Romantic music facts for kids
Romantic music is a style of music that was popular in the 19th century. Musicians call this time the "Romantic period." In other arts, like literature, the Romantic period sometimes started earlier, around the mid-1700s.
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What is Romantic Music?
Romantic music is all about showing strong feelings and passions. Think of it like a painting that makes you feel a certain way, or a story that pulls at your heart. Composers wanted their music to express deep emotions and tell exciting tales.
Feelings Over Rules
Before the Romantic period, during the Classical period, artists liked things to be very neat and orderly. For example, 18th century buildings often looked very balanced and symmetrical. Gardens, like those at Versailles Palace, had straight paths and perfect shapes.
In music, Classical composers like Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven wrote music with clear structures. They used forms like sonata form, which had a set plan.
But in the Romantic period, artists started to think differently. They believed that feelings and passions were more important than strict rules. Gardens designed by people like Capability Brown looked more natural. They blended in with the landscape, like at Blenheim Palace.
Music That Tells a Story
Romantic composers still used some older forms, but they filled them with emotion. They often wrote what is called programme music. This means the music describes something or tells a story.
Beethoven's Sixth Symphony, called the "Pastoral," is about the countryside. Even though he's mostly a Classical composer, he was an early Romantic too. Later, Felix Mendelssohn wrote Hebrides Overture, which sounds like the sea crashing into Fingal's Cave in Scotland.
Hector Berlioz (1803-1869) was famous for music that told stories. His Symphonie Fantastique is about an artist who is madly in love. Berlioz himself lived a very dramatic life. He even married an actress he saw playing Juliet in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet! Other composers who wrote a lot of programme music include Franz Liszt (1811-1886) and Richard Strauss (1864-1949). Strauss wrote in a Romantic style even though he lived into the 20th century.
Music About Countries
The Romantic period was also a time of Nationalism. This means people felt very proud of their own country. In the 1800s, many European countries were forming.
Musicians showed their national pride by using folk music from their homeland. For example:
- Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904) and Bedřich Smetana (1824-1884) wrote music that sounds very Czech.
- Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) used Russian folk songs in his pieces.
- Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) used German folk songs in his symphonies.
- Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) collected English folk songs and put them into his music, like his famous Fantasy on Greensleeves.
Images for kids
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Josef Danhauser's 1840 painting of Franz Liszt at the piano with other famous artists.
See also
In Spanish: Música del Romanticismo para niños
