Lecture Eight--Nationalism
"The only winner in the War of 1812 was Tchaikovsky." Solomon Short
This lecture examines the trend of folklore in musical nationalism during the second half of the nineteenth century. It begins with a description of the extraordinary events of 1848, the so-called “year of failed revolutions. “ With the destruction of the revolutionary movement assured, artistic nationalism became one of the few remaining modes of nationalist expression. This is a continuation of the political section introduced in Lecture Three. We return to Franz Liszt, perhaps the most representative instrumental virtuoso/composer of the nineteenth century, and his composition Totentanz. Finally, a few composers of Eastern Europe are discussed, except for Russia, which will be next week.
Dvòrák
Outline
I. Eighteen Forty-Eight was the year of failed revolutions in Europe.
A. Amid an insurrection in Paris on February 24, King Louis-Philippe abdicated and fled to England.
B. On March 1, riots broke out in Vienna against the Habsburg government of Metternich.
C. On March 3 in Hungary, Louis Kossuth gave a speech on the virtues of liberty, which was published almost immediately in Vienna.
D. Amid insurrection in Vienna on March 13, Metternich resigned and fled.
E. With the fall of Metternich, riots and outright revolutions broke out across Germany and the Austrian/Habsburg empire.
1. March 15: Berlin
2. March 15: Hungary
3. March 18: Bohemia
4. March 18: Milan
5. March & April: Venice, Tuscany, Sardinia, etc.
F. In June the revolutionary tide turned and the old governments were stunned but not broken.
G. By autumn 1848 the revolutions had all been crushed.
II. Political nationalism having been crushed, nationalistic expression was now expressed only in the arts, including music.
A. The revolutions of 1848 gave rise to nationalism.
B. Nationalism featured the incorporation of folk music, literary themes, and stories into concert works and operas.
1. Such music stirred strong emotions at home and made a strong ethnic impression abroad.
2. Such nationalism allowed composers to assert at least an artistic independence over the Austrian/German musical ideal.
C. Some early examples of nineteenth-century nationalism include:
1. Frederic Chopin (1810-49)
Featured Music:
Chopin, Polonaise op. 40, no. I (1838)
2. Franz Liszt (1811-86)
Featured Music:
Liszt, Hungarian Rhapsody no. 2 (ca. 1850)
D. By the I 860s, the “ethnic” sounds of European concert music had become part of a shared musical language, a composer’ s country of origin notwithstanding.
E. Exoticism refers to the adoption by a composer of the musical nationalism of another nationality. Johannes Brahms (1 833—97), for instance, incorporated Hungarianisms into many of his pieces.
Featured Music:
Brahms, Hungarian Dance no. 5 (c. 1868)
Brahms, Violin Concerto, third movement (1878)
III. As we discussed in our last lecture, Franz Liszt, was possibly the most influential composer/virtuoso of the nineteenth century.
A. Liszt is an example of the new “secular hero,” the virtuoso/performer as god. He inspired, and society condoned, public behavior that a mere generation earlier would have been unthinkable.
B. There is no Romantic-era trend that Liszt did not indulge in.
Featured Music:
Liszt, Totentanz (I848)
1. This is a variations-type work for piano and orchestra.
2. The programmatic content is based on the Black Death of the fourteenth century.
3. The “theme” of the work is the Roman Catholic prayer for the dead, the Dies Irae.
IV. The majority of active composers from about 1860 to 1940 were nationalist composers whose music was influenced by their native or folk music. The nationalist music that emerged from this ethnic self-identification rapidly became a shared resource as composers of all nationalities borrowed from each other’s nationalism in an increasingly global musical environment.
V. NATIONALISM IN THE MUSIC OF THE SLAVS
Frederic Chopin, the Pole, and a Russian named Mikhail Glinka foreshadowed the rise of an important group of nineteenth-century musicians: the Slavs, those who come from Russia, Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Moldavia, and so on. One of these, of course, is Tchaikovsky, of whom you have heard today, and some of whose ballets you have seen. Undoubtedly, his Piano Concerto #1 is one of the most famous, if not THE most famous, concertos ever written. During the 19th century, Czechoslovakia was exceptionally well represented by several fine composers.
1. Frederic Smetana (1824-1884) had, for a short time, studied with Franz Liszt, but he could hold his own as a composer. His most famous work was a delightful opera, The Bartered Bride. Additionally, he wrote a suite about his country, Ma vlast, which contains a beautiful piece about the Moldau River. A great composer in his own right, He took his stand for the art of his native country, and helped another composer, who perhaps became more famous, Antonin Dvorak. Unfortunately, Smetana lost his hearing. The last piece he wrote ends on a high E, which he persistently heard when his hearing was failing. Unfortunately, he ended his days in an insane asylum at Prague.
