Romantic

The romantic period or style covers the period from c1830 to c1900.

Romantic music is all about feelings. It is about trying to express strong feelings in music.

Earlier music (such as baroque and music from the classical period) was often written for the church or simply for entertainment. Romantic composers wrote their music to express their feelings – and that was it.

The romantic style was part of a broader movement in art and literature in the nineteenth century called romanticism. Romanticism emphasised the individual (rather than the glory of God, for example), and our emotions and feelings. Romantics tended to idealise nature and the countryside and were suspicious of new developments of the time, particularly industry, the growth of towns and cities, and improvements in scientific knowledge. Romanticism was partly a reaction to the Industrial Revolution.

Key features of the romantic style

Romantic music has all the features of music from the classical period, but with much more of it! This means:

• The tunes get longer and stronger.
• The dynamics go to the extremes – the louds get louder and the quiets get quieter.
• The mood changes are much bigger and happen more often.
• The orchestras get bigger – more instruments were added (especially in the brass and percussion families).
• The music lasts for a longer time.
• There is more music with the same names as music from the classical period. So there are a lots of symphonies, sonatas and concertos. There is also music with some new names, such as symphonic poems.

Notable composers