Early Romantic The transition of
Viennese classicism to Romanticism can be found in the work of
Ludwig van Beethoven. Many typically romantic elements are encountered for the first time in his works. These works stand here in contrast to
vocal music and are "purely" instrumental music. According to Hoffmann, the pure
instrumental music of Viennese classical music, especially that of
Beethoven, since it is free of material or program, is the embodiment of the romantic art idea. Another of the most important representatives of late classicism and early romanticism is
Franz Schubert. He introduced romantic features into German-language opera, with
his chamber music works and later
symphonies. In this field, his work is supplemented by the ballads of
Carl Loewe.
Carl Maria von Weber is important for the development of the
German opera, especially with his popular Freischütz. There are fantastic-horrious materials by
Heinrich Marschner and cheerful opera by
Albert Lortzing.
Louis Spohr became known mainly for his instrumental music. Still largely attached to classical music is the work of
Johann Nepomuk Hummel,
Ferdinand Ries, and the Frenchman
George Onslow.
Italy experienced the heyday of the
Belcanto opera in early Romanticism, associated with the names of
Gioachino Rossini,
Gaetano Donizetti, and
Vincenzo Bellini. While Rossini's comic operas are primarily known today, often only through their rousing
overtures, Donizetti and Bellini predominate tragic content. The most important Italian instrumental composer of this time was the legendary "devil's violinist"
Niccolò Paganini. In
France, light Opéra comique developed. Its representatives are
François-Adrien Boieldieu,
Daniel-François-Esprit Auber, and
Adolphe Adam, with Adam known for his
ballets. The famous eccentric composer and harpist
Robert Nicolas-Charles Bochsa wrote seven operas. The Grand opéra came up with pompous stage sets, ballets and large choirs. Her first representative was
Gaspare Spontini, her most important
Giacomo Meyerbeer. Other European countries are represented. The Irishman
John Field composed the first
Nocturnes for
piano.
Friedrich Kuhlau worked in Denmark. The Swede
Franz Berwald wrote four very idiosyncratic
symphonies.
High Romantic in Paris, 1861|alt=A photograph of the upper half of a man of about fifty viewed from his front right. He wears a cravat and frock coat. He has long sideburns and his dark hair is receding at the temples. The high romanticism can be divided into two phases. In the first phase, the actual romantic music reaches its peak. The Polish composer
Frédéric Chopin explored previously unknown depths of emotion in his character pieces and dances for piano.
Robert Schumann, mentally immersed at the end of his life, represents in person as well as in music almost the prototype of the passionate romantic artist, shadowed by tragedy. His idiosyncratic piano pieces, chamber music works and symphonies should have a lasting influence on the following generation of musicians.
Franz Liszt, a Hungarian composer, was on the one hand a swarmed piano virtuoso, but on the other hand also laid the foundation for the progressive "
New German School" with his harmoniously bold
symphonic poems. Also committed to program music was the technique of the
idée fixe (leitmotif) of the Frenchman
Hector Berlioz, who also significantly expanded the orchestra.
Felix Mendelssohn was again more oriented towards the classicist formal language and became a role model especially for
Scandinavian composers such as the Dane
Niels Wilhelm Gade. In opera, the operas of
Otto Nicolai and
Friedrich von Flotow still dominated in Germany when
Richard Wagner wrote his first romantic operas. The early works of
Giuseppe Verdi were also still based on the Belcanto ideal of the older generation. In France, the
Opéra lyrique was developed by
Ambroise Thomas and
Charles Gounod.
Russian music found its own language in the operas of
Mikhail Glinka and
Alexander Dargomyzhsky. The second phase of high romanticism runs in parallel with the style of realism in literature and the visual arts. In the second half of his creation, Wagner now developed his
leitmotif technique, with which he holds together the four-part
ring of the Nibelungen, composed without
arias; the orchestra is treated symphonically, the chromaticism reaches its extreme in
Tristan und Isolde. A whole crowd of disciples is under the influence of Wagner's progressive ideas, among them, for example,
Peter Cornelius. An opposition arose from numerous more conservative composers, to whom
Johannes Brahms, who sought a logical continuation of classical music in symphony,
chamber music and song, became a model of scale due to the depth of the sensation and a masterful
composition technique. Among others,
Robert Volkmann,
Friedrich Kiel,
Carl Reinecke,
Max Bruch,
Josef Gabriel Rheinberger, and
Hermann Goetz are included in this party. Some important loners came on the scene, among whom
Anton Bruckner particularly stands out. Although a Wagner supporter, his clear-form style differs significantly from that of that composer. For example, the block-based instrumentation of Bruckner's symphonies is derived from the registers of the organ. In the ideological struggle against Wagner's adversaries, he was portrayed by his followers as a counterpart of Brahms.
