During this period, the artist's creation showed his admiration for subjective feelings, his love for nature and his fantasy for the future. New changes have taken place in artistic expression forms, and the formation and development of romantic ideas and styles have emerged. The difference between romantic music and classical music is that it inherits the tradition of classical composers and makes new explorations on this basis. For example, it emphasizes that music should be combined with other arts besides poetry, drama and painting, and advocates a comprehensive art; Advocate title music; Emphasizing the expression of personal subjective feelings, works are often autobiographical; The works are full of fantasy, and there are many works describing nature, because nature is calm and has no contradiction, which is an ideal realm; Pay attention to drama, study national folk music and literature, draw nutrition from it, and the works have national characteristics. In terms of artistic form and expression, it inherits the classical music school, but it is very different in content, and exaggerated techniques are also widely used. In the form of music, it breaks through the limitation of the balanced and complete formal structure of classical music and has greater freedom. There are many instrumental music with a single movement theme, mainly instrumental pieces, such as improvisation, nocturne, etude, narrative, fantasia, prelude, lyrics and various dance music-mazurka, waltz, polka and so on. Among many instrumental music works, piano music is in the majority. There are a lot of artistic songs in vocal music works, and many vocal music works are connected in series to form a suite, such as Schubert's Beautiful Mill Girl and Winter Journey, which are the innovative artistic themes of romantic music school. Harmony is an important tool to express romantic colors. The expansion and free use of dissonance, the frequent appearance of seventh and ninth chords, semitones and tone sandhi in music have expanded the scope and expression of harmony and enhanced the color of harmony. Composers created multi-movement title symphonies and single-movement title symphonies, which are important forms of romantic music.

Romantic attention music is in sharp contrast with the rigorous, elegant and dignified style of classical music with its unique strong, free and unrestrained style. If Beethoven's music is only black-and-white movies or prints, then romantic music works are like watercolors and colored oil paintings. This period produced two different schools of romantic music. One is conservative romanticism represented by Brahms, and the other is positive romanticism. Romantic music period is also the most fruitful period in the history of European music development, which greatly enriched and developed the fine tradition of classical music and made bold innovations. Many music treasures of this period are still deeply loved and welcomed by people.

Schubert, the representative of the early romantic music school, mainly focuses on artistic songs. Artistic opera is the combination of poetry and music, and it is an ideal place for romantic composers to express poetic feelings. Schubert chose a wide range of poems, including those of great poets such as Goethe and Schiller, and the works of his friend Schobel. The piano accompaniment in his opera not only plays a role in setting off the melody, but also is the main means to create a specific artistic conception. Schubert's songs are called "art songs", but the simple musical language in many operas is often close to folk songs. His songs such as Wild Rose, Trout and Bodhi Tree have become popular folk songs. The segmented song form commonly used in folk songs is also the main form of Schubert's song creation.

Liszt is a representative figure of the romantic music school in the middle period. He was born in Hungary. His outstanding contributions to music in his life are mainly in two aspects. First of all, he enriched the expressive force of piano skills.

His piano music not only has poetic sketches, but also has magnificent artistic effects and symphonic music, which makes the piano music have the effect of an orchestra, magnificent and passionate. Secondly, he initiated the genre of single movement title symphonic poetry. He wrote thirteen symphonic poems in his life, among which Prelude and Tasso are the most famous. These symphonic poems are narrative, lyrical, descriptive and dramatic. In addition, the distinctive Hungarian national characteristics are particularly prominent in Liszt's works, such as 19 hungarian rhapsody, which reflects Hungarian folk life, among which the 2nd, 6th, 12 and 15 are classics.

Richard Strauss is a composer of late romantic music. As a composer, Strauss's contribution is mainly manifested in symphonic poems. He perfected the structural form of symphonic poetry, carefully created the dominant motivation, and specially described the musical fragments of people, places and scenes. His outstanding talent in orchestral orchestration is also revealed. The lines and thoughts of his works are no less than those of various musical instruments, which makes a very common motive or theme in his works shine with the most fascinating brilliance. Strauss's opera creation is mainly influenced by Wagner's musical. Although his composition skills are superb, his content is pale and weak, much thinner than Wagner's works. His works are sometimes like an essay full of flowery rhetoric, but they are repeating an empty and boring content. Strauss is an outstanding master of classical creation and romantic music. Mozart's famous car, Beethoven's turmoil, Brahms' sense of structure, Wagner's heroism and Liszt's title music inspired his creative desire. His mastery of the orchestra makes his works exude charm, but the cultural characteristics at the end of the century are also fully reflected in his works, that is, the tendency of aestheticism and decadence. Together with Wagner, his creation heralded the arrival of music in the twentieth century.

