Romanticism Definitions Compiled from the Web
===========================================
Romantic(ism). Term used to describe literature, written mainly in the 2 decades
1830-50, and applied to mus. written in the period c.1830 to c.1900. It is a
vague term, for there are ‘Romantic’ elements in all mus. of all
ages. However, the composers generally classified as Romantic are of the period
of Weber, Schubert, Schumann, Chopin, Liszt, Berlioz, Wagner, etc., in whose
mus. emotional and picturesque expression appeared to be more important than
formal or structural considerations. Thus Romanticism became the antithesis
of classicism. In literature the works of Byron, Scott, Wordsworth, Goethe,
Hugo, Gautier, and Balzac were the heart of the Romantic movt. and composers
such as Berlioz and Liszt were particularly influenced by Byron and Scott. The
supernatural element in Romantic literature is reflected musically in works
such as Weber's Der Freischütz, and the Witches’ Sabbath movt. of
Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique. However, Chopin, an essentially Romantic composer,
was not influenced by literary models; and many movts. in works by ‘Classical’
composers such as Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and others, have Romantic leanings.
As in so many branches of mus., distinctions between one category and another
are blurred, thus nationalism, impressionism, and post-romanticism all impinge
upon Romanticism.
======================================================
Extending the bounds of music beyond the restrictive formality of Classicism
was the prime function of the musical period known as Romanticism. Formal concern,
intellectuality and concise expression have now been augmented by sentiment,
imagination and effect.
The period of Romanticism, heralded in the late works (ex., string quartets,
symphonies, piano sonatas) of Ludwig van Beethoven culminates in "Impressionism"
(Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel, etc.), a transitional trend which, with the
innovations of the symphonies of Gustav Mahler, forms the beginnings of music
in the 20th Century.
======================================================
Toward a Definition of Romanticism
Because the expression Romanticism is a phenomenon of immense scope, embracing
as it does, literature, politics, history, philosophy and the arts in general,
there has never been much agreement and much confusion as to what the word means.
It has, in fact, been used in so many different ways that some scholars have
argued that the best thing we could do with the expression is to abandon it
once and for all. However, the phenomenon of Romanticism would not become less
complex by simply throwing away its label of convenience.
Originally, Romanticism referred to the characteristics of romances, whose extravagance
carried somewhat pejorative connotations. But in the 18th century the term came
to designate a new kind of exotic landscape which evoked feelings of pleasant
melancholy. The term Romantic as a designation for a school of literature opposed
to the Classic was first used by the German critic Karl Wilhelm Friedrich von
Schlegel (1772-1829) at the beginning of the 19th century. From Germany, this
meaning was carried to England and France.
Since no single figure or literary school displays all the characteristics considered
to be "Romantic," any general definitions tend to be imprecise. In
addition, these characteristics are often discerned in artists and cultural
movements not usually so designated. They are not, in fact, the exclusive property
of the Romantic period, but it is here that they are dominant and give identity
to an era.
One of the fundamentals of Romanticism is the belief in the natural goodness
of man, the idea that man in a state of nature would behave well but is hindered
by civilization (Rousseau -- "man is born free and everywhere he is in
chains"). The "savage" is noble, childhood is good and the emotions
inspired by both beliefs causes the heart to soar. On the contrary, urban life
and the commitment to "getting and spending," generates a fear and
distrust of the world. If man is inherently sinful, reason must restrain his
passions, but if he is naturally good, then in an appropriate environment, his
emotions can be trusted (Blake -- "bathe in the waters of life").
The idea of man's natural goodness and the stress on emotion also contributed
to the development of Romantic individualism, that is, the belief that what
is special in a man is to be valued over what is representative (the latter
oftentimes connected with the conventions imposed on man by "civilized
society." If a man may properly express his unique emotional self because
its essence is good, he is also likely to assume also that its conflicts and
corruptions are a matter of great import and a source of fascination to himself
and others. So, the Romantic delights in self-analysis. Both William Wordsworth
(in The Prelude) and Lord Byron (in Childe Harold's Pilgrimage), poets very
different from one another, felt the need to write lengthy poems of self-dramatization.
