Choose three composers from the Romantic Era. Pretend they all had an opportunity to meet, perhaps at a party. What do you think they might say to one another about music and culture? Construct the conversation as you imagine it, although be sure the conversation reflects specific information from the lives and music of your chosen composers.
In addition to responding to the Discussion question, students are also required to respond to two classmates by asking "the composers" additional questions
Chopin: (Quietly, adjusting his waistcoat, with a touch of melancholy irony) Oh, Franz, you speak of the masses. They frighten me. I compose for the intimate, the refined, for the heart that understands solitude. My music is the voice of Poland—my Ballades and Polonaises—they are filled with the fire and despair of our lost nation. I cannot bear the roar of a large concert hall; it diminishes the delicacy. I prefer the sigh of a single listener who understands the rubato—the subtle give and take of time—that makes the music breathe. My focus is on exploiting the piano's beauty, its legato, not its sheer volume, unlike the heroic demands your scores place upon the poor instrument.
Schumann: I understand both extremes, actually. Frédéric, your patriotism is what I admire most. My own critical writings, published under my pseudonym, Eusebius and Florestan in the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik, are my way of battling the musical mediocrity I call the Philistines. I believe the artist has a moral duty to lead the culture. I seek to infuse music with literature, to give it an explicit narrative—whether it's my piano cycles based on characters or my great symphonies, which strive to capture the Romantic spirit of fantasy and autobiography. We are all searching for a way to say, "The personal is the universal."
Liszt: Precisely! And I seek to unify the arts completely! My new Symphonic Poems—they are not constrained by the old symphonic form. They are free, evolving structures dictated by the literary or visual subject. That is the cultural shift: breaking the classical chains! We must demonstrate that the composer is not a servant, but a genius, a cultural titan!
Chopin: (A faint smile) Perhaps. But genius can be whispered, too. I fear that in striving for the titan, one loses the human truth.
Questions for the Composers
Question for Schumann: Mr. Schumann, given your strong opinions against the "Philistines," how would you review Liszt's Symphonic Poems, which are so radically different from the classical forms you cherish?
Question for Liszt: Mr. Liszt, your Transcendental Études demand revolutionary technique. Do you feel the focus on technical prowess sometimes overshadows the emotional depth in your music, a charge often leveled by critics of virtuosity?
Sample Answer
A Romantic Era Rendezvous
Let's imagine a late-night gathering in Leipzig around 1845. The three chosen composers are: Robert Schumann, the passionate writer and champion of new music; Frédéric Chopin, the reserved poet of the piano; and Franz Liszt, the charismatic virtuoso and visionary.
The Conversation
Setting: A quiet salon corner, late evening.
Schumann: (Setting down a glass, eyes bright with intensity) Franz, you must tell me—did you truly play that entire Beethoven sonata from memory after dinner? I write my pieces for the soul, for the inner ear, but your public displays... they demand a sort of superhuman force, a sheer will that dominates the audience.
Liszt: (With an assured, graceful gesture) Robert, my dear friend, the public needs that force! The era of quiet salon music is passing. We must be more than scribblers; we must be prophets, poets, even dictators of feeling. My goal is to elevate the piano—to make it the orchestra of the new age! Your Carnaval is exquisite, a perfect miniature of passion, but does it truly command the attention of the masses? I am embracing the grand, programmatic vision, trying to mold music into the image of Goethe, of Dante!