Early romantic music

"The Founder of Romantic Opera"-Weber

German composer Weber (1786- 1826) was born in the family of a traveling troupe leader. His father is an enthusiastic drama and music lover with a beautiful singing voice, and his mother is a German soprano.

Since childhood, Weber has been wandering with the small troupe led by his father in small towns in Germany and Austria, influenced by the theater and stage atmosphere. This wandering life made him widely exposed to social and folk music, and his opera "Free Shooter" was recognized as the first national opera in Germany. After the opera was staged, it soon spread to every remote corner. In a letter to a friend, Heine, a famous poet, described with great interest the grand occasion of freelance shooters spreading among the masses: primary school students who walked under his window in the morning whistled and laid wreaths when they got married; The barber sang this song when he went upstairs; When he left as a guest, a girl played the same song on the piano. Germany even has "Free Shooter" brand beer and "Free Shooter" women's clothing. It also laid the foundation for European romantic opera.

"King of Songs"-Schubert

Schubert (1797— 1828) was born in a primary school teacher's family in the suburb of Vienna. He began to learn music at the age of 8; 16 years old as a teaching assistant, teaching private piano for a living. 18 13 years, when he resolutely left home to become a "freelance artist" in Vienna, he was full of beautiful yearning for the future. However, his era was the failure of the French bourgeois revolution and the restoration of the reactionary dynasty in Europe.

He wrote 1500 works in his life. Including 14 operas, 9 symphonies, 100 chorus songs and more than 600 songs, among which the most famous ones are the symphony Unfinished, the piano quintet Trout and the vocal suite The Beautiful Mill Girl.

The center of his creation is songs, and he has the reputation of "king of songs". His songs are beautiful, simple and profound, which fully embodies the artistic conception of poetry. The works reflect the depression, depression, joy and pain of young intellectuals in that era and become a model of romantic art.

"The Founder of the Symphony of the Title"-Berlioz

Berlioz (1803—— 1869) is the founder of French romantic music. 180365438+February 1 1, was born in a doctor's family in the suburb of Lyon, France. I studied flute and guitar since I was a child, and 1826 entered the Paris Conservatory of Music to study composition. 1830 won the Rome Prize to study in Italy, and returned to China one year later, entering the heyday of creation. He died in Paris on March 8th, 869/KLOC-0.

His most representative works are Symphony of Fantasia, as well as dramatic symphonies Romeo and Juliet, Prelude to the Roman Carnival and March of Lacock, all of which are deeply loved by people. In addition, he also wrote the famous treatise "Orchestration Method", leaving a lot of music comments, which had an important impact on the appreciation of aristocratic music.

His music is full of passion and imagination. He started the romantic title music. He pioneered the technique of "fixing musical thoughts" and was a master of orchestral music in orchestration. He boldly innovated and explored the possibility of various musical instrument combinations, which made the color of the orchestra look brand-new.

"The Happiest Musician"-Mendelssohn

A famous German composer, an outstanding representative of Romantic music school. 1809 was born in Hamburg on February 3, and his father was a big banker. He studied piano with his mother at the age of 4, began to compose music at the age of 65,438+02, and became famous at the age of 65,438+07. At the age of 20, he began to travel around Europe as a pianist, conductor and composer, and became famous from then on. 1843, Leipzig Conservatory of Music was founded. Due to overwork all the year round, his body was damaged, and the death of his loved ones made him exhausted. Unfortunately, 1847 1 1 died at the age of 38.

His works are smooth in melody, complete in structure, gentle and comfortable, with few contradictions and conflicts, full of poetic fantasy. Due to the limitation of life experience, music inevitably lacks profound ideological expression, but its elegant, quiet, exquisite and poetic musical realm is rarely achieved. His symphonies "Scottish Symphony" and "Italian Symphony", the overture "Finger Cave", "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and "Violin Concerto in E minor" are all famous works. In addition, Bach's works are valued because of his excavation, admiration and personal command. He also created an instrumental genre of "Songs without Words", which was also a representative of early title music. Leipzig Music Party, represented by him, had a great influence on German music life in19th century.