The self that Byron dramatized, a projection not identical with his own personality,
was especially dear to the Romantic mind: the outcast wanderer, heroic by accursed,
often on some desperate quest, in the tradition of Cain or the Flying Dutchman.
S. T. Coleridge's Mariner and Herman Melville's Ahab are similar Romantic pilgrims.
For English literature the most significant expression of a Romantic commitment
to emotion occurs in Wordsworth's preface to the second edition of the Lyrical
Ballads (1800), where he maintains that "all good poetry is the spontaneous
overflow of powerful feelings." Although Wordsworth qualifies this assertion
by suggesting that the poet is a reflective man who recollects his emotion "in
tranquility," the emphasis on spontaneity, on feeling, and the use of the
term overflow mark sharp diversions from the ealier ideals of judgment and restraint.
Searching for a fresh source of this spontaneous feeling, Wordsworth rejects
the Neoclassic idea of the appropriate subject for serious verse and turns to
the simplicities of rustic life "because in that condition the passions
of men are incorporated with the beautiful and permanent forms of nature."
That interaction with nature has for many of the Romantic poets mystical overtones.
Nature is apprehended by them not only as an exemplar and source of vivid physical
beauty but as a manifestation of spirit in the universe as well. In Tintern
Abbey Wordsworth suggests that nature has gratified his physical being, excited
his emotions, and ultimately allowed him "a sense sublime/Of something
far more deeply interfused," of a spiritual force immanent not only in
the forms of nature but "in the mind of man." Though not necessarily
in the same terms, a similar connection between the world of nature and the
world of the spirit is also made by Blake, Coleridge, Byron and Shelley.
In his desire to identify with a spiritual force, the Romantics often expressed
the Faustian aspiration after the sublime and the wonderful. Committed to change,
flux rather than stasis, he longs to believe that man is perfectible, that moral
as well as mechanical progress is possible. Although the burst of hope and enthusiasm
that marked the early stages of the French Revolution was soon muted, its echoes
lingered through much of the 19th century and even survive in the 20th century.
If the Romantic often sees his enemy in the successful bourgeois, the Philistine
with a vested interest in social stability, political revolution is not always
his goal. His admiration for the natural, the organic, which in art leads to
the overthrow of the Classical rules and the development of a unique form for
each work, in politics may lead him to subordinate the individual to the state
and insist that the needs of the whole govern the activities of the parts.Although
these characteristics of Romanticism suggest something of its nature, they are
far from exhaustive. The phenomenon is too diverse and too contradictory to
admit of an easy definition. As Lovejoy suggested, "typical manifestations
of the spiritual essence of Romanticism have been variously conceived to be
a passion for moonlight, for red waistcoats, for Gothic churches . . . for talking
exclusively about oneself, for hero-worship, for losing oneself in an ecstatic
contemplation of nature."
===========================================
Summary of the Romantic period
The romantic period in classical music ran from the early 19th century until
the early 20th century (although many later composers may be said to still write
in a romantic style). Although the word "romantic" now most usually
means "something related to love", romantic music as spoken about
by musicologists and academics is not necessarily about this and does not always
sound like what would nowadays be thought of as "romantic" in the
general sense. It is instead related to the wider concept of romanticism which
flourished in the arts around this time.
It is difficult to define exactly what qualifies a piece of music as being in
the romantic style, but a romantic piece is often distinguished by attempting
to express something definite, something from outside music itself. This could
be the composer's state of mind, a thunderstorm, or a poem, for example.
Romanticism was an artistic and intellectual movement that originated in the
late 18th century and stressed strong emotion, imagination, freedom from classical
correctness in art forms, and rebellion against social conventions.
Romanticism was an attitude or intellectual orientation that characterized many
works of literature, painting, music, architecture, criticism, and historiography
in Western civilization over a period from the late 18th to the mid-19th century.
Romanticism can be seen as a rejection of the precepts of order, calm, harmony,
balance, idealization, and rationality that typified Classicism in general and
late 18th century Neoclassicism in particular. It was also to some extent a
reaction against the Enlightenment and against 18th-century rationalism and
physical materialism in general. Romanticism emphasized the individual, the
subjective, the irrational, the imaginative, the personal, the spontaneous,
the emotional, the visionary, and the transcendental.
