Musical nationalism

Jan Stefani (1746–1829) composed the Singspiel Cud mniemany, czyli Krakowiacy i górali (The Supposed Miracle, or the Cracovians and the Highlanders), which premiered in 1794 and contains krakowiaks, polonaises, and mazurkas that were adopted as if they were Polish folk music by audiences at the 1816 revival with new music by Karol Kurpiński (Goldberg 2008, 231–32). The suggestive lyrics of many of the songs could scarcely have been interpreted by the Polish audiences at the verge of the outbreak of the Kościuszko Uprising as anything other than a call for revolution, national unity, and independence (Milewski 1999, 129–30). In this sense, despite his obscurity today, Stefani must be regarded as a precursor and founder of nineteenth-century musical nationalism.

Frédéric Chopin (1810–1849) was one of the first composers to incorporate nationalistic elements into his compositions. Joseph Machlis states, "Poland's struggle for freedom from tsarist rule aroused the national poet in Poland. ... Examples of musical nationalism abound in the output of the romantic era. The folk idiom is prominent in the Mazurkas of Chopin" (Machlis 1963, 149–50). His mazurkas and polonaises are particularly notable for their use of nationalistic rhythms. Moreover, "During World War II the Nazis forbade the playing of ... Chopin's Polonaises in Warsaw because of the powerful symbolism residing in these works" (Machlis 1963, 150).

Stanisław Moniuszko (1819–1872) has become associated above all with the concept of a national style in opera. Moniuszko's opera and music as a whole is representative of 19th-century romanticism, given the extensive use by the composer of arias, recitatives and ensembles that feature strongly in his operas. The source of Moniuszko's melodies and rhythmic patterns often lies in Polish musical folklore. One of the most visibly Polish aspects of his music is in the forms he uses, including dances popular among upper classes such as polonaise and mazurka, and folk tunes and dances such as kujawiak and krakowiak.

Henryk Wieniawski (1835–1880) was another important composer using Polish folk melodies—he wrote several mazurkas for solo violin and piano accompaniment, one of which being the popular "Obertass" in G major.

Ignacy Jan Paderewski (1860–1941) was a Polish pianist, composer, diplomat, and spokesman for Polish independence, who also became Prime Minister of the newly independent Poland in 1919. He wrote several pieces inspired by Polish folk music, such as polonaises and mazurkas for solo piano or his Polish Fantasy for piano and orchestra. His last work, the monumental Symphony in B minor "Polonia", is a programme symphony representing the Polish struggle for independence in the early 20th century.

Giuseppe Verdi (1813–1901) would instill a sense of nationalism in his music. This is evident in Nabucco with the lyrics, "Oh mia Patria sì bella e perduta (Oh my Fatherland so beautiful and lost!)!" "Viva VERDI" would also be written as a way to support Italian unification. This translates to Viva Vittorio Emanuele Re d'Italia (Long Live Victor Emmanuel King of Italy) in support of King Vittorio Emmanuele II of the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont.

Mikhail Glinka (1804–1857) was a Russian composer and founder of the Russian nationalist school (Bauer 2020).

The Mighty Five (also known as the Mighty Handful and the New Russian School) were five prominent 19th-century Russian composers who worked together to create a distinct Russian classical music: Mily Balakirev (the leader), César Cui, Modest Mussorgsky, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Alexander Borodin.

Bedřich Smetana (1824–1884) pioneered the development of a musical style which became closely identified with his country's aspirations to independent statehood. He is widely regarded in his homeland as the father of Czech music. He is best known for the symphonic cycle Má vlast ("My Homeland"), which portrays the history, legends and landscape of his native land.

After Smetana, Antonín Dvořák (1841–1904) was the second Czech composer to achieve worldwide recognition. Following Smetana's nationalist example, Dvořák frequently employed aspects, specifically rhythms, of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia. Dvořák's own style creates a national idiom by blending elements of the classical symphonic tradition and extraneous popular musical traditions, absorbing folk influences and finding effective ways of using them. Dvořák also wrote nine operas, which, other than his first, have librettos in Czech and were intended to convey Czech national spirit, as were some of his choral works.

Leoš Janáček (1854–1928) was a Czech composer, musical theorist, folklorist, publicist and teacher.

Bohuslav Martinů (1890–1959) is compared with Prokofiev and Bartók in his innovative incorporation of Central European ethnomusicology into his music. He continued to use Bohemian and Moravian folk melodies throughout his oeuvre, usually nursery rhymes—for instance in Otvírání studánek ("The Opening of the Wells").

Edvard Grieg (1843–1907) was an important Romantic era composer whose music helped establish a Norwegian national identity (Grimley 2006, ).

Jean Sibelius (1865–1957) had strong patriotic feelings for Finland. He composed Finlandia.

Hugo Alfvén (1872–1960) studied at the music conservatory in his hometown, Stockholm. In addition to being a violinist, conductor, and composer, he was also a painter. He is perhaps best known for his five symphonies and three Swedish Rhapsodies.

Niels Gade (1817–1890) was a Danish composer, conductor, violinist, organist and teacher.

Carl Nielsen (1865–1931) was a Danish composer, conductor and violinist.

