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Postromanticism is an aesthetic that blends the intense emotional and individualistic expressions of the High Romantic Era with the stylistic and thematic complexities of later time periods.
Postromanticism is most closely associated with the creative phase of the Post-Romantic Period. This moment in art is characterized by a blend of the old Romantic fervor with emerging influences such as realism and modernity. The time period is most commonly recognized to begin at about 1850, when irreconcilable disagreements first arose between different factions in art and literature about how the Romantic ideal should carry forward.
The broadest definiton of Postromanticism extends beyond this timeframe though, including all Romantic inspiration up to and including the present day.
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Romantic Continuation[edit]
Late Romantic Period[edit]
The Romanticist movement began to lose intellectual clout after 1850, though figures like John Ruskin and Ralph Waldo Emerson kept Romantic ideas relevant to the problems of post-1850 society. Friedrich Nietzsche is also considered a Romantic-influenced thinker, although his ideas were misrepresented by his sister after his death and he was not properly understood until the 20th century.
In literature and visual art, Realism emerged as a reaction to Romanticism and became dominant in these mediums. Realist authors such as Gustav Flaubert and Charles Dickens showcased a style that was considered more relevant to society's issues at the time. However, the Romantic movement nevertheless carried a colossal artistic momentum in the following decades. Victor Hugo, author of Les Miserables and The Hunchback of Notre Dame, held a towering stature in the public eye up right up until his death: his funeral in 1885 was attended by over 2 million people, the largest in French history.
In music, the most significant figure in extending the Romantic era beyond 1850 was the conductor Hans von Bülow. Through his widespread notoriety, he was pivotal in promoting post-1850 Romantic composers such as Johannes Brahms and Richard Wagner. Hans von Bülow also played a crucial role in the conducting careers of Bruno Walter and Gustav Mahler, who both also championed Romantic music. More broadly, the musical community was so successful in maintaining a coherent Romantic identity that musicologists often defy the timelines set by historians in other mediums, marking the end of the Romantic era at 1910. In consideration of the broader Romantic movement though, a distinction is made between the "Early Romantic" (1800-1830), "High Romantic" (1830-1850) and "Late Romantic" (1850-1910).
For the other artistic mediums though, the terminology used is a bit looser. Literary historians might refer to a book with ambiguous labels such as "containing Romantic themes" or "in the Romantic tradition".
Interwar era[edit]
World War I was particularly relevant to the decline of Late Romanticism and the rise of Modernism. It was a cataclysmic event that profoundly changed societal values, philosophies, and the arts, leading to a stark reevaluation of Romantic ideals in the face of modern warfare's realities. The war also followed the death of Gustav Mahler, an event that is often cited as a marker for the end of the Late Romantic era by musicologists. Referring to anyone as "Late Romantic" thus becomes harder to defend after the 1910s, with the "Neoromantic" label being much more common.
However, a handful of figures in art and music that were active before the 1910s and maintained their style into the interwar period have been characterized as Late Romantic. The composers Sergei Rachmaninoff, Richard Strauss, and Jean Sibelius continued to create works in the Romantic ethos — characterized by emotional depth, complex harmonies, and a strong narrative element — at a time when the musical world was increasingly turning towards abstraction and experimentation associated with modernism. Though considered out of phase with the current trends, their work was well respected.
Also during the interwar period was an enduring interest in the earlier Romantic music. In 1927, the International Chopin Piano Competition was founded to celebrate the music of the eponymous composer. The pianist Vladimir Horowitz reached immense popularity for his awesome technical command as he performed music of the Romantic era. Horowitz's highly publicized personal life, including his defection from the Soviet Union and dramatized return for performances, were part of his portrayal as a modern-day Romantic figure during his life.
Romantic Dispersion[edit]
Post-Romantic Period[edit]
Though Romanticism still was at the forefront of Western Civilization's consciousness, the demand for innovation in art caused the movement to "disperse" into subsequent movements that took parts of Romanticism and incorporated them into new forms. This transition is called the Postromantic Period, and overlaps with figures who adhered more strictly to the Romantic tradition. There was significant cultural tension and disagreement surrounding how the ideals of the Romantic movement should be carried forward.
The first post-1850 movement to evolve Romantic principles was the Pre-Raphaelites. Founded in 1848, the movement had very specific, pointed technical concerns related to visual art that they advocated for, among which was a criticism of Classicist Rennaissance artists such as Michaelangelo and Raphael. The movement advocated for a return to the sensibilities of medieval and early Renaissance art, with a particular advocacy for the virtues of the Quattrocento period to which Leonardo da Vinci belonged to.
The original wave of the movement only lasted for about four years and was embroiled in controversy, having a particularly contentious relationship with the orthodoxy at the English Royal Academy of the Arts. Due to artistic disagreements, the group subsequently split throughout the 1850s into two camps — the "realists", who focused on accurate depictions; and the "medievalists", who infused their art with vibrant colors and embraced the Romantic idealization of the Middle Ages with spiritualist and symbolic themes. While these terms both refer to broader preexisting movements, the labels carry specific connotations for the Pre-Raphaelites. This fracture, along with the Pre-Raphaelites conflicts with the broader art world, was indicative of the artistic disagreements about how to best carry forward the principles of the Romantic era.
