Nationalism is a movement that appeared in the middle of the 19th century. In that period the different nations wanted to highlight the elements that made them different and often praised their uniqueness.
Musically, those countries that hadn't had a lot of weight in the artistic development, sought to create their own artistic identity through melodies, songs and harmonies that defined their individuality. The best source of inspiration for composers were the traditional dances, folkloric songs and specific scales (often based in modes) linked to their history, and traditions.
Composers used folklore in two different ways:
- By literally copying the sources: for example, introducing a popular melody in a piece.
- By imitating its characteristic musical features: scales, rhythms, melodies
Some of the most important countries that developed a strong musical nationalism were:
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| Piotr Ilich Tchaikovsky |
The nationalist movement was started by Mijail Glinka who tried to create a national genre based on Russian folklore. Glinka influenced the group called "The Five", formed by the composers Cesar Cui (1835-1918), Mily Balakirev (1837-1910), Alexander Borodin (1833-1887), Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881) and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908).
Another very important Russian composer was Piotr Ilich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893), with a more academic profile (his nationalism was moderate). Some of his most important works are his ballets Swan Lake and The Nutcracker.
Also, Sergei Rachmaninov (1873-1943) was another crucial composer, especially known by his piano works.
Below you can listen to the impressive piece "Night on Bald Mountain" by Mussorgsky:
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| Antonin Dvorák |
Czechoslovakia
Nationalism was represented by Bedrich Smetana (1824-1884) with My Fatherland, and by Antonin Dvorák (1841-1904) who wrote his famous New World Symphony.
Hungary
The composers Béla Bartok (1881-1941) and Zoltán Kodály (1882-1967) were specially important due to their investigations on Hungarian folklore.
The United States
The composer Georges Gershwin (1898-1937) was influenced by jazz, as can be heard in his Rhapsody in Blue.
South America
One of the most important composers was Heitor Villalobos (1887-1959), and among his works we can highlight his Choros for guitar. In the following video you can listen to one of these pieces:
The father of nationalism in Spain was Felipe Pedrell (1849-1922), who researched and collected many pieces from popular and traditional music, as well as ancient music linked to folklore.
Isaac Albéniz (1860-1909) and Enrique Granados (1867-1916) followed the work of Pedrell and became the most important representatives of musical nationalism in Spain. Both composers were known by their works for piano.
Below you can listen to Albéniz's Suite Española - Sevilla.
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