Here Comes Treble: A Touch Of Musical History - Part Three
...In the early nineteenth century, composers eventually became bored with being unemotional and elegant. They looked for ways to break away from the traditions and the old ways...
Isabel Bradley, with an appealing blend of prose and poetry, concludes her three-part introduction to the glory that is music.
To read the first two parts of A Touch of Musical History, and many more columns by Isabel, please click on Here Comes Treble in the menu on his page.
The Romantics and a Smidgeon of What Followed!
In the early nineteenth century, composers eventually became bored with being unemotional and elegant. They looked for ways to break away from the traditions and the old ways, while building yet again on the foundations laid by the great composers who went before them.
The period and style in which they composed, came to be known as ‘romantic’.
Around the time that Napoleon was marauding across Europe, causing trouble and strife wherever he went, Beethoven was making his mark as a virtuoso pianist and composer-extraordinaire (as Napoleon may have said). He composed works that terrified musicians by the technical demands made on them. Audiences gasped in surprise, delight – and sometimes in outrage as they listened to the glory of Beethoven’s music. Beethoven, perhaps, could be said to have bridged the gap between the Classical and the Romantic eras: his early works followed faithfully on from those by Mozart and Haydn while his later works increasingly broke away from tradition. It is worth pondering whether, had he been able to hear the music still being composed by others, would he have made so many musical innovations?
Beethoven was closely followed by a host of emotional, virtuoso performers and composers – there was the gentle Frans Schubert; Chopin who poured his passionate heart out every time he put pen to paper or fingers to piano; Liszt, Mendelssohn, Brahms and Mahler, to name but a few, their ranks stretching through the 19th century and into the early 20th. Another of their number was Carl Maria von Weber, who wrote a wonderful trio sonata for flute, ‘cello and piano.
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Four poems by Isabel, inspired by Carl Maria von Weber’s Trio Sonata for flute, ‘cello and piano.
Dawning
(Allegro Moderato)
In the grey and misty dawn
I walked alone
Into the mountains.
The grass was damp beneath my feet,
The air was cold.
And as I walked,
I told my thoughts to wander;
And my thoughts and I
Walked far
Before the sun began
To peer beneath the clouds…
My thoughts were sad and gentle,
Full of melancholy,
In the soft, grey-green dawn.
Country Dancers
(Scherzo)
See us dance, so joyously –
Him in his lederhosen,
Me in my dirndl so bright:
First to the left, and then to the right,
And then he lifts me –
So light!
He lifts me up and swings me high,
Then,
feet on the ground again
I dance so merrily…
See us dance, so joyously –
Him in his lederhosen,
Me in my dirndl so bright.
Shepherd’s Lament
(Schäfers Klage)
My wanderings took me high,
To pastures where a shepherd
Sat in sunshine,
His sheep, white cotton fluff
on green and rock-strewn ground.
He told me of his troubles,
Of wolves and storms,
Of ewes and rams,
And lambs.
Above, a cloud swelled,
dark and looming;
lightning shattered,
thunder began booming.
We sought shelter
As rain,
Gentle and fresh,
Fell on hillside and woodland
And fat woolly flock.
And then,
in slanting western sun,
My thoughts and I –
We wandered down the hill
Through golden evening-glow.
The end of the Day.
(Finale)
And so,
As darkness drooped
over mountain and valley,
My feet found cobblestones;
My eyes saw windows
filled with firelight and friends.
I went in,
Leaving behind
the growing gloom,
And body and mind
found warmth …
Flames flowed in crystal;
ruby wine and amber beer
glowed in candlelight.
Here,
I sat and listened,
and spoke –
And laughed.
And words flowed ‘round
and through
and from me.
Here,
With friends, at last –
My heart found
Friendship,
And peace-for-a-while.
As an off-shoot of the Romantic Period, there came “the nationalist movement”, in which composers such as Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov and Dvorak wrote works of great emotion, telling tales of their countries, using traditional tunes as a basis for much of their music.
As well as huge, epic symphonies tone-poems and operas, composers of the Romantic period enjoyed writing smaller pieces. A radio announcer, several years ago, was so stressed by the prospect of having to pronounce the composer’s name, he practised it over and over before going on air: “Kimsky-Rorsakov”; no, “Romsky-kirsitall”…. He became increasingly worried. When he was finally on-air and the relevant piece ended, he announced, “and that, listeners, was a little piece by Rimsky-Korsakov...” Oh, JOY – he got it right! “It was called, ‘the Bum of the Flightal Bee’!”
At the turn of the 19th and 20th Centuries, a sub-group of French composers called themselves Impressionists: remember the piece called Syrinx, mentioned in the first article of this series? The composer of that piece, Debussy, was one of the Impressionist composers. Another was Paul Dukas – he wrote ‘The Sorcerer’s Apprentice’ which was so delightfully portrayed by Mickey Mouse in the film, Fantasia. These composers lived at the same time as the Impressionist painters, Monet, Cezanne and Van Gogh. When writing their music, they applied the concept, ‘less is more’. Just as the Impressionist painters made studies of light and colour rather than intricate details, the composers created ‘washes’ of sound-colour for solo instruments, chamber music groups and full orchestras.
The ‘Modern’ period of composition, as illustrated by such composers as Prokofiev and Stravinsky, was followed by ‘post-modern’ and – I admit freely, I don’t know what else… Some of it is terrific music, some ghastly to my ears. The ‘Cello Concerto by Schnitke is an example of the last category. Try to get this on DVD so that the contortions of orchestra and soloist can be seen and enjoyed, and if necessary, the sound turned down….
As has happened throughout history, today’s composers and musicians are once again looking for new means of expressing their passions. No doubt some will never be heard of; some will be hailed as geniuses; and some will be reviled who aught to receive adulation – these last may be re-discovered in a century or two, their works played and loved as we, today love to hear the works of Bach, Beethoven, Brahms – and all their great contemporaries.
There is no end to the glory that is music…
Until next week, ‘here comes Treble!’
