Romantic Period in Music History Essay (Critical Writing)

The romantic period in the history of music began at the beginning of the 19^th century in 1820 and lasted until the beginning of the 20^th century. The authors of this period transformed music composition and defied classical period rules. They started making their pieces more emotionally expressive, more extended, they added the use of dissonance and introduced so called “leitmotiv”, that is a certain repeated theme in a piece (Baltzell 371). Another feature of romantic composers is the uniqueness of each work. In general, romantic composers made music more individualistic and made a personal sense of longing of individuals the main theme of their compositions.

Some of the romantic composers include Frédéric Chopin (Nocturne in B-flat minor Op. 9 No. 1, Nocturne in E minor Op. 72 No. 1, Prelude in F minor Op. 28 No 18, Waltz in F minor Op. 70 No. 2), Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Piano Concerto No. 1, Op. 23, Violin Concerto, Op. 35: II. Andante, The Sleeping Beauty Op. 66: Ouverture, Swan Lake: Dance of the Swans, Slavonic March (Marche Slave), Op. 31, The Nutcracker: Valzer dei Fiori), Franz Liszt (Hungarian rhapsody no 2, Hungarian rhapsody no 15, Piano concerto no 1, Piano concerto no 2), Richard Strauss (Pizzicato Polka, Op. 234, Polka Schnell, Op. 281, Viennese Blood (Wiener Blut) Waltz, Op. 354, Light Blood (Leichtes Blut) Polka, Op. 139), Richard Wagner (Faust, Parsifal, Tristan und Isolde, Overture Rienzi), Ludwig van Beethoven (Symphony No. 7, Op. 92: III. Presto, Minuet in G major, WoO 10, No. 2, Duet for Clarinet and Bassoon, Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61), Mikhail Glinka (Overture to “Ruslan and Lyudmila”, Waltz – Fantasia in b minor, Polonaise from “Ivan Susanin”, Waltz from “Ivan Susanin”), Franz Schubert (Ave Maria, D. 839, Overture in C Minor, D. 8, Erlkönig, D. 328, No. 2 in E-Flat Major, Allegro), Robert Schumann (Des Abends, Aufschwung, Träumerei, Abschied) and Modest Mussorgsky (Night on Bald Mountain, Gopak, Sunless, Bydlo).

Composers of the time were influenced by romanticism in art and literature as well as by major historical events, such as revolutions. They made emphasis on expressing emotions in a unique manner through music. Unlike the Classical period, for romantic composers it was unacceptable to recycle their own works in future pieces, thus, they produced fewer pieces, but each one was completely different from the previous ones. The themes of works had more to do with tragedy, with death, with unrequited love (Baltzell 347). Some works were influenced by certain political movements such as nationalism, nature was also a reoccurring theme. Romantic symphonies were longer than the classical ones, and the use of dissonance was typical. In general, romantic period was the reflection of the individualism of the time.

List of four pieces:

1. Swan Lake: Dance of the Swans by Tchaikovsky
2. Prelude in F minor Op. 28 No 18 by Chopin
3. The Nutcracker: Valzer dei Fiori by Tchaikovsky
4. Hungarian rhapsody no 2 by Liszt

Work Cited

Baltzell, Winton James. A Complete History of Music. BoD – Books on Demand, 2020.