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The transition from the classical period of European Art music, which lasted around 1750 to 1820, to Romantic music, which lasted around 1800 to 1910.
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The transition from the classical period of European Art music, which lasted around 1750 to 1820, to Romantic music, which lasted around 1800 to 1910.
Classical music was known for its clarity and regularity of structure, or "natural simplicity", thought of as an elegant international musical style with balanced four-bar phrases, clear-cut cadences, repetition, and sequence. [1] Sonata form was the foundation for a large number of pieces which provided a foundation for the new era of Romanticism.[ citation needed ]
Characterized by lyrical melodies, chromaticism and dissonance, and dramatic dynamics, the Romantic era evoked emotions assembled by sovereign story lines and nationalist marches reflecting change. [2] [3] New musical vocabulary began to further develop using terms like "dolce" or "dolente", in addition to enriched harmonic and rhythmic language. [3] Orchestral forms like symphonic poem, choral symphony, and works for solo voice and orchestra, began to draw other art forms closer. [3]
Romantic music was a self-conscious break from the ideals of the Age of Enlightenment [3] as well as a reaction to socio-political desire for greater human freedom from despotism. [4] The movement sought to express the liberty, fraternity, and equality which writers such as Heinrich Heine and Victor Hugo artistically defended by creating new lyric poetry. [3] There was a new surrender to nature, nostalgia for the past, a turn towards the mystical, new attention to national identity, interest in the autobiographical, and a general discontentment with musical formulas and conventions exercised in Classical compositions. [5] Conductors became the central figures in orchestral performances, responsible for the sonic flow of larger pieces. [3]
The Sturm und Drang or "storm and drive" was a proto-Romantic movement that helped establish the aesthetics of the Romantic era. [6] Curated by Haydn, it contrasted with the simple pieces of the Classical era into obvious and dramatic emotionalism sought by Romantic composers. [7] Composers such as Haydn were fond of having compositional work reflect the turbulent political climate. [4] This led to the creation of the Farewell Symphony No. 45 in F♯ Minor, containing several characteristics of this transition through long slow adagio and sharp turns to exemplify the demands of wavering opinions and philosophical themes taking place socially. [7]
The Industrial Revolution facilitated a dramatic expansion in orchestra size and greater diversity in instruments. [8] The main transition was promoted by improvements to the piano, with cast-iron frames enabling thicker strings and deeper brilliant tones. [3] Likewise, new instruments were created such as the ophicleide, and earlier instruments like the piccolo and English horn were improved, to contribute to the new dream-like interpretation of the past. New public concert halls accommodated the growing size of orchestras. [3] It was during the main transitional period that a distinction between "highbrow" and "lowbrow" compositional works was established, with popular "light music" seen as entertainment and "art music" viewed as serious listening. [3]
It was not until the end of the nineteenth century that the emergent discipline of Musikwissenschaft (musicology) began to identify which composers contributed to the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras. [9] Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, better known for composing classical music, incorporated opera, concerto, symphony, sonata, and string quartets which introduced Romantic qualities to music of the time. [10]
The concept of programmatic music was prevalent among transitional pieces such as Ludwig van Beethoven's titles of Eroica, Pastoral, and Pathetique. [11] Giving compositions characteristic names was expanded upon by Romantic composers such as Richard Strauss and became standard. [11]
Franz Schubert took part in the Classical to Romantic transition by being considered the last of the classical composers in his earlier instrumental pieces, and the first of the romantics through his 600 art songs that were melodic and harmonic. [12]
After the transitional period, the virtuoso piano styles of the Romantics Frédéric Chopin [13] and Franz Liszt [14] were important to consolidating the Romantic movement.
The Classical period was an era of classical music between roughly 1750 and 1820.
Romantic music is a stylistic movement in Western Classical music associated with the period of the 19th century commonly referred to as the Romantic era. It is closely related to the broader concept of Romanticism—the intellectual, artistic and literary movement that became prominent in Western culture from about 1798 until 1837.
Sonata form is a musical structure generally consisting of three main sections: an exposition, a development, and a recapitulation. It has been used widely since the middle of the 18th century.
A scherzo, in western classical music, is a short composition – sometimes a movement from a larger work such as a symphony or a sonata. The precise definition has varied over the years, but scherzo often refers to a movement that replaces the minuet as the third movement in a four-movement work, such as a symphony, sonata, or string quartet. The term can also refer to a fast-moving humorous composition that may or may not be part of a larger work.
