New German School
Circle of composers around Liszt and Wagner; program music and music drama.
What it means
The New German School is the name for a circle of composers and writers on music around Franz Liszt and Richard Wagner in the middle of the 19th century. The name was coined in 1859 by the music critic Franz Brendel. Its adherents wanted to develop music further through program music and music drama and linked music more closely with poetry and expression.
Musical use
Composers of the New German School include, besides Liszt and Wagner, Hector Berlioz, Peter Cornelius and Joachim Raff. In Weimar Liszt created the symphonic poem, Wagner the music drama with through-composed scenes and leitmotifs. The opposing pole was the supporters of "absolute" music around Johannes Brahms, Joseph Joachim and the critic Eduard Hanslick; the dispute shaped the German musical world of the time.
The New German School should be distinguished from the Leipzig school around Mendelssohn and Schumann, which held more closely to Classicism and form, and from the later new music of the 20th century.
Performance practice
When you play works of the New German School, pay attention to the narrative character: symphonic poems and operas call for arcs of tension and tone colors that carry images and action. Let transitions flow rather than separating sections.