Felix Draeseke, who originally wrote "future music in classical form" starting from Liszt, also stands between the parties in composition. Verdi also reached the way to a well-composed
musical drama, in a different way than Wagner. His immense charisma made all other composers fade in Italy, including
Amilcare Ponchielli and
Arrigo Boito, who was also the librettist of his late operas Otello and Falstaff. In France, the light muse triumphed first in the form of the socio-critical
operettas of
Jacques Offenbach. Lyrical opera found its climax in the works of
Jules Massenet, while in the Carmen by
Georges Bizet, realism came for the first time. In Austria, the Viennese operettas of the 19th century
Johann Strauss II, who wrote his waltzes and polkas.
Louis Théodore Gouvy built a stylistic bridge to German music. The operas, symphonies and chamber music works of the extremely versatile
Camille Saint-Saëns were, as were the ballets of
Léo Delibes, more tradition-oriented. New orchestra colors were found in the compositions of
Édouard Lalo and
Emmanuel Chabrier. The Belgian-born
César Franck was accompanied by a revival of organ music, which was continued by
Charles-Marie Widor, later
Louis Vierne and
Charles Tournemire. A specific national romanticism had by now emerged in almost all European countries. The national Russian current started by Glinka was continued in Russia by the "
Group of Five":
Mily Balakirev,
Alexander Borodin,
Modest Mussorgsky,
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, and
César Cui. More western oriented were
Anton Rubinstein and
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, whose
ballets and symphonies gained great popularity.
Bedřich Smetana founded
Czech national music with his operas and the Symphony poems oriented towards Liszt. The symphonies, concerts and chamber music works of
Antonín Dvořák have Brahms as a model. In Poland,
Stanisław Moniuszko was the leading opera composer, in Hungary
Ferenc Erkel. Norway produced its best-known composers with
Edvard Grieg, creator of lyrical piano works, songs and orchestral works such as the Peer-Gynt Suite; England's voice resonated with the Brahms-oriented
Hubert Parry and symphonist, as well as the comic operas of
Arthur Sullivan.
Late Romantic , photographed in 1907 by
Moritz Nähr at the end of his period as director of the
Vienna Hofoper In late Romanticism, also called post-Romanticism, the traditional forms and elements of music are further dissolved. An increasingly colorful orchestral palette, an ever-increasing range of musical means, the spread of
tonality to its limits, exaggerated emotions and an increasingly individual tonal language of the individual composer are typical features; the music is led to the threshold of
modernity. Thus, the symphonies of
Gustav Mahler reached previously unknown dimensions, partly give up the traditional four-sentence and often contain vocal proportions. Behind the monumental facade is the modern expressiveness of the
Fin de siècle. This psychological expressiveness is also contained in the songs of
Hugo Wolf, miniature dramas for voice and piano. More committed to tradition, particularly oriented towards Bruckner, are the symphonies of
Franz Schmidt and
Richard Wetz.
Max Reger resorted to Bach's polyphony in his numerous instrumental works, but developed it harmoniously extremely boldly. Among the numerous composers of the Reger successor,
Julius Weismann and
Joseph Haas stand out. Among the outstanding late romantic sound creators is the idiosyncratic
Hans Pfitzner. Although a traditionalist and decisive opponent of modern currents, quite a few of his works are close to the musical progress of the time. His successor include
Walter Braunfels, who mainly emerged as an opera composer, and the symphonist
Wilhelm Furtwängler. The opera stage was particularly suitable for increased emotions. The folk and fairy tale operas of
Engelbert Humperdinck,
Wilhelm Kienzl and
Siegfried Wagner, the son of Richard Wagner, were deeply emotional.
