Romantic music

Periods of Western art music
Early
Medieval	(500–1400)
Renaissance	(1400–1600)
Baroque	(1600–1760)
Common practice
Baroque	(1600–1760)
Classical	(1750–1830)
Romantic	(1815–1910)
Modern and contemporary
20th century	(1900–2000)
Contemporary	(1975–present)
21st century	(2000–present)

Romantic music is a term describing a style of Western classical music that existed roughly from 1810 to 1900. It formed part and parcel of Romanticism, the artistic and literary movement that arose in the second half of the 18th century in Europe.

Romantic music as a movement evolved from the formats, genres and musical ideas established in earlier periods, such as the classical period, and went further in the name of expression and syncretism of different art-forms with music. Romanticism does not necessarily refer to romantic love, though that theme was prevalent in many works composed during this time period, both in literature, painting, or music. Romanticism followed a path that led to the expansion of formal structures for a composition set down or at least created in their general outlines in earlier periods, and the end-result is that the pieces are "understood" to be more passionate and expressive, both by 19th century and today's audiences. Because of the expansion of form (those elements pertaining to form, key, instrumentation and the like) within a typical composition, and the growing idiosyncrasies and expressiveness of the new composers from the new century, it thus became easier to identify an artist based on his work or style.

Romantic music attempted to increase emotional expression and power to describe deeper truths or human feelings, while preserving but in many cases extending the formal structures from the classical period, in others, creating new forms that were deemed better suited to the new subject matter. The subject matter in the new music was now not only purely abstract, but also frequently drawn from other art-form sources such as literature, or history (historical figures) or nature itself.

Trends of the 19th century

Musical language

The term Romanticism, when applied to music, can be viewed as an artistic response to social, cultural, economic and political influences that had their beginning in the late eighteenth century and lasted through the nineteenth century.

Non-musical influences

Examples of music inspired by literary / artistic sources include Liszt's Faust Symphony, Dante Symphony, his symphonic poems and his Annees de Pelerinage, Tchaikovsky's Manfred Symphony, Mahler's First Symphony, the piano cycles of Robert Schumann and the tone poems of Richard Strauss. Schubert included material from his lieder in some of his extended works, and others, such as Liszt, transcribed opera arias and songs for solo instrumental performance.

Events and changes that happen in society such as ideas, attitudes, discoveries, inventions, and historical events always affect music. For example, the Industrial Revolution was in full effect by the late 18th century and early 19th century. 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 depend on. The new and innovative instruments could be played with more ease and they were more reliable (Schmidt-Jones & Jones 2004, 3). The new instruments often had a bigger, fuller, better-tuned sound. Orchestras grew larger from the days of Beethoven onwards, and were on their way to professionalization .

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 (Schmidt-Jones 3). Many times their audience was small, composed mostly of the upper class and individuals who were knowledgeable about music (Schmidt-Jones & Jones 2004, 3). The Romantic 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 Elgar, showed the world that there should be "no segregation of musical tastes" (Young 1967, 525) and that the "purpose was to write music that was to be heard" (Young 1967, 527).

The main characteristics of Romantic music

• A freedom in form and design; a more intense personal expression of emotion in which fantasy, imagination and a quest for adventure play an important part.
• Emphasis on lyrical, songlike melodies; adventurous modulation; richer harmonies, often chromatic, with striking use of discords.
• Greater sense of ambiguity: especially in tonality or harmonic function, but also in rhythm or meter.
• Denser, weightier textures with bold dramatic contrasts, exploring a wider range of pitch, dynamics and tone-colours.
• Expansion of the orchestra, sometimes to gigantic proportions; the invention of the valve system leads to development of the brass section whose weight and power often dominate the texture.
• Rich variety of types of piece, ranging from songs and fairly short piano pieces to huge musical canvasses with lengthy time-span structures with spectacular, dramatic, and dynamic climaxes.
• Closer links with other arts lead to a keener interest in programme music (programme symphony, symphonic poem, concert overture).
• Shape and unity brought to lengthy works by use of recurring themes (sometimes transformed/developed): idée fixe (Berlioz), thematic transformations (Liszt), Leitmotif (Wagner), motto theme.
• Greater technical virtuosity – especially from pianists, violinists and flautists.
• The idea of instrumental music composed without reference to anything other than itself.
• The elevation of the performer as genius as demonstrated through the virtuosity of Paganini and Liszt.

Chronology

Early Romantic (1800–1850)

Manuscript sketch for Piano Sonata No. 28, Movement IV, Geschwind, doch nicht zu sehr und mit Entschlossenheit (Allegro), in Ludwig van Beethoven's handwriting. Composed in 1816, this is the first piano sonata from Beethoven's late period.

See also

• List of Romantic composers
• Neoromanticism (music)

References

• Schmidt-Jones, Catherine, and Russell Jones. 2004. Introduction to Music Theory. [Houston, TX]: Connexions Project. ISBN 1-4116-5030-1
• Young, Percy Marshall. 1967. A History of British Music. London: Benn.
• Beard, David and Kenneth Gloag. Musicology: The Key Concepts. Cornwall: Routledge, 2005.

Further reading

• Cavalletti, Carlo. 2000. Chopin and Romantic Music, translated by Anna Maria Salmeri Pherson. Hauppauge, NY: Barron's Educational Series. (Hardcover) ISBN 0-7641-5136-3 ; ISBN 978-0-7641-5136-1
• Dahlhaus, Carl. 1979. "Neo-Romanticism". 19th-Century Music 3, no. 2 (November): 97–105.
• Plantinga, Leon. 1984. Romantic Music: A History of Musical Style in Nineteenth-Century Europe. A Norton Introduction to Music History. New York: W. W. Norton. ISBN 0-393-95196-0 ; ISBN 978-0-393-95196-7
• Samson, Jim. 2001. "Romanticism". The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan Publishers.

External links

• Music of the Romantic Era
• The Romantic Era
• Era on line