How Has Romantic Music Changed Over Time

Music is present in every culture’s past, present, and future. It has been around since 500 B.C. and was especially important in the Elizabethan Era. There were reinventions of music as it was widespread and popular. Without this essential time in history, modern music may have been completely different from what we have today. This era brought new uses for music, styles of compositions, new instruments, and the uprising of popular composers.

Romanticism was a noteworthy global development that was compelling in forming present-day perspectives of artistry, writing, and music. Be that as it may, it came later in a few nations, for example, Italy, Spain, and the United States. It happened first in craftsmanship and writing and later in music. To a limited extent, sentimentalism was a response to the creative styles of traditional vestige. These styles had been resuscitated in the 1600's and 1700's as neoclassicism. Neoclassicists set remarkable significance on the force of reason as a method for finding truth. That is the reason the neoclassical period is frequently called the Age of Reason (Wheatley, K.).

During the 18th century, music was used as a social enhancement on the rising middle class who showed interest in intellectual ideals of Enlightenment. The rising middle class were people who would come between the working class and the upper class. Such as craftsman, bankers, and merchants. These select few decided that since they can now afford some of life's  pleasures, that they would spend it on music that aristocrats and nobility would listen to. While on the other hand, during the 19th century, music began to develop a more story base theme with a moral lesson. Such as Ballets and Grand Operas. So basically, during the 18th-19th century, music has evolved from just sound or noise to a elegant and graceful story played through musical notation with different musical instruments while advancing the growth of the middle class.

For as long as mankind has walked on this earth, music has been an important part of our culture and lifestyles. Each walk of life beats to a different drum. Different cultures use music for many aspects of their lives; for religious purposes, for celebrations, for comfort, for sorrow, for relaxation, for sports, for dances, for energy, for learning, for sleeping, and for sexual experiences. Everyone uses music for something. Music connects with people and reaches them in ways that words simply cannot. Music is a representation of what feelings sound like. It expresses emotion and brings that characteristic out from within us; it tells us a story. Every generation has its’ own sound and different music styles have emerged and become

Music has evolved too many different forms that we recognize today. We trace this development throughout time. Beginning in the middle ages, we have seen advancement from the Gregorian chant all the way to the Jazz of the 20th century. The current events, politics, religion, technology and composers can shape musical eras during time. Here I will look at the middle ages, renaissance, baroque, classical, romantic and twentieth century periods. I hope that a better understanding can be reached to why, when, where and who are the reasons for musical evolution.

Romantic 
Dates: 1800-1900
 
1.  What was going on historically during this era?  What was life like? Profound Political and Social changes going on; many moving into cities for work. Renewed interested in expressing emotion through music. 
2.  Does romantic music continue to use the same forms used in the classical era? No
3.  Explain the Individuality of style. Composers wanted their music to be uniquely identifiable to them. They worked hard on self-expression.
4.  What are the expressive aims and subjects of the pieces?  How is this different than in the classical era? Flamboyance, Intimacy, Unpredictability, Melancholy, Rapture, Longing etc..., Classical Era did not experiment with so many aims.
5.  What is musical nationalism?

Kenneth B. Klaus wrote a book which studies the Romantic Period in Music. In this book, Klaus states in the preface that the romantic period in music (as well as any other art from) is not a time where everything is the same, but is uniformed in the sense that they are moving away from the standard form of

The Music of the classical and Romantic era is a period of time where it shows the development and different styles of music. This can be shown through the manipulation of musical elements, (dynamics, pitch, tempo, rhythm, texture, meter, tonality, structure, melody, harmony, instrument) while contrasting them, but it can also be shown through the composers of the music, the size of the orchestra, musical directions, emotional content, and non-musical developments through that period of time.

