Programme Music 1820-1910
Programme music = music that expresses an extra-musical idea
Concert Overtures
Independent 1-movement orchestral work (often in sonata form – conservative)
Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)
Known for writing for a classical orchestra (double-wind + 2 tpts & 2 hrns)
Works Programme music
A Midsummer X programme for the work intended that his audience would be familiar
Night’s Dream w/ Shakespeare’s play
Overture (1826) 1st subject = fairy theme – mischievous high-pitched violins quavers; divisi
(more than 1); pp but staccato (light); in Em (up to mischief)
Transition = theme of royal court of Athens – ff & tutti texture (+ wind,
brass, lower strings); grandeur; in E (modal shift)
2nd subject = lovers theme – lyrical flowing melody in clarinets then passed
to violins; in B (dominant); reduced texture (X brass)
Codetta = Bottom theme – falling major 9th (donkey sound – onomatopoeia)
Hebrides Composed after 1829 visit to Scotland (Hebrides) X programme & X
Overture, narrate a story but depict a mood based on its title
‘Fingal’s Cave’ 1st subject = lonely island / swell of the sea – haunting & rowing melody in
(1830) bassoons, viola, cello; in Bm; V pedal in violins
2nd subject = rolling waves – calm, swell, lyrical ebb and flow melody in
bassoons & cellos; in D (relative major)
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)
Russia’s only professional full-time composer during his time
Much of his work inspired by Italian & French stimuli; relatively conservative style
His work often seen as carrying hidden autobiographical elements (hidden homosexuality,
self-criticism, disastrous marriage, suicide attempt)
Works Programme Music
Romeo and Composed the original version in 1869 but revised the work several times
Juliet Fantasy Explores the main themes in similar order to the play (~ symphonic poem)
Overture Introduction = Friar Lawrence theme – in F#m; homophony; 2 clarinets & 2
(1880) bassoons mimicking the organ; slow minim movement chorale-like effect
1st subject = Montagues & Capulets theme – in Bm (sense of conflict); tutti
texture (powerful forces); agitated, angular, syncopated melody; prominent use
of brass & percussion (conflict); strings vs wind motif (opposing forces)
2nd subject = love theme – in Db (contrasting major key); reduced forces feat.
only horn chords; melody in Cor Anglais & viola con sord. (mute); lushly
orchestrated, passionate, mellifluous, yearning / sighing melody
Development = combined themes – rhythm from M+C theme; Friar Lawrence
martial theme in trumpets; 2x cymbals lovers’ suicide; climatic love theme
Coda = drum roll (~ funeral march) union of 2 lovers in death – in B (sense
of closure & fulfilment); woodwind chorale tutti fanfare
, Symphonic Poems
1-movement orchestral music based on a literary, poetic or other extra musical idea
Combination of imagination of overture + complexity of symphony
Franz Liszt (1811-1886)
Born in Hungary 1850s in Weimar = composition of most of his 13 symphonic poems
Uses cyclic form & thematic transformation for general narrative representation (w/ preface)
Works Programme music
Les 3rd symphonic poem: some music from earlier work ‘Les Quatre Elements’
Preludes 5 sections to correspond to conventional symphonic movements
(1854) 1. Question – union C in pizz. strings rising inflection in ascending pentatonic scale
& tonal ambiguity (Am?) w/w joins held chord (A?) brass fanfare theme in 12/8
2. Love – strings only; flowing legato yearning love theme in 2nd violin & cello in C
tertiary into E for secondary love theme played by horns & violas in 4 parts
3. Storm – melody in cello w/ dim 4th & chromatics; tonal ambiguity; rising tremolo
chords in strings (all parallel dim 7ths ~ 5th mvt of Berlioz’s SF)
4. Calm – love theme in oboes; in Bb (stable tonal nature); lower strings tonic pedal
Ranz des Vaches (pastoral horn call) in horns then oboe & clarinet answer
5. Battle & victory – martial brass fanfare of love theme in trumpets in 2/2 tutti
martial secondary love theme original fanfare theme tutti & reprise
