Download Revolution and Romanticism

The Romantic Age
Values of Romanticism
Rejection of: simplicity, proportion and
restraint.
Romantics valued:
Feeling, Intuition, Passion, Imagination,
Spontaneity
Revolutions and Rights
1776-- American Revolution
1789-- French Revolution
Democracy, republicanism, equality before
the law
Congresses, presidencies, constitutions-results of those conflicts
The Revolution in America
American colonists’ resentment of British
control
Declaration of Independence, 1776
Principles of Enlightenment--John Locke’s
Treatise on Civil Government
Thomas Jefferson: equality, civil rights and
popular sovereignty from philosophes
Federalist Papers: authority of state; rights of
individual--did not address slavery
The Revolution in France
Louis XVI: Middle class delegates: “Oath
of the Tennis Court”
July 14: Bastille prison attached
Declaration of the Rights of Man and the
Citizen-- from Rousseau’s thoughts
Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite
1793, beheading of monarchs
Reign of Terror began
The Napoleonic Era
1799--disillusioned citizens
New hero: Napoleon Bonaparte
Dreams of imperial glory
Crowned himself emperor in 1804
Campaign to conquer Europe
Defeated in 1814 at Waterloo
Imprisoned for the rest of his life in St. Helena
Napoleon and the Arts
Imitated Roman emperors--Paris imperial
capital like Rome
Power advertised by arts and buildings
Louvre--museum to pieces stolen from
conquered countries
Triumphal arches and columns
La Madeleine--Greek temple
Jacques-Louis David--Painter to the
Empire
Coronation scene and equestrian painting
Benoist’s Portrait of a Black Woman
Counterpoint to Canova’s sculpture of
Napoleon’s sister as Venus
Colonial Revolutionaries
1793--Toussaint L’Ouverture led Haiti’s
revolt against the French--Napoleon
imprisoned him.
Simon Bolivar--wanted to create a United
States of South America. Obtained
freedom for Venezuela, Colombia and
Peru.
The Romantic Hero
Romantics preferred feeling and
imagination to intellect and reason.
Attracted to the picturesque in nature and
the past; prized creativity and cast off
neoclassical restraint and laws.
1775-1850
Beethoven
Suffering romantic genius
Deafness at 25
Pianist in Vienna, able to sell his
compositions
Symphony No. 3 Eroica was the bridge
between Classical style and romantic style
Added piccolo and trombone to the
symphonic orchestra
Symphony Number 5 in C Minor
Confrontation with fate: “Fate knocking at
the door”
Motif: Term for short musical idea
Musical Virtuosos
Paganini: violin
Chopin: piano
Schumann: Songs and symphonies
Clara Schumann: Lieder (songs)
Brahms: symphonies
Goethe and Faust
Faust: romantic masterpiece drama in two
parts
Delacroix illustrated a French translation
Schubert composed songs
Gounod: opera Faust: Ambition to burst
all human constraint and indulge
unquenched desire for experience
Delacroix and the Byronic Hero
French more attracted to sensuality of
Lord Byron: Don Juan, life of sexual
freedom, political idealism and exotic
travel.
Intellectual and moral freedom
Eugene Delacroix rebelled against the
academy
Color, drama and exotic themes
Death of Sardanapalus and
Liberty Leading the People
Orgy of egoism, violence and sexuality
When threatened by rebellion he destroys
his possessions and himself
Revolution of 1830 overthrew the Bourbon
king
Unity of the classes
Elements of Romanticism
Heroic individualism: Faust and Lord Byron
Protest against political and social injustice
Attraction for nature and medieval times
Fascination with evil and the exotic
Sensibility that responded to historical
circumstances
Romantic Social Protest:
William Blake
Sympathetic observer of those enslaved
by the industrial city
Condemned the ills of urban existence
Romantic Feminism
Mary Wollstonecraft: A Vindication of the
Rights of Women : Compared women to
soldiers
Revolutions did not liberate women.
Napoleon’s legal code denied women the
right to hold property
Western nations did not allow women to
vote
Goya and Spain
Goya’s paintings depicted the senseless
brutality of war
Executions of the Third of May 1808
Christ-like martyr in white
Lamp: enlightenment (irony)
The Sleep of Reason Brings Forth
Monsters, Romantic fascination with evil
The Romantics and Nature
Romantic landscapes
Constable: The Hay Wain rustic
landscapes
Turner: The Slave Ship Rain, Steam and
Speed: The Great Western Railway
Effects of fog and smoke
Romantic Exotism
Middle classes become strong
Drawn to exotic and grotesque
Colonies overseas: Africa and Asia
Fascination with Arabic customs and dress
Ingres: Disciple of David--The Turkish
Bath
Classical figures
Berlioz’s Symphonie
Fantastique
Innovated with program music
(composition that tells a story or describes
a place)
Story of Irish actress who rejected him
Fifth movement: musician is dead and his
beloved joins the celebration in a witches’
dance
The macabre
The Romantic Novel
Fascination with evil and the demonic:
The Gothic novel
Edgar Allan Poe
Charlotte and Emily Bronte
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein
Hero who suffers a conflict between his
God-like ambitions and moral blindness