Bitten By Love! 56 Romantic Era Music Facts To Guide You Through

Romantic music is a term used to represent the music written in the 19th century, and the leading musicians of the period labeled this time as the Romantic Period.

Though, there are some artists and writers who consider the duration of the Romantic Period from the middle of the 18th century to the middle of the 19th century. This period was known for a clear form of music created by classical period artists.

For the young fanatics of today, the biggest pop music clash remains over whether One Direction or BTS is the better boy band. But ask any classical music lover, and their biggest dilemma will be over Mozart and Beethoven; two composers who existed over 2,000 years ago.

The Romantic Era, to which the famous composer Ludwig van Beethoven belonged, marked a revolutionary change in the history of music.

The Romantic Era challenged the strict norms of the music defined in its preceding period, called the Classical Era. Music in the Romantic Period was a major component of the literary, artistic, and global philosophical movement popularly known as Romanticism.

Romanticism also called the Romantic Era, began in the late 18th Century as an opposing reaction to the various elements of rapid modernization including the Industrial Revolution, the social and political standards of the Age of Reason, and the scientific take to nature.

The period lasted from 1798 to 1837.

Romantic music reached its peak in the 19th century, from 1800 to 1850. Some scholars say the Romantic Period music extended itself to times as far as the 20th century, as neo-romantic composers like Richard Wagner emerged.

You must be wondering why the word ‘romantic’ was chosen to represent such a movement.

The great artists, authors, poets, philosophers, and composers of this period sought to counter the rising classism and inhumanity in society, the industrial teardown of nature, and depletion of traditional values like chivalry, honor, and devotion among people with grounded and heart touching work that inspired love for nature, peaceful introspection of one’s feelings, and freedom of expression to stop people from becoming heartless machines in pursuit of the new financial opportunities the Industrial Revolution brought.

Thus, the common idea of ‘romanticizing’ the cold reality of the world into a warmer place gave way to the era being called that of Romantics.

What is interesting about the Romantic Period of music is that composers delved so deep into their imagination that they made songs not only about nationalism, love, and nature but also about the mystical and spiritual world, the earthly and unearthly presence of religion, mythologies, and other soulful topics.

Here we will cover some interesting Romantic Era music facts, so keep reading to discover the romantic inside you!

The Characteristics Of Music In The Romantic Era

 As orchestrated instrumental music was only a luxury to the elite class in older times, the classical period of music followed strict norms of simple elegance and universality. The romantic composers changed the essence of classical music and brought forward a new musical style that was deep, diverse, and creatively individualistic to the composer and his nationality.

The Romantic Period is associated with the Romantic movement and Romanticism. Similarly, the classical period followed Classicism.

As per the norms of Classicism, music in the Classical Era followed the traditional rules of composition. The composers produced what they believed to be ‘rational’ music in accordance with the understanding and taste of the aristocracy and didn't give into individual desires to produce complex music.

Romantic Era music, on the other hand, had creative individuality and freedom of expression as its core foundations. Each romantic composer's work was so unique that the listener could identify the composer within seconds.

The emotional expression could be sensed in all musical works by romantic composers. The expression of emotions was diverse: love, melancholy, flamboyance, longing, intimacy, and pride were some of the many emotions portrayed through music during the Romantic Period.

While the classical composers produced largely universal music, romantic music was characterized by the nationality of the composer. The composers used native folk music, folk legends, and melodies from folk songs to make music that was personal and represented their nations.

Thus, nationalism was strengthened through music in the Romantic Era. Also, classical music was mostly chamber music for the nobility, romantic music had a public career with public shows at low rates for the middle class.

Different Composers Of The Romantic Era

Romantic Period music has gifted the world with some of the most talented composers in the history of music. These legends have their own musical language, with a complex yet enchanting way of composing music that touched the hearts of millions across the globe and is still performed, listened to, and loved by fans of classical music.

Ludwig van Beethoven: Beethoven was a German composer and pianist who dominated the Romantic Period of music like no other composer. Some of his most famous works include the 'Moonlight Sonata', 'Fidelio', 'The Violin Concerto', and 'Symphony No.