Orpheus 4th but shortest: originally as overture to Gluck’s 1762 opera ‘Orfeo ed Euridice’ –
(1854) inspired by Etruscan Vase in Louvre Orpheus taming wild beast w/ power of music
Modified loose sonata form w/ thematic transformation + tonal mediant relationship
Intro = prominent use of 2 harps as Orpheus’ Lyre (~ 2nd mvt of Berlioz’s SF)
1st subject = in C; in cello used by vln I as a sequence for thematic development
2nd subject = in E (mediant); melody in Cor Anglais
Recap = climatic return of 1st subject tutti; arpeggio in harps
End = series of chromatic chords in contrary motion; con sord. & div. strings
dolcissimo; end w/ C chord Orpheus’ disappearance into the clouds
Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921)
Use of memorable tune & vivid orchestration w/ Liszt’s inspiration (thematic transformation)
Works Programme Music
Danse Reworked from a song based on Henri Cazalis’ poem solo violin replaced voice
Macabre Harp plays a note of D per bar x12 times bells striking midnight
(1874) Solo violin w/ scordatura tuning (E string detuned by a semitone) create tritone
(dim 5th) death at Halloween night calls forth the dead from the grave to dance
1st theme in flutes – light & staccato, Um cha cha accomp. in harp
2nd theme in solo violin – largely based on chromaticism, Um cha cha pizz. strings
1st theme in xylophone rattling bones (1st orchestral known use) + strings col legno
2nd theme w/ fugal entries – cello vln II in dominant vln I + w/w in tonic
Dies Irae – used as a dance in the w/w in major key
Climatic return of both themes – 1st theme in strings; 2nd theme in trombones
Solo oboe (reedy timbre) w/ just horn Eb pedal cock crows at dawn
Richard Strauss’s (1864-1949) Don Quixote (1897)
Programme music = music that expresses an extra-musical idea
Concert Overtures
Independent 1-movement orchestral work (often in sonata form – conservative)
Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)
Known for writing for a classical orchestra (double-wind + 2 tpts & 2 hrns)
Works Programme music
A Midsummer X programme for the work intended that his audience would be familiar
Night’s Dream w/ Shakespeare’s play
Overture (1826) 1st subject = fairy theme – mischievous high-pitched violins quavers; divisi
(more than 1); pp but staccato (light); in Em (up to mischief)
Transition = theme of royal court of Athens – ff & tutti texture (+ wind,
brass, lower strings); grandeur; in E (modal shift)
2nd subject = lovers theme – lyrical flowing melody in clarinets then passed
to violins; in B (dominant); reduced texture (X brass)
Codetta = Bottom theme – falling major 9th (donkey sound – onomatopoeia)
Hebrides Composed after 1829 visit to Scotland (Hebrides) X programme & X
Overture, narrate a story but depict a mood based on its title
‘Fingal’s Cave’ 1st subject = lonely island / swell of the sea – haunting & rowing melody in
(1830) bassoons, viola, cello; in Bm; V pedal in violins
2nd subject = rolling waves – calm, swell, lyrical ebb and flow melody in
bassoons & cellos; in D (relative major)
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)
Russia’s only professional full-time composer during his time
Much of his work inspired by Italian & French stimuli; relatively conservative style
His work often seen as carrying hidden autobiographical elements (hidden homosexuality,
self-criticism, disastrous marriage, suicide attempt)
Works Programme Music
Romeo and Composed the original version in 1869 but revised the work several times
Juliet Fantasy Explores the main themes in similar order to the play (~ symphonic poem)
Overture Introduction = Friar Lawrence theme – in F#m; homophony; 2 clarinets & 2
(1880) bassoons mimicking the organ; slow minim movement chorale-like effect
1st subject = Montagues & Capulets theme – in Bm (sense of conflict); tutti
texture (powerful forces); agitated, angular, syncopated melody; prominent use
of brass & percussion (conflict); strings vs wind motif (opposing forces)
2nd subject = love theme – in Db (contrasting major key); reduced forces feat.
