Music in the German Lands Course: 1866-1876

Music. Learn, enjoy, appreciate.

COVID-19 update: arrangement of our courses

We are now delivering courses online and in-person. Please check the delivery format of each class before enrolling.

Please note that course materials (excluding prescribed texts) are shared electronically within 48 hours of course commencement. Printing is not available.

In this continuation of an ongoing course on German Music in the nineteenth century, we arrive at the formation of the Second German Empire under Bismarck and Kaiser Wilhelm I. Remarkably, Richard Wagner appears to anticipate these historical events in the patriotic finale to his music drama The Mastersingers of Nuremberg, and Johannes Brahms confidently celebrates them with his choral Song of Triumph.

Nevertheless, Brahms and Wagner continue to take opposing views of the major aesthetic questions of the day, Brahms favouring the classical forms of sonata, concerto and symphony, while Wagner espouses the ‘Music of the Future’, composing the ever more vast music dramas of his epic Ring of the Nibelung tetralogy.

The city of Vienna, having undergone a major period of civic reconstruction, unveils a magnificent new Ringstrasse boulevard complete with superb opera house and stunning ‘Golden’ concert hall, hoping thereby to reclaim the city’s former leading position in the history of German music. As if to reinforce this intention, Brahms now decides to make Vienna his permanent home.

Aims

The aims of this course are to:

• investigate the split which opened in the middle of the nineteenth century in the ways German composers approached the work of composition: whether to adhere to the classical forms of music, or to explore new, unconventional methods. Brahms was the chief advocate of the former approach, while Liszt and Wagner led the so-called New German School
• discuss the trials and tribulations of Richard Wagner in his efforts to stage his epic 16-hour tetralogy, The Ring of the Nibelung, in a theatre designed to his own radical specifications
• follow the slowly unfolding career of the young Johannes Brahms in his long pursuit of a symphony worthy to stand beside Beethoven’s Ninth, a goal he finally achieved in 1876 with his hugely impressive Symphony No.1, which was rapidly dubbed ‘Beethoven’s Tenth’
• observe the city of Vienna emerging from a long period of relatively low musical achievement into a bright future of renewed musical relevance and importance.

Outcomes

By the end of this course, you should be able to:

• assess the immediate impact the formation of the Second German Empire had on both German and Austrian music of the period
• identify the complexities and nuances of the ideological split which occurred in German music in this period between conservative and progressive composers
• appreciate Brahms’s skill in emulating the great German composers of the past – Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert – in his orchestral, choral and chamber music
• evaluate the impact of Brahms’ s presence in Vienna on the quality of the city’s musical life during this period
• appreciate Wagner’s astonishing achievement in finally unveiling his complete 4-part Ring Cycle in a purpose-built theatre of his own devising at the first Bayreuth Festival in 1876.

Content

• Brahms’s middle-period chamber music, including the string quartets and piano quintet.
• Anton Bruckner’s early masses and symphonies, and Max Bruch’s Violin Concerto No.1.
• Johann Strauss II’s popular waltzes, including On the beautiful blue Danube and Tales from the Vienna Woods.
• Premiere of Wagner’s The Mastersingers of Nuremberg in Munich, conducted by Hans von Bülow.
• Brahms’s choral German Requiem, Alto Rhapsody and Song of Destiny, and the Liebeslieder Waltzes for vocal quartet.
• Opening of both Vienna’s new Opera House and the Musikverein’s ‘Golden Hall’.
• Richard Wagner’s marriage to Cosima (von Bülow, née Liszt), and his friendship with the young philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche.
• Brahms as pianist and conductor, and his friendship with the influential Viennese music critic Eduard Hanslick.
• Premieres of Johann Strauss II’s operetta Die Fledermaus at Vienna’s Theater an der Wien and Karl Goldmark’s The Queen of Sheba at the Vienna Opera House.
• Brahms’s brilliant orchestral Variations on a Theme of Haydn, followed by his long-awaited Symphony No.1.
• Premiere of Wagner’s complete Ring Cycle in the specially-constructed Festspielhaus in Bayreuth.

Intended audience

This course would appeal to a wide variety of music lovers.

Prerequisites

None

Delivery style

Presented as a series of informal, face-to-face lectures, illustrated with musical excerpts played on CD.

Materials

A weekly worksheet with a comprehensive synopsis of material being presented is provided.