Featured Music:
Opera excerpt: The Bartered Bride Overture or Ma vlast
2. Antonin Dvòrák (1841-1904) still holds the record for the longest applause ever given in Carnegie Hall, which burst out at the end of the second movement of his “New World” Symphony, which was definitely the most famous of the nine symphonies he wrote. It was a magnificent theme, reminiscent of the African American spiritual, by which he was very much influenced while living in America for three years. His Cello Concerto is also a magnificent work, and the Biblical Songs, which he wrote upon the death of his friend, Hans von Bülow, as well as upon the death of his father (both passed away while he was in this country) are often presented in concert halls and churches. They were originally written in Czech, and when you read them, you can see the similarities between the Czech and Russian languages. Dvòrák was a reasonably prolific composer. He spent time in the Midwest, in the town of Spillville, Iowa, and also in New York City, where he conducted the Philharmonic and taught at The Juilliard School.
Featured Music:
Symphony Number Nine: From the New World
3. Leoš Janácek, 1854-1928, was a Moravian composer, hence a Czech. His most important work, Jenufa, quite a delightful opera, was written in the twentieth century.
Featured Music:
Taras Bulba: Rhapsody for orchestra, after the novel by Nikolay Gogol
VI. NATIONALISM in other countries:
1. The United States:
Edward MacDowell (1861-1908), an American composer of genuine merit, was heavily influenced by the German composers, but composed upon American themes, such as his “Indian” Suite. He was a New Yorker and lectured at Columbia University. Among his works are a delightful Piano Concerto and the popular “Woodland Sketches” for piano. MacDowell’s music was influenced by spirituals, of which his mother was particularly fond. Apparently a much-beloved and admired person, like so many composers, he was not strong mentally. He unfortunately spent his last days reading fairy tales upside down.
Featured Music:
The Sea for voice & piano, Op. 47- No. 7
Stephen Foster (1826-1864) was known for his attractive melodies and for his dated, romanticized, but sympathetic viewpoint of the Southern black person and of the plantation. Of his songs, “Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair” and “Swanee River” are still familiar, although the words to the latter have been slightly updated.
Featured Music:
O! Susanna
Gentle Annie
The Bright Hills Of Glory
Louis Moreau Gottschalk (1829-1869) was an original and talented pianist from New Orleans who, upon convincing the head of the Paris Conservatory that he should be heard, was finally trained in Paris. Interestingly, Chopin said to him, “I predict that you will be king of pianists.” [Grove’s Dictionary, 1926] P. T. Barnum wanted to engage him to travel with the circus, offering him $20,000 and all expenses for a year. He refused. He did, however, travel all over North and South America, and finally passed away in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. His compositions are original and interesting, sometimes imitating the banjo, sometimes with a definite program.
Here are a few samples of Gottschalk's music. (Midi Files)
There are thousands of obscure American composers, instrumentalists, instrument-builders, and so on, but these three should not be overlooked in the 19th century.
2. Norway and Finland:
It is impossible to escape the 19th century without mentioning the music of Edvard Grieg (1843-1907), whom, upon the recommendation of his teacher, Ole Bull, studied at the Leipzig Conservatory. Of his many works, his Piano Concerto in A minor and the Peer Gynt suite are probably the most popular. The significance of this composer lies in the fact that although he studied with the Germans, he was truly a Norwegian. “He adapted the classical structure to themes so nearly allied to actual traditional tunes as to be hardly distinguishable from genuine folk-music.” [Grove, 1926, p. 241] Peer Gynt was written as music for Henrik Ibsen’s play. Grieg was befriended by Franz Liszt, who read his famous Piano Concerto at sight and encouraged him greatly. He wrote beautiful songs, but as they are in Norwegian, they are not performed as often as they might be.
Featured Music:
Piano Concerto in A minor, Mvt. 1.
Peer Gynt Suite
Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) He studied in Helsinki and in 1889 he went to Berlin to continue his composition studies, then after a year to Vienna. He retumed to Helsinki in 1891 and immediately made a mark with his choral symphony Kullervo, though it took him another decade to establish a wholly consistent nationalistic style. His most important Romantic works were the Karelia suite, the set of four tone poems on the legendary hero Lemminkäinen (including The Swan of Tuonela), the grandiose Finlandia and the first two symphonies. As these titles suggest, he was encouraged by the Finnish nationalist movement (until 1917 Finland was a grand duchy in the Russian empire). In 1903 he began to investigate other styles and only his early compositions could be regarded as Romantic Music.
Featured Music:
Finlandia
3. Spain:
Enrique Granados (1867 - 1916) Born in Lérida in 1867, Enrique Granados studied the piano and composition in Barcelona and then in Paris, returning to Barcelona in 1889. He won distinction as a pianist and popularity in Spain with his contributions to the form of zarzuela. He was drowned in the English Channel when the boat on which he was returning home from an American tour by way of Liverpool was torpedoed.
Featured Music:
Twelve Spanish Dances Escenas Poeticas (Book 1)
Naxos 8.553037
Isaac Albéniz (1860 - 1909) A pianist and composer, the Spanish musician Albéniz was a leading figure in the creation of a national style of composition in Spain. Although he wrote operas, including a King Arthur to English words, songs and orchestral music, he is best known for his piano music, some of which has been arranged by others for orchestra.
Featured Music
Albeniz - Sevilla (Sue Talley)