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Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Goethe was a German writer and statesman. His writing were used by many Romantic composers. A main composer who used his work was Franz Schubert. -
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Luigi Cherubini
Cherubini was an Italian composer. He was on the founding faculty of the Paris Conservatoire and became the director in 1822. He also composed the French opera Lodoïska. -
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Ludwig van Beethoven
Beethoven is the transition from Classical to the Romantic style. He composed in all genres. He was a pianist who made a living in Vienna as a performer before gaining popularity s a composer. He began loosing his hearing at a young age, but never went completely deaf. Beethoven was known for having longer and more developed themes compared to other composers. -
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Klemenz Wenzel von Metternich
Metternich was the Chancellor of Austria. He hosted the Congress of Vienna and shaped the social activities. These social activities fueled both character pieces and Lied. -
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Alessandro Manzoni
Manzoni was a famous poet in Italy. He experienced lots of death around him before he himself died of cerebral meningitis. His most known tribute was teh Requiem that Verdi wrote. -
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Carl Maria von Weber
Weber composed the first German romantic Opera. "Der Freischütz" was composed from 1819-21. This translates to "The Magic Bullet". -
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The French Revolution
The French Revolution affected Beethoven emotionally. It changed the course of history, causing a global decline of theocracies. During the French Revolution, the "common" people saw themselves as empowered to break free from oppression, causing them to revolt. -
Lodoïska
This is a French opera composed by Luigi Cherubini. This opera shows the ideas of Heroism. -
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Giacomo Meyerbeer
Meyerbeer was a Jewish German compser. He studied in Italy and composed French Opera in Paris. His grand opéras are what he's most known for -
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Gioachino Rossini
Rossini is the most famous composer in Europe between 1815 and 1835.He continued Mozart's operatic style -
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Franz Schubert
Schubert composed over 600 Lieder, 17 operas and singpiele, 9 symphonies, 35 chamber works, 200 choral pieces, and many more.Schubert made a living as a freelance composer, a teacher, and from publishing his music.. His works were catalogued by Otto Erich Deutsch. -
Heroism
Heroism is a concept that became very popular during the French Revolution. Beethoven was known for using this idea. -
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Hector Berlioz
Berlioz was a French composer, critic, and author. He invented many orchestration techniques that created the modern orchestral sound. He was inspired by literature and composed pieces that were neither operas, symphonies, or oratorios. He was the first conductor to stand infront of the orchestra and conduct. He made a living by writing music criticism. -
Fidelio
Fidelio is the only Opera Beethoven composed. It was considered a Rescue Opera. This genre of opera can also tie into the heroism idea. -
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Fanny Mendelssohn
Fanny was a composer like her brother. Though she was just as talented (if not more than) her brother, she wasn't able to shine like her brother, as women were not seen as composers during this time. -
Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Opus 67 Mvt. 1
This Symphony was composed by Beethoven. Theorists call this movement "organic". -
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Felix Mendelssohn
Felix was a famous conductor, pianist, composer, and the founder of the Leipzig Conservatory. He was more popular than his sister because she wasn't allowed to make composing a career like he was, however, most of the work that we thought was his was actually his sisters. Felix also revived J.S. Bach's music. -
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Frédéric Chopin
Chopin was called the poet of the piano. He studied at the Conservatory of Warsaw in Poland. He had great success in Salons. Everything he composed uses the piano. He is also known for his character pieces. -
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Robert Schumann
Robert was a German composer, pianist, editor, and writer. He was married to Clara Schumann. He was the founder and editor of Die neue Zeitschrift für Musick which translates to The New Journal for Music. He composed 4 symphonies, 300+ Lieder, a piano concerto, lots of chamber and piano music, and 1 opera. As much as he composed, he didn't play his works because he damaged his hand in an attempt to lengthen the stretch of his hand. His wife played his pieces. -
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Richard Wagner
Wagner was a German Opera composer. He specifically only composed operas (or music dramas), as everything else was Brahms' area of music. All elements of his music dramas were equal. This included the Music, staging, costumes, poetry, etc. He controlled all of these elements because he believed that no one could do the job better than him. He married Liszt's daughter, Cosima. -
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Giuseppe Verdi
Verdi was the most important Italian composer in the mid to late 19th century. He was mainly an opera composer, though he also composed a popular Requiem, choral music, and 2 string quartets. -