Bernard Zweers (1854–1924) was a Dutch composer, he strived to develop a specifically Dutch brand of music, free from foreign influence. For instance, his vocal music only employs Dutch-language texts, and when it has a programme, that is frequently inspired by Dutch themes: Rembrandt, Vondel’s Gijsbrecht van Aemstel, Dutch landscapes, and so forth. His aim was the greater good of Dutch art, because “Never will art get a foothold with a people, when it uses a foreign language in song, or when it takes in art by means of foreign tongues”. His Third Symphony (1887-1889) is regarded as a milestone in the development of Dutch music, combining folk tunes with a lyrical description of Dutch landscapes.

George Enescu (1881–1955) is considered Romania's most important composer (Malcolm and Sandu-Dediu 2015). Amongst his best-known compositions are his two Romanian Rhapsodies and his Violin Sonata No. 3 (in Romanian Folk Style), Op. 25.

Béla Bartók (1881–1945) collaborated with fellow Hungarian composer Zoltán Kodály to document Hungarian folk music, which they both incorporated in their musical pieces (Stevens 2016).

Zoltán Kodály (1882–1967) studied at the Academy of Music in Hungary and had an interest Hungarian folk songs and would often take prolonged trips to the Hungarian countryside to study the melodies which were then incorporated into his music compositions (International Kodály Society).

Isaac Albéniz (1860–1909) was a Spanish virtuoso pianist, composer, and conductor.

Enrique Granados (1867–1916) composed his work Goyescas (1911) based on the etchings of the Spanish painter, Goya. Also of a national style are his Danzas españolas and his first opera María del Carmen.

Manuel de Falla (1876–1946) was a Spanish composer.

Joaquín Turina (1882–1949) was a Spanish composer.

Joaquín Rodrigo (1901–1999) was a Spanish composer and a virtuoso pianist.

Manuel M. Ponce (1882–1948) was a composer, educator and scholar of Mexican music. Among his works are the lullaby La Rancherita (1907), Scherzerino Mexicana (1909) composed in the style of sones and huapangos, Rapsodía Mexicana, No 1 (1911) based on the jarabe tapatío, and the romantic ballad Estrellita (1912).

Carlos Chávez (1899–1978) was a Mexican composer, conductor, educator, journalist, and founder and director of the Mexican Symphonic Orchestra and the National Institute of Fine Arts (INBA). Some of his music was influenced by indigenous Mexican cultures. A period of nationalistic leanings initiated in 1921 with the Aztec-themed ballet El fuego nuevo (The New Fire), followed by a second ballet, Los cuatro soles (The Four Suns), in 1925.

The most representative composer of Brazilian romanticism, Carlos Gomes (1836–1896) used several references from the country's folk music and traditional themes, chiefly in his opera Il Guarany (1870).

Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887–1959) traveled extensively throughout Brazil in his youth and recorded folksongs and tunes that he later used in his series Bachianas Brasileiras and all of his Chôros (amongst them, his Chôros No. 10, subtitled Rasga o coração after the song with words by Catulo da Paixão Cearense and music by Anacleto de Madeiros, which Villa-Lobos quotes in the second half of this choral-orchestral piece, which employs native percussion).

Francisco Mignone (1897–1986) incorporated folk rhythms and instruments into his suites Fantasias Brasileiras nos.1–4 (1929–1936), his 12 Brazilian Waltzes (1968–1979), Congada (1921) and Babaloxá (1936), besides composing ballets based on major literary works from Brazilian literature.

Joseph Parry (1841–1903) was born in Wales, but moved to the United States as a child. In his adulthood, he traveled between Wales and America, and performed Welsh songs and glees with Welsh texts in recitals. He composed the first Welsh opera, Blodwen, in 1878 (Rhys 1998, ).

Alexander Mackenzie (1847–1935) wrote a Highland Ballad for violin and orchestra (1893), and the Scottish Concerto for piano and orchestra (1897). He also composed the Canadian Rhapsody. In his life, MacKenzie witnessed both the survivals of Jacobite culture, and the Red Clydeside Era. His music is heavily influenced by Jacobite art (White and Murphy 2001, 224–25).

Charles Villiers Stanford (1852–1924) wrote five Irish Rhapsodies (1901–1914). He published volumes of Irish folk song arrangements, and his third symphony is titled the Irish symphony. In addition to being heavily influenced by Irish culture and folk music, he was particularly influenced by Johannes Brahms (White and Murphy 2001, 205).

Edward Elgar (1857–1934) is best known for the Pomp and Circumstance Marches (Moore 1984, ).

Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872–1958) collected, published, and arranged many folksongs from across the country, and wrote many pieces, large and small scale, based on folk melodies, such as the Fantasia on Greensleeves and the Five Variants on "Dives and Lazarus. Vaughan Williams helped define musical nationalism, writing that "The art of music above all the other arts is the expression of the soul of a nation" (Vaughan Williams 1934, 123).

Edward MacDowell (1860–1908)'s Woodland Sketches, op. 51 (1896) consists of ten short piano pieces bearing titles referring to the American landscape. In this way, they make a claim to MacDowell's identity as an American composer (Crawford 1996, 542).

Horatio Parker (1863–1919) was an American composer, organist and teacher.

Charles Ives (1874–1954) was an American modernist composer, being one of the first American composers of international renown.

Ironically, Aaron Copland (1900–1990) composed "Mexican" music such as El Salón México in addition to his American nationalist works (Piston 1961, 25).