The symbolic elements of the medievalist Pre-Raphaelites culmiated in the Symbolist movement. Symbolism was a reaction to Realism that found its origin in the publishing of Charles Baudelaire's Le Fleurs du Mal, a work which was censored substantially at the time of its publication due to immorality concerns. The aims of Symbolism surrounded a desire or angst to "break out" of the surface appearance of things, launching into mystical and transcendent themes through elements called "symbols". This allowed the artist to communicate their inner worlds, a motivation that came from the Romanticists' advocacy for subjectivity. Symbolism's proponents saw the movement as a logical "spiritual successor" to Romanticism for this reason.
In the 1870s came Impressionism. This movement in the visual arts evolved from Realism, but with new methods by painters who aimed to portray scenes based on the first fleeting split-second glimpse the eye captures. They believed that their approach allowed a painting to highlight the perceptive and emotional quality of a scene — the scene's "impression" — that is decluttered from the subject's detailed content. This continued the Romantic sentiment of the artist communicating their subjectivity to the audience. However, Impressionism maintained a Realist resistance to the dramatic sensibilities of the Romantics such as the heroic and the exotic, preferring to communicate their impressions of profound beauty in ordinary, everyday life.
Modernist transition[edit]
A key moment of the dispersion of the Romantic movement is the transition to Modernism in mainstream culture. The transition was shaped largely by societal events — for example, Postromanticism gained significant momentum in the United States following the American Civil War.
A pivotal movement in the visual arts for this period is Expressionism. Expressionists focused on inner emotions and psychological states, often using distorted forms and jarring colors to convey the turmoil and anxiety of the individual psyche and societal issues. This approach reflects a less idealized and more confrontational and introspective reaction to the modern world. Additionally, Symbolism deemphasized nature to an even greater degree than Impressionism and Symbolism, marking a more significant departure from strict Romantic ideals.
Some artistic figures during the Postromantic era can be difficult to categorize due to their eclecticness. The Postromantic composer Claude Debussy,[1] for example, was described as an Impressionist but he himself rejected the term, complaining that it was foisted on him by critics who are overly focused on categorizations. His late career also involved modernist experimentation, but his Romantic influences remained palpable and he outspokenly admired the Romanticists — particularly Chopin, saying: "Chopin is the greatest of all, for with the piano alone he discovered everything."
Another peculiar mention in Postormantic music is Ralph Vaughan Williams. An example of Romantic Nationalism combined with musical experimentation, the key focus of his career was his attempt to retroactively remove the pervasive Teutonic influence in Western music that was imbued by composers such as Bach, Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis, one of Vaughan Williams most well-known compositions, exemplifies this endeavor. The music is a modification of a tune from Elizabethan times, before the influences of the Common Practice Period.
The Irish poet William Butler Yeats also stands out in this transitory period for his innovative early work that is infused with Romantic themes, including mysticism, the supernatural, and a profound connection to Irish mythology and folklore. Even with this heavy Romantic influence, he transitioned to a more Realist style after about 1900.
Post-WWII[edit]
The label "Neoromantic" is used for artists and thinkers, both of Romantic and Postromantic sensibilities, who the term "Late Romantic" does not apply to because their careers took place after the movement no longer had a cohesive identity. Though the Neoromantic label is also applied to figures in the interwar period, the end of World War II is nevertheless a significant event in the timeline of Neoromanticism as Western civilization returned to normalcy after several years of total war. The careers of Neoromantic composers saw a significant boost during this period.
In music, an influential Neoromanticist figure in the 20th century music was Leopold Stokowski, perhaps best known today as the conductor in Disney's Fantasia. Stokowski and others such as Leonard Bernstein revived interest in Mahler's compositions in the West. Born to Jewish parents, Mahler had been banned in middle-European countries during the Nazi era, and was generally less well known abroad.
Stokowski wrote grand orchestral transcriptions of Johann Sebastian Bach's organ works, most notably the Toccata and Fugue in D Minor and the Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor. Of the Toccata, Gramophone Magazine said: ""one of the most exciting achievements of the American orchestra ... the only word is 'magnificent.'".[2] Some critics complained though that he was overly unrestrained in his transcriptions — a common criticism of Romanticist artists. These performances, continuing the thread woven by Felix Mendelsohn's watershed performance of Bach's St. Matthew Passion, shaped public perception of Bach as a "proto-Romantic" figure whose music foreshadowed the emotional depth of the Romantic period.
Perhaps the best-known Neoromanticist literary work is the Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien, published in 1954. Though there has been some controversy of applying the label due to Tolkien's outspoken criticisms certain aspects of the Romantic movement, the characterization of his work as Neoromanticist gained significant traction through the 2010s and 2020s.[3]
Orchestral music in the Romantic style was a staple of the Golden Age of Hollywood Cinema, and Romanticism's continued influence on cinema music is seen in later decades. John Williams in particular embraced a Romantic style in his works. Williams' music is known for the widespread usage of melodies for individual characters and settings, a stylistic approach referred to by musicologists as leitmotif that originated in the Romantic era.