1890 – 1910 Strauss and Debussy

 
Style polarized around Wagner (neo-romantics, including Strauss, Mahler, Wolf, Scriabin, and the nationalists: Sibelius in Finland, Elgar in England, Rachmaninov and Rimsky-Korsakov in Russia, et.al.) and Debussy (impressionists, including Ravel, Roussel, Delius, Loeffler and Dukas).

  Impressionists

 
The first big break with German Romanticism came in the works of Claude Debussy (1862-1918) whose harmonic idiom included

(a) unprepared and unresolved dissonances,

(b) frequent use of pedal point and ostinato,

(c) parallel chords including parallel fifths, fourths and octaves,

(d) pentatonic and whole-tone scales, and

(e) avoidance of the leading tone.

These devices served to blur tonality and to emphasize chordal color over harmonic function in deliberate contrast to neo-romantic style.


 

Orchestral Music

 
Impressionistic style included

(a) emphasis on woodwinds, muted brass and harp,

(b) wordless choruses (Debussy's Nocturnes, 1899, Ravel's Daphnis et Chloe, 1912, Roussel's Evocations, 1912),

(c) kaleidoscopic, blurred forms,

(d) vague, irregular rhythm and

(e) descriptive titles.

The major works were

(1) symphonic poems, Debussy's Prelude à l'apres-midi d'un faune (1894) and the more realistic Sorcerer's Apprentice (1897) of Paul Dukas (1865-1835),

(2) groups of symphonic poems, Debussy's La Mer (1905) and Images pour orchestre (1906), and

(3) suites, Maurice Ravel's (1875-1837) Rapsodie espagnol (1907).

French Opera

 
Pelléas et Mélisande (1902) by Debussy set a symbolist play by Maeterlinck to uniquely suitable impressionist music with extended orchestral interludes and recitative which imitated French speech patterns. Other operas were the realistic Louise (1900) by Gustave Charpentier (1860-1956), Thais (1894) by Massenet, and Revel's L'Heure espagnole (1910).


 

French Song

 
Impressionism was represented by Debussy's Fete galantes (1892, 1904), Chanson de Bilitis (1897), Ravel's Histoire Naturelles (1906) and his orchestral song cycle Shéhérazade (1903). Faure's important cycles in an older style were La Bonne Chanson (1892-3) and La Chanson d'Eve (1907).


 

Chamber Music

 
Both Debussy, (1893) and Ravel (1903) wrote string quartets.


 

Piano Music

 
Descriptive titles which set a mood were important in Debussy's Estampes (1903), Images I (1905), II (1907) and Preludes I (1910) and II (1913), and Ravel's Jeux d'eau (1901) and Miroirs (1905). Eric Satie's (1866-1925) Three Pieces in the Shape of a Pear (1903) and Dried-up Embryos (1913) ridiculed these impressionist titles.


 

Neo-Romantics

 
Expression through tonality and modulation, begun by Haydn, reached its final phase in works characterized by extremes of chromaticism and free modulation, enormous orchestras, emotional realism and the long surging line.


 

Symphonic Poem

 
Richard Strauss (1864-1949) used both philosophical programs, Tod und Verklärung (1889) and Also sprach Zarathustra (1896), and descriptive programs, Don Juan (1899), Till Eulenspiegel (1895), Don Quixote (1897), Ein Heldenleben (1898), Sinfonia Domestica (1903) and Alpensymphonie (1915). His strongest feature was the virtuosic use of the orchestra.


 
Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) also composed a number of symphonic poems based on the Finnish national epic, Finlandia (1899).


 

Symphony

 
Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) also excelled at virtuosic orchestration in his ten symphonies, including No. 2 "Resurrection" (1895), No. 4 (1901) and No. 8 "of a Thousand" (1910). He typically included orchestral songs (Nos. 2, 3, and 4), augmented his often huge orchestra with chorus (Nos. 2, 3, and 8), used folk-like melodies and varied the number of movements. Early programs were later suppressed. Sibelius' most important symphonies were No. 2 (1902) and No. 4 (1911).


 

Orchestral Variations

 
Unlike Brahms, orchestral variations in this generation did not retain the structure in each variation. These were Vincent D'Indy's (1851-1931) Istar Variations (1896) and Edward Elgar's (1857-1934) Enigma Variations (1899).


 

Piano music

 
The limits of romantic piano idiom were reached in the ten sonatas of Alexander Scriabin (1872-1915) and the preludes, Op. 3, No. 2 (1892), Op. 23 (1904) and Op. 32 (1910), and Piano Concertos No. 2 (1901) and No. 3 (1909) of Sergei Rachmaninov (1873-1943).


