Romanticism

The Romantic Movement was an artistic, literary, and intellectual movement that
originated at the end of the 18th century in Europe. Romantic thinkers rebelled against
rational, objective thought and embraced emotions and intuition. Romantic composers
regarded music as a channel for intense feelings, not just as something meant to be
pleasing to the ears. Although our modern interpretation of "romantic" is associated with
love, flowers, etc, romantic musical compositions also brought out expressions of anger,
even hatred. The German literary movement Sturm und Drang ("storm and stress"), which
is closely linked with Romanticism, promoted such themes as man's unease in
contemporary society and the desire to "return to nature."

Instrumental music
Beethoven was responsible for bridging the gap between the Classical and the Romantic
eras. In his music, he tried to achieve a balance between the more structured, clear and
strict Classical form and the newer exotic, innovative, and passionate of the Romantic style
of music making. In fact, Beethoven’s symphonies were taken as a reference by all the
Romantic composers, such as J. Brahms.
Music with a plot or which depicted a scene became important in this era as a way for
composers to further display their artistic skill. Opera was not the only medium for
expressing this; instrumental music was beginning to do it as well. Composers developed
the symphonic poem, which was an orchestral work that conveyed a story without words,
Liszt and Berlioz composed several symphonic poems.
The main instrumental musical traits of the Romantic era were virtuosity, individualism,
and nationalism . The orchestra and the piano emerged as the new popular trends of the
musical world, while chamber music was less popular than in the past. The piano became
more versatile providing a wide dynamic range and the ability to distinguish between loud
and soft sounds. Chopin was one of the most famous composers of this period, His
keyboard style, which is highly individual, is often technically demanding; his own
performances were famous in several European countries.

Vocal music
The Romantic Era brought further changes in the world of vocal music. Choral music
compositions were semi-important vocal forms of the time, while the opera were by far
the most important. Schubert, Schumann and Brahms were Romantic composers of art
songs.
The most important Romantic operas were composed in France, Italy and Germany. Italian
operas were composed in the traditional way, such as the masterworks of Giuseppe Verdi,
while the idea of the German music drama was established by Richard Wagner. The
German Romantic opera illustrates the love for dark forests, the echoes of hunters’ horns,
the threatening presence of supernatural forces, and the frustrations of pure young love.
German music drama or total work of art is a work of art that makes use of all or
many art forms or strives to do so.