Eugen d'Albert and
Max von Schillings presented a German variant of verismo, explained in the paragraphs below. Erotic symbolism can be found in the stage works of
Alexander von Zemlinsky and
Franz Schreker.
Richard Strauss went even further to the limits of tonality with
Salome and
Elektra before he took more traditional paths with
Der Rosenkavalier. In the style related to the works of Strauss, the compositions of
Emil von Reznicek and
Paul Graener are shown. In Italy, opera still dominated the era. This is where verism developed, an exaggerated realism that could easily turn into the striking and melodramatic on the opera stage. Despite their extensive work,
Ruggero Leoncavallo,
Pietro Mascagni,
Francesco Cilea, and
Umberto Giordano have only become known through one opera at a time. Only
Giacomo Puccini's work has been completely preserved in the repertoire of the opera houses, although he was also often accused of sentimentality. Despite some veristic works,
Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari was mainly considered a revival of the Opera buffa.
Ferruccio Busoni, a temporarily defender of modern classicity living in Germany, left behind a rather conventional, little played work. Thus, instrumental music found its place in Italian music again with
Ottorino Respighi, who was influenced by Impressionism. The term
Impressionism comes from painting, and like there, it also developed in music in France. In the works of
Claude Debussy, the structures dissolved into the finest nuances of rhythm, dynamics and timbre. This development was prepared in the work of
Vincent d'Indy,
Ernest Chausson and above all in the songs and chamber music of
Gabriel Fauré. All subsequent French composers were more or less influenced by Impressionism. The most important among them was
Maurice Ravel, a brilliant orchestral virtuoso.
Albert Roussel first processed exotic topics before he anticipated
Neoclassical tendencies like Ravel.
Gabriel Pierné,
Paul Dukas,
Charles Koechlin, and
Florent Schmitt also dealt with symbolic and exotic-oriental substances. The loner
Erik Satie was the creator of spun piano pieces and idol of the next generation. Nevertheless, Impressionism is often attributed to the epoch of modernity, if not seen as its own epoch.
Hubert Parry and the Irishman
Charles Villiers Stanford initiated late Romanticism in England, which had its first important representative in
Edward Elgar. While he revived the oratorio and wrote symphonies and concerts,
Frederick Delius devoted himself to particularly small orchestral images with his own variant of Impressionism.
Ethel Smyth wrote mainly operas and chamber music in a style that reminded Brahms.
Ralph Vaughan Williams, whose works were inspired by
English folk songs and
Renaissance music, became the most important symphonist of his country.
Gustav Holst incorporated Greek mythology and Indian philosophy into his work. Very idiosyncratic composer personalities in the transition to modernity were also
Havergal Brian and
Frank Bridge. In Russia,
Alexander Glazunov decorated his traditional composition technique with a colorful orchestral palette. The mystic
Alexander Scriabin dreamed of a synthesis of colors, sound and scents.
Sergei Rachmaninov wrote melancholic-pathetic piano pieces and concertos full of intoxicating virtuosity, while the piano works of
Nikolai Medtner are more lyrical. In the Czech Republic,
Leoš Janáček, deeply rooted in the music of his
Moravian homeland, found new areas of expression with the development of the language melody in his operas. The local sounds are also unmistakable in the music of
Zdeněk Fibich,
Josef Bohuslav Foerster,
Vítězslav Novák, and
Josef Suk. There is a slightly morbid exoticism and later classicist measure in the work of the Polish
Karol Szymanowski. The most important Danish composer is
Carl Nielsen, known for symphonies and concerts. Even more dominant in his country is the position of the Finn
Jean Sibelius, also a symphonist of melancholy expressiveness and clear line design. In Sweden, the works of
Wilhelm Peterson-Berger,
Wilhelm Stenhammar, and
Hugo Alfvén show a typical Nordic conservatism, and the Norwegian
Christian Sinding also composed traditionally. Spanish music increased in popularity again after a long time, first in the piano works of
Isaac Albéniz and
Enrique Granados, then in the operas, ballets and orchestral works of
Manuel de Falla, influenced by Impressionism. The first important representatives of the United States also appeared with
Edward MacDowell and
Amy Beach. The work of
Charles Ives belonged only partly to late Romanticism - much of it was already radically modern and pointed far into the 20th century. ==Schools==