German Romanticism was the dominant intellectual movement of German-speaking countries in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, influencing philosophy, aesthetics, literature, and criticism. Compared to English Romanticism, the German variety developed relatively early, and, in the opening years, coincided with Weimar Classicism (1772–1805).
A piano concerto, a type of concerto, is a solo composition in the classical music genre which is composed for piano accompanied by an orchestra or other large ensemble. Piano concertos are typically virtuosic showpieces which require an advanced level of technique. Piano concertos are typically written out in music notation, including sheet music for the pianist, orchestral parts, and a full score for the conductor.
Mannheim school refers to both the orchestral techniques pioneered by the court orchestra of the Elector Palatine in Mannheim in the latter half of the 18th century and the group of composers of the early classical period, who composed for the orchestra of Mannheim. The father of the school is considered to be the Bohemian composer Johann Stamitz. Besides him, two generations of composers wrote compositions for the orchestra, whose reputation was due to its excellent discipline and the individual skill of its players; the English traveler Charles Burney called it "an army of generals". Their performance style included new dynamic elements, crescendos and diminuendos. Composers of the Mannheim school played an important role in the development of the classical period's genres and of the classical symphony form.
Symphony No. 39 is a symphony in G minor by Franz Joseph Haydn in 1765, at the age of 33 under the beneficence of Prince Nikolaus Esterházy. It is the earliest of Haydn's minor key symphonies associated with his Sturm und Drang period works.
Joseph Martin Kraus, was a German-Swedish composer in the Classical era who was born in Miltenberg am Main, Germany. He moved to Sweden at age 21, and died at the age of 36 in Stockholm. He has been referred to as "the Swedish Mozart", and had a life span very similar to Mozart's.
Franz Adolf Berwald was a Swedish Romantic composer and violinist. He made his living as an orthopedist and later as the manager of a saw mill and glass factory, and became more appreciated as a composer after his death than he had been in his lifetime.
Sonata form is one of the most influential ideas in the history of Western classical music. Since the establishment of the practice by composers like C.P.E. Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert and the codification of this practice into teaching and theory, the practice of writing works in sonata form has changed considerably.
Romantic poetry is the poetry of the Romantic era, an artistic, literary, musical and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. It involved a reaction against prevailing Enlightenment ideas of the 18th century, and lasted approximately from 1800 to 1850. Romantic poets rebelled against the style of poetry from the eighteenth century which was based around epics, odes, satires, elegies, epistles and songs.
The organ repertoire is considered to be the largest and oldest repertory of all musical instruments. Because of the organ's prominence in worship in Western Europe from the Middle Ages on, a significant portion of organ repertoire is sacred in nature. The organ's suitability for improvisation by a single performer is well adapted to this liturgical role and has allowed many blind organists to achieve fame; it also accounts for the relatively late emergence of written compositions for the instrument in the Renaissance. Although instruments are still disallowed in most Eastern churches, organs have found their way into a few synagogues as well as secular venues where organ recitals take place.
Erkki Olavi Salmenhaara was a Finnish composer and musicologist.
Giuseppe Francesco Gaspare Melchiorre Baldassare Sammartini was an Italian composer and oboist during the late Baroque and early Classical era. Although he was from Milan, most of his professional life was spent in London and with Frederick, the Prince of Wales. He also had a younger brother, Giovanni Battista Sammartini, who likewise became a renowned composer.
Sturm und Drang was a proto-Romantic movement in German literature and music that occurred between the late 1760s and early 1780s. Within the movement, individual subjectivity and, in particular, extremes of emotion were given free expression in reaction to the perceived constraints of rationalism imposed by the Enlightenment and associated aesthetic movements. The period is named after Friedrich Maximilian Klinger's play of the same name, which was first performed by Abel Seyler's famed theatrical company in 1777.
The Symphony No. 52 in C minor is one of the last Sturm und Drang symphonies composed by the Austrian composer Joseph Haydn while the composer was in residence at Esterházy in 1771 or 1772.
Nicolas Bacri is a French composer. He has written works that include seven symphonies, eleven string quartets, eight cantatas, two one-act operas, three piano sonatas, two cello and piano sonatas, four violin and piano sonatas, six piano trios, four violin concertos and numerous other concertante works.
Karol Rathaus was a German-Austrian Jewish composer who immigrated to the United States via Berlin, Paris, and London, escaping the rise of Nazism in Germany.
Classical music – Art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions.
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