Download Romantic Music Composers

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Romantic Music Composers
Introduction
Towards the end of the eighteenth century, Romanticism was mostly used to
portray novel thoughts in literature and painting. However, musicians adopted the word
to define their musical style and composition. Romantic musicians evoked emotions in
their music. The emotions had a substantial impact on the perceived listeners.
Romantic music was not entirely about love and passion; it was also characterized with
negative connotation such as hate feelings.
Nationalism, emotionalism, subjectivity and pragmatic composition defined
romantic music. Distinguished composers of the romantic period included Gioacchino
Rossini, Gaetano Donizetti, Robert Schumann and Felix Mendelssohn, among others.
Robert Schumann stands out as a unique writer during this time. He was the first
composer to venture into the souls and minds of young children, although others had
tried and failed.
In this paper, the writer focuses on Robert Schumann in exploring Romantic era.
The author observes that Schumann redefined Romantic era music in various ways. He
crafted his compositions with originality, incorporated literary devices in his music and
widely embraced themes and vocals to differentiate his songs from other composers.
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To date, most of the Romantic songs are being studied by scholars in institutions of
higher learning. Besides, their songs attract many listeners across the globe to date.
Robert Schumann
Schumann was a Romantic music composer of German origin. He began the
musical career at a tender age of seven when he felt love for music. This love made him
compose his songs. Under the influence of his father, a novelist, publisher and a
bookseller, Schumann’s interest in literature increased. He, therefore, juggled between
music and literature (Burkholder and Claude 70). Undoubtedly, this was a
demonstration of his mastery in embracing literary ambition in his future music career.
According to Burkholder and Claude (77), Schumann innovatively crafted his
composition with originality using canons of Viennese classicism and emulating
exceptional legends of classical romanticism.
Composing music only for piano, he
began composing on other genres in preceding years. His compositions imitated and
modeled the works of Beethoven. These approaches enabled him to craft multifarious
piano sounds. In some occasions, he creatively expanded sonata form by rearranging
character pieces in cycles. In his songs, the piano characteristically and independently
stands out in depicting his poetic inspirations.
His composition widely encompassed narrative techniques which previously
belonged exclusively to literature. These aspects of composition made him unique from
the rest of the composers who embraced the traditional methods of music composition.
Schumann incorporated scenes from plays, novels, and poems in his composition
(Burkholder and Claude 110). In some cases, scenes depicting musical crossword
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puzzles with major musical scenes referring to places and people reflected in his
composition.
In one of his collections, popularly known as the “Carnaval”, Schumann widely
used characters to invoke different moods in a person. In fact, Bonds (113) explains that
this form of creativity was a characteristic of the romantic period and differentiated
Schumann’s compositions with classical music. Moreover, he composed his music with
coded meaning which required an intellectual mind to understanding what he was
singing about. The notes present in most of his music were symbolic (Bonds 142).
Schumann’s compositions were unique and exciting. This aspect differentiated
his work from other composers during the Romantic period. The intellectual use of
symbolism as well as combining the works of other composers prompts me to assert
that Schumann was innovative (Hanning 162).
Schumann experimented with novel genres either by using descriptive titles,
developing distinctive narratives or by embracing conventional genre titles while
dismantling musical expectations of those titles (Bonds 124). Schumann’s piano music
for young children defined his romanticism music era. He skillfully used generic hybrids
like the piano sonatas to fix generic relations that promoted change and communicating
unknown through his compositions (Bonds 164).
Burkholder and Claude (89) illustrate that Schumann’s compositions were defined
through themes and harmony. Thematic and balance elements were the essential
features of Schumann’s songs. Schumann used this style to embrace a sense of
unreciprocated love, longing, and suffering. This aspect is demonstrated in the song
Dichterliebe (Daverio 123). Also, tonal instability is also evident in Schumann’s songs.
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There is a remarkable swing from anguish to acquiescence and from flat keys to sharp
keys in some of his songs; an obvious example is the Dichterliebe.
addressed dissension with amplified liberty.
Schumann
Schumann creatively used rhythm to
endear to his audience. He extensively used
polyrhythm
between melody,
accompaniment and text fixing coexistence of opposing ideas. Also, Daverio (141)
mention that Schumann’s has masterly embraced recurrent themes in his songs to
connect musical thoughts. An obvious example is the Dichterliebe where he uses
narration. The theme he uses embodies symbolic significance besides inspiring
narrative connection in his works. Transformation and repetitions of themes present in
the songs link the ideas together, which is a major constituent of a song sequence.
Schumann uses the piano and voice to improve his composition. He has carefully
used voice to borrow themes from the piano. The piano and voice complement each
other and help in expressing the text as well as the song’s atmosphere. Piano and
vocals echo a link between the piano music and the vocal, and thus Daverio (167)
indicate that songs are an annex of Schumann’s music and thus express his world of
emotions and feelings.
Schumann’s songs are embedded in poetry. In his words, Schumann
demonstrated that a poem needs to be crushed, and its juice expressed; the poem must
dress in the music as a “circlet” (Daverio 172). This assertion by Schumann reflects his
intimate attachment with text in most of his songs. Conversely, the songs reflect
Schumann’s personal life trajectory from birth, growth to maturity and eventually
decline. According to Rosen (26), Schumann’s songs transcended three significant
periods in history, thus reflecting on his life and musical development.
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In conclusion, the romantic music composers redefined the music industry. It
reflected the pre-conceived moods of both the composers and the audience. Music at
this period was characterized by subjectivity, programmatic composition, emotionalism
as well as nationalism. Besides, music composition was anchored on the composer’s
emotions and feelings. Robert Schumann was the significant contributor to romantic
music. Beginning as a solo pianist, Schumann rose to become one of the greatest
songwriter and composers of all time. He was innovative and was among the pioneers
of romantic era composers to embrace literary devices such as poem in music writing.
His music was characterized by symbolism, poetry, themes, harmony and vocals
among other stylistic devices. Schumann’s immense contribution to the music industry
still lives to date where his works are being studied by scholars, romantic music
enthusiasts and institutions of higher learning among others.
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Works Cited
Bonds, Mark Evans. A History of Music in Western Culture. 4th ed. Upper Saddle River,
NJ: Pearson Prentice-Hall, 2013. Print
Burkholder, J. Peter and Claude V. Palisca. Norton Anthology of Western Music. 6th ed.
New York: W.W. Norton, 2010. Print
Daverio, John.
University
Robert Schumann: Herald of a New Poetic Age. Oxford: Oxford
Press, 1997. Print
Hanning, Barbara Russana. Concise History of Western Music. 5th ed. New York: W.W.
Norton, 2014. Print
Rosen, Charles. The Romantic Generation. Cambridge: Harvard University Press,
1995. Print