Among the characteristic attitudes of Romanticism were the following: a deepened
appreciation of the beauties of nature; a general exaltation of emotion over
reason and of the senses over intellect; a turning in upon the self and a heightened
examination of human personality and its moods and mental potentialities; a
preoccupation with the genius, the hero, and the exceptional figure in general,
and a focus on his passions and inner struggles; a new view of the artist as
a supremely individual creator, whose creative spirit is more important than
strict adherence to formal rules and traditional procedures; an emphasis upon
imagination as a gateway to transcendent experience and spiritual truth; an
obsessive interest in folk culture, national and ethnic cultural origins, and
the medieval era; and a predilection for the exotic, the remote, the mysterious,
the weird, the occult, the monstrous, the diseased, and even the satanic.
The term 'Romanticism' derives ultimately from ' Roman'. In particular it derives
from the 'Romances' written during the Middle Ages, such as the Arthurian cycle.
In English, the term 'Romantick' was often used in the 18th century to mean
magical, dramatic, surprising. But it was not until the German poets and critics
August Wilhelm and Frederich Schlegel used the term that it became a label for
a wider cultural movement. For the Schlegel brothers, 'Romanticism' was a product
of Christianity. The culture of the Middle Ages created a Romantic sensibility
which differed from the Classical ideals embodied in the philosophy, poetry
and drama of ancient Athens. While ancient culture admired clarity, health and
harmony, Christian culture created a sense of struggle between the dream of
heavenly perfection and the experience of human inadequacy and guilt. This sense
of struggle, vision and ever-present dark forces was allegedly present in Medieval
culture. The Schlegel brothers were also responsible for making Shakespeare
into an internationally famous writer, translating his work into German, and
promoting his plays as the epitome of the Romantic sensibility. Many later Romantic
dramatists sought to imitate Shakespeare and to reject Classical models for
drama.
While this view partly explains Romantic fascination with the Middle Ages, the
actual causes of the Romantic movement itself correspond to the sense of rapid,
dynamic social change that culminated in the French Revolution and the Napoleonic
era. However, Romantic literature in Germany preceded these crucial historical
events. The 'Sturm und Drang' (Storm and Stress) movement in German drama was
associated with Frederich Schiller, and the early work of Goethe, in particular
his play "Goetz von Berlichingen", about a Medieval knight who resists
submission to any authority beyond himself. Goethe's novel "The Sufferings
of Young Werther" (1774) had huge international success. This too concerned
an individual who felt a strong contradiction between his own internal world
of intense feeling, and the external world that failed to correspond to it.
Werther eventually commits suicide. In later works Goethe rejected Romanticism
in favour of a new sense of classical harmony, integrating internal and external
states.
German music was also the model for Romanticism, in particular the work of Ludwig
van Beethoven. In music the concept of Romanticism is used to cover a much longer
historical period than in the other arts. The German musical tradition of the
19th Century is typically labelled 'Romantic', including the work of Robert
Schumann, Johannes Brahms and Richard Wagner.
This extended usage is typical within music history. The term 'Romantic' is
used to label composers of various nationalities such as Jean Sibelius, Samuel
Barber and Ralph Vaughan Williams, all of whom lived into the middle of the
20th Century. See Romantic period in music. However in art and literature its
use is typically restricted to the late 18th Century and early 19th Century.
In Britain Romanticism develops in a different form slightly later. It is mostly
associated with the poets William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, whose
book "Lyrical Ballads" (1798) sought to reject Augustan poetry in
favour of more direct speech derived from folk traditions. Both poets were also
involved in Utopian social thought in the wake of the French Revolution. The
poet and painter William Blake is the most extreme example of the Romantic sensibility
in Britain, epitomised by his claim 'I must create a system or be enslaved by
another man's'. Blake's artistic work is also strongly influenced by Medieval
illuminated books. The painters J. M. W. Turner and John Constable are also
generally associated with Romanticism. Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary
Shelley and John Keats constitute another phase of Romanticism in Britain. The
historian Thomas Carlyle and the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood represent the last
phase of transformation into Victorian culture.
In Roman Catholic countries Romanticism was less pronounced than in Protestant
Germany and Britain, and tended to develop later, after the rise of Napoleon.
