Josue Medellin

October 8, 2018
Midterm
A comparison of the character pieces:
“Lyric Pieces,” “Songs Without Words,” and “Years of Pilgrimage.”

During the nineteenth century, the Romantic literary movement was of great influence

and inspiration to composers, as art was in the Impressionism era. Great figures such as

Wackenroder, Novalis, and E.T.A Hoffmann recognized the power in music to “express the

unspeakable” (Kirby 230). Hence, composers and writers worked together to better express their

emotions or what they wanted to convey. One great example of this fusion is the art song, which

became very popular among composers of this era (Klaus 213). The birth of the Lied was of

enormous importance for establishing the new concept of solo singer and accompaniment as an

independent work (Klaus 213). Most of these were in homophonic in binary or ternary forms.

Another movement in Romanticism was individualism and nationalism. Composers felt the

necessity of incorporating folk tunes into their compositions in order to keep their musical and

cultural heritage alive. All of these changes and additions to music paved the way to the

emergence of the character piece. This new musical form was relatively short and it was given a

title which expressed a specific mood or non-musical idea (Britannica). Also, composers often

tried to incorporate folk melodies into their character pieces as a result of the nationalistic

movement of the time. The design of this form imitates the Lied’s structure. There is a melodic

line, imitating a singer, and an accompaniment part. The touch of the melody, usually in the

right-hand for the piano, is very cantabile, and the left-hand usually carries the harmony. Great

examples of the character pieces in the Romantic period can be found in the “Lyriske
småstykker” (Lyric Pieces) by Edvard Grieg, “Lieder ohne Worte” (Songs Without Words) by

Felix Mendelssohn and “Années de Pèlerinage” (Years of Pilgrimage) by Franz Liszt.

Probably the most nationalistic of the three are Grieg’s Lyric Pieces. It is a collection of ten

books containing sixty-six pieces, most of them being Norwegian folk tunes (Dubal 103). Some

examples are Norsk, Folkevise, and Faedrelandssang (Horton). These compositions range from

easy to “novel ‘impressionistic’ and polytonal works,” such as Klokkeklang (Longyear 236). The

Scandinavian nationalistic music, to which Grieg was part of for being Norwegian, was very

German influenced. Especially, Grieg was trained in Leipzig, hence he acquired most of his

inspiration from Schumann and Mendelssohn (Kirby 370). Probably Mendelssohn’s Songs

Without Words and Schumann’s Lieder were of great motivation for writing his set of character

pieces.

For this paper, I want to specifically focus in three pieces from each set of the character

pieces of each composer and to analyze their characteristics. Continuing with Grieg, I will be

presenting Arietta op.12, no.1, Klokkeklang op.54, no.6, and March of the Trolls op.54, no.3.

Arietta is a great example of a charter piece influenced by the art song. Here, we have a clear

melody in the right-hand and the accompaniment in the bass and middle voices outlining the

harmony by “arppegiating” the chord. The very name of the piece refers to an Aria, which is a

song with accompaniment found in an opera or oratorio. The piece is short with only one section
Another example by Grieg is Klokkeklan, which means “bell ringing.” The title prepares the

listener’s imagination to expect the sound of a bell. And Grieg does so by playing open fifths

intervals, grace-notes, and moving up and down in intervals of fourths. Parallel fifths are no

longer a concern for the composer but to be able to express a picture or object.
Finally, March of the Trolls is in 2/4 meter, like most of the marches. The left-hand notes imitate

a bass drums while the right-hand plays rapid and chromatic passages making the music playful

and mysterious, just like trolls. Unlike the other two pieces, this piece is in ABA form. The first
section being very lively and comical and the contrasting B section more lyrical and dreamy.

Mendelssohn’s Songs Without Words consist of eight volumes of six pieces each, totaling forty-

eight. The two last volumes were added after his death in 1847. The collection was first printed

and published in England with the title Original Melodies for the Pianoforte and later in France

under the title Romances (Kirby 254). It was the following year in Germany, where it was first

published as Lieder ohne Worte (Britannica). Many of the tiles of these pieces were given by the

publishers. In a letter by Mendelssohn in regard this work he pointed out that “[P]eople often

complain that music is too uncertain in its meaning, that what they should be thinking as they

hear it is unclear, whereas everyone understands words” (Britannica). However, for him it was

the exact opposite. He claimed that words “seem... …so uncertain, so vague, so easily

misunderstood in comparison to genuine music that fills the soul with a thousand things better

than words” (Britannica).

Three main schemes are used in this collection: one melody with accompaniment, two melodies

or duet with accompaniment, and the choral song with four voices (Kirby 255). An example of

the first type, one melody with accompaniment, is found in the Andante con moto op.19, no.1.

Clearly, the bass and middle voices are outlining the harmony and “accompanying” the upper

voice marked as cantabile.

The second type is found in Duetto op.38, no.6. Here, the harmony is again arppegiated in

triplet figures accompanying two melodies. The melodies do not play at the same time and they

use different registers. The first melody that appears can be considered as the soprano, singing

above the harmony and bass. The second voice appears in the sixth measure in between the bass

and harmony parts.

The last type is featured in the Allegreto in A op.85v. In this example, most of the time, the

voices move with the same rhythm imitating a choral.

Liszt’s Years of Pilgrimage is a collection of character pieces grouped in three volumes. The first

volume was conceived during his Parisian period (1826-1839). The first two volumes are divided

in two distinct years which portray the experiences of Liszt as a traveling virtuoso (Hinson 447).

The first year is named Première année: Suisse. In this year, Liszt’s compositions deal with

topics of nature; around us and within us (Brendel 167). For instance, from this period, Chapelle

de Guillaume Tell portraits the struggle for freedom from the Swiss textile workers (Brendel

168). The second year is named Deuxième Année: Italie. Here, the concentration is in works of

literature and art. An example of this is the piece Il Penseroso. This composition was inspired by

Michelangelo’s sculpture which bears the same name. The sculpture was made for Lorenzo de

Medici’s tombstone and it portrays a thoughtful man. Liszt achieves to depict this image by

incorporating an insisting dotted note rhythm, a slow tempo, and a low register for most of the

notes. This work does not follow the singing-like feeling of other character pieces but focuses in

the mood of the piece.

Valle d’Obermann was inspired by Étiene Jeane senancour’s novel Obermann. The character of

Obermann goes through a series of misfortune events until he finds rest in a rural area of

Switzerland. The beginning of the piece is very lyrical, almost like telling a story. Some of the

characteristics of this piece are the extensive use of silence, even using fermatas on them. Also,

this is the largest piece of the three volumes.



Orage (Storm) is an aggressive and stormy piece. To make the sound of the storm, Liszt uses

“ff” dynamics, octaves, tremolos, and chromatic passages of octaves and thirds going up and

down.


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