Romantism

Industrialism may have been the driving power that shaped the world into where it is now, but Romanticism played an enormous part in building the world and economy to it's current position. No other artistic movement had such power since the Middle Ages. Up until the romantic era, everything had order, balance and was realistic but during the Romantic Era people began to realize who they were, what they felt and now they were learning how to express these feelings and creative imagination through the different music, arts and literature. Romantics acted against the methodical and organized ways of culture and worked to reawaken and liberate people of the world. People began to use there imagination and intellect to express individuality and feelings.

Romanticism can be defined as "a sweeping but indispensable modern term applied to the profound shift in Western attitudes to art and human creativity that dominated much of European culture in the first half of the 19th century, and that has shaped most subsequent developments in music, arts and literature" (Baldick 1) or simply defined as "a movement in the history or culture, as an aesthetic style, and as an attitude or spirit" (Fiero 4). The Romantic Movement is defined as "a revolt against convention and authority and a search for freedom in personal, political, and artistic life." (Fiero 2).

Music, which I believe, is the most romantic of any art, was greatly affected by the Romantic Movement. It became expressive and melodies

became popular, which was totally opposite from compositions in the previous years. New musical techniques began as composers started to challenge the music industry with length of symphonies, new and improved harmonies and varied tones and sounds. A new form of music introduced in the Romantic Era was a story or poem portrayed by an orchestra, which then began voices added to symphonies. All of the compositions, symphonies, sonatas etc. that were composed in this period were extremely challenging for anyone to play and the performers had to be top notch. One of the biggest, most influential and challenging of the Movement was Ludwig von Beethoven.

Ludwig von Beethoven has been noted as "one of the greatest musicians of all time"(Fiero 60). He had many obstacles to overcome throughout his life (1770-1827), including the disability of deafness, but through all of this composed thirty-two piano sonatas and nine symphonies. He produced a small number of symphonies compared to others, but his symphonies contained new emotion that makes his compositions unique and remarkable (Ralph 319). Beethoven spent most of his life in Vienna in which he spent some time with Mozart and trained for a short time with Hayden. His musical talent was always improving to the point of becoming skillful in piano, organ and violins.

Beethoven's thirty-two piano sonatas composed throughout his life "tested the potential of an instrument" known today as the piano.

Beethoven proved the piano was capable of producing beautiful, expressful tones that eventually made the piano one of the most popular instruments of the nineteenth century (Fiero 60).

His greatest contribution to the Romantic Movement is his nine symphonies. These symphonies are all different and all express different emotions, individuality and uniqueness. Beethoven's symphonies followed the general format of the classic symphony, but he expanded it by making it longer, adding instruments and doubling up on certain instruments. This allowed the power of his symphonies to be dramatic. Introducing musical dynamics of loudness and softness and eventually adding emotion such as dolente (sorrowful) and teneramente (tenderly) really added feeling and showed his distinctiveness. The sudden pauses builds up the suspense of his next move in the symphony (Fiero 60).

Symphony No. 1 and Symphony No. 2 both followed the basic classical style of symphonies. The third symphony, which he began in 1803, was enormous in size and obscurity. It follows the standard classical symphony but was twice as long. The first movement alone contained six themes over the normal two. The beginning notes of Symphony No. 5 are so powerful and prove his attraction towards suspense and a potent climax (Fiero 60). His 9th Symphony is his greatest contribution to the music industry, period. Already being completely deaf for six years, he composed this symphony with challenging length, complexity and it was the first

symphony to ever include a choir and solo voices in the final movement. By doing this, he established that not just instruments could express thoughts and many other composers felt the free will to do the same (Romanticism).

To further change the way society was ran, he decided that instead of following the traditional composer employment by working for a particular wealthy or royal family, he was going to be independent. He sold his compositions independent, despite demands made by nobility or royalty (Fiero 60). He played for people who were less fortunate and were not able to hire a composer, but they were able to afford a ticket to watch him perform for an evening. This allowed the people to be able to enjoy his work, him to be able to survive and for him to be independent and challenge others to follow his steps. (Romanticism)

As you can see, his contributions to the Romantic music era are huge and drastic and his title as "one of the greatest musicians of all time" is greatly deserved. There is not a composer that could compare to his contributions made to the music industry before or after he composed his music.

Frederic Chopin, 1810 - 1849, lived a short but memorable

life. His works really emphasized individualism by composing music solely for the piano, consisting of a little over two hundred pieces. He wrote small pieces but very challenging to perform. In order for a person to perform his pieces they had to be virtuoso or "graceful but accurate and have

extraordinary technical skills" (Fiero 63). The fingering he established with his piano etudes (excercises) were probably the most challenging of his music, transforming piano compositions forever (Romanticism). One of his friends had described Chopin's hands as "the jaws of a snake" when performing on a piano (Fiero 63).

Chopin composed Waltzes that were delightful but different from the other composers waltzes. His are not meant to be danced to because of his speeds, slowing down and then quickly speeding back up. Another form of individualism!

Franz Schubert is another recognized composer and noted for his invention of the "art song". The "art song" is