Points on Romanticism and Romantic Music

 c.   1750 - 1800  -  The Classical Era in Music

                The last half of the 18th century was the height of the Enlightenment, an  
        intellectual movement that advocated for the improvement of society through 

        rational philosophy.  Attacks on monarchy, aristocratic privilege and religious   

        dogma were combined with demands for human rights, democracy, free market 
        economics, rule-based ethics, the advancement of science, the abolition of slavery, 

        and more.  The Enlightenment spawned the American and French revolutions. 

                The arts in this period are "neo-classical" (just "classical" in music) and were 
        also based on rational principles.   Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart  
        were the two most important composers of the classical era.


c.   1800 - 1830  -  The Transition to Romanticism

                By 1800 literature and the visual arts turned heavily towards romanticism, 
         which was a reaction to the rationalism of the Enlightenment.   Romanticism 
         focuses on human emotions (the passions) rather than rational thought.  

                But music trailed the other arts in romanticism.  It would take about thirty  
         years for music to become fully romantic.  Ludwig van Beethoven was the  
         most important composer in this transitional era. 

 
                  In the 1820s, some of Franz Schubert's music and the music of a few other
         composers had turned decidedly romantic.  By 1830, music was fully romantic
         with Chopin, Franz Liszt, Robert Schumann, Felix Mendelssohn and Hector 

         Berlioz, being the most important composers of instrumental music.

         Both program music and musical nationalism were important in the Romantic Era. 

         Romanticism in literature and the visual arts waned after the 1850s, but 

         continued on in music into the 20th century.