Schumann, the "German Romantic Music Leader"

Schumann (1810 ——1856) is a German composer, music critic and a leading figure in the German romantic music school. He was born in a bookseller's family and received a good education since childhood. At the age of seven, he studied piano. 1834 founded the music magazine Music Times. 1840, he married Clara, the daughter of his piano teacher Cherny. His happy life has brought him a series of creative inspiration. While writing, I began to write music reviews. He was the first person to affirm the musical talents of Berlioz, Chopin, Liszt and Brahms. 1854 The bourgeois revolution failed. Because he only saw the failure of the revolution, he couldn't see the dawn of the future revolution, and his heart was so painful that he lost his mind and threw himself into the river. Although he was rescued, he died tragically in a mental hospital.

His main works include: piano carnival, piano suite childhood scenes, four symphonies, concertos and song collections. His works are full of romantic passion, and his profound, vivid, sharp and spicy comments have played a positive and important role in guiding the healthy development of social music thoughts and attacking vulgar and backward music concepts.

"Piano Poet"-Chopin

Chopin (1810-1849) is a Polish pianist and composer. Born in a teacher's family near Warsaw, his father is a Frenchman living in Poland and is a flute player. His mother is the daughter of a Polish aristocratic family and plays the piano very well. He liked music since childhood, received strict piano education at the age of 6, and performed in concerts at the age of 9. /kloc-entered Warsaw Conservatory of Music at the age of 0/6, and studied music theory with Dean Elsner. 1830, 20-year-old Chopin traveled abroad to perform. He came to Paris, which is the art capital of stars. As a composer and pianist, he gained a high reputation here. 1849 10 17 10, he died in Paris.

His music is elegant, subtle and gentle, all of which are manifested in the rich and distinctive national style and warm and deep patriotic enthusiasm. People call him a "piano poet". He left more than 200 piano treasures for later generations, including 27 etudes represented by revolutionary etudes in C minor, 565,438+0 Mazzuca dance with national style, Polish dance in flat major (also called Bologna dance) with masculine beauty, and his 265,438+0 serenade is a masterpiece in piano music, and he also wrote.

"Piano Demon"-Liszt

Liszt (181-1886) was a famous Hungarian pianist and composer in European music in the 9th century. 18 1 1 was born in Reading, Hungary. His father is a housekeeper and amateur musician of a noble manor. He began to learn piano at the age of six. He began to compose music at the age of eight. At the age of 9, he had successfully held a piano recital. 10 years old, his family moved to Vienna. He studied piano with Cherny and composition with Sally. He wrote an opera when 13 years old. In the late 1940 s, he entered the golden age of creation. 1886 died on July 3 1 day.

In composition, he advocated headline music and created the genre of symphonic poetry. He wrote many symphony works in his life, such as Faust and Dante. In addition, he also composed 19 hungarian rhapsody, 12 advanced piano etudes and 13 preludes.

As a generation of piano master, he developed his piano playing skills to the peak. He created an orchestral effect on the piano and was called Paganini on the piano, so he got the reputation of "piano devil".

"Neoclassicist"-Brahms

Brahms (1833—— 1897) is a famous German composer and pianist, and the most outstanding representative of neoclassicism in19th century. 1833 was born in a musical family in Hamburg on May 7th. My father is an amateur musician and my mother is a tailor. My family is poor. He studied violin with his father since childhood, piano at the age of 7, and composition at the age of 10. At the age of 20, Schumann discovered him and published a striking article "New Road" in Music Times, praising the young musician warmly.

At that time, there were two schools of music in Germany. One is Weimar Music School, which advocates title music and comprehensive art, and the representative figures are Liszt and others. The other school is the Leipzig school composed of Mendelssohn and Schumann. They engage in pure music without titles, do not write operas, and only write instrumental works. Because Brahms sticks to tradition, some people say that he is a "classicist" living in The Romantic Period.

Among his representative works, Symphony No.1 in C minor (1876) is the most striking (once called Bex), as well as violin concerto in D major (1878), piano concerto No.2 in B flat major (188 1) and orchestra.

"Russian Music Master"-Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky

Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky (1840— 1893) was born in a mining engineer's family in Urals. He studied piano as a child and was admitted to law school at the age of 10. After graduation, he worked in the Ministry of Justice. 65438-0862 entered the Petersburg Conservatory of Music to study composition. After graduation, he went to the Moscow Conservatory of Music to teach. Later, he married his student Miryukova. This unfortunate marriage made him extremely disappointed and fell into despair. At this time, a rich widow Feng gave him spiritual and material support. 1893, Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky contracted cholera, and died in Petersburg on 0/0/6 in the same year at the age of 53.