Erlkönig
This piece was composed by Franz Schubert, but the words are by Goethe. Erlkönig is based on the legend that whoever is touched by the king of the elves must die. Schubert has the piano accompaniment sound like galloping. He also replecates the terror in the boy's voice by setting his lines higher than the father. -
The Ophicleide
This is a keyed brass instrument that has a similar range to a trombone. It was invented in 1817, but wasn't patented until 1821 by Jean Hilaire Asté. It has multiple sizes. -
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Clara Schumann (Wieck)
Clara was the wife of Robert. She was also a composer, pianist, and teacher. She played most of Robert's pieces for him. Clara was a child prodigy and had most of her piano concerto written by the age 13. After her husband died, she didn't do much more composing, as she didn't have the time to because she had 8 kids to take care of. -
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Bedřich Smetana
Bedřich Smetana was a Bohemian composer. He was known for glorifying the nationalistic aspects of his country. He is the founder of Czech music. He also took part in the 1848 nationalist uprising. He went completely deaf by 1874, and by 1882 he had deppression, insomnia, hallucinations, giddiness, and loss of speech. He died in an asylum. -
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Stephen Foster
Foster was an American song composer. He was the first American to make a living as a professional songwriter. However, he died broke. -
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Louis Moreau Gottschalk
Gottschalk was an American Nationalist. He was a child prodigy. He was adored by many composers, but died of yellow fever at the age of 40. -
Symphonie fantastique
This is a program symphony composed by Berlioz. It has 5 movements. He composed this piece for Harriet Smithson. She was assigned an idée fixe which is a theme written to represent a person, place, or thing. -
Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung
This was an article written by E. T. A. Hoffmann. In this article he talks about Beethoven's instrumental music and calls him a genius. This was a first in history. -
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Johannes Brahms
Brahms was a German romantic composer. He favored absolute music and composed 4 symphonies, choral music, piano music, lieder, chamber music, and overtures. He specifically didn't compose any opera, as that was Wagner's field. He helped Clara Schumann take care of her kids after Robert died. He didn't want to compose any symphonies, as he knew he would be compared to Beethoven, and sure enough he was. -
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Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Tchaikovsky was trained musically in the West. He composed 8 operas, 7 symphonies, 3 piano concertos, 1 violin concerto, and many other works. He is also known for composing several ballets including Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, and The Nutcracker. -
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Antonin Dvořák
Antonin Dvořák was from Bohemia. He was a Czechoslovakian nationalist composer. He was invited to go to the National Conservatory in New York City. He took an interest in U.S. folk music and studied Black American cultures and music of the Native Americans -
Jewishness in music
This is an anti-Semitic article published by Wagner. In this article he attacked Meyerbeer, as he was a Jewish opera composer. -
Rigoletto
This is an opera composed by Verdi. It's based on Victor Hugo's play called "The King is Amused". -
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Giacomo Puccini
Puccini was trained in music, but was more interested in theatre. Though he didn't compose much, his work is still valued. He sadly died from cancer in his throat. -
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Ignacy Jan Paderwski
Paderwski was a Polish pianist and composer. He was also the Prime minister and Foreign minister of Poland in 1919. -
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Gustav Mahler
Mahler was known mainly as a conductor before a composer. He bridged the Austro-German romantic traditions of composing with the modern style in the 20th century. -
The Kingdom of Italy
Italy became a country! -
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The Bartered Bride
This is a Czech comic opera composed by Bedřich Smetana. It played a large role in establishing Czech music. -
Verdi's Requiem
This Requiem (composed by Verdi) was performed forAlessandro Manzoni, a famous Italian poet he met in Milan, Italy. -
Má vlast (My Country)
This is the second tone poem in Smetana's cycle of 6 tone poems. He uses tone painting to evoke the sounds of the Moldau River. -
Der Ring Des Nibelungen
This is a four-music drama cycle that was designed to be performed on four consecutive nights. It consists of Das Rheingold, Die Walküre, Siegfried, and Götterdämmerung. The entire set was first performed in 1876. -
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Béla Bartók
Bartók was from Hungary. He published 2000 tunes that he collected from Eastern European countries. He also wrote books and articles on this music. He taught piano at the Budapest Academy of Music from 1907-1934. -
Piano Rolls
Piano Rolls were recordings of a piano piece. A pianist could play a specialized piano, and it would punch holes in a turning roll of paper. You could then take this role and have the piano play it. -
Symphony No. 9 E minor, From the New World
This is a symphony composed by Antonin Dvořák. This symphony can be seen as a descriptive landscape, as Dvořák is trying to describe the "new world" that he's visiting.