Notable composers of the period include: Gustav Mahler (extended symphonies,) Giuseppi Verdi (grand opera), Richard Wagner (music dramas), Hector Berlioz (tone poems,) and Franz Liszt (extended virtuosic, improvisatory piano performances and tone poems.) Franz Liszt was the son-in-law of Wagner, so there was much influence between the two. Later, the so-called impressionistic music of Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel, the nationalistic music of the Russian five, the neo-classicism of Igor Stravinsky, ultra-chromatic tone poems of Richard Strauss, the satanic, mystical quartal harmonies of Alexander Scriabin and the ultra-chromaticism and atonality of Arnold Schonberg (who is credited with developing the 12-tone serial system of composition) lead us into and become part of the modern period. Alban Berg and Anton Webern, both students of Schonberg, followed.

As the world was changed by the industrial revolution, large numbers of people moved to cities where factories provided work. The rural, agricultural way of life was declining. The art of music of the period reflected these changes in society. The replacement of a slower,simpler way of life with a faster and more complicated one brought on sadness, depression, confusion and many other ills that can only be attributed to the increasing role and control of technology in the lives of people.

The late romantic period of music was marked by chromaticism. Chromaticism is movement by a half-step up or down. Looking at the piano, every adjacent note - whether white or black - is a half step from the next note up or down from it, left of right of it. Chromatic music sounds wandering, uneasy and unsure because by moving the melody a half-step (or semi-tone) up or down, the mood of the music can suddenly change. By altering traditional chords (or harmony) by a semi-tone, the whole traditional system of harmonic movement or progression breaks down. Chromaticism led to ultrachromaticism, and ultimately, non-functional harmony - chords that have no familiar, ordered or traditional chord progressions or associations.

Dissonances are melody notes that are not part of the scale of the key or non-chord tones that change the traditional chord spelling. The use of active dissonances sped up the harmonic rhythm - chords changed faster than in music with traditional harmony. Non-functional color harmony was prominent. Color or shading in music creates a spiritual or emotional mood by arranging a melody or a chord in a way that evokes a feeling.

Form in music is the structure of a musical work - whether it be a song or a symphony. Style in music is closely related to form because a particular musical style usually has a familiar or traditional form associated with it. For example, classical music is one style of music and blues is another style. The form or structural shape of a classical song is different than a blues song. And different styles of music have different moods and musical techniques associated with them. Musical techniques of form and style expanded during this historical era to include chord changes (harmonic movement) and rhythmic movement (changes in time signature, note values, tempo changes) as the generating force of a work rather than the traditional presentation and development of melodic themes.

The only constant was the consistent undermining of traditional harmonic and formal elements. Modulations (changes) between keys were achieved by shifting a half-step up or down and led to frequent sliding harmonies with no traditional key signature (number of sharps and flats) or the unifying order that traditional key relationships brought to earlier works. Theoretically, works could be extended for as long as the composer wished by avoiding traditional cadences (points of rest.) As a potential ending approached, by altering (shifting by half-step) a tone or two in the cadential chord and progressing to another chord that allowed the piece to continue, the composer could write until exhausted or until he knew the audience would be falling asleep or leaving the concert hall. This is one of the criticisms of music from this period - works that are overly long and extended. Melodrama got its name from the extended operas and music dramas of the romantic and late romantic era.

Richard Wagner (1813-1883) was many things and called many more. Regarding himself as "the most German of men", he composed 13 operas or music dramas as he called them, most of which explored German mythology. Various historians have labeled him as an anarchist, an anti-semite, a nationalist, a proto-fascist, a socialist and a vegetarian! Speculation is that because of the latter classification, he developed the technique of using leitmotivs - the repetition of musical materials associated with specific characters and ideas - so that he would not have to compose as much music . . . after all the man was hungry!

More seriously, Wagner was championed as the master of a new German music. He was supported by the powerful and the political who wished to establish Germany according to the dark myths of its legendary past - a Germany founded on the pure blood of the Aryan and protected by knights dedicated to the purpose of preserving the race and expanding the territories to the east to make room for the progeny. Bramhs, Mendelssohn, Schumann and others were diametrically opposed to this "new" music, believing in traditional German music based on poetic melody, traditional harmony and a formal structure growing from the melody or the text as its basis. Not only was this a battle over music, but a battle for the soul of the German nation. Wagner's direction, which won out temporarily, led to the rise of the Nazi party and its destructive plans.