In France Romanticism is associated with the nineteenth century, particular
in the paintings of Theodore Gericault and Eugene Delacroix, the plays of Victor
Hugo and the novels of Stendhal. The composer Hector Berlioz is also important.
In Russia the principal exponent of Romanticism is Alexander Pushkin, though
Russian composers are also given the label. Pushkin's Shakespearean drama 'Boris
Godunov' (1825) was set to music by Modest Mussorgsky.
Isolated examples of Romanticism are found elsewhere in Europe. The movement
had little immediate impact in America, though Transcendentalist writers such
as Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson show elements of its influence,
as does the work of Walt Whitman.
Related to Romantic nationalism, Radicals, Revolutions, Nazism, Surrealism,
Heroism, Martyrdom
Opposed to Liberalism, Utilitarianism, Rationalism, Enlightenment.
Czech Romanticism
* Karel Hynek Macha (poetry)
French Romanticism
* Jean-Jacques Rousseau (philosophic grounds)
* Hector Berlioz (composer)
* Eugene Delacroix (painter)
* Theodore Gericault (painter)
* Victor Hugo (poet, novelist, dramatist)
* Stendhal (novelist)
German Romanticism
* Ludwig van Beethoven (composer)
* Caspar David Friedrich (painter)
* Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
* Friedrich von Schiller (poet, dramatist)
* Friedrich Schlegel (poet, theorist)
* Franz Schubert (composer)
* Richard Wagner (composer)
Russian Romanticism
* Alexander Pushkin
* Peter Illyich Tchaikovsky
Spanish Romanticism
* Francisco Goya (painter)
British Romanticism
* folklore
* William Blake (painting, engraving, poetry)
* Lord Byron (poetry)
* Samuel Taylor Coleridge (poetry, philosophy, criticism)
* John Constable (painting)
* John Keats {poetry)
* Charles Lamb (poetry, essays)
* Sir Walter Scott (literature)
* Percy Bysshe Shelley (poetry)
* Robert Southey (poetry, biography}
* Joseph Mallord William Turner (painting)
* William Wordsworth {poetry)
Other Countries
* Adam Oehlenschläger, Denmark
* Esaias Tegnér, Sweden
===========================================
ROMANTIC (PERIOD) MUSIC
Classicism is conservatism in creativity with emphasis on balance, control,
proportion, symmetry and restraint. Romanticism is a more radical kind of expression,
it seeks out the new, the curious, and the adventurous. It is characterized
by restless seeking and impulsive reaction. Romantic art differs from classic
art by its greater emphasis on the qualities of remoteness and strangeness.
A fundamental trait of Romanticism is boundlessnes. Throughout the Romantic
period, the human mind was peculiarly attracted by disproportionate and excessive
features. The tiny piano piece and the brief lyrical song, forms which had been
of no consequence during the Classical period, now assumed the highest significance.
On the other hand, the moderate length of the classical symphony and opera was
hugely extended (Mahler's symphonies, Wagner's operas). As against the classic
ideals of order, equilibrium, control, and perfection within acknowledged limits,
Romanticism cherishes freedom of expression, movement, passion, and endless
pursuit of the unattainable (fantasy and imagination); a search for new subject
matters. Because its goal can never be attained, romantic art is haunted by
a spirit of longing. The creations of the romantic artist were emotional in
character rather than guided by structural rules.
The Romantic movement in music co-incides with a general Romantic movement in
all arts. At this period, the arts of literature and painting began to influence
music. In the Romantic era, music acquired poetic or philosophical meaning.
Antiquity, folklore, history and exotic cultures were examined as possible sources
of inspiration. Romanticism in literature appears to precede the first signs
of Romantic music (for example Goethe [1749-1832] and Wordsworth [1770-1850]).
The romantic movement was fostered especially by a number of German writers
and poets. Their influence on musicians was pervasive and enduring. Weber and
Wagner were attracted by the legends of Northern Europe; Schumann by the pseudo-philosophic
romantic literature of his day; Chopin by his national poet Mickiewicz; Berlioz
by the earlier romantic poet Shakespeare; Liszt by the contemporary French romantic
poet Lamartine and by various French romantic painters, and so on. Thus, a fertilization
of music by poetry, fiction, philosophy and painting took place, and with it
was associated a further fertilization by the spirit of nationalism. Weber,
Schumann, Wagner expressing the German spirit; Chopin, Poland; Liszt, Hungary;
Dvorak, Bohemia; Grieg, Norway, and so on.
