Music in the Age of Romanticism :: Arts

Music in the Age of RomanticismIn the nineteenth century the world experienced many dramatic changes related to politics, economics and culture. Music would never be the same after this achievement. During these years euphonyians, influenced by the Romantic movement in literature, neglected the formalism and aims of Classicism (Bohle p1861), and essential Musical Romanticism as a way to express their feelings escaped of traditional musical structures.The term Romanticism represents the completion of the apparent control of the instinct over reason, of imagination over form, heart over boss (Sadie p141). The Romantic movement was foreshadowed by Bach, but Beethoven was the wizard who brought it into existence in early 19th century (Bohle p 1862). Music in this period was characterized by personal and individual style with more subjectivity. (Miller p197).During this period constituters tried to express themselves freely. There were notable extremes and contrasts in their st yles of composition. For instance, their preferred media were piano accompaniment, operas and symphony orchestra. In the same way, their music was composed for two kinds of audiences one in the big concert halls, and an other in intimate beauty salon and the length of the compositions extended from short pieces to big symphonies. Also the dynamic of the music was very variable using loud and soft levels. In addition, musicians certain a nationalist style using folklore as subject for operas, sometimes borrowing folklore from other countries (Miller, 1973 p134-135). Among the major composers of this period are Beethoven, Von Weber, Schubert, Schumann, Chopin, Brahms, Rachmaninoff and others.Even though Romanticism and Classicism are classified as opposites they are late related. Even in Classicisms excessive use of structures and formalisms, composers of this period also convey their feelings through music. On the other hand, Romantic composers had to use some staple structures f rom Classicism needed to write music. However, the Romantic era was a period in music when musicians had more freedom to use different forms to compose music expressing their individualism and nationalism.