a musical family, Frieda Belinfante was a Dutch immigrant to the United States who, after being a ‘prominent lesbian’ and member of the Dutch Resistance during World War Two, established and conducted the Orange County Philharmonic.

   Before her move to America, she had been a prolific conductor, and was invited to form the chamber orchestra Het Klein Orkest at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, in 1937. She was artistic director and conductor there until 1941. She had also guest conducted the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande among other major orchestras. She also played the cello.

9. Kay Gardner (1940-2002)

   Gardner was a spiritual musician, and a flautist, composer and choir director, known for her pioneering work in music dedicated to healing.

   She is famous for championing ‘Women’s Music’ as a genre, and for being one of the first musicians to sue an orchestra (the Bangor Symphony Orchestra in Maine) on the grounds of sex discrimination after the powers that be there asked would you “tolerate a woman” as a conductor in their search for a new one.

   Her partner was Colleen Fitzgerald.

10. Jeffrey Tate (1943-2017)

    Jeffrey Tate was an English conductor, who honed his conducting skills under the legendary Georg Solti at the Royal Opera House in London before making his debut at The Met in New York, and pursuing a distinguished career conducting orchestras like the English Chamber Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic and the Hamburg Symphony.

    Tate was born with spina bifida, and initially studied medicine, before dedicating his life to music. He met his partner, geomorphologist Klaus Kuhlemann, in 1977 and was knighted in 2017.

    

    Conductor Jeffrey Tate. Picture: Getty

11. Dame Ethel Smyth (1858-1944)

    As well as being a leading composer, suffragist Dame Ethel Smyth conducted prolifically, including taking to the podium to premiere her own works, and conducting the Metropolitan Police Band at the unveiling of the statue to Emmeline Pankhurst in London in 1930.

    Smyth was gay, and at the age of 71 she met and was very taken with Virginia Woolf. Woolf herself described it as “like being caught by a giant crab.”

    

    Ethel Mary Smyth. Picture: Getty

The ‘invalid piano’ for bedridden individuals was a real-life 1930s musical invention

‘Invalid piano’ played by bedridden invalids is the bizarre invention of the day. Picture: Alamy

By Maddy Shaw Roberts, ClassicFM London

 

As an invention, it was the height of science and logic.

Today’s bizarre musical invention award goes to this 1935 foldable piano, specifically designed for bedridden individuals.

So, on those days in the 1930s when you were far too sick to keep to anywhere but between the sheets, you could still get your hours of practice in.

The contraption, believed to have been invented in Great Britain, sits at the foot of the individual’s bed and extends towards their hands.

It’s not dissimilar from a modern-day keyboard, just a little clunkier (see above).

The collection, one of the largest image banks on the history of the Netherlands, holds more than 13 million historic photos looking back to the important events of the 20th century.

Curiously, though, this particular image is sourced to Great Britain.

Spaarnestad has a beautiful Instagram account, where you can find a rich collection of photographs of Dutch musicians, ballet dancers and a 1938 miracle cure for baldness (really) – as well as a smattering of images of the British Royal Family.

The Classical Period of Music

The Classical Period of music may have given its name as the popular descriptor for all of Western sophisticated instrumental composition, but its actual timeline is relatively short. All of the other delineated musical eras get at least a full century. However, the Classical Era is often cited as the latter half of the eighteenth century. At its longest, the Classical Era ran just seventy to eighty years, ending no later than 1820. Despite the Classical Era's short run, its impact on instrumental music has been enormous.

The period takes the appellation "Classical" due to the philosophical and cultural return to the classical values of antiquity, which greatly influenced musical composition. The Baroque Era ended Europe's first return to the philosophical and artistic values of classical Rome and Greece. The Classical Era, in turn, was a clear break from the Baroque style.  In this article, you'll discover Classical Era music's main characteristics, how it differs from what came before, and how its name has come to be used as the broader term for Western instrumental music.

Short description of what Classical Era music is

Most modern music fans would most likely find it odd to learn that the music of the Classical Era developed from a search for a simpler, cleaner, more humanistic musical expression with universal qualities and appeal.

As part of its reach towards universality, Classical Period composers drew on a combination of qualities, each prevalent in different European traditions. Composers from all over Europe drew on the formality and precision from the Germans, lyrical artistry from Italy, and technical craftsmanship valued in France, to create their works. Ultimately, they developed recognizable forms any audience anywhere could identify and appreciate.

Indeed, writing and performing music that would delight the greatest number of people was a primary goal of Classical Era composers. They strove to create works with clean, balanced, and elegant sound. For this reason, Classical Era music is largely homophonic with simpler melodies supported by subordinate harmonies and more significant uses of chords. Composers also increased use of phrases of varying length that are clearly punctuated by cadences. This change in phrasing and increased used of cadences allowed composers to display a diverse range of mood and emotional expression within the same work.

 

 Haydn's Symphony No. 14 in A major, a representative work of early Classical Era composition

The Classical Period also saw the formalization of many musical forms, such as the symphony and concerto, that still form the basis of little "c" classical music. With this standardization of forms and simpler melodies, the composers of the time included more notations as to how their works were to be performed. While the era of the virtuoso was yet to come, the individual composer started the transition from servant to the Church or court to celebrated artist during the Classical Era.