In the Prelude to Act 3 of Richard Wagner's masterpiece Parsifal, the extended harmonies to be employed in the works of later composers parade by as if on display. Also from Act 3 of Parsifal, The Entrance into the Castle of the Holy Grail (Einzug in die Gralsburg) is among the most beautiful and stately passages from his work. Themes from this passage are found throughout the work associated with Parsifal and all that is good. In the darker passages of this work, the music is as atonal as it gets. Atonality is a lack of musical characteristics associated with familiar, traditional tonal music.

This work is a strong example of Wagner's usage of the leitmotiv - the repeated association of similar musical themes, rhythms and harmonies with the same or similar characters and ideas. The use of these identifying musical devices almost becomes too repetitive and predictable in this work.

Parsifal was Wagner's last music drama and instead of another story from the sometimes occult, pagan German folklore which served as a story line for the Ring cycle operas, Wagner chose a tale that dealt with the subjects of the transforming power of redemption upon a human soul, compassion as the basis for morality, self-sacrifice and the destruction and defeat of evil.
But, it wasn't as simple or as altruistic as it seems.
Wagner became interested in the medieval poem, Parzival, by Wolfram von Eschenbach in 1845, 32 years later he finished the libretto (the words to be sung and spoken) and began composing the music, which would take more than four years.

The hero, Parsifal, happens upon a gothic Spanish monestary as he emerges from the woods where he has been wandering. His purity of heart leads him on a quest to vanquish the evil forces that have stolen away the Holy Grail. He returns with a powerful sword that, with a touch, heals the wound of the fallen leader of the monks. The Holy Grail is restored to the Temple where the monks once again take up their task of guarding it. The answer to whether the Grail is a reference to the cup which Christ offered and from which the Apostles drank at the Last Supper or a symbol for the legendary ancient German teutonic knighthood dedicated to the preservation of the pure blooded Aryan race may be found in the original poem, the memoirs of Wagner and his associates, the writings of historians or in another rhelm of time and place.

A very popular and rousing concert piece taken from another of Wagner's music dramas is the Prelude to Act III of Lohengrin. This rapidly moving work features a challenging melody for a trombone section playing in unison (same note at the same pitch level) and at the interval of an octave (two notes or tones 12 half-steps or 12 semi-tomes apart.)

The main melodic theme of Gabriel Faure's (1845-1924) fau_rom3Romance Without Words No. 3 for piano begins as if the composer of the American Western folk song "Red River Valley" borrowed the melody. Faure was a classical romantic and as such was a great supporter and friend of Maurice Ravel as well as a musical influence on Debussy and Ravel. Although his music for piano is among the best and most interesting in the repertoire, it has been neglected as has his stature as a composer. The Frenchman wrote music built on traditions of the past that ventured in new directions, mainly harmonic ones. The sound of familiar French and Spanish music is heard and he certainly influenced Rachmaninov (see the modern music page.) Faure composed in a number of shorter, traditional forms including the barcarolle, the pavane, the nocturne, the imprmtu3impromptu and, in the tradition of Debussy and Ravel, a children's suite called the Dolly Suite - .

A group of Russian composers bridged the romantic, late romantic, post-Romantic and early modern periods. The most famous orchestrator of the group was Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908.) Among his work is a widely-respected Treatise on Orchestration, Sheherazade - a musical interpretation of the tales of the Arabian Nights, the Russian Easter Festival Overture and The Flight of the Bumblebee, which comes from one of his fifteen operas. Procession of the Nobles from Mlada is a piece sometimes heard in concert. He also completed and revised the work of other composers, including Borodin and Mussourgsky.

Dr. Alexander Borodin, (1833-1887) a chemistry professor and the son of a prince of Georgia, is conservative in the fact that much of his music is melodically and harmonically beautiful and traditionally tonal without excessive chromaticism. Composers Borodin, Rimsky-Korsakov, Moussorgsky, Balakirev and Cui were a group known as the Moguchaya Koochka (the Five or the Mighty Handful.) Borodin was less prolific than the others as most of his time was devoted to research and teaching chemistry. He left a number of works unfinished which were completed by his friend Rimsky-Korsakov and others. The slavic influence can be heard clearly in his famous opera, Prince Igor. The opera is best known for the famous music for the Polovetsian Dances - a ballet during the lengthy operatic work. That music is his most well-known, eventually became part of an operetta and was arranged into a popular song called Stranger in Paradise. He also composed some beautiful string quartets.

Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881) is well-known for his piano composition, Pictures at an Exhibition, inspired by a memorial exhibition of drawings by his friend Victor Hartmann. The work was later orchestrated by Maurice Ravel and was revived in the 1970's by progressive rock band Emerson, Lake and Palmer. In 1863-1866, he worked on the libretto and music of an opera, Salammbo, which he never completed. Orson Welles used the same title for one of the operas in the film "Citizen Kane."



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