Music_In_The_Victorian_Era

=**Music in the Victorian Era**=

Music in the Victorian Era is synonomous with the music of the Romantic Era (c. 1825-1900). The arts, during the Romanitc Era, were characterized by poetic and philosophical meaning, nationalism, realism, impressionism, and expressionism. Inspiration for music in this time period were antiquity, folklore, history, and exotic cultures. Nationalism was also a forerunning source of inspiration for music during the Romanitc Era. Moving from the classical generalities, such as music which was dramatic and absolute, music during the Romantic Era was often lyrical and programmatic. Unlike classical music, music during the Romantic Era consisted of long sections continuing as one unbroken rhythmic patter, with the monotony and the cumulative effect of an incantation. The repetition of a theme is often found in music characteristic of the Romantic Era, causing movements which differ greatly to have a uniting factor. [2]

__Further Characteristics of the Romantic Era__
The Romantic harmony, which characterizes music during this time period, often uses a diminished seventh chord or a German sixth (the augmented sixth chord on the flattened submediant). The ambiguity of both of these chords is used extensively in modulation. The free modulation of distant keys without a pivot chord became a common practice in music during this time. This, along with experimentation in chords and chromatic alterations, caused a dilution in the single tonal center of the piece and a disintegration in tonality which is one characteristic that distinguishes Romantic music from Classical music. [2]

Romantic composers are also known for their use of chromaticism whose use, although taken from the classicists, was intensified greatly. Chromaticism is defined as a style in which chromatic tones predominate. The classicists would often use strong cadential progressions to allow for the piece to keep its sense of tonality. Romanticists, though, would either avoid or delay cadential progressions or replace perfect cadences with interrupted ones, which lead to the dissolving of the aforementioned tonality. Consequently, the idea of atonality was created. Atonality is characterized by the the increased use of chramticism and the decreased use of cadential progressions, and is one of the many characteristics exhibited in music of the Romantic Era. [2]

Further characteristics of music during this time period include new forms such as the symphonic poem, where music tells a story, song cycles, where themes are often repeated throughout a piece, and music dramas. As stated previously, music during this time period used folklore in both song and compositions. There was a higher interest in melody and color rather than harmony and form. [2] In music characteristic of the Victorian Era, higher dissonances and a freer employment of them are often encountered. [4] There was a gereater interest in modal techniques which include the flath seventh, the flat second, and the augmented fourth. This music shows an assimilation of older elements, notably the revival of polyphony and Baroque forms. There was also an evident manipulation of the sonata form, including the mosaic and additive structures. A minor mode piece was often finished in major, symbolizing the transition from darkness to light. [2]

There was often a greater freedom in form and design, which allowed for a more intense personal expression of emotion in which fantasy, imagination and a quest for adventure play an important role. This was a result of many composers wanting to break the rules that had been set for them by their classical predecessors. The melodies were often songlike and the music was denser with weightier textures formed by bold dramatic contrasts. Much of the music explored a wider range of pitch, dynamics and tone-colors than the music during the Classical Era. The aforementioned texture was often dominated by brass instruments after the invention of the valve-system on which most brass instruments are based. [7] There was also a keener interest in programme music including the programme symphony, the symphonic poem, and the concert overture. Programme music is music which without words, tells a story or describes a scene, and was often a form of music which Richard Strauss employed. [9] The orchestra, during this time period, was expanded greatly, sometimes to enormous proportions, allowing for the greater use of chords, harmonies, and dissonances. [7] Many pieces were written with solos and a piano accompaniment for a single instrument became extremely popular. [2]

__Some Major Composers in the Victorian Era (1800s):__

 * Ludwig Van Beethoven:** Beethoven was a German composer who helped to lead the classical period into the Romantic pe[[image:beethoven.jpg width="64" height="64" align="left" caption="Ludwig Van Beethoven"]]riod of composition. Beethoven suffered from severe hearing loss, and his ability to create music never left him. He was a threat to all other composers of the time, and his most personal, intense works came after his hearing loss, an in his later period of life. He transformed the sonata form and created a freer form for his symphonies. This helped to lead the way for Romantic composers who fiddled further with form and tonality. [17]


