The Romantic Period

1825 - 1910

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What was happening in the world during this period?

1825 - Erie Canal opens1838 - Invention of photography1846 - Neptune discovered1859 - Charles Darwin publishes The Origin of the Species1861-1865 - American Civil War

1869 - Transcontinental Railroad completed1872 - Brooklyn Bridge opens1876 - Telephone invented1877 - Phonograph invented1886 - Statue of Liberty presented to New York1893 - Henry Ford builds first car1903 - Wright Brothers first airplane flight at

Kitty Hawk, NC1905 - E=mc2 - Einstein’s Theory of Relativity

Famous People from the Era

Charles DarwinAlbert EinsteinSigmund FreudAbraham LincolnMark TwainAlexander Graham BellHenry FordBooker T. Washington

Karl MarxJack the RipperWalt WhitmanRalph Waldo EmersonHenry David ThoreauEdgar Allen PoeEmily DickinsonCezanne, Manet, Van Gogh

Famous Artists

Paul CezanneEdouard ManetEdgar DegasClaude MonetVincent van GoghEdvard MunchGeorges Seurat

What does the term Romantic mean?

The Romantic movement in music coincides with a general Romantic movement in all arts. At this period, the arts of literature and painting began to influence music. In the Romantic era, music acquired poetic or philosophical meaning. Antiquity, folklore, history and exotic cultures were examined as possible sources of inspiration.

Characteristics of the Romantic Period

Music is not as reliant on repetition as in Classical musicThe music often directly tells a storyExploration of tone colorsMuch bigger orchestras

Sturm und DrangPopularity of chamber musicMusic is highly emotional

Musical InnovationsInvention of the song cycleInvention of the symphonic poemGreat works written for solo pianoComposers stretched the listeners ear by creating a great deal of dissonance using chromatic notes, and extensions of the triad.Composers began to drift away from the strong sense of tonality heard in Classical music.

Famous Romantic Composers

Frederic ChopinFranz LisztHector BerliozJohannes BrahmsModest MussorgskyFelix MendelssohnPeter Ilyich TchaikovskyRichard Wagner

Frederic Chopin

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Franz Liszt

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Hector Berlioz

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Johannes Brahms

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Modest Mussorgsky

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Felix Mendelssohn

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Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky

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Richard Wagner

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Period InstrumentsTubaAlto, Bass, Contrabass ClarinetContrabassoonEuphoniumAlto, Tenor, Baritone SaxophoneAlto Flute