The Romantic And Classic Ages Of European Music - 1015 Words

Music is widely considered to be the least rational of the arts, and thus the one least openly associated with fundamentals of the outside world; all the same, musicians of considerable significance have been both consciously and subconsciously molded by the environment in which they reside and as such they may interpret and bring the world to life in the language of music. The Romantic and Classic ages of European music can be simply put as the period of time between the deaths of Ludwig Van Beethoven in 1827, and that of Gustav Mahler in 1911. Despite this convenient partition, history has never been one to divide itself so precisely. There were certainly early makings of Romanticism well before 1827, and after 1911. So a better time†¦show more content†¦One of the emerging voices of the era was a French composer named Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who, along with his followers, expressed the idea that both progress and science were taking mankind away from their natural roots, and nature had all of the makings of a simpler life. Vivaldi, in the Four Seasons, and Beethoven, in the Pastoral Symphony, also depict nature or natural phenomena as a part of everyday life; depicting it sometimes pleasant, while other times annoying, and even, at times, rather terrifying. In this romantic mentality, nature was viewed as a mysterious and independent, yet awe inspiring force. This new found connection with nature provided a foundation of inspiration, as well as beauty and truth; and is one of the major themes of Romanticism. The form in which Romantic music first visibly manifested itself was through hymn, both voice and piano; these pieces were almost always quite simple, sounding most closely to folk music, and were usually referred to by the name Lied. Further, these songs were usually strictly Strophic, which simply means that they divided into verses which are repeated without variation until the entire song has been sung. Mozart and Beethoven, are two of more famous Composers, who wrote many such Lieder (plural of Lied); which were often lovely works, but in no way represented major