Romantic Concerto 1810-1900

Famous composers of Romantic Concertos were: Brahms, Rachmaninov, Tchaikovsky  and Chopin (click on the names to open up video links and listen to some examples)

Solo instruments could include almost any orchestral instrument but many piano or violin concertos were written during this time. The orchestra was large and often contrasted dramatically with the soloist, with the soloist being seen as an “heroic figure”. There was m ore freedom and expression within the music, and composers wrote music that expressed their inner most feelings.

ROMANTIC CONCERTO MUSICAL FEATURES:

STRUCURE AND FORM: Once again, Romantic Concertos included 3 movements (fast slow fast):

•Rich and colourful orchestration

•MELODY – Clear melody lines, but were more complex than before. Virtuosic performances became even more difficult during the CADENZA section (end of the first movement). All notes played were written out by the composer. Phrase lengths were more flexible too. Long and  dramatic. Often use of wide leaps to enhance emotion

•ARTICULATION - specific indications of how to play – espressivo, dolce etc.

•DYNAMICS – much more extreme than before (think back to Baroque and how simple the dynamics were then!) Loud and powerful or warm and emotional.

•TEXTURE - Homophonic/ Melody and accompaniment but more complex than before. Doubling of parts, creating a thicker texture.

•HARMONY – Diatonic harmony was used, but more interesting harmony started to be included, such as chromatic harmony and chords with added notes, creating more dissonance.

•INSTRUMENTS (TIMBRE) – Orchestra increased in size and there was now a wider variety of timbres to play with.  Soloists were often piano or violin (see previous slides for detail)

•TEMPO - Music that often changed tempo and time signature. Rubato (which means having a "flexible approach to the tempo) would often be used by the conductor and soloist.