Romantic music

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Romantic music

It’s the sort of music that deliberately stirs up emotions.

IN EVERYDAY LANGUAGE a romantic person is someone who gives his girlfriend flowers and is generally very emotional, with his head in the clouds. Romantic music can certainly be emotional, even over-emotional.

Listen to this famous tune by the French romantic composer Berlioz.

Notice the way the melody pushes towards a high point or climax near the end. To see how original this is, compare Berlioz’s tune with this one written by Haydn, who belonged to the classical period (which came before the romantic period).

Haydn’s tune doesn’t aim towards a high point. The feeling it contains is spread out evenly over its whole length.

The idea of music pushing towards a big climax was a Romantic invention. You find it in all the composers of the early Romantic era, like Berlioz, Weber and Chopin, and also in later romantic composers like Tchaikovsky and Wagner.

There are other qualities that make romantic music special. The romantics in general were interested in bringing new subjects and new feelings into art. They were interested in terror, the ugly, madness, and anything diabolical.

Listen to this piece by one of the greatest romantic composers, Franz Liszt. It’s inspired by the figure of Mephistopheles, or the devil.

Like romantic artists and poets, romantic composers disliked anything that was too clear and definite. They liked night-time, misty landscapes and dreams. This was why romantic composers were so keen on using the sustaining pedal in their piano music. When you put the pedal down, the sound becomes blurry and misty.

Here’s a typically romantic sound: a melody floating over a dreamy blur of pedal. It’s the beginning of a piano piece by the great Polish romantic composer Chopin.

Another special quality of romantic music was the way the chords become more and more complicated. The effect is that the harmony often seems to be ‘wandering’. Here’s a good example from a Wagner opera, a moment that represents a character going into a deep sleep.

Classical music

Modern music

Romantic music

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