IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY SEMINARY

Taloto District, Tagbilaran City

High School Department

MAPEH 9
MUSIC

LEARNING MODULE #1
Quarter 4/ Week 1 Topic: Art Song and Opera of the Romantic Period & Composers
Student Name: Date:
Date Submitted: Year Level:
Teacher’s Name: Miss Irish Cristine Bacareza Signature: Time Frame: 1 hour
Principal/Asst. Principal’s Signature: Highest Possible Score:
Parent/Guardian’s Signature: Target Score:

Lesson Objectives:

a. Identify the different composers and compositions during Romantic period

b. Differentiate the Romantic Period music to contemporary music
c. Enumerate benefits in making new music style for the next era/period.

Reference: MAPEH Book (page 97-99)

Key Concepts:

“Floating, falling, sweet intoxication. Touch me, trust me, savor each sensation. Let the dream begin, let your darker side give in
to the power of the music of the night.”

-Charles Hart, The Phantom of the Opera

OPERA
An opera is a theatrical piece that tells a story totally through the music. It consists of recitatives which provide the narrative plot line and
elaborate chorus singing, along with duets and arias, which are the parts we most remember. We get the word opera from the Latin and,
later, from the Italian, a noun formed from the word operari, "to work." The style evolved in Italy around 1600, and was initially unrealistic,
mainly a chance for soloists to show off. In the mid-18th Century the focus shifted to both strong story and exquisite singing. Emotion is an
important quality, a trait carried over to "soap operas" which have no singing but plenty of fake tears. Opera, a staged drama set to music in
its entirety, made up of vocal pieces with instrumental accompaniment and usually with orchestral overtures and interludes. In some operas
the music is continuous throughout an act; in others it is broken up into discrete pieces, or “numbers,” separated either by recitative (a
dramatic type of singing that approaches speech) or by spoken dialogue. This article focuses on opera in the Western tradition. For an
overview of opera and operalike traditions in Asia (particularly in China), see the appropriate sections of Chinese music, Japanese
music, South Asian arts, and Southeast Asian arts; see also short entries on specific forms of Chinese opera, such as chuanqi, jingxi, kunqu and
nanxi.

The English word opera is an abbreviation of the Italian phrase opera in musica (“work in music”). It denotes a theatrical work consisting of
a dramatic text, or libretto (“booklet”), that has been set to music and staged with scenery, costumes, and movement. Aside from solo,
ensemble, and choral singers onstage and a group of instrumentalists playing offstage, the performers of opera since its inception have often
included dancers. A complex, often costly variety of musico-dramatic entertainment, opera has attracted both supporters and detractors
throughout its history and has sometimes been the target of intense criticism. Its detractors have viewed it as an artificial and irrational art
form that defies dramatic verisimilitude. Supporters have seen it as more than the sum of its parts, with the music supporting and
intensifying the lyrics and action to create a genre of greater emotional impact than either music or drama could achieve on its own. In his
1986 autobiography, stage and film director Franco Zeffirelli warned against taking opera too literally: The preparation of an opera
performance involves the work of many individuals whose total contributions sometimes spread across a century or more. The first, often
unintentional, recruit is likely the writer of the original story. Then comes the librettist, who puts the story or play into a form—usually
involving poetic verse—that is suitable for musical setting and singing. The composer then sets that libretto to music. Architects and
acousticians will have designed an opera house suited or adaptable to performances that demand a sizable stage; a large backstage area to
house the scenery; a “pit,” or space (often below the level of the stage) to accommodate an orchestra; and seating for a reasonably large
audience. A producer (or director) has to specify the work of designers, scene painters, costumers, and lighting experts. The
producer, conductor, and musical staff must work for long periods with the chorus, dancers, orchestra, and extras as well as the principal
singers to prepare the performance—work that may last anywhere from a few days to many months. All of this activity, moreover, takes
place in conjunction with the work not only of researchers and editors who painstakingly prepare the musical score, especially in the case of
revivals of works long forgotten or published long ago, but also of the theatre’s administrative staff, which includes the impresario and
others responsible for bookings, ticket sales, and other business matters. One of the most variable facets of opera during its long history has
been the balance struck between music and poetry or text. The collaborators of the first operas (in the early 17th century) believed they
were creating a new genre in which music and poetry, in order to serve the drama, were fused into an inseparable whole, a language that
was in a class of its own—midway between speaking and singing. In the decades and centuries that followed, the balance between these
elements repeatedly shifted to favour the music at the expense of the text and the integrity of the drama, only to be brought back into
relative equilibrium by various “reforms.” More than one desirable balance between music, text, and drama is possible, however, and over
time the aesthetic ideals of opera and its creators have successfully adapted to the changing tastes and attitudes of patrons and audiences,
while also accommodating linguistic diversity and assorted national preferences. As a result, opera has endured in Western culture for more
than 400 years.