 * Franz Shubert:** Shubert was one of the earliest composers of the romantic movement. He was an Austrian composer and was well known for his chamber music, piano pieces, and symphonies. He was a master of something known as a Lied, which translates to "song" but which mostly focuses on European classical songs that were usually written for a singer and a pianist. He composed a total of over 600 songs, ranging in genre. The purpose of them, however, was to express an image, and he often let accompaniment take over and express a setting or an image. Shubert struggled from syphilis, but he continued to compose till the end of his life. He said, "My music is the product of my talent and my misery. And that which I have written in my greatest distress is what the world seems to like best." [15]


 * Richard Wagner:** Richard Wagner was a German composer who's main focus was opera. His operas differed in that his operas were known as "music dramas." He wrote his first opera at the age of twenty, and ended up writing 13 operas, and other vocal music, p[[image:wagner.jpg width="64" height="71" align="right" caption="Richard Wagner"]]iano music, choral music and orchestral music. Wagner believed in a concept called "total work art" which meant that everything should interplay with his music and the composer. [13] He utilized something called a leitmotif, a musical theme that correlates to an idea or a character that emerges many times during the opera. His operas and pieces were known to carry many of his ideas with them. [13] His antisemitism was displayed in much of his music and in one of his writings which was called "Jewishness in Music," an essay in which he bashed Jewish composers. Many believe there to be a correlation between his ideas and the beliefs of the naziis, considering that Adolf Hitler was a fan of Wagner. [15] One of his major works was //Der Ring des Nibelungen// (//The Ring of the Nibelung//). Wagner also wrote the theme of the Wedding March.


 * Richard Strauss:** Strauss was another German composer and conductor in the 19th century. He is best known for his tone poems and [[image:strauss.gif width="64" height="64" align="left" caption="Richard Strauss"]]operas. Strauss's style was more modern than many other musicians, and his compositions were able to paint pictures for listeners by the use of many musical representations of physical occurences. He had much success in conducting, and this point of view of music gave him an advantage in his compositions. He focused primarily on tone poems and operas later in his life, and much of his inspiration for these works came from literature. This allowed him to create vivid stories with his works that required intense musical language. Some of his tone poems included: //Macbeth, Don Juan, and Don Quixote.//[15]


 * Claude Debussy:** Claude Debussy was a French composer during the Romantic period. His music was highly influenced by Wagner. He was also highly influenced by other cultures' music, primarily Russian and Oriental music. He was especially interested in sensual music, and creating pleasure to listeners through his music's sensuality. He desired to break the restraints of harmony and form that he was taught by his teachers. This can be [[image:staff.jpg align="right"]]seen in his mucis, especially in his //Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun.//[15]


 * Michael W. Balfe**: Balfe was an Irish born composer of opera. His fame originated in Italy, and he was mentored by the great Rossini, another opera composer at the time. [15] His popularity in London came with the popularizing of his first opera, entitled the //Siege of Rochelle//. [14] His popularity spread past the English-speaking world, and his operas became world renowned. He has composed a total of 28 operas, not including those that have been translated into other languages, or reworked. [14]


 * Robert Shumann:** Shumann was a German composer, music journalist, and critic. He had a lot of creativity which was highly inspired by his wife Clara, who was also a talented musician and composer at the time. He, like Shubert, wrote Lieder almost exclusively for a while during his life, and also focused heavily on symphonic works. He died in a mental institution, and his insanity was evident in his compositions, which were very mysterious, and full of hidden names, meanings, and personalities. He too experimented with form and melody, and his lyrical style broke many rules, and contained much repetition of theme, as characteristic of true Romantic composers. [15]


