romantic era

Beethoven Symphonies
Late Beethoven piano sonatas
Mendelssohn Midsummer Night's Dream
Schumann Rhenish Symphony
Schumann Wanderer Fantasy
Schumann Manfred Overture
Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique
Chopin Preludes and Etudes
Chopin Piano Sonatas
Brahms Symphonies

That should get you started. No order implied.

quote:

Originally posted by TerryFranks:
AS i been discovering classical music i was speaking to some women in my cab the other day and she suggested that i try the romantic era. any ideas tel

Are you sure it wasn't an invitation?

<< has the word 'gold' reverberating round his head>>
Nah - different romantics - I think they were newer..

quote:

Originally posted by mikeeschman:
Beethoven Symphonies
Late Beethoven piano sonatas
Mendelssohn Midsummer Night's Dream
Schumann Rhenish Symphony
Schumann Wanderer Fantasy
Schumann Manfred Overture
Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique
Chopin Preludes and Etudes
Chopin Piano Sonatas
Brahms Symphonies

That should get you started. No order implied.

Hi Mike,

Beethoven a composer of the romantic era? I am not sure.

But what about Schubert? The "Unfinished" ( 8th Symphony ) and the 9th Symphony ( "the Great" ), his String Quintet D 956 or the "Winterreise" are masterworks. For me, Schubert is the greatest composer of this era.

Best wishes

Manfred

quote:

Originally posted by Manni:
Hi Mike,

Beethoven a composer of the romantic era? I am not sure.

Romantic music begins exactly with Beethoven Symphony No. 3 "Eroica"

quote:

Originally posted by mikeeschman:

quote:

Originally posted by Manni:
Hi Mike,

Beethoven a composer of the romantic era? I am not sure.

Romantic music begins exactly with Beethoven Symphony No. 3 "Eroica"

The three great composers of the "Vienna Classic " - era are Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven.

Music is not mathematics, so the border between two eras cannot be exactly determined. Beethoven was imo the end ( and pinnacle ) of the classical, Schubert the beginning of the romantic era.

Manfred

Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, are collectively known as the First Viennese School.

I think that, later on, Beethoven was laying the paving for the romantic movement. On the whole, I don't think that Beethoven can be categorised. He was Beethoven - he just 'did' and others followed.

His Op. 1, no. 1, a piano trio. It is way beyond the time it was written. His tutor, Haydn, declared that it was 'too much - the people are not ready for this'. So, Beethoven wrote his Op. 2, no. 1 - the first piano sonata (f minor), dedicated it to Haydn, and made it almost 'ironically' classical! So, even from the off, this man was not one to be categorised.

I'd add two operas: Weber's Freischuetz and Humperdinck's Haensel Und Gretel.

Incidentally, the Wanderer Fantasy is attributed above to Schumann - it should be Schubert.

The romantic era covers alarge time scale and a very large number of composers.
Just search Wikipedia to see.

Depends where you interests are ,i generally prefer Russian romantic composers e.g. Scriabin , Rachmaninoff , Tchaikovsky ,Shostakovich , Mussorgsky to nane a few.

When you dont know where to start the radio is your first port of call for listening to a cross section to see what you like [and what you dont].

Michael.

Michael,

The composers you've mentioned are, in essence, Nationalistic, not Romantic, per se.

The 'era' is the confusing bit, as they refer to a chronology, not a style.

quote:

Originally posted by Dan Carney:
Michael,

The composers you've mentioned are, in essence, Nationalistic, not Romantic, per se.

The 'era' is the confusing bit, as they refer to a chronology, not a style.

Sorry , dont agree !

Way back in the 70s when I took music history, the Eroica was considered to mark the end of the classical era and the beginning of the romantic era.

It appears that Wikipedia still agrees with that ancient assessment.

The reasons it is so considered are simple :

1 - Use of an extended sonata form. By extended, I mean long. Much more in the development sections than in anything before it. Beethoven also uses extensive codas.

2 - This is a bit I added, based on my own observations. The themes in the Eroica sound romantic, not classical.

This is a problem with pigeon holing any music and one reason why i dont normally like to attempt it.

Re the Romantic era , that itself varies in length and composers depending on your point of reference.

As a long time music listener, it becomes easy to spot the mile posts : Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and Debussy in one particular time period.

Among those four, it is easy and natural to point to Beethoven as the first romantic, although some Mozart fantasies will give you pause for thought.

One of the most salient features of romantic music is the length of the compositions. Everything got longer. Just compare the Eroica to Mozart's last five symphonies.

quote:

Originally posted by graham55:
Incidentally, the Wanderer Fantasy is attributed above to Schumann - it should be Schubert.

Thanks for catching the typo. It's Pollini you want for this one.

Mike, I wasn't trying to appear a smartarse, just trying to avoid confusion! Agree with your choice of Pollini for this piece, but would recommend Richter's early 1960s EMI recording as well.

quote:

Originally posted by graham55:
Mike, I wasn't trying to appear a smartarse, just trying to avoid confusion! Agree with your choice of Pollini for this piece, but would recommend Richter's early 1960s EMI recording as well.

I just thought you caught my typo :-)

I'd like to beef about something while we are discussing this. The biggest problem music history has today is the revisionist. Most music historians are university professors, who must publish. I think we get new interpretations of what happened because the authors need to publish, not because anything has changed. That just muddies the water.

Of course, there are exceptions, but I think this is the rule : revise history not because new data came to light, but to enhance a career.

One more thing, in all of classical music, where is there something like the variations and fugue on a theme, in the last movement of the Eroica?

quote:

Originally posted by Folkman:

quote:

Originally posted by Dan Carney:
Michael,

The composers you've mentioned are, in essence, Nationalistic, not Romantic, per se.

The 'era' is the confusing bit, as they refer to a chronology, not a style.

Sorry , dont agree !

Folkman,

It's not a case of agreeing, or not. Facts are facts. Romantic refers to the Era of the music - i.e. the times in which it was composed. The term 'Romantic' is like a large umbrella, of which standing under it are many styles.

I can think of no better album to demonstrate how blurry these distinctions really are, than this one.

The distinctions between classical and romantic music are not like the Grand Canyon, but more like overlapping shadows. It's a gradual movement from one idea to the other, without a clean break.

quote:

Originally posted by mikeeschman:

quote:

Originally posted by graham55:
Incidentally, the Wanderer Fantasy is attributed above to Schumann - it should be Schubert.

Thanks for catching the typo. It's Pollini you want for this one.

I agree with this: Pollini is phenomenal in this recording. The CD's accompanying notes report on the circumstances of the recording which make it even more remarkable. There has been a series of power strikes. the recording studio was cold and only heated by a small portable heater. The piano was continuously having to be retuned. No doubt Mr Pollini's fingers were non too warm either.