OPERETTA
Operetta, musical-dramatic production similar in structure to a light opera but characteristically having a romantically sentimental plot
interspersed with songs, orchestral music, and rather elaborate dancing scenes, along with spoken dialogue. The operetta originated in part
with the tradition of popular theatrical genres such as the commedia dell’arte that flourished in Italy from the 16th to the 18th century,
the vaudeville of France, and English ballad opera. In the 19th century the term operetta came to designate stage plays with music that were
generally of a farcical and satiric nature. The most successful practitioner of this art was Jacques Offenbach, whose Orphée aux
enfers (1858; Orpheus in the Underworld) and La Belle Hélène (1864; “The Beautiful Helen”) used the guise of Greek mythology to express a
satiric commentary on contemporary Parisian life and mores. In England, from the late 1870s, the team of W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan,
influenced by Offenbach’s works, established their own part in the genre with a large body of works, the best-known of which include H.M.S.
Pinafore (1878), The Pirates of Penzance (1879), The Mikado (1885), and Iolanthe (1882). In Vienna about 1870, Johann Strauss the
Younger was producing operettas of a more romantic and melodious type, such as Die Fledermaus (1874; The Bat), which in many
respects reconciled the differences between operetta and opera. Toward the end of the 19th century, perhaps influenced by the gentler
quality of Viennese operetta, the French style became more sentimental and less satiric, stressing elegance over parodic bite. Viennese
successors to Strauss, such as Franz Lehá r (Hungarian by birth), Oscar Straus, and Leo Fall, and French composers such as André
Messager contributed to the evolution of operetta into what is now called musical comedy (see musical). The operetta traditions of Austria,
France, Italy, and England began to wane in the early 20th century but found new life in the United States in the works of Reginald De
Koven (Robin Hood, 1890), John Philip Sousa (El Capitan, 1896), Victor Herbert (Babes in Toyland, 1903), and Sigmund Romberg (The
Student Prince, 1924; The Desert Song, 1926). In the United States the development of jazz accelerated the transition from operetta to
musical comedy.

ART SONG
An art song is a vocal music composition, usually written for one voice with piano accompaniment. By extension, the term “art song” is used
to refer to the genre of such songs. An art song is most often a musical setting of an independent poem or text, intended for the concert
repertory as part of a recital or other occasion. In the nineteenth century, the art song began with Franz Schubert, whose extraordinary
works for voice and piano along with his prodigious song output revolutionized the German lied. Thus, a new intimate genre of short
compositions- romantic miniatures- was born. It is a union of poetry and music. The art song flourished during the Romantic era. It is a living
musical language that draws on the contemporary traditions of poetry and song of each country. In Germany and Austria, where the
influence of folk song is exceptionally strong, the lieder often tell a story through melody and chromatic harmony. Some famous composers
of the early Romantic period greatly contributed to the art song genre: Robert Schumann, Johannes Brahms, Felix Mendelssohn, Richard
Wagner, Hugo Wolf, Richard Strauss, Gustav Mahler, and Arnold Schoenberg.

Composers of the Romantic Period

The incorporation of drama, visual arts, and music completes the Romantic expression of music in the theatrical form. Opera, sonata,
symphony, lieder and concerto were the ideal art form for the people of this era. The Romantic composers wrote a wide variety of serious
and comic opera styles. To be a composer in this era was to be a composer of opera. These composers regarded opera compositions as an
important component of their creative output. They were opera prodigies of the Romantic era.

Richard Wagner (1813-1883)

Wilhelm Richard Wagner, (born May 22, 1813, Leipzig [Germany]—died February 13, 1883, Venice, Italy), German dramatic composer and
theorist whose operas and music had a revolutionary influence on the course of Western music, either by extension of his discoveries or
reaction against them. Among his major works are The Flying Dutchman (1843), Tannhäuser (1845), Lohengrin (1850), Tristan und
Isolde (1865), Parsifal (1882), and his great tetralogy, The Ring of the Nibelung (1869–76). The artistic and theatrical background of
Wagner’s early years (several elder sisters became opera singers or actresses) was a main formative influence. Impulsive and self-willed, he
was a negligent scholar at the Kreuzschule, Dresden, and the Nicholaischule, Leipzig. He frequented concerts, however, taught himself the
piano and composition, and read the plays of Shakespeare, Goethe, and Schiller. Wagner, attracted by the glamour of student life, enrolled
at Leipzig University, but as an adjunct with inferior privileges, since he had not completed his preparatory schooling. Although he lived
wildly, he applied himself earnestly to composition. Because of his impatience with all academic techniques, he spent a mere six months
acquiring a groundwork with Theodor Weinlig, cantor of the Thomasschule; but his real schooling was a close personal study of the scores of
the masters, notably the quartets and symphonies of Beethoven. His own Symphony in C Major was performed at the Leipzig Gewandhaus
concerts in 1833. On leaving the university that year, he spent the summer as operatic coach at Wü rzburg, where he composed his first
opera, Die Feen (The Fairies), based on a fantastic tale by Carlo Gozzi. He failed to get the opera produced at Leipzig and became conductor to
a provincial theatrical troupe from Magdeburg, having fallen in love with one of the actresses of the troupe, Wilhelmine (Minna) Planer,
whom he married in 1836. The single performance of his second opera, Das Liebesverbot (The Ban on Love), after Shakespeare’s Measure for
Measure, was a disaster.

Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901)

Giuseppe Verdi, in full Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi, (born October 9/10, 1813, Roncole, near Busseto, duchy of Parma [Italy]—
died January 27, 1901, Milan, Italy), leading Italian composer of opera in the 19th century, noted for operas such as Rigoletto (1851), Il
trovatore (1853), La traviata (1853), Don Carlos (1867), Aida (1871), Otello (1887), and Falstaff (1893) and for his Requiem Mass (1874).
Verdi’s father, Carlo Giuseppe Verdi, an innkeeper and owner of a small farm, gave his son the best education that could be mustered in a
tiny village, near a small town of about 4,000 inhabitants, in the then-impoverished Po Valley. The child must have shown unusual talent, for
he was given lessons from his fourth year, a spinet was bought for him, and by age 9 he was standing in for his teacher as organist in the
village church. He attended the village school and at 10 the ginnasio (secondary school) in Busseto. A little later he composed music (now
lost) for the town church and the largely amateur orchestra. One of Busseto’s leading citizens, Antonio Barezzi, a merchant and fanatical
music enthusiast, became a second father to the young prodigy, taking him into his home, sending him to study in Milan, and in 1836 giving
him his daughter Margherita in marriage. Refused by the Milan Conservatory—he was past the admission age and played the piano poorly—
Verdi studied privately with Vincenzo Lavigna, an older composer and an associate of La Scala opera house (Teatro alla Scala). Milan was
the intellectual and operatic centre of Italy, and in the years 1832–35 Verdi seems to have learned much about literature and politics there
as well as counterpoint and the elements of opera. Later, after his great success with Nabucco, he attended literary salons in the city and
made lasting friendships with some cultivated aristocrats.

Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924)

Giacomo Puccini, in full Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini, (born December 22, 1858, Lucca, Tuscany [Italy]—
died November 29, 1924, Brussels, Belgium), Italian composer, one of the greatest exponents of operatic realism, who virtually brought the
history of Italian opera to an end. His mature operas included La Bohème (1896), Tosca (1900), Madama Butterfly (1904), and Turandot (left
incomplete). Puccini’s excellent sense of theatre has given his operas lasting charm. One of his musical characteristics was the use of short
melodies but memorable phrases with intense emotions. The use of timbre was very significant for him. He used the orchestra to give
emphasis to vocal melody to suggest mood. His La Boheme (Bohemian Life) was written in Paris in 1830. It is about the love story of the poor
poet Rodolfo and the equally impoverished seasmstress Mimi.

Franz Schubert (1797-1828)

Franz Schubert, in full Franz Peter Schubert, (born January 31, 1797, Himmelpfortgrund, near Vienna [Austria]—died November 19,
1828, Vienna), Austrian composer who bridged the worlds of Classical and Romantic music, noted for the melody and harmony in his songs
(lieder) and chamber music. Among other works are Symphony No. 9 in C Major (The Great; 1828), Symphony in B Minor (Unfinished;
1822), masses, and piano works. He continued enhancing his musical gifts and wrote his earliest work, Fantasia for Piano Duet. It gave him
motivation to write more compositions. He had compositions of different genres, a song, several orchestral overtures, various pieces of
chamber music, and three string quartets. An unfinished operetta on a text by August von Kotzebue, Der Spiegelritter (The Looking-Glass
Knight), is also among his works. He is noted for the melody and harmony in his songs (lieder) and chamber music. Among his other works
are Symphony No. 9 in C major “The Great” (1828), Symphony No. 8 in B Minor (unfinished; 1822), masses and piano works.

IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY SEMINARY

 Taloto District, Tagbilaran City
High School Department

MAPEH 9
MUSIC

LEARNING MODULE #1
Quarter 4/ Week 1 Topic: Art Song and Opera of the Romantic Period & Composers
Student Name: Date:
Date Submitted: Year Level:
Teacher’s Name: Miss Irish Cristine Bacareza Signature: Time Frame: 1 hour
Principal/Asst. Principal’s Signature: Highest Possible Score: 20
Parent/Guardian’s Signature: Target Score: 17/20

Learning Activities

I. Instruction: Match the Romantic compositions in column A with the Romantic composers in column B. Write the letter
of the correct answer on the line.

A B

_______1. Aida a. Franz Schubert

_______2. Fantasia for Piano Duet b. Giacomo Puccini
_______3. La Boheme c. Giuseppe Verdi
_______4. La Forza del Destino d. Richard Wagner
_______5. La Traviata
_______6. Madame Butterfly
_______7. Rigolleto
_______8. Tristan and Isolde
_______9. Turandot
_______10. Unfinished Symphony

II. Instruction: Answer the following questions. Write at least 3-4 sentences each. (5 pts)

1. How would you interpret a Romantic period music to a contemporary music?

2. What benefits do you see in making new musical styles/innovations in the next era’s music? Explain.