Romantic Period

Weber’s “Euryanthe”: Two Excerpts from a “Grand Heroic-Romantic Opera”

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Listen to the music of Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826), and you will hear the seeds of Wagner. A contemporary of Beethoven and Schubert, Weber was one of the great innovators at the dawn of the Romantic period.  In contrast to the prevailing Italian bel canto operas of Donizetti and Rossini, he developed a style of opera which was distinctly German. As music director in the opera houses of Prague and Dresden, Weber was …

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Brahms’ Piano Trio No. 2 in C Major: A Conversation Between Opposites

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Following the completion of his Piano Trio No. 2 in C Major, the often self-critical Johannes Brahms wrote to his publisher, “You have not yet had such a beautiful trio from me and very likely have not published its equal in the last ten years.” By the time Brahms started work on the Trio in 1880, he had become a well-established, mature composer. For two years, he set the score aside to …

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Liszt’s Csárdás Macabre: Alfred Brendel

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Among Franz Liszt’s final works for solo piano is the Csárdás macabre, composed in 1881. The piece is a ghoulish joyride, filled with convention-defying parallel fifths and intimations of the Dies irae. Its innovative harmonies anticipate the twentieth century music of Béla Bartók and others. Above the title on the manuscript, Liszt inscribed the words, “May one write or listen to such a thing?” The csárdás is a Hungarian folk dance in 2/4 or 4/4 …

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John Field’s Nocturne No. 5 in B-Flat Major: Elizabeth Joy Roe

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John Field (1782-1837), the Irish composer, pianist, and teacher, is credited with developing the solo piano nocturne. His music and pianistic style influenced a later generation of composers, including Frédéric Chopin, Johannes Brahms, Robert Schumann, and Franz Liszt. Born in Dublin, Field gave his first performance at the age of 9 and rose to prominence as a prodigy. In his writings, Haydn noted “Field a young boy, which plays the pianoforte Extremely well.” In 1802 he …

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Mahler’s “Resurrection” Symphony: Music from Another World

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With his Symphony No. 2 in C minor, composed between 1888 and 1894, Gustav Mahler grappled with the most fundamental metaphysical questions. In a letter, he wrote, “Why have you lived? Why have you suffered? Is it all some huge, awful joke? – We have to answer these questions somehow if we are to go on living – indeed, even if we are only to go on dying!” The person in whose …

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Schumann’s Arabeske in C Major, Op. 18: Fluid Fragments

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Robert Schumann’s Arabeske in C Major, Op. 18 for solo piano is dreamy and wistful. Its title evokes the intricate floral patterns of Arab architecture. In this ephemeral music, well-structured classical form is replaced by fluid fragments which combine to form a shimmering whole (Erika Reiman). The opening bars give us the sense that we are joining music already in progress. The atmosphere is simultaneously tender and majestic. Phrases develop with obsessive …

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Wagner’s Tannhäuser Overture: A Meeting of the Sacred and the Profane

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In a January 1841 essay, Richard Wagner set forth his conception of the opera overture. He described this orchestral curtain-raiser as creating “a musical artwork entire in itself and providing a sense of the opera’s argument through the interweaving of thematic materials drawn from the opera to follow.” Wagner’s Overture to the opera, Tannhäuser, completed four years later, follows this model. In the story, based on German medieval legend, the knight, Tannhäuser, is …

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