 

Orchestral Song Cycle

 
Closely related to his symphonies in style and structure were Mahler's Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (1883-84), Kindertotenlieder (1902) and Das Lied von der Erde (1908) for tenor and contralto.


 

Lied

 
The new generation began composing songs in the 1880's and included Mahler, Strauss (composing 1882-1901), and Hugo Wolf (1860-1903) who published his songs in volumes by a single poet: Mörike (1888), Eichendorff (1888), Goethe (1889), Spanisches Liederbuch (1890), Italienische Liederbuch (1891, '96) and Michaelangelo (1897).


 

German Opera

 
Wagnerian principles of continuous music and use of leitmotives were found in the dissonant and dramatically violent Salome (1905) and Elektra (1909) by Strauss.


 

Italian Opera

 
Verismo was the operatic version of literary realism, shown in the use of naturalistic recitative, the disappearance of coloratura and commonplace, often violent subject matter. The operas were Cavalleria rusticana (1890) by Pietro Mascagni (1863-1945), I Pagliacci (1892) by Ruggiero Leoncavallo (1858-1919), and Manon Lescaut (1893), La Bohème (1896), Tosca (1900) and Madame Butterfly (1904) by Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924).


 

Russian Opera

 
Russian opera continued in Sadko (1897) and Le Coq d'or (1909) by Rimsky-Korsakov.


 

Choral Music

 
Important choral works were Elgar's oratorio Dream of Gerontius (1900) and Guerrelieder (1901), a cantata by Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951).


 

American Jazz

 
Ragtime for piano by Scott Joplin (1868-1917) flourished c. 1897-1910 with an upbeat tempo and syncopated right hand, including "Maple Leaf Rag" (1899) and his opera Treemonisha (one performance in 1915).


 

Richard Strauss

His most popular operas are:

Puccini Madama Butterfly #8

The Opera

First performed in 1904, the music is in the broad category called verismo, a style popular late in the 19th and early 20th centuries and characterized by stories about ordinary people set to deeply romantic music.

What is this opera about?  

Pinkerton is part of the conquering army who are the same in any era.  The women are considered part of the booty of war.  She believes he loves her, and abandons her family and religion, indeed everything, for him.  Part of the attraction of war is the abandonment of social morality.

The Story

Act I

Giacomo Puccini

Many people enter the world of opera through the door of Giacomo Puccini (1858 – 1924) who composed from the late nineteenth century until his death in 1924.  He was insanely popular during his lifetime, and three of his operas--Tosca, La Bohème and Madama Butterfly--are still in the top 10 most popular operas.

Puccini is a representative of a style called verismo, a kind of reality check for opera.  Instead of gods and kings, the heroes and heroines are ordinary people, living, falling in love, killing and dying in sordid ordinary ways.  His music is characterized by beautiful melodies, lush romantic harmonies, rich orchestration and full voices.  As with all composers, how full each character's voice is varies from one opera to another.  The biggest voices for Puccini are in Turandot and La fanciulla del west.

His most popular operas are:

• Manon Lescaut, #40, libretto by Luigi Illica, Marco Praga and Domenico Oliva (1 February 1893)  [I recommend Met on Demand 29-Mar-80]  [blog post], [blog post],
• La bohème, #4, libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa (1 February 1896)  [I recommend Met on Demand 15-Mar-77] [blog post],
• Tosca, #6, libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa (14 January 1900)  [I recommend Met on Demand 10-Oct-09] [blog post],
• Madama Butterfly, #8, libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa (17 February 1904)  [I recommend Met on Demand 7-Mar-09] [blog post],
• La fanciulla del West, #100, libretto by Guelfo Civinini and Carlo Zangarini (10 December 1910)  [I recommend Met on Demand 8-Apr-92] [blog post],
• La rondine, libretto by Giuseppe Adami (27 March 1917)  [I recommend Met on Demand 10-Jan-09] [blog post],
• Il trittico (14 December 1918)  [blog post], [blog post],
  • Il tabarro, #97, libretto by Giuseppe Adami
  • Suor Angelica, #74, libretto by Giovacchino Forzano
  • Gianni Schicchi, #43, libretto by Giovacchino Forzano
• Turandot, #15, libretto by Renato Simoni and Giuseppe Adami (incomplete at the time of Puccini's death, completed by Franco Alfano: 25 April 1926)  [I recommend Met on Demand 7-Nov-09] [blog post],

For a first opera one generally recommends La Bohème.

Puccini La Bohème (#5)

The Opera

First performed in 1896, the music is in the broad category called verismo.
The plot is a tragic love affair among the artist colony of Paris.


