Unit XVIII
Romantic Program Music
Chapter 51
Musical Nationalism
Two Types of National
Identifications
• National Artists
– England - Dickens, Shakespeare
– Russia - Dostoevsky
– France - Proust
Two Types of National
Identifications
• Nationalists - Affirm a national
heritage in a conscious way.
– Music based on songs and dances
• Chopin - Mazurkas
• Liszt - Hungarian Rhapsodies
• Dvorak - Slavonic Dances
• Grieg - Norwegian Dances
Nationalists
• Music based on Folklore or peasant
life.
– German Folk opera - Der Freischütz -
Karl Maria von Weber
– Czech National Opera - The Bartered
Bride, Bedrich Smetana
– Russian Fairy Tale Operas and Ballets -
Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov
Nationalists
• Music celebrating a national hero a
historic event, or scenic beauty
– Tchaikovsky - 1812 Overture
– Smetana - The Moldau
Nationalists
• Music based on works a national poet
or dramatists
– Goethe - Schubert
– Ibsen - Grieg - Peer Gynt
– Tchaikovsky - Operas based on dramas of
Alexander Pushkin (Rimsky-Korsakov,
Musorgsky)
Nationalists
• Music with political overtones
– Verdi - Austrian censor
– Sibelius - Finlandia Trumpet calls
forbidden by Tsarist police.
– Smetana, The Moldau - Nazis forbade its
playing in Prague.
– Chopin - Polonaises
A Czech Nationalist:
Bedrich Smetana (1824-84)
• Founded Czech
national school
against background of
political unrest.
Bohemia was
embroiled in uprisings
(1848) against Austria
which were crushed.
Bedrich Smetana
• 1856 - accepted conductor's post in Sweden.
During this time he came under the
influence of Liszt in regard to program
music.
• 1861 - returned to Bohemia as a national
artist. Worked toward the establishment of
a Czech language theatre in Prague.
Works
• The Bartered Bride (opera)
• Ma Vlast (My Country)
– Cycle of six symphonic poems (1874-
79)
– Best Known - Vltava (The Moldau)
• Image of the river becomes a symbol of
patriotic associations.
• Main theme adapted from Czech folk song.
• See Listening Guide 31, pp. 273-274 (CD
3/18-25) for analysis and themes.
The Moldau (Vltava): Program
• "Two springs pour forth in the shade of the
Bohemian forest, one warm and gushing, the
other cold and peaceful." These join in a
brook that becomes the river Moldau.
"Coursing through Bohemia's valleys, it
grows into a mighty stream. Through thick
woods it flows as the gay sounds of the hunt
and the notes of the hunter's horn are heard
ever closer.
The Moldau (Vltava): Program
cont’d.
• It flows through grass-grown pastures and
lowlands where a wedding feast is being
celebrated with song and dance. At night,
wood and water nymphs revel in its
sparkling waves. Reflected on its surface
are fortresses and castles--witnesses of
bygone days of knightly splendor and the
vanished glory of martial times."
The Moldau (Vltava): Program
cont’d.
• The stream races ahead through the Rapids
of St. John, "finally flowing on in majestic
peace toward Prague and welcomed by
historic Vysehrad"--the legendary site of the
castle of the ancient Bohemian kings.
"Then it vanishes far beyond the poet's
gaze."
Edvard Grieg (1843-1907)
• "The Voice of Norway"
• Nationalist voice in
political struggle for
freedom from Sweden.
• Works include: piano
concerto, Peer Gynt
(Ibsen), 3 sonatas for
violin and piano.
Jean Sibelius (1865-1957)
• Like Grieg in Norway,
Sibelius's career unfolded
against a background of
struggle for national
independence for Finland from
Russia.
• During the 1890's, Sibelius
produced a series of symphonic
poems based on Finnish
legends and myths. The best
known of these is Finlandia.
Russian Nationalists
• Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka (1804 - 1857)
– Laid the foundation for the Russian
Nationalist School.
"The Mighty Five"
• Mily Balakirev (1837 - 1910) - self-taught
composer and leader of the group.
• Alexander Borodin (1833 - 1887)
• César Cui (1835-1918)
• Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844 - 1908)
• Modest Musorgsky (1839 - 1881)
• Freed themselves from most European
influences to produce truly Russian music.
Russian Nationalists
• Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840 - 1893)
- retained some European influences.
English Nationalists
• Sir Edward Elgar (1857 - 1934)
• Frederick Delius (1862 - 1934)
Spanish Nationalists
• Isaac Albéniz (1860 - 1909)
• Enrique Granados (1867 - 1916)
• Manuel de Falla (1876 - 1946)