The Romantic Period (1810s-1890)

By hannahbilski

  • Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)

    German poet who helped shape romanticism. Also wrote dramas, autobiography, books about literature, novels, and scientific books on anatomy, botany, and color.

  • Luigi Cherubini (1760-1842)

    Italian composer, composed French opera Lodoiska (1791). Plot: the defeat of oppression dramatized as a heroic rescue from enslavement and imprisonment.
    This need to display liberty, equality, and heroism fueled not only opera, but music performances in general, and not just in France, but in other parts of Europe as well

  • Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)

    Transitional figure from the Classical to the Romantic style. Virtuoso pianist, freelance musician who composed in many genres. Made his living in Vienna as a performer before he gained fame as a composer. Studied with Haydn, but also with his and Mozart's students.Began to lose his hearing in his twenties and slowly went deaf.
    Music develops themes more and longer than other composers. Took older forms and expanded them.

  • Klemenz Wenzel von Metternich (1773-1859)

    Chancellor of Austria. Hosted the Congress of Vienna and shaped social activities, which featured the character piece and Lied.

  • E.T.A Hoffman (1776-1822)

    Wrote an article about Beethoven's instrumental music in Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung. Called Beethoven a genius in 1813, which was a new idea because either one had musical skill or not. He then programmized all of Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven's instrumental music.

  • Alessandro Manzoni (1785-1873)

    Had a difficult life, poet. Verdi's Messa da Requiem was written in his commemoration.

  • Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826)

    Composed the first German romantic opera "Der Freischutz"

  • Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826)

    Creator of the Magic Bullet in 1821.

  • French Revolution (1789-1799s)

    "Common" people saw themselves as empowered to break free from oppression. Influenced Beethoven, who heard of the events when he was 18. Decline of monarchies and theocracies.

  • Giacomo Meyerbeer (1791-1864)

    Jewish German composer who composed French opera.

  • Gioacchino Rossini (1792-1868)

    Opera composer in the early 19th century, most famous composer in Europe in the 19th century.

  • Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868)

    Continued Mozart's operatic style, famous composer in Europe 1815-1835.

  • Paris Conservatory is founded (1795)

  • Franz Schubert (1797-1828)

    Composed in all genres, over 600 Lieder, 17 operas and Singpiele, 9 symphonies, 35 chamber works, 200 choral pieces, and more.

  • Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848)

    Italian opera composer

  • Heinrich Heine (1797-1856)

    Poet who helped shape romanticism.

  • Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848)

    Wrote over 70 operas.

  • Vincenzo Bellini (1801-1835)

    Italian opera composer

  • Vincenzo Bellini (1801-1835)

    Famous for his opera Norma (1831)

  • Hector Berlioz (1803-1869)

    French composer, conductor, critic, and author. Early innovator of orchestration techniques that created the modern orchestral sound. Wrote a treatise on orchestration. One of the first conductors to stand in front of the orchestra and conduct.

  • Beethoven: Fidelio (1805)

    Rescue opera composed by Beethoven.

  • Fanny Mendelssohn (1805-1847)

    Composer, sister of Felix Mendelssohn. Child prodigy, wrote more than 100 works for solo piano, more than 200 Lieder, 24 works for chorus, several works for orchestra including an overture, and works for various chamber ensembles.

  • Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, Opus 67, Mvt. 1 (1808)

    One of the most well known art pieces, considered one of the first most well known romantic era pieces. Common orchestration, included 3 trombones in the orchestra for the first time, and a piccolo. Beethoven replaced the minuet with the scherzo, and moves attacca into movement iv.

  • Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)

    Composer of most genres, revived of J.S. Bach's music in Leipzig. Composed Songs Without Words in 1829-1845.

  • Robert Schumann (1810-1856)

    German composer, writer, pianist. 4 symphonies, 300+ Lieder, a piano concerto, much chamber and piano music, one opera. Married to Clara Schumann

  • Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849)

    Called the poet of the piano who found great success in the Salons. Only lived to be 39. Credited with originating the modern piano style.

  • Franz Liszt (1811-1886)

    Piano virtuoso, writer, conductor, composer, innovator, supporter of Wagner

  • Philharmonic Society is founded (1813)

    London, Johann Salomon (Haydn's patron) and others founded the society.

  • Richard Wagner (1813-1883)

    Changed opera, harmony, music. Innovations revolutionized instrumental music and opera. Saw elements as equal. Anti-semitic.

  • Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901)

    Most important Italian composer in the mid to late 19th century. Composed 28 operas; Falstaff when he was 80 years old.

  • The Congress of Vienna (1815)

    Divided Europe in order to disperse power. Part of the reason why boundaries were fluid.

  • Shubert: Erlkönig (1815)

    Based on the legend that whoever is touched by the king of the elves must die. Schubert creates a piano accompaniment that suggests galloping, shows terror in the boy’s voice by setting the text in a high range, shows the deceptive nature of the Erlking by choosing music representative of various moods, even slipping into a major mode to show deceit, creates a rise in tension as the music progresses.

  • Clara Schumann (Wieck) (1819-1896)

    Virtuoso pianist, composer, wife of Robert Schumann. Mother of 8, touring pianist. Composer piano concerto, chamber music, songs, solo piano pieces, cadenzas for piano concerto.

  • The Carlsbad Decrees of 1819

    Placed severe limits on freedom of expression by individuals and institutions. Vienna did not allow any kind of artistic expression.

  • Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880)

    Known for his operettes.

  • Royal Academy of Music is founded (1822)

  • Bedřich Smetana (1824-1884)

    Bohemian composer, best known for his cycle of 6 symphonic poems called Má vlast (My Country). Smetana considered the founder of Czech music. Went completely deaf in 1874, but continues to compose.

  • Stephen Foster (1826-1864)

    American song composer, first American to make a living as a professional songwriter. Wrote Le banjo, Fantasie grotesque a character piece.

  • Louis Moreau Gottschalk (1829-1869)

    American nationalist, born in New Orleans. Mother from the Caribbean and his father was of British Jewish heritage. Chopin regarded him as the "king of pianists."

  • Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique (1830)

    Program symphony in five movements.

  • Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)

    German composer. Met the Schumanns in 1853, which began a life-long friendship. One of the first editors of J. S. Bach’s music. Composed 4 symphonies, choral music, piano music, lieder, chamber music, overtures, but no opera.

  • Georges Bizet (1838-1875)

    Blended styles into opéra comique with Carmen (1875).

  • Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-93)

    Composer. Composed 8 operas, 7 symphonies, 3 piano concertos, 1 violin concerto, symphonic poems, overtures, chamber, keyboard, choral music, and songs. Wrote several famous ballets including Swan Lake (1877), The Sleeping Beauty (1890), and The Nutcracker (1892).

  • Antonin Dvorak (1841-1904)

    Czechoslovakian nationalist composer. Studied Black American cultures and music of the Native Americans. He used the tonalities, melodic shapes, harmonies, and general musical characteristics of the folk music and not the music itself. Symphony No. 9 in E minor.

  • New York Philharmonic is founded (1842)

    Concert halls became expressions of civic pride.

  • Edvard Grieg (1843-1907)

    Norwegian composer, known for Peer Gynt Suite

  • Verdi: Rigoletto (1851)

    First produced in Venice, Italy. Based on Victor Hugo's play called The King is Amused. Plot revolves around lechery, deceit, and treachery.

  • Edward Elgar (1857-1934)

    English composer

  • Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924)

    Trained in music, but wanted to pursue passion for the theater. Composed when he was 17. Most remembered for his Italian operas.

  • Ignacy Jan Paderewski (1860-1941)

    Polish pianist and composer, Prime minister and foreign minister of Poland in 1919, made a piano roll recording of his piece.

  • Isaac Albéniz (1860-1909)

    Spanish composer

  • Gustav Mahler (1860-1911)

    Bohemian conductor and composer. Bridged the Austro-German romantic traditions of composing with the new modern styles in the 20th century. Maximalist.

  • Italy becomes a country (1861)

  • Frederick Delius (1862-1934)

    English composer who also lived in France and the US

  • Jean Sibelius (1865-1957)

    Finnish composer, wrote Finlandia in 1899

  • Enrique Granados (1867-1916)

    Spanish composer

  • Má vlast (My Country, 1874) No. 2: “Vltava” (“The Moldau”)

    Tone poem, uses tone painting to evoke the sounds of the Moldau river.

  • Manuel de Falla (1876-1946)

    Spanish composer

  • Béla Bartok (1881-1945)

    Published 2000 tunes that he collected from Eastern European countries (Hungary, Romania, Croatia, Slovakia, Serbia, and Bulgaria). Virtuoso pianist. Developed a set of 153 pieces in 6 books for graded difficulty for teaching.

  • Puccini: Madame Butterfly (1904)

    Premiered February 17, 1904. It was a disaster.