Everyone loves Puccini's La Bohème, an Italian opera despite the French title. This is a good place to begin with opera because the music is consistently beautiful throughout, the characters are well drawn, they laugh, they fall in love, they quarrel and they die in great style.  It is a complete arc of emotion, and the plot is never confusing.  In the spirit of verismo we see starving artists Rodolfo, the poet, and Marcello, the painter, Mimi, a girl who embroiders flowers and another girl, Musetta, who makes a living from men with money, in short a professional mistress.

The Story

Act I

This act takes place in Paris in the garret of some starving artists on Christmas Eve.  Everyone but Rodolfo goes out to a restaurant to celebrate the holiday and the fact that one of them has a job.  When Rodolfo is alone, Mimi from upstairs stops by to complain that her candle has gone out.  By the end of the act they are telling each other "te amo." [I love you.]  You can decide for yourself if she is really there to get him to light her candle or just to meet him.

This was Luciano Pavarotti's favorite opera. He was one of the gods of opera.

Hit Tunes

Puccini Tosca (#2)

The Opera

What is this opera about?

This is the essential MeToo Opera, the one where a powerful figure uses his authority to try to extract sexual favors.  He doesn't offer a job in return, but he offers the life of her lover.  He chooses the wrong woman.  Spoiler alert.  Instead of sex he gets a knife in the gut.

The political background is war.  All of the characters know that Rome, which is being ruled by Naples, will soon be invaded by the French army under Napoleon.  Scarpia represents the current government, but Mario is for the Republican French.  Tosca is a famous opera singer who seems only to care about love and art.  The entire opera takes place in real places in Rome.

More Information

First performed in 1900, the music is in the broad category called verismo, a style popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The plot is a tragic love affair with political complications.  Tosca and Mario truly love one another, but he cannot let go of his political involvement for her sake.

Giacomo Puccini's Tosca premiered in Rome and is based on a play by Sardou.  The plot, set in Rome in June, 1800, is a traditional political opera with some more modern sordid elements.  The characters are fictional, but the setting is historical and tied to a specific time and place.  Floria Tosca isn't an ordinary girl but instead is the most famous singer of her time and place.  Mario Cavaradossi is a famous painter.  Scarpia is the governor of Rome under the rule of Naples.  Everything happens just as the army of the French Republic are returning to Rome to throw out the Neapolitan government.

The Story

Act I

In Act I Mario Cavaradossi is painting in the Chiesa di Sant'Andrea della Valle in Rome.  The woman in the painting is the sister of Consul Angelotti who is hiding in the church.  She comes every day to pray and look for her brother. 

Hit Tune

At the very beginning of the opera Mario is on his scaffold looking at the painting he is making.  He cannot resist comparing his girlfriend Floria Tosca's beauty with the woman in the painting.  "Recondita armonia," "Contrasting harmony in these diverse beauties."  There is much discussion about how the woman in the painting has blue eyes while Tosca's eyes are black.



Tosca is at this time Cavaradossi's girlfriend, but Scarpia, the chief of police, wants her.  Tosca enters with flowers for the Virgin. 

Here is the Act I love scene between Tosca and Mario..



Mario helps Angelotti find a place to hide from Scarpia.  The scene ends with a church service, and Scarpia expresses how much he wants Tosca.

Act II 

This scene takes place in Scarpia's office in the Palazzo Farnese.  He has arrested and is torturing Cavaradossi to get him to tell where Angelotti is hiding.

Hit Tune

Tosca offers to give herself to Scarpia if he will free Cavaradossi.  Tosca sings "Vissi d'arte," "I lived for art, I lived for love.  Why this, lord?"




As soon as Scarpia has signed the paper, Tosca kills him and escapes.  To start at the top see Maria Callas kill Scarpia with Tito Gobbi as Scarpia.  She says things like "the kiss of Tosca!" when she stabs him and "die!" when he just lies there.  It is probably the most famous of all opera films.

Act III

Cavaradossi is in the prison in the Castel Sant'Angelo waiting to be executed.  His best arias are in this act.

Hit Tune

Mario sings about Tosca.





Mario goes bravely to stand before the firing squad.  Tosca thinks they are only going to pretend to shoot him but soon sees that he is really dead.  When she hears them coming to get her for killing Scarpia, she jumps off of the fortress.

Complete Film

This is a different movie than I previously posted but also looks like a movie and stars a young Placido Domingo.  Floria Tosca is Raina Kabaivanska, and Barone Scarpia is Sherril Milnes.

If you hate this, you should possibly try some Donizetti comedy,  or maybe Wagner.

If you love it, stick to Verismo for a while longer.