Romantic traits can be identified in the music of Monteverdi (Poppea), JS Bach
(chromatic organ works, program music) or Handel (expressive arias). It is possible
to sense the ground for the predominant Romanticism of the nineteenth century
being prepared from the time in 1740s when 'feeling' came to be consciously
valued when the galant style and its German counterpart Empfindsamkeit were
at its height (especially in the works of CPE Bach). Another precedent for Romanticism
is found in the musical connections with the literary movement known as Sturm
und Drang (dramatic works of Gluck in 1760s and some of Haydn's symphonies from
the early 1770s such as Trauersinfonie and the Farewell). These temporary movements,
however, did not progress to Romanticism. Classicism and Romanticism represent
qualities which co-existed throughout the periods of musical history (1750-1900)
[concurrent tendencies] normally assigned to one or the other. The change from
Classic to Romantic is, in essence, a change of emphasis, not a sudden, total
transformation. Musical Romanticism is more style than language characterized
by Nationalism, Realism, Impressionism, and Expressionism. It remained faithful
to tonality and to metrical periodicity. Emotion became more urgent and intense
as form became freer and tone color richer. Remaining mainly tonal, Romantic
music became more chromatic, the melodic structure remained periodic but phrase
structure became less regular. Music became more poetic than abstract, more
melodic than harmonic and more organic than mosaic.
A few general observations may be made about the technical differences between
Romantic and Classic music. In Romantic music, long sections -even an entire
movement- may continue as one unbroken rhythmic pattern, with the monotony and
the cumulative effect of an incantation. A movement of a sonata in the hands
of a Romantic composer is a series of picturesque episodes without any strong
bond of formal unity [expressiveness and lyricism above formal structure and
key relationships = in Classical music form and order come first, in Romantic
music expressive content]. A new kind of unity, however, is achieved by using
the same theme in different movements. Romantic music is more lyrical/programmatic
than the dramatic/absolute music of the Classical era.
The massive use of orchestral tone colors is a Romantic trait, i.e., a wide
range of instruments were given solo or combined passages within an orchestral
context. The Romantic era was the golden age of the virtuoso. The emotional
range of music was considerably widened, as was its harmonic vocabulary and
the range and number of instruments. The most characteristic orchestral form
is the symphonic poem in which the music tells a story or parallels its emotions.
The most characteristic new genre is the solo song with piano accompaniment
(Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Wolf).
In the Romantic period, the triadic system was exploited to the farthest consequences,
chromatic alterations were used extensively (see below), unprepared and -towards
the end of the century- unresolved appoggiatura chords were used. Free modulation
into distant keys without pivot chords became a common practice. The increasing
boldness of composers in modulating to ever more distant keys, and in coloring,
or altering the notes of their chords more and more together with the less frequent
use of perfect cadences, the strength of a single tonal center became diluted
and tonality started to disintegrate.
Earlier Romantic tendencies:
J Kuhnau: In 1700, the Kantor of the Leipzig Thomaskirsche (predecessor of JS
Bach till 1723), published multi-movement programmatic keyboard sonatas based
on biblical stories. Besides being programmatic, the use of unresolved harmonies,
a jagged fugue subject and sequential diminished sevenths (when the program
required) were early Romantic tendencies.
JS Bach: In 1703/4 in Arnstadt, JS Bach wrote a harpsichord piece (capriccio)
in Bb (BWV992) on his brother's joining a military band in Sweden. It is programmatic
in content and each of the four movements are labelled with their meaning. There
are chromatic passages depicting the sorrow of friends as the brother Jacob
takes his leave. The influence of Kuhnau pieces which were known to JS Bach
is obvious.
Haydn: His Sturm und Drang style symphonies in the early 1770s (Trauersinfonie/44,
Farewell/45, La Passion/49).
Spohr: A grand Romantic opera 'Alruna die Eulenkonigin' in 1808, and 'Faust'
in 1813 placed Spohr in the forefront of progressive Romanticism. He used leitmotifs
representing love and hell in Faust.
