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“War of the Romantics”
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“War of the Romantics”
Some music historians use “War of the Romantics” in describing the schism that happened between two prominent musicians in the second half of the 19th century. The two opponents happened to be Johannes Brahms and Franz Liszt. The source areas of controversy included; musical structure, unlimited music, program music, and limits of chromatic harmony. These played a significant role in revealing the different forms of music to the audiences. The two opponents made music adventurous through various aspects, resulting in differing opinions about the forms and structure of composition and play. Some of the works done by Franz Liszt include “Piano Sonata in B Minor” and “A Faust Symphony.” Also, works done by Johannes Brahms include “Piano Sonata F Minor” and “Symphony No. 1.”
“Piano Sonata in B Minor” by Franz Liszt is approximated in thirty minutes of continuous music. On the other side, “Piano Sonata F Minor” by Johannes Brahms lasts up to fourteen minutes. It is evident that the two songs differ in duration. “Piano Sonata in B Minor” consists of more information than “Piano Sonata F Minor.” The composers had different ideas that resulted in the specified duration. The message in a piece of music depends on the duration that every artist targets (Schwarz, B. (1961: Shui, 2019). Possessing a difference in duration tells why the two items, done by different arts, are unique in their way. The duration experienced in the two pieces is also noticeable through the note and the playing style for each. Other factors considered in these pieces include; the shape of the note head and the stem, flags, and beams. As well, “A Faust Symphony” consists of seventy-five minutes approximately. On the other side, “Symphony No.1” duration lasts between twenty-two and twenty-nine minutes. The two pieces indicate the controversy through their duration. The ideas in each piece are different, too, hence resulting in different tones and rhythms.
Concerning the dynamics in “Piano Sonata F Minor” comprises loud and clear music while “Piano Sonata in B Minor” comprises loud music. The dynamics in both songs are different hence achieving the conflict between the two songs. Considering A Faust Symphony, the idea of the three protagonists through simple, loud, and low dramatic tone is achieved. “Symphony No.1” explores the potential of loud music and achieves a different rhythm (Todd, 1980). The musical instruments incorporate technology in terms of compression. The process of composing music entails specific actions that result in stunning results. Both Johannes Brahms and Franz Liszt tried their best to employ recommendable dynamics. The dynamics in the identified songs make the music to be alive and engaging. Through dynamics also, Franz Liszt created drama and different intensities hence making the pieces fascinating and enjoyable. Johannes Brahms’ pieces of art are flat and boring due to a lack of enough drama. The dynamics are not engaging the audience in the expected capacity.
In achieving melody, Franz Liszt and Johannes Brahms indicate controversy in their work through how they created their music. The music is different from a sequence of single notes, pitch bends, ornamentation, modulation, and intonation. “Piano Sonata in B Minor” expresses melody in a classical and modern way. The horizontal arrangement of the song comprises a smooth transition of pitch bends and modulation. “Piano Sonata F Minor” indicates an outdated and traditional melody. Kitson (2018) illustrates that the artist did not consider improving the music by implementing new ideas associated with melody. The melody in this particular song does not indicate appropriately achieved intonation. There is no transition from high and low intonation hence making the song flat and dull. Concerning “A Faust Symphony” indicates the idea of melodic features that belong to particular genres and styles (ROSAR, 1983). The artist identifies the song with its unique melody. The specific genres and styles bring out exclusivity, hence making it possible to enjoy the piece. On the other side, “Symphony No.1” comprises phrases and sequences. The phrases contain specific messages targeting an explicit group of individuals. The sequences in “Symphony No.1” are achieved by placing identical messages at some interval. There is repetition in the entire piece, hence making it possible to capture the sequence. Phrases and sequence make “Symphony No.1” enjoyable to any individual that listens carefully.
Harmony in music is a fascinating tool while composing an item. In “A Faust Symphony,” harmony is experienced through intonation and modulation. In explaining modulation, the song identifies the author’s voice’s specific tone, strength, and pitch. “Symphony No.1” elaborates the idea of atonality, tension and resolution, consonance, and dissonance. On the other side, “Piano Sonata in B Minor” articulates the idea of intonation, modulation, and diatonic tonality. Diatonic tonality is achieved through major, minor and dominant tones. “Piano Sonata F Minor” achieves music harmony through modality harmony and countermelodies. As the music plays, an individual hears other sounds that happen in the background. Kregor (2019) elaborates that, for harmony to be achieved in composing music, an artist should consider employing harmony. Harmony in terms of words, tone, and musical instruments brings out the best feeling the audience would like to experience. Harmony is essential in the pieces mentioned above due to the compartment created while listening. The harmony enables the ears to create their simultaneity, hence perceiving the message in an intended manner.
