Lesson 1: Introduction

Emotion, drama, and the senses—while many works of classical music reflect these aspects, in no period are they illustrated as well as during the Romantic period. Music scholars suggest that the Romantic period begin in the early nineteenth century and ended in the early twentieth century. As such, there would have been some overlap with music from the Classical era, which ended about 1820 to 1830. As we noted in the last unit, composers such as Beethoven bridged the two eras in music by using both characteristics of the Classical period and the Romantic period in their work. If we were to place dates on the Romantic period, we might use 1820 to 1900-1910. Generally, it is assumed that the Romantic period ended sometime before World War I.

Like many of the other time periods that we’ve already discussed, the Romantic period was a reaction to what had come before. If you remember, the Classical era was one that was governed by the Age of Enlightenment. It was a time when philosophers, scientists, and others argued that reason should be the guiding principle in society. Scientific principles were applied to many different areas of life, including art, literature, and music. Music and other forms of art often had a sense of precision and exactness, rather than free creativity or expression. The works of the Classical period still contained a great deal of drama and beauty to be sure; one only has to listen to some of the works of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven to hear those qualities. Yet, individuals in the Romantic period went looking for something a bit different in their art, music, and literature.

As you might guess, the term 'Romantic' for this time period comes from the word 'romance'. Romance as a genre in the arts refers to the heroic prose and art that was popular during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. While romance today often has a more general meaning, the roots of this word go back to the stories of knights, chivalry, courtly love, and heroic quests that were popular during these earlier time periods. The music of the Romantic period, then, draws on themes popular centuries before, not unlike how the Classical period drew on themes from the ancient civilizations that society was interested in during the period.

The Romantic period in the arts was a period that focused on emotion over reason. Literature, art, and music celebrated both the beauty in nature and human feelings. Emotion and what a person could see, feel, hear, taste, and touch were viewed as important aspects of life. While reason and intelligence were important, they were not given the same status as they had during the Classical period. Instead, they were aspects of humanity, but not better or superior to what individuals felt or experienced with their own bodies.