Origins and context of the Classical Period

Classical Era music didn't generate itself in a vacuum. Music evolved within the broader culture of the time, called the Age of Enlightenment, which shared some characteristics with the Renaissance, most obviously its return to the ancient world of Greece and Rome for cultural inspiration. Both periods were preceded by times where the Church played a dominant role in society, and the people were sublimated to its will.

In contrast, antiquity held to a more humanistic vision. It provided space for individuality within the context of a universal ideal that connected everyone in common humanity. These universal ideals were expressed through objective truths that could be accessed by all through reason, logic, and dialectic.  Newton's writings were highly influential, as they defined a framework and foundation for formal, rational inquiry that could be used to advance scientific discoveries. Information gathered through empirical inquiry could be organized through categorization and hierarchy, improving the common understanding of the world. In political philosophy, writers like Locke and Montesquieu talked about immutable individual rights that weren't granted by an external authority, like the Church or monarchy, but existed in nature.

On an artistic level, values of organization and logic presented themselves through a more orderly aesthetic of balance and elegance. The visual arts of the time are often called "neoclassical" because of their use of antiquity as a creative touchstone.

Sculpture of the era focused on a neoclassical vision of an idealized, heroic human form. Houdon was famous for his neoclassical busts of contemporary greats like George Washington and Voltaire. Italian sculptor Canova created full-figure works often based on ancient mythology like The Three Graces and his pugilists. These visual artists, as well as the composers of the Classical Era, believed that beauty itself could be achieved through the execution of logical, objective rules, such as proportion and balance.

The philosophical revival of reason and the individual, along with a growing, more literate middle class, began undermining the power and control of the traditional authorities. Improvements in printing spread knowledge to the public outside the control of the church or monarchies. The people could start making political criticisms of local powers and making their own leisure choices.

In a musical context, this meant that the Church was no longer a primary patron of musicians and composers, nor were noble courts. Aristocratic houses were important musical patrons in the Classical Era, but a middle class with growing wealth wanted music in their homes and lives as well. Public music festivals and performances also began to grow. The middle class took an interest in becoming amateur musicians and hosts, not just audience members. These social shifts were the other forces that prompted a steady stream of simpler, more accessible music.

For the professional composers and musicians, the emphasis on science and organization was applied to music by codifying compositional rules, which led to the establishment of many of the classical music forms that are still used now.

Hallmarks of Classical Period Music

Classical values of rationalism, universality, cosmopolitism, and elegance were the artistic inspirations for Classical Era music. These Classical ideals manifested themselves in music using:

Homophonic melodies to create clean, simple, texture audiences could connect with harmonies composed based on formalized rules of harmonic function that support and work with the melody to enrich the texture in a balanced, controlled manner slower, more controlled dynamics, such as the use of crescendo, diminuendo, and sforzando, to provide a restrained emotional expression and more graceful transitions a linear narrative with clear, balanced phrases punctuated by a cadence patterned, thematic development, often through a dialectic between contrasting themes or progressions through theme variations great variety within a piece through changes in key, dynamics, and melodies.

A great example of a Classical Era device that encapsulates the aesthetic and philosophical values of the day: use of the antecedent/consequent melody, which presents a distinct, linear melody underscored by a harmonious balance and a clear resolution marking the part's end. Here's an example from the first movement of Mozart's Symphony in C Major, K. 551: 

How Classical Era music separated itself from Baroque music

Some major artistic shifts occur as evolutions from what came before, while others arise from a rejection of the precedent style. Much of what defined Classical Era music can be seen as a rejection of the aesthetic values and hallmarks of the Baroque period.

Galant or "Sensitive style" music as stepping stone between Baroque and Classical Eras

Baroque and Classical music co-existed for a time. Musical tastes moved through various transition phases before the Baroque Period truly ended. The Late Baroque Period was dominated by a new artistic style called "rococo." Rococo departed from Baroque arts as a lighter, more playful style. Baroque arts and architecture are highly decorated with great ornamental flourishes.

In music, the rococo style was called the Galant style or sensitive style. More elegant and restrained than Baroque music, but also less serious. Composers enjoyed the fashionable style for its more harmonious aspect. Yet the growing sense that the Galant style ornamentation was shallow and merely decorative didn't align well with the philosophical, orderly preferences of the Enlightenment. Hence the final stronger break with Baroque artistic values and forms.

Clear distinctions between Baroque and Classical Music

You can see the Classical Era traits, characterized by its natural, simpler style considered to be reflecting an objective standard of good taste, in clear relief when compared to Baroque music:

Baroque music was more ornate, primarily polyphonic with a more complicated texture, which gave it a profoundly unnatural sound, while Classical Era music used its simpler textures to provide a more natural, melodic ambiance.

While Classical Era music has a linear foundation, punctuated by clear, separate phrases that can each have their own emotional center, Baroque composition with cycled through melodic and rhythmic patterns that focused on one mood.

