Ludwig van Beethoven, by Joseph Karl Stieler, 1820

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.

Contrast between Classical and Romantic styles

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.

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]

Stages of the transition

Sturm und Drang

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]

Main transition

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]

Transitional artists, composers, and works

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.

References

  1. ↑ "Chapter Prelude 4: Classicism in the Arts | The Enjoyment of Music, 12e: W. W. Norton StudySpace". wwnorton.com. Retrieved 2019-06-30.
  2. ↑ Lawrence Kramer, "The Mirror of Tonality: Transitional Features of Nineteenth-Century Harmony", 19th-Century Music, 4.3 (Spring, 1981), 191-208. doi:10.2307/746694.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Chapter Prelude 5: The Spirit of Romanticism | The Enjoyment of Music, 12e: W. W. Norton StudySpace". wwnorton.com. Retrieved 2019-06-30.
  4. 1 2 Pascal, Roy (April 4, 1952). "The "Sturm und Drang" Movement". The Modern Language Review. 47 (2): 129–151. doi:10.2307/3718800. ISSN 0026-7937. JSTOR 3718800.
  5. ↑ "Romanticism". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2019-08-29.
  6. ↑ Brook, Barry S. (1970). "Sturm und Drang and the Romantic Period in Music". Studies in Romanticism. 9 (4): 269–284. doi:10.2307/25599772. ISSN 0039-3762. JSTOR 25599772.
  7. 1 2 "Sturm und Drang | German literary movement". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2019-08-29.
  8. ↑ "The Orchestra in the Romantic Period". www.cmuse.org. Retrieved 2019-08-29.
  9. ↑ "Musicology". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2019-08-29.
  10. ↑ Greenberg, Robert, Great Masters : Mozart - his life and music, ISBN 9781682764091, OCLC 966537503, retrieved 2019-06-30
  11. 1 2 "Program music". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2019-08-29.
  12. ↑ Brînduşa Tudor, 'Classical and Romantic in Sonata in A minor op. 164 D 537 by Franz Schubert', Artes. Journal of musicology, 12 (2012), 105–15.
  13. ↑ Zamoyski, Adam. (2011). Chopin : prince of the romantics. Harper. ISBN 9780007341856. OCLC 769276925.
  14. ↑ Walker, Alan (1997). Franz Liszt. Faber & Faber. ISBN 0571153224. OCLC 896441035.
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