A practice presentation for Romantic music within a choral environment.

1. Romantic
Music
(1825-1900)
Cameron E. Gelak
Vocal Pedagogy for Young Voices

2. HISTORY OF THE
ROMANTIC ERA (1825-1850)
 Edgar Allan Poe
• American writer, known for macabre short stories and
poems
 Nietzche
• German philosopher, associated with Nihilism
• Nihilism – The belief that nothing can be known or
communicated, all values are baseless.
 Manet
• French painter

3. HISTORY OF THE ROMANTIC
ERA (1850-1875)
 Industrial Revolution in Europe
• New manufacturing processes
• Reshaped industries like…
• Transportation
• Production
• Power
• Textiles

4. HISTORY OF THE ROMANTIC
ERA (1875-1900)
 Invention of the Telephone (1876)
• Alexander Graham Bell
 Invention of the Phonograph (1877)
• Thomas Edison
• Revolutionized the music industry

5. TEXTURE
 The sound of the orchestra became more evocative and emotive
1. Orchestras started out with woodwinds doubling string parts
with brass adding to louder sections
2. Woodwinds then combined with the strings and the brass section
was used to double other parts or add to louder sections
3. Each section became equal in complete orchestrations

6. HARMONY
 Chromaticism – the use of half-step movement (do  di  re) in
music
• Became much more popular in the creation of chord progressions and
harmonies

7. HARMONY
 Non-chord tones allowed for tension and expression

8. HARMONY
 Chord extensions employed tones beyond the triad and seventh
to produce a thicker and richer sound
• Triad example = Do, Mi, Sol
• Seventh example = Do, Mi, Sol, Te
• Extensions place other notes (i.e. Re, La) ON
TOP of the seventh to EXTEND the chord

9. TONE
FULL and
• Sing without pushing the tone
 Wide range of pitch, dynamics, and expression
• Composers wrote everything for a reason
• Keep calm, it’s just singing

10. VERDI – Dies Irae

11. Douglas Wagner, Winter Wind
 http://www.jwpepper.com/Winter-
Wind/10068343.item#.VlC8bhCrSt8
 Based off of Rachmaninoff’s Vocalise (Opus 34, No. 14).