Teacher's Guide Cambridge Pre-U MUSIC Available for teaching ...

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Cambridge Pre-U Teacher Guide
Mahler was by no means the first composer, however, to write music that had an overtly serious
purpose. From the time of Beethoven’s Heiligenstadt Testament composers had tended to see their
music (and the symphony in particular) as a vehicle for the expression of their most important
statements. This is entirely consistent with the prevailing Romantic view of the artist as a person
with special gifts that enabled him to make a significant commentary on the most profound
aspects of life itself – a characteristic that can be observed not only in music but in all the arts of the
nineteenth century. Serious music was no longer confined to the intellectual circles of the wealthy
and privileged: instead of working for aristocratic patrons, composers increasingly worked for
themselves, depending for their livelihood on the performance and publication of their work. This
led to an increasing individuality of style, coupled with a need to respond to the concerns of society,
represented by a paying audience – whether it was made up of those who attended public concerts
or of those who played music at home for their own pleasure. Some, at least, of the chamber music
composed during the nineteenth century was directed at a market for domestic music, often (but by
no means exclusively) centred around the piano. Nevertheless, the technical virtuosity required by
several chamber works indicates that public performance of such music by professional players was
also common.
Topic B2: Vocal Music
This topic embraces three main areas of repertoire: opera, choral music and song. The length of
many individual works (especially operas and oratorios), and the quantity of music composed during
the period in question, dictates that teachers must be equally selective here in the music they choose
to study. In the examination, questions will not be asked about works composed after 1900, despite
the rather artificial nature of that date as a cut-off point.
1 Opera
The repertoire of nineteenth-century opera is very extensive and the composers concerned took a
wide range of different approaches. Some of the composers were of great historical importance
and had a significant influence, but their work has fallen out of the repertoire because of changing
fashions, increasing costs or other similar factors. As a result it is often difficult to find accurate
or complete information without a great deal of time-consuming research and extensive reading.
For that reason, this section of the Teacher Guide attempts to provide a substantial amount of
background as well as providing an extensive list of composers and repertoire. It should be stressed
that candidates preparing for the examination do not need to know more than a small fraction of
the music that is mentioned below. The background information may, however, clarify a number
of issues that are often confusing, besides providing some of the context that is necessary for a
developed understanding of this genre during a century when its history was unusually complicated.
Nineteenth-century opera is perhaps best studied country by country. Although certain trends can be
observed in all nineteenth-century opera, wherever it was written, the main national styles tended to
be relatively discrete. The principal styles and composers include the following:
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