Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Romanticism and nature
The classical music era
Short essays about classical music era
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Romanticism and nature
Pyotr llyich Tchaikovsky, is a Russian Born composer who created some of the most popular pieces of music. He was born on the 25th of April 1840 in the Ural Mountains of Russia. His music is associated with the Romantic Era and he is noted as the first and most famous Russian composer. The Romantic Period is not what what people think of when they hear the word “romance” today. Usually people hear the word romance and believe it is associated with love, which it is today however, during the period of Romanticism nature was the big idea, followed by many things people thought of and felt about it. Not only did Tchaikovsky create exceptional pieces of music but, he also created famous ballets such as the Nutcracker, The Sleeping Beauty, and …show more content…
These factors influenced the type of music which this period was noticed for. The people of the romantic period had an obsession with nature which, they viewed as art and supernatural. The idea of supernatural played a huge part in the creation of music and art pieces. The Romantics used mythological themes to depict creativity which evoked different emotions upon individuals. Although, the Romantics were fascinated with nature they also feared it because they viewed it as unpredictable. During this period the artists were also a big deal because it is believed their work showed creative views of nature which could have different meanings. This is why instrumental was still the most popular form of music in the period of Romanticism. Instrumental music gave people the ability to experience different interpretations, emotions and spiritual thoughts as well. Romantic composers used music as means of projecting powerful expression and …show more content…
The Nutcracker is notably one of the most well known ballets as it is often performed on TV programs as well as in theaters, especially within the months leading up to Christmas. The nutcracker is considered to be a piece of program music which, was a popular genre during the Romantic Period. Program music is an instrumental piece that is based on a story, programme music represents the links and the unification between music, painting, literature, theatre and dance. This ballet debuted on the 6th of December 1892, during the romantic period which, is known to have existed from the 18th to 19th century. In relation to the Romantic Era, The Nutcracker possess many characteristics attributed to this period in music. For instance, the storyline of The Nutcracker is about a little girl that shrinks to the size of her toys, soon after her favorite Christmas toy the nutcracker comes alive and takes her away to a magical kingdom filled with dolls after defeating the evil mouse king. This work of art is one that is a reflection of the Romantic Period because the Romantics had a fascination of Magic, dreams, fantasy and mystery. This ballet imposed the idea of supernatural as the rodents included in it were given the role of being evil. Also, it is beyond reality that a doll can come to life therefore, the idea of magic is presented to us. Tchaikovsky’s music reflected the
While Tchaikovsky is known for his compositions of classical ballet, he was overall great as a pianist. Like most composers of music, his compositions reflected that of his feelings greatly, which helped him connect to the public and spread his music quite well. As a child, he became better than his teacher in one year, and at the age of ten went to the School of Jurisprudence and quickly completed the upper division classes. After graduating, he did four years at the Ministry of Justice, which didn’t really suite him well. Once out of the Ministry of Justice in the 1860s, he joined the Music Conservatory at the age of 22. Shortly after joining, he composed his first orchestral score in 1864. Two years later, he settled down in Moscow and started to increase his fame as a composer. In the following years he would tour around Europe and even into the United States. In 1893, six days after the premiere of his last piece he
Both Copland and de Mille forged an American masterpiece with their groundbreaking music and choreography, respectively. The work that both artists put into Rodeo contributed to the revolutionary new genre of 20th Century American ballet. The music and dancing work in parallel and in close interaction, to convey this humorous and lighthearted story. There would have been no ballet without both of these components. Nonetheless, the music composed under the inspiration and choreography of the story is successful as an entity.
