Composer Profile - Activefolio

The Late Romantic Period 105
His first opera, Oberto, was very successful and Verdi was awarded a threeopera
contract with the La Scala Opera House. However, his first comic opera
attempt, Un Giorno di Regno, was composed during a time when both his wife
and his son died. It was not successful at all and made Verdi think twice about
continuing with his ambition as a composer. Fortunately for us all, he persevered
and his next opera Nabucco made him one of the most popular composers
of the time. He went on to compose many more, such as Aida, Rigoletto, La
Forza del Destino, Don Carlos, two operas based on Shakespeare’s works Otello
and Falstaff, and Il Trovatore.
Verdi had become rich and famous with all these operas, and lived long
enough to become a real part of Italy’s heritage. When Verdi’s wife died in 1897,
Verdi himself gave up the will to live. He died in Milan, Italy on January 27, 1901.
One of the most long-lived composers, he was 88 when he died, and an entire
nation turned out for his funeral. A special session of the Rome Senate was
called to hear eulogies of Verdi, and the local schools closed for the day. Almost
250,000 people gathered throughout the streets when they transported Verdi’s
body to its final resting place.
Other major figures in late Romantic opera included the French composer Georges
Bizet (1838–1875), who composed Carmen (1875), one of the most approachable
operas of all time. Bizet’s realistic story of a Spanish cigarette girl, set in Seville, was in
direct contrast to the mythological plots of Wagner. The melodies were clear, distinct,
and immensely popular. The Spanish flavor, complete with a Habañera and The Toreador
Song, captured an exotic, international spirit. In Italy, the spiritual successor to Verdi
was Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924), whose blending of Romantic realism and
Impressionistic orchestrational style made him one of the most successful opera
composers of the early twentieth century. Several of his works, including La Boheme,
Tosca, and Madam Butterfly, are still among the most popular operas of all time.
Comic opera (known in France as opera comique) was tremendously popular during
the latter half of the nineteenth century. The French composer Jacques Offenbach
(1819–1880) composed the satirical Orpheus in the Underworld (1858). The Austrian
composer Johann Strauss Jr. (1825–1899), was most famously known as “The Waltz
King.” He composed lots of waltzes, as one might expect from The Waltz King, but also
composed extremely popular operas. Most notable were his operettas Die Fledermaus
(“The Bat”) and Die Zigeunerbaron (“The Gypsy Baron”). Incidentally, his most famous
piece, a waltz entitled An der Schönen Blauen Donau (“On the Beautiful Blue
Danube”), was composed in 1867 and has been used for several feature films including
2001: A Space Odyssey and Roxanne.
The popularity of opera comique spread to England with the works of W.S. Gilbert
and Arthur Sullivan, whose light operas included The Mikado (1885). The composers of
opera comique did as much to popularize opera as Wagner’s philosophies did to expand
the scope of the genre.
Symphonic Trends of the Late Romantic Period
Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony still provided a formidable obstacle for many composers
of the late Romantic period to overcome. Many composers, including Wagner and
Brahms, simply could not help letting Beethoven’s influence appear in their symphonic
works. Though Wagner composed few symphonic works, he often went back to the
mighty Ninth Symphony for inspiration. Brahms probably became the real successor to
Beethoven’s symphonic legacy. Each of Brahm’s four symphonies were “normal” in
their four-movement makeup, but each contains the romantic fervor that made