![\"An](\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2024\/04\/classical-8.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Welcome back to Classical Music 101! In this series, we\u2019re breaking down the world of classical music to make it approachable for the average joe.<\/p>\n
In our last article, we toured the Classical era<\/a>, a time when composers moved away from the intricate, layered sounds of the Baroque period<\/a> to embrace clarity, balance, and melody.<\/p>\n Today, we\u2019re jumping into the Romantic era \u2014 a period when music went from orderly to emotional, from restrained to downright passionate. If the Classical era was a period that can be symbolized by symmetrical, pristine Greek pillars and temples, the Romantic era can be visualized as dark, mysterious German forests and crumbling, moss-covered castles. Art critic Walter Pater got to the essence of the era when he wrote that Romanticism is \u201cthe addition of strangeness to beauty.\u201d<\/p>\n Let\u2019s dig in.<\/p>\n The Romantic era encompassed nearly the entirety of the 19th century. As in previous musical eras, the music of the Romantic era was heavily influenced by the cultural shifts that occurred alongside it. This was the period that gave birth to philosophers like Nietzsche and Emerson and poets like Byron and Wordsworth. Romantic philosophers and writers reacted against the rationalism of the Enlightenment in favor of an emphasis on imagination, individuality, emotion, and mystery.<\/p>\n Instead of focusing their search for inspiration on ancient Greece and Rome, Romantic artists also turned to the medieval and the Gothic, the supernatural and the sublime. They wanted to connect with forces larger than themselves and particularly found these energies in wild landscapes. Romantic thinkers believed that nature was a conduit to overwhelming experiences of awe \u2014 moments that mixed beauty and fear and elevated life into the transcendent.<\/p>\n Romantic composers sought to create and convey those same feelings through music.<\/p>\n The shift from the Classical to the Romantic era wasn\u2019t an overnight break but a gradual transformation in which music increasingly incorporated these characteristics:<\/p>\n Emotional intensity.<\/strong> While Classical music aimed for structure and clarity, Romantic music dove into the depths of the human experience, breaking traditional forms to create music that was emotional and dramatic.<\/p>\n Composers of the Romantic era weren\u2019t afraid to crank up the passion, sorrow, and joy. They wanted listeners to feel<\/em> the music, whether it was delicate and tender or bold and thunderous. With richer harmonies, longer melodies, and greater dynamic range, Romantic music could capture a whole world of emotion in a single piece.<\/p>\n Around 1844, French composer Hector Berlioz described his response to the visceral, moving effect of listening to Romantic music in a quintessentially Romantic way:<\/p>\n I feel a delicious pleasure in which the reasoning faculty has no share; the habit of analysis arises spontaneously later and brings forth admiration . . . emotion, increasing proportionately with the energy and loftiness of the composer\u2019s inspiration, soon produces a strange commotion in my circulation, my arteries throb violently; tears . . . indicate an advancing condition that is far from having reached its peak. In such cases, there are spasmodic muscular contractions, a trembling of all the limbs, a total numbness of feet and hands, a partial paralysis of the optical and auditory nerves: I cannot see, I barely hear; vertigo . . . a half swoon.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Individuality and personal expression.<\/strong> Romantics extolled the value of human beings, which they believed to have infinite, godlike potential. Romantic composers saw themselves as singular individuals and embraced styles that were intensely their own. Instead of fitting into a particular mold, each composer created music that reflected his unique vision.<\/p>\n Beethoven, who is considered the father of Romanticism, infused his Classical works with personal passion and self-expression and epitomized the idea of the Romantic genius when he wrote in his diary that he wanted to \u201cgrab fate by the throat.\u201d<\/p>\n Bigger and bolder orchestras.<\/strong> Increased efficiency in instrument-making during the Romantic era allowed for orchestras to grow in size and scope. While a Classical ensemble might have had thirty to forty musicians, a Romantic orchestra had 100+. (Many of the great orchestras that exist today, in fact, began during the Romantic era.)<\/p>\n Composers used this expanded palette to create fuller music with more dramatic contrasts, vivid texture, and the power to convey the scale of human emotions, from intimate whisper-like moments to explosive, all-encompassing soundscapes.<\/p>\n The rise of program music.<\/strong> While Classical music aimed to be \u201cabsolute\u201d \u2014 music for music\u2019s sake \u2014 Romantic composers began to compose \u201cprogram music,\u201d which told a story or painted a picture. Inspired by literature, nature, and legend, they created pieces that could represent a thunderstorm, a love story, or a folktale.<\/p>\n Nationalism and folklore.<\/strong> During the Romantic era, composers began to draw on their cultural heritage to add a local flavor to their music. Romantic composers like Smetana and Dvo\u0159\u00e1k incorporated folk melodies and rhythms from their homelands, celebrating their national identities in sound. The result was music that felt deeply rooted in a specific place and people \u2014 a significant departure from the cosmopolitan tone of the Classical era.<\/p>\n The supernatural, the macabre, and the mysterious. <\/strong>The Romantic era had a fascination with the eerie and mysterious. Composers like Wagner and Berlioz embraced this dark side, creating music that evokes haunted landscapes and supernatural forces. In the Romantic era, beauty wasn\u2019t just something to be gently sighed over; it was a force that could elicit a shiver of fear.<\/p>\n The Romantic era produced a ton of great composers, but here are five that will give you a good overview of the period\u2019s ethos and output:<\/p>\n Franz Schubert (1797-1828).<\/strong> If you want to experience the essence of Romantic music, look no further than Franz Schubert. Schubert was an Austrian composer known for his lieder \u2014 German art songs that captured poetry in music. His melodies were haunting and his harmonies rich. Schubert\u2019s music is like reading a Gothic novel; it\u2019s intimate and personal, yet darkly beautiful. Tragically, he died young, but he left behind gems like Der Erlk\u00f6nig<\/em>, a thrilling song about a supernatural creature pursuing a child. Schubert\u2019s Symphony No. 8<\/em>, also known as the Unfinished Symphony<\/em>, showcases his hauntingly beautiful expressiveness.<\/p>\n Take a listen to Symphony No. 8<\/em>:The Characteristics of Romantic Era Music<\/h2>\n
Key Romantic Era Composers<\/h2>\n
\n