John Field: It was Field's nocturnes (the first composed in 1812) which initiated
this most Romantic of genres.
Romantic harmony:
Romantic harmony uses diminished seventh frequently. Its ambiguity (lack of
a tonal center) is exploited by Liszt and other composers and it is used extensively
for modulation.
The German sixth (the augmented sixth chord on the flattened submediant) is
another chord used frequently. Its resolution is usually onto a 6/4 chord on
the dominant (ie, Ic). It can be used for modulation too. In C major, the German
sixth would be on Ab; this can be used as V7 in Db resolving to I in Db as a
cadence.
The use of higher dissonances, a more innovative treatment of chromatic harmony,
and a greater interest in modal techniques are the other characteristics of
Romantic harmony. The use of chromatic chords without a resolution or cadence
may result in 'chromatic frustration' for the listener.
Chromaticism in the Romantic era: Romantics used chromaticism more frequently
than the Classicists. They followed the same principles of chromaticism established
by the Classic composers but intensified its use. As opposed to the Classical
composers, however, they did not use strong cadential progressions to compensate
for this in keeping the sense of tonality. Together with their tendency to avoid
or delay cadential progressions and replacing perfect cadences with interrupted
ones, the tonality started to dissolve. These two factors were the main reasons
for the development of atonality (increased use of chromaticism, decreased use
of cadential progressions). A Romantic composer introduces chromaticism in following
ways:
1. A chromatic chord in a diatonic passage (anchored by two diatonic chords),
2. A chromatic passage in a diatonic context (anchored by diatonic chords),
3. By introducing a short-lived modulation to a remote key which would sound
chromatic.
Characteristics of Romantic period:
*New forms: symphonic poem, song cycle, music drama,
*Study of the folk-heritage in music and imitation of folk-like melodic simplicity,
*Predilection for exotic effects through employment of foreign national coloring
or the folkloristic heritage (Chopin, Tchaikovsky, the Russians) [Chopin's more
than 50 mazurkas represent one of the earliest examples of overt nationalistic
sentiments in music],
*Break-up of stylistic unity but more individualism,
*Higher interest in melody and color rather than harmony and form,
*Higher dissonances and a freer employment of them,
*A more innovative treatment of chromatic harmony,
*Extensive use of diminished seventh chords,
*Greater interest in modal techniques (flat seventh [common to many modes],
flat second [Phrygian], augmented fourth [Lydian]),
*Assimilation of older elements, especially the revival of polyphony and Baroque
forms under the influence of JS Bach [Mendelssohn, Brahms],
*Thematicism plays a more important role in a sonata movement than tonality,
*Thematic metamorphosis: A programmatic approach to composition often associated
thematic material with a character or idea. Changing circumstances or emotional
states were represented by the transformation of the thematic material (as in
Faust Symphony or Symphony Fantastique),
*Cell development technique in nationalist music,
*Use of a cyclic device: Material from one movement recurs in another (a technique
related to thematic metamorphosis, idee fixe and leitmotive) (Serenade for Strings
by Tchaikovsky; Mendelssohn's Eb string quartet; Beethoven's Symphony No.9),
*Manipulation of sonata form, including mosaic and additive structures. More
organic treatment of the form,
*Postludes in the Lieder (especially by Schumann),
*Unity on a large scale: merging of separate movements into a single span (Liszt's
Sonata in B minor),
*Finishing a minor mode piece in major (from darkness to light): Egmont overture,
Symphony No.5 & 9 , Piano Sonatas Opp.90 & 111, and the second act of
Fidelio by Beethoven; Schumann's Fourth Symphony; Franck's Symphony in D minor;
Brahms' s First Symphony.
Summary of the features of a Romantic score: Programmatic title, fuller instrumentation,
wealth of dynamic and expression marks, performance directions, constantly changing
orchestral color, use of the tenor registry of the cello, sharing of motives
among the instruments, divided instrumental groups (divisi), frequently varying
tempo, remote modulations, frequent use of diminished sevenths and other atonal
implications. In piano pieces: large pitch range, use of pedal, octave doublings,
brace joining.