Romantic music

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the genre of music. For the traditional term in music, see
Romance (music). For other uses, see Romance.
Periods of
Western classical music
AD / CEEarly
Medieval
c. 500 1400
Renaissance
c. 1400 1600
Common practice
Baroque c. 1600 1760
Classical
c. 1730 1820
Romantic
c. 1815 1910
Modern and contemporary
Modern c. 1890 1930
20th century
1901 2000
Contemporary
c. 1975 present
21st century
2001 present
v t e
Romantic music is a term denoting an era of Western classical music that began i
n the late 18th or early 19th century. It was related to Romanticism, the Europe
an artistic and literary movement that arose in the second half of the 18th cent
ury, and Romantic music in particular dominated the Romantic movement in Germany
.
Contents [hide]
1 Background
1.1 Romanticism
2 Traits
3 Trends of the 19th century
3.1 Non-musical influences
3.2 Nationalism
4 See also
5 References
6 Further reading
7 External links
Background[edit]
Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog, by Caspar David Friedrich is an example of Romant
ic painting.
Romanticism[edit]
Main article: Romanticism
The Romantic movement was an artistic, literary, and intellectual movement that
originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe and strengthened in
reaction to the Industrial Revolution (Encyclopdia Britannica n.d.). In part, it
was a revolt against social and political norms of the Age of Enlightenment and
a reaction against the scientific rationalization of nature (Casey 2008). It was
embodied most strongly in the visual arts, music, and literature, but had a maj
or impact on historiography (Levin 1959,[page needed]), education (Gutek 1995, 2
20 54), and natural history (Nichols 2005,[page needed]).
One of the first significant applications of the term to music was in 1789, in t
he Mmoires by the Frenchman Andr Grtry, but it was E.T.A. Hoffmann who really estab
lished the principles of musical romanticism, in a lengthy review of Ludwig van
Beethoven's Fifth Symphony published in 1810, and in an 1813 article on Beethove
n's instrumental music. In the first of these essays Hoffmann traced the beginni
ngs of musical Romanticism to the later works of Haydn and Mozart. It was Hoffma
nn's fusion of ideas already associated with the term "Romantic", used in opposi
tion to the restraint and formality of Classical models, that elevated music, an
d especially instrumental music, to a position of pre-eminence in Romanticism as

the art most suited to the expression of emotions. It was also through the writ
ings of Hoffmann and other German authors that brought German music to the centr
e of musical Romanticism (Samson 2001).
Traits[edit]
Characteristics often attributed to Romanticism, including musical Romanticism,
are (Kravitt 1992, 93 94, 107):
a new preoccupation with and surrender to Nature
a fascination with the past, particularly the Middle Ages and legends of medieva
l chivalry
a turn towards the mystic and supernatural, both religious and merely spooky
a longing for the infinite
mysterious connotations of remoteness, the unusual and fabulous, the strange and
surprising
a focus on the nocturnal, the ghostly, the frightful, and terrifying
fantastic seeing and spiritual experiences
a new attention given to national identity
emphasis on extreme subjectivism
interest in the autobiographical
discontent with musical formulas and conventions
Such lists, however, proliferated over time, resulting in a "chaos of antithetic
al phenomena", criticized for their superficiality and for signifying so many di
fferent things that there came to be no central meaning. The attributes have als
o been criticized for being too vague. For example, features of the "ghostly and
supernatural" could apply equally to Mozart's Don Giovanni from 1787 and Stravi
nsky's The Rake's Progress from 1951 (Kravitt 1992, 93 95).
Trends of the 19th century[edit]
Non-musical influences[edit]
Events and changes that happen in society such as ideas, attitudes, discoveries,
inventions, and historical events always affect music. For example, the Industr
ial Revolution was in full effect by the late 18th century and early 19th centur
y. This event had a very profound effect on music: there were major improvements
in the mechanical valves, and keys that most woodwinds and brass instruments de
pend on. The new and innovative instruments could be played with more ease and t
hey were more reliable (Schmidt-Jones & Jones 2004, 3).
Another development that had an effect on music was the rise of the middle class
. Composers before this period lived on the patronage of the aristocracy. Many t
imes their audience was small, composed mostly of the upper class and individual
s who were knowledgeable about music (Schmidt-Jones & Jones 2004, 3). The Romant
ic composers, on the other hand, often wrote for public concerts and festivals,
with large audiences of paying customers, who had not necessarily had any music
lessons (Schmidt-Jones & Jones 2004, 3). Composers of the Romantic Era, like Elg
ar, showed the world that there should be "no segregation of musical tastes" (Yo
ung 1967, 525) and that the "purpose was to write music that was to be heard" (Y
oung 1967, 527).
Nationalism[edit]
Main article: Musical nationalism
During the Romantic period, music often took on a much more nationalistic purpos
e. For example, Jean Sibelius' Finlandia has been interpreted to represent the r
ising nation of Finland, which would someday gain independence from Russian cont
rol (Child 2006). Frdric Chopin was one of the first composers to incorporate nati
onalistic elements into his compositions . Joseph Machlis states, "Poland's stru
ggle 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).[full citation nee
ded] His mazurkas and polonaises are particularly notable for their use of natio

nalistic rhythms. Moreover, "During World War II the Nazis forbade the playing o
f Chopin's Polonaises in Warsaw because of the powerful symbolism residing in th
ese works" (Machlis 1963, 150).[full citation needed] Other composers, such as B
edrich Smetana, wrote pieces which musically described their homelands; in parti
cular, Smetana's Vltava is a symphonic poem about the Moldau River in the modern
-day Czech Republic and the second in a cycle of six nationalistic symphonic poe
ms collectively titled M vlast (My Homeland) (Grunfeld 1974, 112 13). Smetana also
composed eight nationalist operas, all of which remain in the repertory. They es
tablished him as the first Czech nationalist composer as well as the most import
ant Czech opera composer of the generation who came to prominence in the 1860s (
Ottlov, Tyrrell, and Posp il 2001).