Later Romantic

As the 19th century progressed the chamber music styles established in the Classical period continued and much of the progress was built around the use of the new improved piano. Robert Schumann (1810–1856) composed all kinds of music and is famous for his programmatic symphonies, concertos, song cycles and instrumental music.  Listen to an excerpt from his Piano Trio. No. 3 in G minor and notice the instrumentation of piano, violin and cello. 

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 (Robert Schumann in mid life)

Now listen to another example for these two instruments. Simply called ‘Mélodie’, this is often played as a concert show piece but is in fact a movement from a group of three pieces from ‘Souvenir d’un lieu cher’, ‘Memories of a dear place’ by the Russian composer Tchaikovsky. Again a beautiful, romantic melody creating very atmospheric music.

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(Tchaikovsky as a young man).

Composers started to experiment with new combinations of instruments as advances in instrument construction improved the quality and sound of wind instruments. Listen to this excerpt by the French composer Gounod (1818–1893) from a work for nine wind instruments: flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons and a French horn. This is a scherzo so you will notice the quick three beats in a bar, much use of imitation and repetition, and the different texture of the middle section introduced by the French horn with the original material returning towards the end of the movement, giving this an overall ternary form.

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(Charles Gounod in later life).