Vocal Music of the Romantic Period

• Vocal music


  A form of expression that became more evident during the Romantic period. .
• Romantic period's basic quality


  • Emotional subjectivity
  • Composers explore feelings of grandiosity, intimacy, unpredictability, sadness, rapture and longing
• Romantic vocal forms


  • About fantasy, supernatural, romance, and nature as mirror of the human heart
  • Virtuoso performers are not only instrumentalists but also singers
• Opera


  A musical composition having all or most of its text set to music with arias, recitatives, choruses, duets, trios, etc. sung to orchestral accompaniment
• Components of an opera

  • Libretto
  • Score
  • Recitative
  • Aria
  • Acts
  • Scenes
• Libretto


  The text of an opera
• Score


  The book that the composer and librettist put together, containing all the musical notes, words, and ideas to help the performers tell the story
• Recitative


  The declamatory singing used in the prose and dialogue of opera
• Aria


  An air or solo singing part sung by a principal character
• Acts


  The main divisions of an opera
• Scenes


  The setting or place
• Schubert is considered the last of the classical composers and one of the first romantic ones
• Schubert's famous vocal music works


  • Gretchen am Spinnrade
  • Erlkonig
  • Ellens Gesang III (Ave Maria)
• Schubert was born


  1797
• Schubert died


  1828
• Verdi's operas


  • Ordinary people as characters, not royal family
  • Expressive vocal melody is the soul of a Verdi opera
• Verdi was born


  1813
• Verdi died


  1901
• Wagner's contributions


  • New ideas in harmony and form, including extremes of chromaticism
  • Explored the limits of the traditional tonal system
  • Advocate of a new form of opera called 'music drama' where musical and dramatic elements were fused together
  • Use of leitmotifs
• Wagner was born


  1813
• Wagner died


  1883
• Bizet's most famous opera is Carmen
• Bizet was born


  1838
• Bizet died


  1875
• La traviata


  A romantic tragedy opera by Verdi, based on the play La dame aux camélias by Alexandre Dumas
• Acts of La traviata


  • Act 1: Violetta's Paris salon
  • Act 2: A villa near Paris
  • Act 3: Ballroom in Flora's mansion
  • Act 4: Violetta's bedroom
• Madame Butterfly


  Another famous Romantic opera, with music by Puccini and libretto based on a short story
• Madame Butterfly


  One of the famous operas during the Romantic period
• Composer


  Giacomo Puccini
• Libretto


  Written in Italian by Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica, from the short story by John Luther Long derived from Pierre Lottie's tale
• Setting

  Nagasaki, Japan at the beginning of the 20th century
• Male singer voice types

  • Tenor (highest male voice)
  • Baritone (middle male voice)
  • Bass (lowest male voice)
• Female singer voice types

  • Soprano (highest female voice)
  • Coloratura (highest soprano voice)
  • Lyric (bright and full sound)
  • Dramatic (darker full sound)
  • Mezzo-soprano (most common female voice, strong middle voice tone)
  • Contralto (lowest female voice)
• Acapella


  One or more singers performing without instrumental accompaniment
• Cantabile


  In a singing style
• Capo


  Head or the beginning
• Coda


  Closing section appended to a movement or song
• Falsetto


  A weaker and more airy voice usually in the higher pitch ranges
• Glissando


  Sliding quickly between two notes
• Passagio


  Parts of a singing voice word register transitions occur