Romanticism

Romanticism was a reaction to what the new generation of artists viewed as exaggeratedly formal expressions of creativity. Chronologically, romanticism lasted most of the nineteenth century and continued into the twentieth, but was ended by the first world war. When it comes to such a long period it’s always hard to generalize, but you can say that what was typical of the era was that the artists chose expression and subjectivity, individualism and feeling over the earlier era’s cool, distanced forms.

There were so many composers during this long period of time, so I’ve decided to be like them, subjective. I will choose my own favorites and forget about the rest, that others might consider as great or greater than those from my selection. Perhaps by now, it’s apparent that I prefer instrumental music to opera and other vocals. That’s true, but I also have some favorites among the operas.

My favorite Romantic composers:

Gioacchino Rossini (1792-1868), Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848), Guiseppe Verdi (1813-1901), Cesar Franck (1822-1890), Anton Bruckner (1824-1896), Bedrich Smetana (1824-1884), Georges Bizet (1838-1875) och finally, Piotr Ilitj Tjajkovski (1840-1893).

Guiseppe Verdi (1813-1901)

Milan’s conservatory once declared that Verdi completely lacked talent. Yet he is considered one of the greatest composers in the history of music. The other one is supposed to be Wagner, and how anyone can like his music is beyond me. I vote for Mozart, but I’m no expert.

Verdi wrote about thirty operas during his long career. It’s been said that he was the last of the great Italian opera composers.

Verdi was born in northern Italy. His father ran the inn and the local shop. The rest of the family were farmers. Young Guiseppe was sent to live with the family of a cobbler in the neighbouring town of Busseto to learn how to play the organ and to work with the local orchestra.

The people in the town collected money so that Guiseppe would be able to apply to the conservatory in Milan. It was there he was so harshly judged. But he was four years older than the maximum age, and he’d had very little formal training, so according to the rules he really wasn’t qualified.

He returned to Busseto to write his first opera, that was quite a success when it was finished. Some of his work wasn’t greeted with as much approval to begin with. For some time his life was difficult, he lost his wife and children and almost gave up composing music. Despite that he carried on. I think we’re all grateful for that.

My favorites among his work are Aida and Nabucco, but I have to admit that I mainly prefer opera on a CD, not on the stage.

Anton Bruckner (1824-1896)

Bruckner’s work can be described using words as peaceful, noble and serene. If you ask someone who doesn’t like his music, they often say his music is boring, pompous, of varying quality and worst of all, second class music. Needless to say, I don’t agree with that.

Anton Bruckner’s father was a village teacher in Austria and his son too became a teacher. To begin with, he worked in another village school, but later he began to teach at the same school of music where he had studied. By then he’d begun to write music himself.

After a few years he decided to devote his life to music full time. He became the organ player in the cathedral of Linz, and eventually he became the court organ player and a professor at the conservatory in Vienna.

The night when his third symphony was performed – he was the conductor – is one of the saddest episodes in the history of music. Almost every member of the audience laughed and left before the performance ended. Only about ten stayed until the end, among them his own students. Bruckner had a terrible shock when he turned to accept the applause he expected, but instead the concert hall was nearly empty. Tears poured from his eyes and he withdrew from his few admirers.

Despite all this, Bruckner never gave up. He was devoutly religious and he was driven by a wish to dedicate his work to God.

When I read about how cruelly Bruckner was treated by his audience I wished that I would like his music when I first heard it. Fortunately, I did. Again, I’m no expert. I just know what I like, and Anton Bruckner’s work is among my favorites.

Bedrich Smetana (1824-1884)

Bedrich Smetana was the son of a brewer. His father encouraged his son to learn how to play the piano and the violin, but not to waste his time composing music. Most Czechs appreciate the fact that Smetana didn’t obey his father. During the German occupation of the Czech republic, his music was banned, because of its patriotic content.

Smetana was a composer and a critic. He worked for a daily newspaper in Prague. Naturally, he preferred his own national music. He loved his home Bohemia and that feeling saturates his music.

Bedrich Smetana was born in a little village that belonged to Austria at the time of his birth. From an early age, he learned to play the violin and the piano and when he was five he played in a string quartet that celebrated his father’s name day. When he was six, he could play the piano in public, but his father always wanted him to become a brewer.

When he grew up he became a passionately patriotic nationalist. He continued his music studies, but didn’t devote as much time to them. Increasingly he began to devote more time to music alone. He played in a string quartet, went to concerts, took piano lessons and at last began to teach music himself, to support himself.

Then his father gave in and allowed his music to work with music full time. He planned to start his own school of music, and eventually he succeeded. He married and he and his wife had a daughter, but sadly, she died at the age of five. Smetana accepted the offer to become a conductor in Gothenburg. it was a great success for him. During his years in Sweden, he composed more music.

His later years were tragic. He was infected with syphilis and died in a mental hospital. By then he was deaf and had made many enemies in the world of music.

The music by Smetana that I like the best is Moldau. It’s considered his best work and is very popular. Apparently I don’t always disagree with the experts.

Piotr Ilitj Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)

Some claim that Tchaikovsky belongs to Later music, but I prefer to place him among the romantic composers, though of course he belongs to the later period of romanticism.

The experts call him “too sentimental”, but he was a Russian and apparently many Russians are very sentimental. His music can be described as emotional, melodious and pessimistic. To me it’s just pretty, at least some of it.

Tchaikovsky is the most beloved and popular of the Russian composers and some say the greatest. I agree. There’s no other Russian composer I like as much.

He had a rather short and tragic life and died at the age of 56. Once he made an unwise attempt to get married, though it was soon discovered that he was a homosexual. After the brief marriage, that only lasted nine days, he tried to kill himself.

Tchaikovsky studied law and worked for the justice department, before he discovered that his greatest interest was music. He began to study at the conservatory in St Petersburg. Later he taught for years at the conservatory in Moscow. Though he lived in Italy and Paris and toured the United States, his inspiration was the Russian folk music. Another patriot.

Here too I’ve chosen a few examples of the work of these composers.

Barber of Seville
Te Deum
Te Deum 2
Donizetti
Triumph march
Moldau
Nabucco
Piano concert
First symphony
Second symphony
Third symphony
Nut cracker 1
Nut cracker 2
Nut cracker 3
Panis Angelicus
Toreador