3': (Eroica). Beethoven’s 'Pastoral Symphony' is a true romantic piece, as he publicly declared its purpose as an 'expression of nature'. The most absurd fact is that Beethoven was partially deaf in the latter half of his career when he produced some of his best compositions.

Franz Schubert: Franz Schubert was an Austrian composer. He is counted in both late Classical and early Romantic Era composers.

He was a prodigal musician since childhood and composed a large number of symphonies, operas, piano, and chamber pieces, including the famous 'Trout Quintet', 'String Quintet', 'Winterreise', and 'Great Symphony No. 9' in his short career. At just 31 years of age, he passed away due to mercury poisoning.

Richard Strauss: Richard Strauss was a German composer, conductor, pianist, and violinist. He belonged to the late Romantic and early Moderns Era of classical music.

He is regarded as one of the best conductors of all time. He was most popular for his operas like 'Salome' and 'Elektra' and his tone poems, including 'Also Sprach Zarathustra', 'Don Juan', and' Death and Transfiguration'.

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Pyotr Tchaikovsky was a Russian composer of the late Romantic Period. He was the first Russian composer to gain popularity in classical music across the world. Known best for his ballet music, he has produced legendary ballets like 'Swan Lake', 'Sleeping Beauty', and 'The Nutcracker'. He has also composed several famous operas, symphonies, and concertos.

Features Of Romantic Era Music

The romantic style of music broke the structural constraints of music in the Classical Era. Romantic music transformed classical music into a more vibrant, expressive, and complex musical form. This was partly due to the new aspirations and ideas of the composers and partly through the development of the orchestral instruments.

Due to the common imaginative themes of Romanticism during the Romantic movement, strong links between literature, paintings, and music developed. Thus, romantic composers expanded their work into program music; music that tells a story.

The audience was given program notes or was made aware of the narrative of the program through the piece’s title. The composers used more chromatic harmonies to make their music more vibrant.

Chromatic harmonies are unstable harmonies that create a mysterious or yearnful tone in music. The symphonies became larger, and the tempo of the music increased during the Romantic Period of music.

Complicated rhythms were developed that required the utmost precision and a huge orchestra with a wide variety of instruments. The freedom of design was endless, and each composer took it upon themself to produce extraordinary and intricate music that conveyed a story through librettos and instrumental music.

As the size of the orchestra and its number of instruments increased, the conductor of the orchestra became excessively important as the execution and interpretation of the piece depended on his skills. All existing forms of classical music like symphonies, sonatas, operas, and concertos were made longer.

Instruments Used In Romantic Era Music

Running parallel to the technological advancements of the Industrial Revolution, the music during the Romantic movement opposed rapid modernization. However, despite this opposition, the composers and musicians at the time gained a lot from the improvement in pre-existing instruments and the development of new ones. Some of the prominent instruments used in the Romantic style of music are:

Piano: many improvements were made to the piano during the 19th century. Piano music got a richer sound because of these developments.

The pedal began to be used to a much wider extent. More notes and a metal frame were added to the piano, which formerly used to have a wooden frame. The piano and the violin became the chief instruments for concerts during the romantic period.

Tuba: the invention of the bass tuba in 1835 provided for a stable brass bass. The tuba was built in different sizes in order to give a mellow and rich brass choir for the band of woodwind instruments. The Wagner tubas were specially built for Richard Wagner’s four-opera cycle.

Bass Clarinet: a bass clarinet is made entirely out of wood, except for its bell and neck, which are made of metal. Good quality bass clarinets were produced only in the 1830s, therefore clarinets do not have a lot of history in the early days of the Romantic Period.

Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss were two of the first major composers to include the bass clarinet in their music compositions.

Piccolo: the piccolo is a flute-like instrument, first used by the famous composer Beethoven in his composition to imitate the various sounds of nature. It was used to make sounds like the whistling of a storm or lightning to give dramatic effects to operas and concertos.

The piccolo was later added to the woodwind section of orchestras by composers like Richard Strauss.