He widely absorbed the essence of Italian opera, French ballet, German symphony and songs. His music pays attention to depicting people's inner world, with strong drama and passionate lyricism, and the melody and orchestration are extremely expressive. The representative works are the fourth, fifth and sixth symphonies (1878, 1888,1893); Orchestral music: Romeo and Juliet (1869); Opera: onegin (1878), the queen of spades (1890); Ballet: Swan Lake (1876), Sleeping Beauty (1889), Nutcracker (1892); Concertos: Piano Concerto No.1 in B flat minor (1875), Violin Concerto in D major (1878), etc. In addition, there are many excellent works such as overture, chamber music and songs.

Mahler, the representative of late romantic music.

Mahler (1860—1911) is an Austrian composer and conductor. Born in Bohemia (Czech Republic) to a small Jewish merchant family. At the age of 6, he took part in a piano competition and was praised as a "piano genius". 15 years old, admitted to Vienna Conservatory of Music with excellent results to study piano, composition and conductor. /kloc-started his career as a conductor and composer at the age of 0/9. He is employed by the Royal Opera House in Vienna. From 65438 to 0907, he lived in the United States to continue his command and creative activities, but returned to Vienna for a holiday every year. 19 1 1 May, 200818th, died of heart disease in Vienna.

He created a new musical form-vocal symphony. His representative works include 65,438+00 large symphonies, Song of the Earth, which was adapted from China's Tang poems in his later years (note: Mahler called it a tenor, contralto and orchestra symphony). As a musician at the turn of the 20th century and19th century, Mahler further strengthened the development direction of romantic music in creative techniques, such as more personalized music language, more intense exaggeration of emotional expression and extremely semitone harmony, which had a far-reaching impact on modern music in the 20th century.

A representative figure of ancient romanticism

Rakhmaninov

Sergei vasilyevich1April 964 1873 was born in Seminovo, Rusch, Staro, Russia. 1943 died in Beverly Hills, California on March 28th. He was born into a Russian aristocratic family, and his father and grandfather were outstanding amateur musicians. Sergey began to learn piano at the age of 5, and 1882 (9) won the scholarship of St. Petersburg Conservatory of Music. /kloc-in 0/885, he transferred to Moscow Conservatory of Music, where he studied piano with Nikola zverev, counterpoint with Sergei Taneyev and acoustics with Anton Alensky. 189 1 aleko, a one-act play adapted from Pushkin's long poem Shigang, won the gold medal in composition. However, in 1897, his first symphony was a fiasco in St. Petersburg, and his creation fell into a low tide. 1906- 1908 moved to Dresden, Germany, where he created a lot of excellent works. 19 17, after the establishment of the Soviet revolutionary regime, he left Russia permanently and settled in the United States because he did not understand the proletarian revolutionary regime. Since then, he has been mainly engaged in playing activities, and there are not many later works. He was sworn in as an American citizen a few weeks before his death.

His works include three operas, three symphonies, the sound poem Dead Island and other orchestral music, four concertos, a piano and orchestral rhapsody with the theme of Paganini, piano music (including a series of important preludes and picture exercises), chorus, chamber music and songs.

First, inherit the national tradition and go to the world stage.

Rachmaninov's music style has not changed from beginning to end, and has always followed the Russian music tradition and the Moscow school in the history of music. His works are deeply rooted in the music of Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky, Musorgskiy and Limsky-Kosakov, and have the poetic meaning of Chopin and the strong effect of Liszt. Deep national feelings and exquisite playing skills complement him. In Rachmaninov's music, Russian nature, Russian psychology, Russian life, the charm of Russian folk songs and the artistic conception of bells are full of Russian childlike innocence and vigorous strength. Soft melody and profound connotation run through Russia's unique music language, which is long, broad and magnificent, and embodies rich national style and spirit everywhere. It is precisely because of such strong Russian music characteristics that Rachmaninov's music touched thousands of people, touched them and conquered the world!

