The fight of the century.....
Progrommatic vs. Absolute!
Teacher Ed. about Romantic Music in History
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Back in the 19th century, the fight was not between Mike Tyson and Alexander Hollyfield, or even between Coca Cola and Pepsi; it was between Absolute and Programmatic music. People's understanding of music kept them entertained, and one of the great debates among the elite and the composers was absolute and programmatic music. It was hard for composers to straddle the fence on this issue. Many friendships between composers were based on whether the artist was primarily progrommatic or absolute in the way they wrote music.
Absolute music was written for itself. It stood alone as a work. This type of music represented the traditional view of music that music was not meant to be anything except for what it was.
Progrommatic music was usually written for a purpose. It was meant to illustrate an idea a composer felt about a certain person, such as the love someone had for another. Other purposes included thematic music that was meant for the purpose of theatre. Modern movie music is very progrommatic, and is the main way our society hears new works of music, through the element of the movie or theatre.
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)- Absolutely Absolute
Brahms represented the restraint of the Romantic period. He went against the grain of progrommatic music and color. He tended to "carry the torch" of the traditional German style. Brahms had a real concern for the form of the music, and orchestrated very conservatively. It was easy to analyize. Much of his music was a conservative sounding Beethoven, and he thought of his first symphony as Beethoven's Tenth. His music sounded mature, dark and powerful. Brahms was very good friends with the Schumanns, who helped him with his career. Rumor has it that besides the friendship, Clara Schumann and Johannes had an extra-marital affair that helped Brahms' creativity in writing music.
Hector Berlioz (1803-1869)- Progrommatic Master
Hector Berlioz became known in history as the composer who's passions were legendary in his Symphony Fantastique. His earlier influences were from Beethoven, but he took Beethoven's classical forms and set them around his passions. He never played a musical instrument himself, yet he was a brilliant orchestrator. His biggest contribution had to do with how he mixed colors in his instrumentation. (Some instruments sound dark and mello, like a cello, while others are bright, like a trumpet. This is known as the color.)
His Symphony Fantastique was a progrommatic work telling a story
about his tragic love for a woman for whom he would die by taking opium.
Each movement is a sort of "hallucination" or drug trip. (almost
appropriate for today's kids, sadly enough.)
Another invention that he mastered was that of idee fixe, in which a person is led to associate a particular theme with a particular character. (Tchaikovsky's "Peter and the Wolf" would be a good example.)
Piotr Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) Fence Straddler extrordaniare
Tchaikovsky bridged the gap of both genres in Romantic music by writing bits of each. He also bridged another important gap between Germanic traditional music and nationalism. His music was characterized as tuneful, relaxed songs with beautiful harmonies. His music truly reflected his life. While some composers were able to compose no matter what their moods, if he was depressed, his music reflected it, and if he was ecstatic, his music was excited.