For almost half a century, the musical world was defined by order and esteemed the form of music more highly than the emotion that lay behind it. However, at the turn of the 19th century, romantic music began to rise in popularity. Lasting nearly a century, romantic music rejected the ideas of the classical era and instead encouraged composers to embrace the idea of emotionally driven music. Music was centered around extreme emotions and fantastical stories that rejected the idea of reason. This was the world that Clara Wieck (who would later marry the famous composer, Robert Schumann) was born into. Most well known for being a famous concert pianist, and secondly for being a romantic composer, Clara intimately knew the workings of romantic music which would not only influence Clara but would later become influenced by her progressive compositions and performances, as asserted by Bertita Harding, author of Concerto: The Glowing Story of Clara Schumann (Harding, 14). Clara’s musical career is an excellent example of how romantic music changed from virtuosic pieces composed to inspire awe at a performer’s talent, to more serious and nuanced pieces of music that valued the emotion of the listener above all else.
The stage that hosted the creation of illusion for those attending ballet after 1827 in its “golden age” (Guest, 1) introduced a new world, but one that could not be reached. These illusions were expressed through performance as “moods of Romanticism.” (5) The Romantic period of the early 19th century emphasized the alienation of an individual, the spectacle of that isolation, and the Romantic ideal that perfection remains mysterious and unattainable, as opposed to the late 18th century’s Enlightenment ideals that held rationality and tangible beings most profound. The spectacle of an estranged, supernatural being embodies these elements of Romanticism, as was represented in Romantic ballet. Coralli and Perrot’s 1841 ballet, Giselle, incorporated these Romantic elements into “each one of (the ballet’s) component parts - scenic design…choreography and dance style” (7), as well as with innovations in narrative. These narratives began to project women as powerful representations of the ethereal, supernatural being, as is specifically shown in the character of Giselle in Coralli and Perrot’s ballet. Through the novelties of Romantic visual presentation in scenery, movement, and narrative, the golden age of ballet was able to effectively “(reveal) the unattainable” (7) and supernatural.
When we think about The Nutcracker today, we see a memorable story about a girl (Marie) receiving a magical gift at a Christmas party from her mysterious Uncle Dosselmeyer. The gift is a nutcracker. Later that night, the nutcracker ends up turning into a Prince after defeating the Mouse King and saves Marie. Then, he takes Marie to a land called The Kingdom of Sweets where she is greeted by the Sugarplum fairy. This story is one of the most recognized ballets across the globe. However, what we do not think about is the way this ballet was created and how no one believed in the story as a great ballet.
Fantasia is a 1940 animated film produced by Walt Disney. The movie is composed of interesting images alongside beautiful pieces of music that are conducted by Leopold Stokowski. The images included in Fantasia are what the animators believed the listener would create in their heads while hearing to the compositions. Although these images can be seen as strange and bizarre, they truly depict what the people in the audience may be feeling while listening to the music and the scenes shown will stick with the listener when hearing the pieces of music in the future. Perhaps even seeing a portion of a certain scene from Fantasia could resurface the piece of music that was played during that scene. Three scenes that happened to stick out to me are Tchaikovsky's "Nutcracker Suite", Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring", and "Dance of the Hours" by Ponchielli.
He published his first orchestral works, a symphony and an opera, by 1869 (1). Inspired by E. T. A. Hoffmann’s libretto, Tchaikovsky wrote his best-recognized ballet, The Nutcracker (“Peter Ilych Tchaikovsky” 2).The Nutcracker lends an ironic understatement to Tchaikovsky because of the ballet’s cheerfulness and Tchaikovsky’s various forms of mental stress he faced throughout his life (2).... ... middle of paper ... ...
