Leaving Cert students researching this topic for their Listening Elective need to demonstrate an understanding of the subject matter and evidence of having listened to the music they discuss by referring to relevant musical features. Junior Cert students, too, must refer to the characteristics of the musical pieces they name in their General Study and will find material for more than one topic in the sites listed below. Most, but not all, of the video performances mentioned here require access to ‘YouTube’ and access to this site may be blocked on the Schools Broadband. Schools can alter their filtering levels (PDF).
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, nationalist composers depicted events and legends from their country's history, wrote patriotic works and used folk tunes and hymns to express the characteristics of their own country. Composers of nationalist music included Albeniz, Copland, Dvorák, Grieg, Kodály, Mussorgsky, Nielsen, Sibelius and Smetana.
Overview
An overview of the Nationalist movement in music may be found in several places starting with Wikipedia which introduces composers from Russia, Finland, Czechoslovakia, Spain, Norway, Great Britain and the United States. For a brief summary of Nationalism including a link to the features of the music, go to the Science Encyclopaedia.
Nationalism made an impact on the music of the Romantic era. This is explained in this article by John Miles.
Composers
Students may choose to focus on a few Nationalist composers. Articles about 21 prominent composers may be read on Britannica. (Available through the Schools Broadband Network or teacher login from home)
Short summaries about Nationalist composers are available in this article from Compton's Encyclopaedia.
A suitable site for any students studying music and history is found on the Modern History Sourcebook. It gives an overview of the composers of the 19th and early 20th centuries who wrote music with a Nationalist leaning or message from Finland, Czechoslovakia, Norway, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Russia, Italy and Britain. Sound clips accompany some of these. Political implications in Verdi’s ‘Nabucco’ and ‘Aida’ are pointed out together with notes on Elgar’s ‘Pomp and Circumstance’.
A more detailed knowledge of the music of individual composers must be shown.
Dvorak (Czechoslovakia, now the Czech Republic):
Biographical information about Dvorak, the composer of ‘The New World’ Symphony:
A MIDI version of the famous 2nd movement of that symphony (the music played in the old Hovis ad) may be downloaded here: Classical Midi Collection
An animated, Flash-driven illustration of the same symphony, aimed at younger students, is available here: Weill Music Institute
Smetana (also from Czechoslovakia):
Smetana’s ‘Ma Vlast’ (‘My Country’) is a set of six symphonic poems. The best known is ‘Vltava’ (also known as ‘Moldau’), a musical portrayal of the main river in his country. It is a sort of rondo, with the flowing theme of the river recurring in different forms between colourful episodes depicting Bohemian life and folklore along the riverside. Themes are notated here.
A performance can be viewed through You Tube.
Kodaly (Hungary):
Kodaly was a composer and collector of Hungarian folk music. He devised a system for teaching music that is still used today all over the world. Timeline.
Hary Janos, the protagonist in one of his operas, represents a Hungarian story-teller.
In this work he uses Hungarian instruments (eg the cimbalom, the Hungarian version of the hammer dulcimer). A performance of the work may be viewed on You Tube.
Sibelius (Finland):
Synopsis of the life of Sibelius, description of Symphonies 1 and 3 and a list of recordings of his works on Answers.com. While biographical information with a long list of works, linking to a good analysis of the more well-known ones such as ‘Finlandia’ on Wikipedia.
‘Finlandia’ video with explanatory subtitles is available on You Tube.
Grieg (Norway):
Brief but relevant biography on Humanities Web. Grieg's works include 'Peer Gynt' and the 'Holberg Suite'. Listen to 'In the Hall of the Mountain King' from 'Peer Gynt'. (Needs Flash player.) A video performance of the 'Holberg Suite' showing the orchestra as well as images from Norway is available on You Tube.
(Note: Junior Cert Course B students will not be able to use Grieg for their General Study question as he is already on their course.)
Albeniz and Granados (Spain):
The Nationalist movement in 19th century Spain is evident in the music of Albeniz and Granados Albeniz is best known for his piano pieces based on folk tunes. Detailed information about the Spanish influence is found on Wikipedia.
A performance of the 5th movement of the Suite Espanola (Asturias) by Albeniz may be viewed on You Tube.
Biographical information about Granados is found on the Naxos site and on Answers.com. View a performance of one of the Spanish dances for guitar composed by Granados.
Russian Composers
There is a big number of Russian Nationalist composers including, but not confined to, Glinka and 'The Five'- Mussorgsky, Borodin, Balakirev, Cui and Rimsky-Korsakov. Characteristics of Russian music during the Romantic era.
A short five question quiz about 'The Five' may be tried when the other resources have been studied.
Glinka was the father of Russian Nationalist music and exerted a strong influence on other Russian composers. For information about Mussorgsky, go to this page containing succinct biographical information as well as a music clips.’). Mussorgsky's ‘Night on a Bald Mountain’ is a stirring piece typical of his orchestral style.
A short biography and many music links relating to Rimsky-Korsakov. A more detailed biography with photographs and a list of Rimsky-Korsakov's works. Rimsky-Korsakov’s last opera, ‘The Golden Cockerel’ (‘Le Coq d’Or’) was based on Pushkin’s satire about a bumbling monarch and it was banned by the Russian Palace during the composer’s lifetime. View an aria, ‘Hymn to the Sun’, from the opera.
It is important and interesting to find out how Tchaikovsky embraced nationalism in his music.
(Leaving Cert Course A students cannot focus on Tchaikovsky in their Listening Elective as he is already on their course. However they might attempt a fun quiz about Tchaikovsky.)
Information about other composers is accessible through many of the links given on the sites mentioned here. Being able to quote some of the folk material or references found in composers’ works would be impressive in an exam. It is worth investigating the aspects of folk music (for example the type of scales and rhythms) that you can hear in the works.
Liszt, Brahms, Tchaikovsky and Dvorak's used folk idioms, Chopin wrote Polonaises, Grainger made piano settings of English Morris dances, Stanford wrote six 'Irish Rhapsodies', Vaughan Williams arranged English folk songs for choir and Bartok recorded Hungarian folk performers and arranged Magyar dances for keyboard. Investigate these further in Britannica. (Available through the Schools Broadband Network or teacher login from home)
After you've done your research, test yourself!
Scoilnet Quiz