In music, the structure is fundamental, especially when arranging words or verses. The main target is to achieve a perfect piece that delivers a message to the listeners. “Piano Sonata F Minor” entails the arrangement of words systematically (Longyear & Covington, 1986). The ideas flow from one to the other without conflict of interest. Each verse or idea supports the other. The author formulated the ideas while considering structure. “Piano Sonata in B Minor” presents structure through repetition, chorus, unification, theme, and variation. The chorus grants the entire piece to be engaging and exciting to listen over several times. On the other side, “A Faust Symphony” indicates structure through variety and development. Different ideas are explained in this particular piece. “A Faust Symphony” is associated with the modern methodology of achieving structure in terms of employing designs of opera songs. On the other side, “Symphony No.1” articulates the idea of structure through instrumental solo and theme variation. The composer uses a common theme throughout the entire song. It is important to note that “Symphony No. 1” represents the traditional strategy of composing songs, and therefore, much is not expected in terms of structure (Danitz, 2020). The chorus also enables the piece to achieve repetition while the listeners listen and sing along.
The controversial set of songs entitled “War of the Romantics” is achieved through different aspects of organizing a perfect composition. The “A Faust Symphony” comprises musical voicing that makes the entire piece interesting. The texture is impressive, considering the voicing employed in developing the same entertaining piece. “Symphony No. 1” depicts the idea of using distorted versus clean guitar (Quinn, 2014). There is no clear texture due to the disrupted tone, creating mixed variations in terms of rhythm. On the other side, “Piano Sonata in B Minor” encompasses several instruments and tracks. Since the composer is a classical and modern musician, the idea of incorporating multiple instruments brings out the best texture. Adelson (2018) states that while recording the song, the writer considered mixing effects such as reverb and delay. Mixing effects enables the audience and the composer to understand areas that require a pause and continuation. As well, “Piano Sonata F Minor” comprises musical textures such as monophonic and homophonic. Texture creates the potential to understand how the song or poem should be presented.
Concerning timbre, the two composers illustrate different tonal techniques used on an instrument. There is tapping, scrubbing, muting, and usage of fingertips in each of their two pieces. “Piano Sonata in B Minor” comprises tapping whereby the music plays with the effect of a fretted guitar string hence producing the required vibration. “Piano Sonata F Minor” illustrates fingertips, whereby the tone changes as the fingers move from one string to the other. On the other side, “A Faust Symphony” demonstrates a scrubbing action from the sounds created (Longyear & Covington, 1986). There is back and forth movement of a vinyl record. The scrubbing action is achieved on a turntable in situations where people want to achieve perfect music. In addition, “Symphony No.1” encompasses tapping because there is a lot of vibration while listening, but the music is not as straightforward as “A Faust Symphony.”
Overall, through interaction with the four songs done by Johannes Brahms and Franz Liszt, music comprises many aspects that make the entire idea and the message intended to be interesting. Timbre, texture, duration, structure, harmony, melody, and dynamics make music fascinating while listening. Through deconstruction and evaluation in music, the listener learns more as the process grows from one aspect to another. Listening to music is therapeutic hence creating the desire to learn more and more. It is essential to learn and understand how these aspects interwove to create a perfect composition.
References
Adelson, R. (2018). Johannes Brahms, Sonatas for Clarinet and Piano-Sonata for Clarinet and Piano in F minor op. 120, no. 1-Sonata for Clarinet and Piano in E flat major op. 120, no. 2-Sechs Klavierstücke op. 118-Lorenzo Coppola cl, Andreas Staier pf-Harmonia Mundi HMC 902187, 2015 (1 CD: 62 minutes), $17-Liner notes by Andreas Staier and Lorenzo Coppola. Nineteenth-Century Music Review, 15(1), 111-113.
Brodbeck, D. L., Brahams, J., & Lee, B. D. (1997). Brahms: Symphony No. 1. Cambridge University Press.
Danitz, C. (2020). The Reception of Liszt’s Faust Symphony in the United States. https://doi.org/10.7275/17489800
Longyear, R. M., & Covington, K. R. (1986). Tonal and Harmonic Structures in Liszt’s Faust Symphony. Studia Musicologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae, 28(Fasc. 1/4), 153-171.
Kitson, P. J. (2018). The Last War of the Romantics: De Quincey, Macaulay, the First Chinese Opium War. The Wordsworth Circle, 49(3), 148-158.
Kregor, J. (2019). Liszt’s Faust Complexes. The Oxford Handbook of Faust in Music, 145.
Quinn, E. (2014). 4 The War of the Romantics. In Franz Liszt (pp. 148-183). Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004279223_006
ROSAR, W. (1983). Music for the MONSTERS: Universal Pictures’ Horror Film Scores of the Thirties. The Quarterly Journal of the Library of Congress, 40(4), 390-421. Retrieved July 30, 2021, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/29781994
Schwarz, B. (1961). Beethoveniana in Soviet Russia. The Musical Quarterly, 47(1), 4-21. Retrieved July 30, 2021, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/740539
Shui, H. M. (2019). A Rediscovered Genius Carl Czerny and his F minor Grand Piano Sonata, Op. 178: A Critical Analysis and Performance Guide (Doctoral dissertation, Arizona State University).
Todd, R. (1980). An Unfinished Symphony by Mendelssohn. Music & Letters, 61(3/4), 293-309. Retrieved July 30, 2021, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/734571