 * Franz Lizst:** Lizst was a Hungarian composer, pianist, and conductor whose style ranged from dangerous to sacred throughout his [[image:liszt.jpg width="64" height="64" align="left" caption="Franz Lizst"]]lifetime. His physical presence and personality was made as important a part of his performance as the music itself, and it had an effect on the audience that was unmatched by other performers and conductors. Most of his works differed from the classical four-parts and were broadened to create more psychological tension and build-up, that was portrayed in varieties of musical themes. He wrote many orchestral pieces, including symphonies, and many piano pieces.[15]


 * Frédéric** **Chopin:** Chopin was a Polish composer who's main focus in composition was the piano. He either wrote solely for the piano, or gave the piano a valuable role in his piece. Many of Chopin's etudes were created and utilized for technical teaching purposes. Chopin himself was an accomplished pianist whose improvisational skills were far greater than that of most pianists of the day. Chopin's music had the ability of creating musical poetry, and his pieces subtly explored new areas of tonal harmonies. He was a nationalist composer, in that his pieces reflected much of his Polish heritage. [15]
 * Giuseppe Verdi:** Giuseppe Verdi was an Italian composer who led many developments in opera. He was the leading Italian composer during the 19th century, and was known and recognized well outside of his Italian home. His main goals with his operas were to balance dramatic effect with vocal excitement, and his operas, including //Rigoletto//, //Il trovatore// and //La traviata.// [15]


 * Gilbert and Sullivan:** William Schwenck Gilbert and Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan were two composers born in London, England during the 19th century. They teamed up and became a pair of satirical opera composers, whose operas are still popular to this day. Together they had much success, and they created something known as the D'Oyly comic opera company. Some of their most well know operas are: //The Mikado, H.M.S. Pinafore,// and //The Pirates of Penzance.// [16]


 * Fel[[image:Mendelssohn.jpg width="64" height="64" align="left" caption="Felix Mendelssohn"]]ix Mendelssohn:** Mendelssohn was a German composer who began composing and conducting at a very early age. He, unlike many other Romantic composers, was a very classical composer who had intensely studied composers like Bach, Handel, and Mozart, and his choral work the //Elijah// displayed this meditation on classical works. However, his music did display many of the romantic ideas like the Lied, and repeating themes. [15]

**__Use of Instruments in the Music of the Victorian Era__**
A slight shift in the use of musical instruments can be seen during the Victorian Era, or the Romantic Era when referring to music. In music composed during this time, a greater variety of instruments can be seen, including improved or newly invented wind instruments. The music, because the focus on chords and tone is greater, is written for generally larger orchestral groups as well as a wider variety of instruments. Brass instruments were widely used in compositions during this time.

The piano-forte, currently known as the piano, was often used in the music of many Romantic composers. Its name is derived from its ability to play softly - //piano -// and loudly - //forte.// During the Victorian Era, the piano became even more developed due to the industrialization of Great Britain. The industrialization of Great Britain allowed for a stronger metal to be used on instruments, causing the tuning of this instrument, along with other string instruments including the violin, the viola, and the cello, to become much more accurate. This allowed for the introduction of many harmonies into the music of this time period. The piano-forte, because of its ability to play many notes at once, was a key instrument in the newly-harmonized music of the Victorian Era. [11]Also, during this time period, the piano-forte began making its transition from the grand piano to the upright piano, which allowed for it to become more common because of its ability to fit in smaller areas such as small parlors. Becuase of this, the piano had the ability to bring families together to both play and listen. [5]

This characteristic of the piano-forte is often seen in the novel __Pride and Prejudice__, by Jane Austen. //"Mrs. Hurst sang with her sister, and while they were thus employed, Elizabeth could not help observing, as she turned over some music books that lay on the instrument, how frequently Mr. Darcy's eyes were fixed on her" (51).// [1] This shows the way a group of people is brought together because of the piano, and how the two sisters are brought togheter because of their common interest and proficiency in music.

