Music Elements In The Romantic Period

Often music is consisted not only by sounds made from musical instruments, but also by voice and verbal messages. The structure of the voice, or as Roland Barthes describes it ‘the grain of voice’ is the element in a certain piece of music which is responsible for creating the emotions when listening. The grain and the lyrics make the signified and carry out the message. The vocal part of music is formed of words, text, which communicate and make the representation and expression of what it is sung - talked about. According to Barthes the emotive modes of the voice and the changes of the tones from low to high is what delivers the final message and makes us feel the music. (Barthes, R. 1977 [1972]).

Romanticism. Romanticism is characterized by its impressive expressiveness in harmonic and thematic process with an increasing weight of chromatic and dissonant elements. There is a new tendency to give a particular importance to timber, texture and rhythm. Like the Renaissance after the Middle Ages, Romantic composers want to express the new-found independence of the humanity that is no longer under the constraining influence of the strict model that classical composers follow. Some Romantic compositions express a powerful individualism while others express the beauties and terrors of nature, but the most common theme is nationalism.

Usually when people judge romance they assume of dating, but the Romantic Period was not about dating, it was a time of great emotion, creativity, imagination, adventure, and was a time of political revolution. Romanticism originated in Western Europe in the second half of the 18th century, and gained much strength during the Industrial Revolution. This era was a time of great change, and unlike the Classical era, the Romantic era allowed artistic creativity, freedom, and experimentation. The Romantic Period brought a flood of women who began writing and expressing themselves through literary works. Women increased recognition during the romantic era. They devolved into music teachers, composers, singers and performers. Although they were still in the opposition of music professions, the women in this era opened the doors for opportunities in the future. A few dominant impacts were Pauline Viardot, Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, and Clara Schumann. They even had some of their works published. (Young: 235-237)

Many artists created and performed music during the period of Romanticism in Europe. Artists during this period masterfully combined multiple musical components to create memorable pieces that they delivered to the public through performances. The artists combined musical components such as form, texture, tempo, melodic range, articulation, dynamic(s), and timbre to create an enjoyable musical experience. By utilizing all of the different musical components, composers created timeless pieces that attracted large crowds of commoners as well as noble and royal families. Tchaikovsky was a musical composer that stood out from the rest of the musical composers during the Romantic period.

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

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?

Throughout its history, music has permeated the significant events of American history. Its effect on American society and the way the American people cope with each event has only grown as popular music evolves and new genres reach more and more individuals. People can remember where they were and their exact surroundings to amazing detail when asked about life-changing events in history. Older generations will remember the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Their children will remember when Kennedy was assassinated and when man walked on the moon. Their grandchildren will remember much of the turmoil of the ‘70s and ‘80s and their great grandchildren grew up in the world impacted by the events of September 11, 2001. Even one’s surroundings during the start or end of a relationship or personal events such as graduation, getting a driver’s license, or getting married can all be paired with the music that was popular at the time.

Back in Medieval times, music was crude, extremely limited, costly, and exhausting to write. It was and used mainly for church services. The music used in the church were mainly choir chants; only men and young boys could sing in the choir due to the church rules. Next came the praise worthy baroque period. Figured bass, preludes, ornamentations, trills, mordants, and various new musical forms developed, such as the etude or sonata. In this part of musical history, the composers Bach, Handel, and Vivaldi were the cream of the crop. Baroque’s musical characteristic consisted usually of detached, staccato accents, light metered rhythms, and fast precise notes. Next came the classical period, where the staccato accents still stayed within the music, but the light pace and styles where dropped for freer rhythms and notes. Some of the composers who wrote music in this period are some of the most widely known composers ever. Composers such as Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Schubert, and Mozart were the top classical writers, but some such as Beethoven branched to both the classical and the romantic periods. The romantic period brought warmth, emotions and life into music. Pieces were no longer mechanical and orderly any more. Music was written with feeling and was written for enjoyment. Therefore, the modern period was quiet a huge jump for the general public, and most of the music after the romantic period is usually left unexplored. Though the daunting task of sorting through the various modern pieces is very tedious, it is worth it. From behind the ear-bleeding music of Rachmaninoff and the odd works of Ravel, comes many wonderful and different styles of music. Modern music's characteristics include atonally, minimalism, twelve-tone, and many other new musical devices and ornamentation. Not all modern music, however, is unusual or weird. Some composer wrote music in a revival of romantic. Gustav Mahler and Jean

Established arrangers were attempting to make tracks in an opposite direction from the old music of the Baroque period. In any case, Romantic authors did not attempt to move far from the music of the Classical period. Sentimental music is connected with sentimentalism in the Europe while traditional music is identified with Classicalism. The Classical periods was very purpose on safeguarding arrange and showing tunes in the clearest way imaginable. The harmonies in the Classical period were exceptionally clear and construct intensely with respect to the significant minor scale connections. This state of mind toward musical guidelines changed in the Romantic period. Arrangers in the Romantic period started extending sonata structure, darkening the tune with more progressed and chromatic harmonies, and making another style of music that communicated the sensational and not as a matter of course the physical parts of music. The topics or articulations of sentimental music incorporate nature and self-expression while subjects of traditional music incorporate restriction and passionate equalization. Instrumental game plans of established music incorporate ensemble without solo piano works while that of sentimental music incorporate bigger orchestra with solo piano

Throughout history, music have defined or depicted the culture and social events in America. Music has constantly played an important role in constituting American culture, where people have expressed themselves through music during flourishing and turbulent times. In the 1930’s, Swing music created a platform for audiences to vent their emotions in the midst of Great Depression and political unrest. Such strong relationship between music and culture can be seen throughout history, especially in the sixties.

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.

Thanks to Beethoven, music was taken highly serious among the people and the literatures of arts. During the nineteenth century, the first two decades were devoted to Romanticism. Literature wasn’t the only thing that poured out during this time period, so did the music. People such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who was an Enlightenment philosopher in the mid-eighteenth century, provided the Romantics with ideas on how to express themselves as opposed to what society expected from one. These ideas led people to live an upbeat joyful life rather than a sluggish boring one. However, Romanticism came to be during a time of war, and because of how freely expressive the Romantics were they became know as rebels who went against the rules and regulations. So rebellious that the Romantic composers were experimenting with chords that had been off limits.

What is the Romantic music period? The Romantic music is the period of Western Classical music that began in the late 18th to early 19th century. It is related to Romanticism, the European literary and artistic movement that came to be in the second half of the 18th century. The Romantic music in particular was extremely significant in the Romantic movement in Germany. In the Romantic period music became more emotional and deeply expressive. we'll known early Romantic composers include Beethoven (whose works are in both this period and the Classical period), Schumann, Chopin,Schubert, Mendelssohn, Berlioz and. The late 19th century saw dramatic growth in the size of the orchestra and wide array of instruments used. Public concerts became a

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

Furthermore, memorable melodies, richly expressive harmony, and broad expanded forms characterized Romantic music. The once Classical tradition became heavily influenced by emotional elements, reduced formalism, and the implementation of often non-musical