Composer Profile - Activefolio

84 Chapter 8
Romantic Thinking
The study of the early Romantic period will center on brief accounts of some of the
major composers and their works. The development of a new form or the expansion of
an old one will be addressed as we discuss the composer who had the greatest impact on
that form. Because this is an era of “personalities” more than anything else, a list of some
major composers from the Romantic period is shown below.
Some Principal Composers from the Nineteenth Century
1800 1810 1820 1830 1840 1850 1860 1870 1880 1890 1900
[Ludwig van Beethoven 1770–1827]
[Giaocchino Rossini 1792–1868
[Franz Schubert 1797–1828 ]
]
[Hector Berlioz 1803–1869 ]
[Felix Mendelssohn 1809–1847 ]
[Robert Schumann 1810–1856 ]
[Frederick Chopin 1810–1849 ]
[Franz Liszt 1811–1886 ]
[Richard Wagner 1813–1883 ]
[Giuseppe Verdi 1813–1901 ]
[Clara Schumann 1819–1896 ]
[Cesar Franck 1822–1890 ]
[Anton Bruckner 1824–1896 ]
[Bedrich Smetana 1824–1884 ]
[Johannes Brahms 1833–1897 ]
[Georges Bizet 1838–1875 ]
[Modest Mussorgsky 1839–1881 ]
[Peter Tchaikovsky 1840–1893 ]
[Antonin Dvorak 1841–1904 ]
[Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov 1844–1908
[Gabriel Fauré 1845–1924
]
[Gustav Mahler 1860–1911 ]
[Edward MacDowell 1861–1908
[Richard Strauss 1864–1949
]
The term “romantic” was a term that had already been in use for years to describe
certain types of art and literature. It tended to mean different things to different people.
Many musicians, among them Robert Schumann, were not particularly fond of the
label. However, like the term “classical,” the term “romantic” came to represent both
the age and the mindset of the artists of the time. Romantic thinking involved several
components that can be found in the music of the time.
1. A preoccupation with death, mythology, and the macabre. The Romantic artist
felt compelled to describe and bring forth the most profound feelings through music.
Since the musical vocabulary now existed to describe strong emotions in musical
terms, composers took advantage of this ability. Why would they take a listener on an