Romanticism and the Romantic Era

   1.    Classical vs. Romantic Values in the Arts 

   2.    19th Century Romantic Visual Arts

   3.   Classicism & Romanticism in Music

     The Classical & Romantic Eras: 

         The Gothic Era  (c. 1150 - 1400) was romantic.   

         The Renaissance  (c. 1400 - 1600) was classical.     

         The Baroque era  (c. 1600 - 1750) was romantic.   

                The music was very passionate (e.g. Vivaldi's The Four Seasons and 
                Handel's Hallelujah Chorus), and it was complex (e.g.  J.S. Bach's 
                polyphonic fugues).    


          The Classical era   (c. 1730 - 1820) 

                Early Classical era (c. 1730 - 1830) composers removed the polyphony 

                and simplified the chord progressions.

                They created a simpler, more restrained music with song-like melodies.  
 
                Later composers (c. 1770 - 1800), particularly Joseph Haydn and W.A. 
                Mozart, would add some complexity, (including polyphony), back in, 
                but their music would still be almost always emotionally positive.   


         Towards Romanticism   (c. 1802 - 1830) 

               After 1800 composers began transitioning away from classicism towards 
               romanticism.  The most important composer of this period was Ludwig   

               van Beethoven (1770 - 1826).  Beethoven never became a fully romantic 
               composer.  But his explorations of subjective emotions and increased 
               use of minor keys, dissonance, sudden volume changes and dramatic
               silences opened new doors for the early Romantic composers who 
               followed him.  Beethoven also greatly increased the technical aspects 
               of piano playing that would be important to Chopin, Robert Schumann,   

               and Franz Liszt in the 1830s.     

          The Romantic era   (c. 1830 - 1910)