Nineteenth Century Music: Virtuoso Performances

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Table of Contents

An increasing number of concerts
Ease of travel
Industrial Revolution
Romantic Era
Orchestras and Operas
Beethoven, Wagner, and Liszt
Opera Music
Salon Music and Home Music
Bibliography

Nineteenth-century music extends from Beethoven to Wagner and this period includes the Romantic period when music assumed a high position among all other fine arts (Hansen, 1978). Music that was confined to the church or court became open to the general public, comprising of a new middle class. Musicians of this period played music with passion and individualism and came in various forms – as amateur pianists who played instrumental music or four-hand arrangements of Mozart symphonies; as parlor singers rendering one of the hundreds of love songs that were published at the time; or as members of a municipal chorus (Hansen, 1978). Music audiences too benefited a lot as they could now hear symphonies and operas as well as glamorous virtuosos in public performances. Four factors characterized early nineteenth-century music: the rise of public concerts, improvements in transportation, the Industrial Revolution, and the glorification of genius and personal expression in the Romantic Era. Together, these four factors contributed to the rise of virtuosity or the solo performer in the early nineteenth century (Murray, 2004).

An increasing number of concerts

The rise of concerts in the early nineteenth century was mainly due to the rise of the middle class. Music in earlier times was a privilege enjoyed mainly by the aristocracy. When the power of the aristocracy weakened in the late eighteenth century, a newly prosperous middle class emerged. Very soon, concerts opened the doors of music halls to the bourgeoisie and anyone could enter the concert halls for an admission fee. This new institution was supported by the municipal governments as well as instrument manufacturers who built concert halls of various sizes in major cities. It was these halls that provided traveling virtuosos the platform to perform before increasingly large crowds. During the early nineteenth century, there was a huge increase in the number of concerts given across Europe. The first fully professional symphony orchestra was formed during this period and concert societies were established to promote the music of serious composers such as Beethoven, Haydn, and Mozart (Murray, 2004). A typical concert program consisted of a potpourri of overtures, movements from concertos, popular arias, and arrangements of vocal music for piano. The typical concert program existed along with the symphony concert towards the turn of the century, but with time, the symphony concert began to dominate.

Ease of travel

Before the nineteenth century, when Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart toured Europe as a child, in the 1760s, he had to undertake dangerous coach journeys along with his family. However, in the 1840s, Franz Liszt and his contemporaries were able to travel with each other using steamships and railways. By midcentury, it was practical to travel to distant places and Soprano Jenny Lind and pianist Sigismund Thalberg traveled to the United States (Murray, 2004).

Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution brought about technological improvements to instruments. “The piano, in particular, benefited from these innovations as an increased compass, steel strings, felt hammers, the double-escapement action, and the cast-iron frame made it an instrument of unprecedented power and subtlety” (Murray, 2004, p. 1193). The woodwind instruments were also completely redesigned in the early nineteenth century and the trumpet was given added valves for “greater agility in any key” (Murray, 2004, p. 769). The great piano players were dependent on the piano makers. For example, Beethoven expanded the range of pitches in his piano compositions from five to five and a half octaves after 1803 when he received a five and a half octave Erard as a gift from the manufacturer; he increased it to encompass six octaves after 1809 with the availability of the six octave Streicher and to six and a half octaves after 1818 when he received a six and a half octave Broadwood (Metzner, 141). The instrument allowed for new liberties and expressions. Around 1800, the leading performers began to take an active interest in the construction of the instruments on which they played. Paganini modified his concert Guarneri in such a way that it had unusually thin strings, a flat bridge, and a fingerboard very close to the strings.

