The other day I ran across an article that tangentially refers to a couple of a composer’s works as being “strongly national in feeling,” and “has obvious patriotic overtones.” I’ve seen terms like these applied to other 19th-century composers as well.
My question is - how can a piece of wordless music “have obvious patriotic overtones?” If I were to get a copy of a piece of music often labeled as “nationalist” and listen to it, would I hear any patterns or instrumental arrangement that’s considered patriotic? Is it possible to put in a CD of symphonic music, listen to it, and say “yup, that’s pretty nationalist all right” just based on itself? How?
Well obviously using a triumpalist style is a good way to stir feelings of national pride in people, but also using melodies from or reminscent of traditional folk songs of that country is very common in nationalistic music.
Yes, especially in Eastern European countries where classical music is much more popular than it is here.
Often music of this type will borrow heavily from local folk melodies, which gives it a ‘national’ sound. Also, you get things like Finlandia that are veliberately trying to evoke a ‘sense’ of a place. Think of Debussy’s Prelude to the Afternooon of a Faun, this is an attempt in music to convey the sense of a scene. Try to do the same thing with a nation…
This post might get more attention in Cafe Society…
Just think of Appalachian Spring or Rodeo, so quintessentially American.
Since this is a matter of interpreting music, there may not be a single correct explanation. I’ll move this over to Cafe Society.
The Nationalist movement became very strong in post-Wagnerian music circles of the late 19th century. Wagner himself felt strongly that there should be a national German music (one of the reasons the Nazis liked him so much fifty years down the road), uncontaminated by “foreign influences.”
The aforementioned Sibelius is one of the most highly respected composers to use folk themes of his Scandinavian homeland (Finland) in symphonic pieces. Smetana and Grieg did the same for, respectively, Moldavia and Norway, and there were a whole mess of Russians.