Introduction
This paper analyzes two musical pieces of the romantic era period to ascertain the characteristics that cause emotive feelings among their audience. The two musical pieces are Symphony number one (produced by Gustav Mahler) and Si, mi chiamano Mimi (a composition by Giacomo Puccini).
The latter is an opera, while the former is instrumental music. Finally, this paper analyzes if the two musical pieces bear any characteristics with today’s musical compositions. These analyses are done systematically.
Symphony Number One
Symphony no one was produced by Gustav Mahler between 1887 and 1888. Though the work was almost always termed a work of symphony, it contained numerous instrumentals including the inclusion of woodwinds, brass, and horns. The music is, therefore, a perfect example of instrumental music of the romantic era.
Considering Symphony number one was made in the romantic era period, the music had numerous undertones of emotions that characterized the 19th-century music. This can be evident from the various characteristics of the music. For instance, the musical piece contained warm and personal melodies which were emotive.
Moreover, the musical piece contains numerous expressive indications, which also act as an indication of the liberal nature of its composers. The music also contains various expressive colorizations brought about by an improvement in the musical instruments used to develop the music.
The improvements in musical instrumentations escalate the emotive undertones of the musical piece to new heights. Because symphony number one is melodious also goes a long way to confirm the emotive undertones of the music because the musical piece contains long, irregular phrases which are characteristic of music developed during the romantic era.
Moreover, the changes in musical rhythms affirm the frequent changes in tempo and time signatures which are characteristic of music from the romantic era. These aspects easily cause listeners to experience strong emotions.
Si, mi chiamano Mimi from La Boheme
Si, mi chiamano Mimi from La Boheme was a composition by Giacomo Puccini, and it is among the most celebrated opera pieces, internationally. The musical piece contains various instrumentations including percussions, brass, strings, and woodwind. The musical piece also contains various characteristics that make it expose “emotive” feelings among its listeners.
For instance, the intense melodic composition which is backed by the frequent use of violins is a strong tool for arousing emotive feelings among the listeners. Few musical pieces produced during the romantic era period lack the vigorous melodic intensity that Si, mi chiamano Mimi possesses.
The liberal use of melodic composition, which is characteristic of the romantic era period, is also strongly evident in this musical piece because there are several melodic ideas used within one period. Furthermore, the texture of the musical composition is strongly homophonic, and this attribute is bound to expose the emotive undertones of the musical piece.
Furthermore, there is a variety of vocal color because the instrumentations used in the musical piece is slightly exaggerated, more than ordinary opera pieces. For instance, as evidenced in earlier sections of this paper, the musical piece had an active use of woodwind and brass, but the intensity of the use of these instruments are slightly more than ordinary musical compositions.
In this regard, there is a rich and colorful orchestration of the musical opera. These attributes increase the emotive character of the music.
Association with Today’s Music
There is a strong association of the musical characteristics of the two vocal pieces described above and the composition of romantic music today. Today, romantic musical pieces distinguish their identity from other musical parts, based on the texture, rhythm, melody, and timbre of the music.
In this regard, there is a strong similarity between the musical pieces described above and today’s romantic musical compositions. This is because the use of instruments in current romantic music is as liberal as the above musical pieces. The areas where romantic era music differs with conventional musical compositions are also the same strong-points of today’s romantic era music.
Conclusion
This paper notes that Si, mi chiamano Mimi, and Symphony number one represents present-day musical compositions because of their similarity in instrumental use. This observation is based on the texture, rhythm, melody, and timbre of the musical pieces. It is also from these musical aspects that the two vocal pieces expose the emotive undertones of their musical compositions.