Romantic Era

With the advent of the Romantic Era (1760-1850) artists such as Lord Byron and Beethoven were accorded high social status as Romanticism was all about the appreciation of individualism and the human spirit that can overcome all problems. “The ability of the virtuoso to overcome technical difficulties in a superhuman manner made him a powerful symbol for the Romantic era.” (Murray, 2004, p. 1193). Romantic music is more emotional and includes rich and unusual harmonies, with different types of chromatic chords and unusual modulations. Melody was more expressive with a lot more focus on lyrics. Romantic music also had complex rhythms. Musicians of the early Romantic Period are Field and Mendelssohn and they were joined later by Chopin and Schumann. However, the more mature stage of romantic music is found in the works of Berlioz, Liszt, Brahms, and Wagner (Hinson, 2002). Since the Romantic Movement emphasized lyrical expression and many songs or character pieces came to be written for the piano such as the bagatelle, impromptu, intermezzo, song without words, capriccio, etc. (Hinson, 2002)

The piano was the main instrument of the period and the use of the piano’s pedals allowed the creation of new effects. The style of the pianist in playing and interpreting the music gave an emotional and personal element to the music. Thus, the romantic era piano led to the emergence of the virtuoso soloist and conductor in the 19th century (Hinson, 2003, 4). Paganini’s virtuoso performances delighted audiences around the year 1830 and later on, musicians such as Liszt and Schumann Brahms attempted to transfer Paganini’s virtuosity from the violent to the piano.

Orchestras and Operas

As a result of technical advances in art, music could be expressed differently, and conversely, musicians began to make demands for their instruments to get technologically better to express their powerful feelings. One such way of expression was found in the vastly expanding and rich orchestra. A concert and an orchestra have similar instruments except that in the latter, there are no string instruments. As the number of music players is the same, there are more brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments used. This allows greater freedom for the band musicians to play the melody and therefore many different combinations of instrumental music may be produced (Morse, 2009). The important musicians of this style of playing are Beethoven, Berlioz, Liszt, Wagner, von Weber, and Mendelssohn. The new instruments included in the orchestra were trombones, English horns, harps, bass clarinets. Musicians of the early nineteenth century thus wrote for a larger number of musical instruments than earlier musicians. “For example, Wagner wrote for eight horns compared with Haydn’s two, and Berlioz’ dream orchestra consisted of 467 performers, compared with the 30-odd performers in Haydn’s orchestra” (Hansen, 1978, p. 6). Wagner’s music is particularly very rich, with “the cellos at the beginning of Tristan, the horns in Act II, the mournful English horn in Act III, the brilliance of the “Ride of the Valkyrie”, etc. The music of this period also had complex chords and chordal relationships. Schubert used a combination of both major and minor modes; Chopin used nonharmonic chromatic tones Liszt, was known for his use of augmented chords and exploitations of augmented fourth relationships (Hansen, 1978).

Under the new system of public patronage, composers were required to cater to the demands of the wider audience. This made composers such as Giacomo Meyerbeer t write spectacular operas on a grand scale designed to appeal to popular taste (Murray, 2004). Though many of the composers desired to make their expressions through the massively huge orchestras, there were a few composers, who, following the spirit of the Romantic era desired virtuosic solo instrumentalists. Many musicians were able to produce both serious music and commercial music. For example, the pianist Franz Liszt and violinist Niccolo Paganini were successful in both types of music and Beethoven was able to compose works of the utmost artistic originality and also popular songs. Likewise, Chopin produced waltzes for domestic consumption and more technically demanding works for advanced audiences (Murray, 2004)

Beethoven, Wagner, and Liszt

Beethoven was the most influential figure in nineteenth-century music and both Wagner and Brahms was inspired by him. He worked with both high and low pitches and with extremes of dynamics. He composed long pieces with strong and complex rhythms with a great deal of orchestral color. He was able to infuse a lot of emotion into his music and this was his greatest legacy. Beethoven and Wagner believed that music was an art that was meant to elevate and ennoble its listeners. Wagner, for instance, insisted that his music dramas must be performed in a special setting that facilitated spiritual involvement. Composers such as Beethoven, Wagner, and Liszt were virtuoso performers of the early nineteenth century and as free artists, they were able to write music independently. Beethoven wrote nine symphonies and thirty-two piano sonatas, along with many other works, on his initiative and not because he worked for anyone else (Hansen, 1961). Wagner’s operas were written at a time when there was very little chance for acceptance by the public. Without wondering to think if his compositions will be accepted or not he continued with his efforts to enrich the vocabulary and dimensions of music. Moreover, these artists had the personal freedom to live as they liked. Beethoven chose to live in disorder and confusion, while Liszt theatrically flaunted his middle-class morality and Wagner showed himself off as an egomaniac. Thus the composers of the late nineteenth century truly symbolized romantic music because they fulfilled the romantic ideals in a complete manner (Hansen, 1961).