only horn chords; melody in Cor Anglais & viola con sord. (mute); lushly
orchestrated, passionate, mellifluous, yearning / sighing melody
Development = combined themes – rhythm from M+C theme; Friar Lawrence
martial theme in trumpets; 2x cymbals lovers’ suicide; climatic love theme
Coda = drum roll (~ funeral march) union of 2 lovers in death – in B (sense
of closure & fulfilment); woodwind chorale tutti fanfare
, Symphonic Poems
1-movement orchestral music based on a literary, poetic or other extra musical idea
Combination of imagination of overture + complexity of symphony
Franz Liszt (1811-1886)
Born in Hungary 1850s in Weimar = composition of most of his 13 symphonic poems
Uses cyclic form & thematic transformation for general narrative representation (w/ preface)
Works Programme music
Les 3rd symphonic poem: some music from earlier work ‘Les Quatre Elements’
Preludes 5 sections to correspond to conventional symphonic movements
(1854) 1. Question – union C in pizz. strings rising inflection in ascending pentatonic scale
& tonal ambiguity (Am?) w/w joins held chord (A?) brass fanfare theme in 12/8
2. Love – strings only; flowing legato yearning love theme in 2nd violin & cello in C
tertiary into E for secondary love theme played by horns & violas in 4 parts
3. Storm – melody in cello w/ dim 4th & chromatics; tonal ambiguity; rising tremolo
chords in strings (all parallel dim 7ths ~ 5th mvt of Berlioz’s SF)
4. Calm – love theme in oboes; in Bb (stable tonal nature); lower strings tonic pedal
Ranz des Vaches (pastoral horn call) in horns then oboe & clarinet answer
5. Battle & victory – martial brass fanfare of love theme in trumpets in 2/2 tutti
martial secondary love theme original fanfare theme tutti & reprise
Orpheus 4th but shortest: originally as overture to Gluck’s 1762 opera ‘Orfeo ed Euridice’ –
(1854) inspired by Etruscan Vase in Louvre Orpheus taming wild beast w/ power of music
Modified loose sonata form w/ thematic transformation + tonal mediant relationship
Intro = prominent use of 2 harps as Orpheus’ Lyre (~ 2nd mvt of Berlioz’s SF)
1st subject = in C; in cello used by vln I as a sequence for thematic development
2nd subject = in E (mediant); melody in Cor Anglais
Recap = climatic return of 1st subject tutti; arpeggio in harps
End = series of chromatic chords in contrary motion; con sord. & div. strings
dolcissimo; end w/ C chord Orpheus’ disappearance into the clouds
Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921)
Use of memorable tune & vivid orchestration w/ Liszt’s inspiration (thematic transformation)
Works Programme Music
Danse Reworked from a song based on Henri Cazalis’ poem solo violin replaced voice
Macabre Harp plays a note of D per bar x12 times bells striking midnight
(1874) Solo violin w/ scordatura tuning (E string detuned by a semitone) create tritone
(dim 5th) death at Halloween night calls forth the dead from the grave to dance
1st theme in flutes – light & staccato, Um cha cha accomp. in harp
2nd theme in solo violin – largely based on chromaticism, Um cha cha pizz. strings
1st theme in xylophone rattling bones (1st orchestral known use) + strings col legno
2nd theme w/ fugal entries – cello vln II in dominant vln I + w/w in tonic
Dies Irae – used as a dance in the w/w in major key
Climatic return of both themes – 1st theme in strings; 2nd theme in trombones
Solo oboe (reedy timbre) w/ just horn Eb pedal cock crows at dawn
Richard Strauss’s (1864-1949) Don Quixote (1897)
