Chapter 15Prelude: Music after Beethoven: Romanticism

Key Terms

Romanticism

Cult of individual feeling

Revolt

The supernatural

The macabre

Artistic barriers

Early Romantic Timeline

Romanticism (1)

Romantic literature & literary theory flourished particularly 1800-1820

Romanticism (2)

Literary figures were talking excitedly about “Romantic” music by the 1820s

Romanticism (3)

To us, the word romantic refers to love

But glorification of love was just one of many Romantic themes

Romanticism and Revolt

American & French Revolutions1848 revolutions & upheavals• In France, Germany, Austria, & Italy

Romantics viewed as rebels against the established orderMany composers took up cause of liberty•Beethoven, Liszt, Verdi, Wagner

Social barriers also broken down•Greater social mobility•Liszt’s affairs with noblewomen

Music and the Supernatural

Many supernatural, even macabre subjects

Artistic Barriers (1)

A constant search for higher experience & more intense expression

Artistic Barriers (2)

Composers broke down barriers of harmony & form

Music and the Other Arts (1)

Efforts were made to blend the arts•Poetry became more “musical”•Paintings & musical works were given “poetic”

titles•Wagner attempted to merge poetry, drama,

music, & stagecraft in his “total artwork”

Music and the Other Arts (2)

Artists tried to express higher experience•Works that evoke the sublime or the infinite

Concert Life

Public concert steadily grew in importance•Concert hall & opera house came to dominate

Even small cities had symphony societies• Including New York & Boston•Organized by merchants, government officials,

lawyers, & other members of middle class

Intimate genres increasingly presented on concert stage•Piano works, Lieder, & string quartets