When one thinks of a ballet they hear soft rhythmic notes and see elegantly dancing ballerinas softly tip-toeing around the stage. This is also what people in early 1900’s expected to see when they planned to attend a ballet. However, a couple of motivated artists in 1913 literally planned to change the design of ballet, music and dance forever. On May 29, 1913 a ballet named The Rite of Spring premiered in Paris, France. The original title as it translates from Russian to French is; Le Sacre du Printemps, meaning the rite of spring, but the literal translation from Russian to English means “Sacred Spring”. The ballet and music were composed by Igor Stravinsky, with the help of Nicholas Roerich, who proposed the general idea behind the ballet to Stravinsky. Roerich wanted to put into motion the ideas behind pagan pre-Christian rituals in Russia. Together the two created the story line behind the ballet; a sacred pagan ritual where a young female dances herself to death and is then offered to the “Gods” of spring to make them happy. The music was composed by Vaslav Nijinsky and the ballet was produced by Sergei Diaghilev for the Russian Ballet. This ballet was so different from what the spectators expected to see that it caused a riot. The Rite of Spring turned the tables of ballet in every sense: the dance, the music and the general idea of ballet was modernized by the group of artists who created and produced it.
The term romantic first appeared at sometime during the latter half of the 18th Century, meaning in quite literal English, "romance-like", usually referring to the character of mythical medieval romances. The first significant jump was in literature, where writing became far more reliant on imagination and the freedom of thought and expression, in around 1750. Subsequent movements then began to follow in Music and Art, where the same kind of imagination and expression began to appear. In this essay I shall be discussing the effect that this movement had on music, the way it developed, and the impact that it had on the future development of western music.
Romanticism was a reaction to the Enlightenment as a cultural movement, an aesthetic style, and an attitude of mind (210). Culturally, Romanticism freed people from the limitations and rules of the Enlightenment. The music of the Enlightenment was orderly and restrained, while the music of the Romantic period was emotional. As an aesthetic style, Romanticism was very imaginative while the art of the Enlightenment was realistic and ornate. The Romanticism as an attitude of mind was characterized by transcendental idealism, where experience was obtained through the gathering and processing of information. The idealism of the Enlightenment defined experience as something that was just gathered.
Ludwig van Beethoven, the famous German born composer and pianist, composed the Romance in F major in 1798. It was likely first performed in that year, but was not published until 1805 in Vienna. It was originally written for violin and orchestra but the edition being performed today was transcribed and edited for saxophone and piano by Peter Saiano. During this period of his life, Beethoven was still known as perhaps the greatest pianist in existence and he was busy touring Europe as a performer. He had not yet achieved the status he now holds as a composer, and during this period he was also working on his first set of string quartets.
Romantic music was a different form of music that didn’t focus on religion, political or social tendencies. According to Lawrence Kramer the author of the book Why Classical Music Still Matters, “historically, the ideal of romantic love, tended to substitute for broader schemes of political, social, vocational, or religious meaning, as part of an increasing general tendency to rely on private rather that public schemes of fulfillment.” Meaning that romanticism had an impact on music in which religion, political and social meanings were substituted by a new form that rely on private situations instead of general public situations. This music form influenced the most in modern music because most of them are not based on
Other societal practice during romanticism is the Romantic Opera. In comparison to the classical and baroque opera, romantic opera has a continuous flow of music in each scene and soon, people pay less attention to tenors and pays equal attention to choruses. To name a few of many composers for romantic operas, Wagner and Bizet are known for their works for romantic opera during the romantic era. Romantic music is also influenced by folk music, tunes, rhythms and themes as many romantic composers wrote nationalist music, which is inspired from folk dances and songs, during the romantic period (http://absoluteastronomy.com). Another factor that contributed to romantic music in defining its traits is the instrumentation.
The romantic era was noted for its portrayal of extreme emotions such as sorrow and anger. The Romantic era saw an increase in program music. Program Music is instrumental music that intends to portray a specific story, image, and concept. The opposite of program music is absolute music. That is music with no specific story or image behind it.
Romanticism in Impromptu The end of the Enlightenment era brought about the beginning of a new age that was filled with people who were emotionally liberated and could express themselves through art. Some believed that the only true way to worship God was through nature and artistic representation. In Impromptu and the Romantic era, the artists and writers were open with their sexuality and emotions in a way that was very different to previous tradition. They were not afraid to make their needs or wants known to the people around them or the people viewing their work.