Second, adhere to the road of innovation on the basis of "tradition"

Although Rachmaninov's artistic career entered the first half of the 20th century, he basically maintained the romantic artistic view of19th century, and did not follow the trend of Wagner, Debussy and renewal. This may be because he was born in a declining landlord family during the collapsed Russian empire and insisted on inheriting the dream of aristocratic culture! Romantic music phenomenon continues to exist and develop in the anti-romantic era, which shows that there is still suitable soil in his spirit and music language. Rakhmaninov is undoubtedly the only representative figure of Russian romantic music. Without him, it is hard to imagine the music life in the 20th century. However, it is worth noting that although his works are still romantic in nature, they are influenced by the breath of the 20th century, forming Rachmaninov's unique creative style: even if the parts belonging to modern harmony techniques are excluded from many of his works, it is difficult to analyze them with traditional harmony theory. This shows that his harmony techniques belong to the "exploration stage" between "tradition" and "modernity". Harmony language is still based on functional harmony, but it uses distinctive personality skills in expanding and enriching the color of harmony. Rachmaninov's melody is fresh and natural, pure and simple, which directly inherits the music system from anton rubinstein to Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky and has a distinct Russian temperament. In addition, his own unique "stepped" circuitous tone also formed its inherent "Rachmaninov style" characteristics.

Third, the tragic artistic style of "tears in eyes"

Rachmaninov once said in a letter to a friend, "Of the two themes of sadness and happiness, I prefer the former." "Bright and cheerful colors are not what I like." Indeed, Rachmaninov is particularly inclined to minor, the theme of minor and the image field of elegy or tragedy in terms of mode sense and psychological description. In his works of art, there are always some themes constantly appearing in his creation. For example:

The theme of death runs through his early First Symphony, mature dead island, later Variations on Currie, Paganini Rhapsody, Third Symphony and his masterpiece Symphony Dance.

Rachmaninov's image of "fate" is the direct successor of Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky's image of "fate", and he always has an unspeakable fear of fate. Such as the footsteps of fate in Prelude in C sharp minor.

The image of "devil" also plays an important role in Rachmaninov's dramatic music conception. Therefore, Rachmaninov's music always makes people feel a brilliant momentum and great appeal, shrouded in potential tragedies.

Fourth, contradictory personality characteristics and tenacious life beliefs

In his life, Rachmaninov gives the impression that he is depressed and afraid of everything, but under this gloomy film, there lies another Rachmaninov: a kind, cheerful, tenacious and brave person. In the same work of Rachmaninov, this contradiction will be incompatible with each other. In Prelude in G minor, Rachmaninov's vivid realistic language, fiery power and firm rhythm full of life belief overcome the meaning of "afterlife" in the title. What makes the audience feel is not fear but firm strength.

In all his works, there is another loud, firm and loving voice of Rachmaninov. Breaking through the "pretentious crying" and "pretending to be an amazing voice", it is replaced by impassioned or humorous or whispering like "the sound of running water". Especially the love of nature, let Rachmaninov's lofty sentiments erupt. Russia's vast plains, fields with rolling wheat waves, spring tides with melting ice and snow … He is listening, feeling and writing all these fascinating things with his heart.

A great musician, he is a pianist, conductor and composer.

As a musician, Rakhmaninov is a composer, pianist and conductor. As far as the pianist is concerned, he is "the architect of piano music". His interpretation of works often reflects a composer's rich imagination and extreme sensitivity to music color. At the same time, it has exquisite playing skills, especially strong, long and wide voices. But what makes him most happy is that he can turn the piano sound into a beautiful singing voice.

As a composer, he created many works of different genres. Including his piano prelude, four concertos and Paganini rhapsody, three symphonies, a chorus symphony, a symphonic poem Dead Island, a set of symphonic poems, 79 songs and many sporadic piano pieces, as well as a large number of adaptations.

At the same time, his achievements in command are also considerable. 1904- 1906 was hired as the conductor of Moscow Bhurki Opera House and performed a series of Russian classic operas. 1911-1913 gave a symphony performance at the Moscow Philharmonic Association concert. A few years later, he began to travel in Italy, Germany and Paris, playing and conducting his own works as a pianist and conductor. At the same time, his energetic and meticulous command is also permanently preserved in the record.

In Rachmaninov's music career, this diversified music life has brought him contradictions in his works, but more importantly, it is a great advantage in understanding, creating and interpreting his works, because they are complementary.

Rachmaninov,1the last representative figure of late romanticism among the colorful Russian music masters in the late 9th century, revealed a colorful life with simple and calm, monotonous and ordinary language.