First of all, the baroque is known by the exaggerated uses of ornamental decorations in their compositions. These ornaments were exposed in all types of art at that time as: painting, architecture, sculpture and music. In addition, baroque music uses a tonal harmony that produces musical contrast in high levels. This contrast is a very important element in the dramatic aspects of the baroque music, and it was reflected through the melody and texture of the compositions. Furthermore, the most important characteristics in the Baroque music style were the basso continuo and a simple melody with chord accompaniment. Those elements provided a variety of compositions with better stability in the harmony. Moreover, the music of this period presented the counterpoint and polyphony, two elements which caused movement in the melody, and also created expectations and captured the attention of those who listened to that music. On the other hand, romantic music is known for his great expressiveness in their compositions. This expressiveness allows to the composers, add their feelings and emotions to their music. Furthermore, the romantic music was showed a depletion of the capacity of tonal music, so it was passed to the trend of atonal music. Moreover, this kind of music presented a great use of melody, which was responsible to capture the beauty of the written music and as well

Musical modernism can be seen as the time where music emerges its liberty from Romantic era style -that started in the late nineteen century to end of the Second World War- and gains new ideas and freedom. With the political turmoil and chaos that took over the European countries, -that lured countries into the First World War- composers and artists started to find, create more and new ways to express themselves. They eagerly began to discover the art of Eastern countries with the hope of finding new ways of expression. The changes in tonality, irregular rhythms, tone clusters, distressed and antagonistic melodies, the expressionist, abstract, unusual ideas over powers the music, the traditional structures recreated or composed with

(3) In the Romantic era the compositions were very expressive and inventive. The Romantic composers experimented with already existing forms, and dramatic expressiveness. This grew out of the improvement of instruments and the newly invented

The romantic period of music began in the 1820s and with it came a change of stylistic features. Beethoven largely impacted the new way that the music of the Romantic era was viewed. He made people perceive music as a true form of art made to be taken seriously, rather than just a fun time passer. Another reason for the change of music during that time was due to nationalism and exoticism. Nationalism promoted music, such as folk songs and dances, which was created for the purpose of supporting the nation. Exoticism had the opposite effect as nationalism. It caused audiences to listen to folk music from other nations and it allowed people to have a better understanding of unique qualities and cultures of surrounding nations. These factors led to the music during the Romantic period becoming more personal and emotion than it was in the previous classical era, although it still contained a melody, harmony, tone color, and a form. Much of the music from the Romantic era can be recognized by its melody. The melodies became wider, more irregular, and dramatic during this time. The harmony of Romantic music was further advanced as well. The composers learned how to use harmony to build the melody and intensify its emotionality, while at the same time experimenting freely with new chords. The tone color of music during this time was expanded allowing the quality of the sound of the music to improve. One of the most important changes that were made to the features of music during

First, twentieth century music had taken a different approach than earlier music eras. There were varieties of differences which started from the instruments and the sounds that it produced to the complexity of the textures. The composers used new approaches and ideas to their compositions and broke many rules. The composers used the instruments and electronics to push ideas of “serious” music into the mainstream (Hansen, et al 169). The twentieth century was known for

Did music ever reach a point to where all restraints seemed cast off and composers had the opportunity to express musical freedom? Similar to the emotional and intense paintings done through this time, the music during the Romantic Period also expressed heightened passion and paralleled the trends in art. It lasted from circa 1825- 1900. Looking at the musicians during this time, the purpose of the music, and the things that characterized Romantic music, one will see how things changed from the previous Classical period.

In the course of the development of music, many great composers have contributed their brilliance towards the revolution of music. To be a great composer does not necessarily mean that they have reached a vast amount of fame. However, it means that their compositions have ingenuity and value. The melodies they have cleverly created have reached a point of worthiness in the world of music. For it is the sweet harmonies a composer creates that defines who he is. One of these gifted composers was Frederic Chopin, born on February 22, 1810 in Zelazowa Wola, Poland. Young Chopin was already composing by the age of eight and as his musical career developed he became known as a master of piano composition. Although he was often misunderstood