Classical Era composers did away with basso continuo, the fixed, continuous accompaniment that was the rhythmic and harmonic foundation of Baroque composition. Composers wrote specific accompanying bass lines and harmonies with each work that existed in equipoise to the melody.

Classical Period composers provided increased notations as much of the artistic flourishes derived from tempo and dynamics, and as all the parts were written to combine into cohesive phrases throughout the work.

The richly textured Baroque music, dominated in tone by the harpsichord, contrasts with more natural sounding instruments preferred by Classical Era audiences, such as strings and woodwinds.

From the Manheim School to the Viennese Classical Style

The Manheim School, based in German royal court, grew during this period of overlap between Baroque and Classical and its transitional styles. The Manheim composers, working in the middle eighteenth century, were early adopters and innovators of the Classical music norms that would be more fully developed and codified later in the Classical Era. Manheim school composer Carl Stamitz is an excellent example of this time; his works show some elements of Galant style as well use of the sonata form.

Stamitz's Viola Concerto No. 1 in D Major

By the late eighteenth century, came the height of the Classical Era with the Viennese Classical style, sometimes referred to as the First Viennese School. Vienna was the artistic and cultural epicenter of Europe. All the great and good composers convened there, including Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven.

It was during the middle and late phases of the Classical Era that the codified musical forms, such as the symphony and sonata form, were settled. This was also the apex of Classical Era music values, as evidenced by Beethoven's String Quartet in F major, Op. 59, No. 1 (1806).

Evolution of musical forms

Having noble, provincial patrons, rather than a local church or royal court with nearly unlimited resources, often left Classical composers with fewer musicians of varying skill. This relative scarcity aligned nicely with Age of Enlightenment values of simpler, universal music that could be enjoyed and even performed, by middle-class music aficionados. The result was the growth of chamber music during the Classical Era.  Examples include:

Forms of chamber music popularly played at outdoor concerts and festivals, such as divertimenti, serenades, and nocturnes

Mozart's Eine kleine Nachtmusik KV 525

The string quartet, which grew out of the Baroque trio sonata, but in the Classical evolution, gave each of the four instruments a clear voice.

Haydn's String Quartet Op. 33, No. 3 (The Bird)

Haydn also standardized the symphony format into four movements (although Mozart typically stuck with three):

first movement: often in sonata form, in allegro

second movement: slower and more lyrical, perhaps in sonata form

third movement: minuet and trio format or scherzo and trio; another lively movement that evokes dancing, with the trio sandwiched by the minuet or scherzo

fourth movement: the energetic finale, typically in either sonata or rondo form

Standardization of the sonata form was a necessary part of the formalizing the four-movement symphony. During this era, the sonata form was codified into its exposition – development – recapitulation design of thematic exploration.

Two other musical forms developed during the Classical Era that replaced the Baroque concerto grosso, a form of smaller groups of instruments performing against a larger orchestra:

The solo concerto, which highlighted the skill of an individual soloist and was an attractive draw for public concerts. The solo concerto existed during the Baroque Era but was composed for a broader range of instruments due to its popularity in the Classical Period.

The symphonie concertante (or sinfonia concertante), which uses multiple groups of soloists that contrast each other and the orchestra.

• orchestra.

Joseph Boulogne's, Chevalier de Saint Georges, Symphonie concertante in G Major

Another popular music format to appear during the Classical Era was the comic opera. Not that serious opera wasn't prevalent during this period. It was and often drew of stories from Greek mythology, like Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice.

Comic opera, or opera buffa, told the stories of everyday people in crazy circumstances or in the epic search for love – not unlike the sitcom style of television, but with more music.  For example, there's Mozart's Cosi Fan Tutte, where two soldiers make bets whether their girlfriends can remain faithful.

Evolution of Orchestras and Instruments during the Classical Period

One of the main departures from the Baroque Era was the disappearance of the harpsichord from Classical Era composition. The pianoforte replaced it by the middle of the eighteenth century, but it wasn't a central instrument in the works as the harpsichord was. However, the appearance of the piano, much as we know it today, arrived by the late eighteenth century and classical composers loved it, writing many concertos and sonatas.

The strings took on greater prominence, due to their particular ability to best reflect the human voice. That human, natural element was appealing to Classical audiences. Mozart formalized the violin sonata with piano accompaniment during the Classical Era, which generally contained two movements.  Mozart's Violin Sonata No. 21 in E Minor.

The woodwinds also took on a conspicuous role and for the first time, became a distinct section within the orchestra. Like strings, woodwinds were prized for their ability to produce natural, elegant tones. The number and type of woodwind and horn instruments that became standard in an orchestra grew.

The entire orchestra grew and was standardized during the Classical Period. Its basic format of four instrumental sections was set by composers of the Manheim school. Later during the Classical Period, the standard orchestra size grew by adding multiples to existing instruments, especially in the woodwind and horn sections. The inclusion of new instruments, like the trombone and French horn, also contributed to the larger orchestra.

Published by StringOvation Team on April 12, 2019