Opera Music

An opera is a drama in music performed on stage with a setting by costumed actors. The music included textual content and orchestral music. Compared to orchestral music, it is somewhat simpler and more popular in style though Wagner’s operas were richer in style. An opera score is suited to have lots of variety and instrumental color because of its length and because of the constant need to include dramatic effects with instruments (Grout and Williams, 2003). Trombones were used in operas long before they were used in symphonic orchestras. Wagner introduced a whole new group of instruments called Wagner tubas, in his Ring. In an opera, there is a union of words and music that is further enriched and clarified by visual action. Operas of Rossini, Bellini, and Verdi focused on the music and were called singer’s operas. Mozart’s Die Zauberflote is also a singer’s opera – a complicated and fantastic libretto. Operas of Lully, Rameau, Gluck, and Wagner focused on many other facts apart from the music (Grout and Williams, 2003).

Salon Music and Home Music

After Beethoven, a dichotomy took place between trivial chamber music for the home and great chamber music for the concert stage. There was a growing interest in Hausmusick (home music), where weaker composers could make a living by supplying simple and shallow compositions for the masses. By the middle of the nineteenth century, private music performances of chamber music evolved to a variety of styles one of them being salon music. Salon music concerts were held in sizable rooms in a wealthy middle class or aristocratic palace or small living rooms of middle-class homes (Baron, 1998). The term salon music means music suited for the drawing-room. It signified music that was written more casually to please one or more persons superficially. It did not have the depth of masterworks. Albeniz, Leybach, Litolff, Bovy, Alkan, Jacques Blumenthal, Gobbaerts, and Eugene Ketterer wrote salon music. Louis Moreau Gottschalk of the United States composed several pieces of salon music -“Bananier” and “Savane” were composed with southern influences. These pieces carried the sounds of the slaves working in the plantations. Salon music, while offering space for ordinary pieces, it also included works of interest and value. Even great composers wrote salon pieces. Beethoven wrote the “Six Bagatelles” (Elson, 1927). The main drawbacks of salon music lay in its harmonic aspect that hovered between tonic and dominant, a flippant style, and shallow techniques. However, the best Salon music was poetic and romantic or at least had some educational value (Westerby, 1924).

In the nineteenth century, music became so accessible and popular among the middle class so much so that almost all families had a piano, and boys and girls studied the instrument to become well-bred citizens. When they could play the instrument to some extent, they performed in family music-making during evenings or weekends. Fourhanded piano music was very popular in home music. Moreover, members of the family also played the flute and harp. In-home music, the piano trio was as popular as the string quartet as it allowed the ubiquitous pianist to participate. From 1830 to 1860, about two hundred piano trios were written by great composers, famous performers, and insignificant musicians (Baron, 1998).

The nineteenth century was a very important period in musical history. The early nineteenth century was characterized by an increase in concerts, ease of travel, technologically advanced instruments, and romantic ideals. This consequently led to the rise of the virtuoso performer. Orchestral music, opera music, salon music, and home music flourished during the same period under the influence of great composers such as Beethoven, Wagner, Pagnini, and Liszt.

Bibliography

Baron, H. John (1998). Intimate Music: A History of the Idea of Chamber Music. Pendragon Press, 1998
Elson (1927). The Book of Musical Knowledge: The History, Technique, and Appreciation of Music, Together with Lives of the Great Composers, for Music-Lovers, Students and Teachers. Houghton Mifflin Publishers: New York, 1927
Grout, Jay Donald and Williams, Weigel Hermine (2003). A short history of opera. Columbia University Press, 2003
Hansen, S. Peter (1961). An Introduction to Twentieth Century Music. Allyn and Bacon: Boston, 1961
Hinson, Maurice (2002). Anthology of Romantic Piano Music. Alfred Publishing, 2002
Morse, Len (2009). The differences between orchestra and concert band.
Murray, John (2004). Encyclopedia of the romantic era, 1760-1850, Volume 2. Taylor & Francis, 2004
Westerby, Herbert (1924). The History of Pianoforte Music. Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner Publishers: London, 1924

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