The emergence of newly invented and improved wind instruments, greatly affected the music of this time. Instruemnts such as the oboe and the bassoon were used often in the early stages of the Romantic Era, but were replaced by certain variations of the saxophone, which was patented by Antoine-Joseph (Adolphe) Sax in the mid-19th century. The saxophone, which is considered a woodwind instrument due to its use of a reed - in this case a single-sided reed - is a metal-based instrument generally made of brass similar to a trumpet or trombone. The various variations of saxophones, including the E flat sopranino, F sopranino, B flat soprano, C soprano, E flat alto, F alto, B flat tenor, C tenor, E flat baritone, B flat bass, C bass, E flat contrabass, and F contrabass, allow for the instrument to be widely used due to its variety of sounds and pitches. [8] It was originally used in both military bands and orchestras as an attempt to add a bass to both the woodwind and the brass sections and create a more refined sound than the ophicleide, the instrument the saxophone was modeled after. [10] The flute was another woodwind instrument used during the Romantic period. Beacuse of it soprano sound, it was often used in both orchestral pieces and the music for operas. There are many variations of the flute, including side-blown flutes and end-blown flutes. Some better known side-blown flutes are the piccolo, the concert flute, the alto flute, the bass flute, and the contrabass flute. Examples of end-blown flutes are: the recorder, the ney, the kaval, the quena, the shakuhachi, and the tonette. [3]

Brass instruments were used heavily in both orchestral music and the emerging bandstands. Tubas became an integral part of compositions. It is the lowest voice in the brass wind family and is often used for a bass in music of this time. Richard Wagner often used tubas in his music, and created a variation of the tuba, based off of the french horn, to use specifically in his arrangements. Richard Strauss also often used tubas in many of his arrangements. The bass tuba in F, created by Johann Gottfried Moritz and Wilhelm Wieprecht, was often used in orchestral pieces, along with the "Wagner tuba". Military or brass bands, including bandstands, often used BB-flat bass and E-flat bass tubas. Many other brass wind instruments, including the trombone, were used to augment the sound of the various types of compositions. [6]

The Importance of Music in Victorian Society:
During the 19th century, music had an increasing role in everyday life. As sheet music, instruments, and styles broadened, the demand for higher availability of music and instruments increased. As a result of increasing demand, the availability of the aforementioned things increased, and music was more tangible to the average Englishman. [19] Music became a hobby for many people, especially women, during this time period. Their success at music was seen as the extent of their knowledge, education, and grace. Therefore, more educated women also excelled in music. [18]

This idea of the educated women is shown in __Pride and Prejudice,__ by Jane Austen. Mr. Darcy's standards for a well-rounded woman are displayed in the following quote, said by Miss Bingley: //"Oh! certainly, cried his faithful assistant, no one can be really esteemed accomplished, who does not greatly surpass what is usually met with. A woman must have a thorough knowledge of music, singing, drawing, dancing, and the modern languages, to deserve the word; and besides all this, she must possess a certain something in her air and manner of walking, the tone of her voice, her address and expressions, or the word will be but half deserved (40).// [1]

Furthermore, the following quote shows that women wanted to be seen as knowledgeable in music: //"Of music! Then pray speak aloud. It is of all subjects my delight. I must have my share in the conversation, if you are speaking of music. There are few people in England, I suppose, who have more true enjoyment of music than myself, or a better natural taste. If I had ever learnt, I should have been a great proficient. And so would Anne, if her health had allowed her to apply. I am confident that she would have performed delightfully. How does Georgiana get on, Darcy?'' (172).// [1]

__Pride and Prejudice__ also portrays the value placed on music, and the entertainment that people got from it. The following quote shows this idea: //"When that business was over, he applied to Miss Bingley and Elizabeth for the indulgence of some music" (51).// [1]

Music was also a necessity as a part of a lady's education during the Victorian Era. Women of a higher class were expected to be able to play at least one instrument sufficiently. [20] //"I have told Miss Bennet several times, that she will never play really well, unless she practises more"// (172). [1] This shows that the higher class values a lady's ability to play an instrument, and it was important for a lady to perfect that skill if she wanted to make a name for herself.

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