Musopen: Music History: Romantic

Romantic music
The era of Romantic music is defined as the period of European classical music that runs roughly from the early 1800s to the first decade of the 20th century, as well as music written according to the norms and styles of that period. The Romantic period was preceded by the classical period, and was followed by the modern period.

Romantic music is related to Romantic movements in literature, art, and philosophy, though the conventional periods used in musicology are now very different from their counterparts in the other arts, which define "romantic" as running from the 1780s to the 1840s. The Romanticism movement held that not all truth could be deduced from axioms, that there were inescapable realities in the world which could only be reached through emotion, feeling and intuition. Romantic music struggled to increase emotional expression and power to describe these deeper truths, while preserving or even extending the formal structures from the classical period.

Musical language
The Romantic era established the concept of tonality to describe the harmonic vocabulary inherited from the baroque and classical periods. Romantic composers sought to fuse the large structural harmonic planning demonstrated by Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven with their own chromatic innovations, in order to achieve greater fluidity of movement, greater contrast, and to meet the needs of longer works. Chromaticism grew more frequent and varied in use, as did dissonance. Composers modulated to increasingly remote keys, and modulations were often less extensively prepared than in the classical era; sometimes, instead of a pivot chord, a pivot note was used. Franz Liszt and others sometimes enharmonically "spelled" this note in a special way (for example, changing a C sharp into a D flat) to modulate into even more distant keys. The properties of the diminished seventh chords, which enables modulation to almost any key, were also extensively exploited. Composers such as Beethoven (who is often regarded as the first Romantic composer) and later Richard Wagner expanded their harmonic language to include previously-unused chords, or to treat existing chords in different ways. Wagner's Tristan chord, found in Tristan and Isolde, has had much written about it attempting to explain exactly what harmonic function it serves.

Non-musical influences
One of the controversies that raged through the Romantic period was the relationship of music to external texts or sources. While music with a point or a program (program music) was common prior to the 19th century, the conflict between formal and external inspiration became an important aesthetic issue during Romantic era.

The controversy began during the 1830s with Hector Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique, which was presented with an extensive program text, causing critics and professors to pick up their pens. Prominent among the detractors was François-Joseph Fétis, the head of the newly-founded Brussels Conservatory, who declared that the work was "not music". Robert Schumann defended the work, but not the program itself, saying that good music would not be hurt by bad titles, but good titles would not save a bad work. It was left to Franz Liszt to defend the idea of extra-musical inspiration.

Instrumentation and scale
As in other periods, instrumentation continued to improve during the romantic era. Composers such as Hector Berlioz orchestrated their works in a way hitherto unheard, giving a new prominence to wind instruments. The size of the "standard" orchestra grew, and began to include instruments, such as the piccolo and cor anglais, that were previously rarely-used.

In addition to using larger orchestral forces, works in the Romantic era tended to become longer. A typical symphony by Haydn or Mozart lasts twenty to twenty-five minutes. In contrast, Beethoven's Third Symphony, generally considered the beginning of Romanticism, lasts at least forty-five minutes.

The Romantic period also saw the rise of the instrumental virtuoso. The violinist Niccolo Paganini was one of the musical stars of the early 19th century, though his fame was usually put down as much to his charisma as his technique. Liszt, in addition to his skills as a composer, was also a very popular virtuoso pianist.

Classical roots of Romanticism (1780-1815)
In literature, the Romantic period is often said to begin in the 1770s or 1780s with a movement known as "storm and struggle" in Germany. It was attended by a greater influence of Shakespeare and of folk sagas, whether real or created, as well as the poetry of Homer. Writers such as Goethe and Schiller radically altered their practices, while in Scotland Robert Burns began setting down folk music. This literary movement is reflected in the music of the "classical" era composers in a variety of ways, including Mozart's work in German opera, the choice of songs and melodies to set for commercial works, and a gradually increasing violence in artistic expression. However, as long as most composers worked in court, and for royal patronage, their ability to engage in "romanticism and revolt" was strictly limited. Mozart's troubles in staging The Marriage of Figaro, which was banned as revolutionary, are a case in point.

Early Romantic (1815-1850)
By the second decade of the 19th century, the shift towards new sources for music, along with an increasing chromaticism in melody and the desire for more expressive harmony, became a palpable stylistic shift. The forces underlying this shift were not only musical, but economic, political and social. The stage was set for a generation of composers who could speak to the new environment of post-Napoleonic Europe.

Late Romantic Era (1850-1910)
As the 19th century moved into its second half, many of the social, political and economic changes set in motion in the post-Napoleonic period became entrenched. Telegraph and railway bound the European world ever closer together. The nationalism that was an important strain of early 19th century Romantic music became formalized by political and linguistic means. Literature for the middle class audience became the fixture of publishing, including the rise of the novel as the primary literary form.