Romanticism Beethoven

“The 19th century, the Romantic era, saw an intensification and extension of the expressive elements of classicism, but did not mark a musical stylistic break with classicism” (L33, 00:53). As discussed by Greenberg, there is “no syntactical break between the rhythm, melody and harmony of Classical era music and Romantic era music”. The word Romantic in this context is defined as “something that is boundless, incredible, above and beyond the everyday day, and marvelous” (L33, 3:49).Classical and Romantic eras are distinguished from one another in “expressive context and the incremental changes made to the musical language in order to describe that expressive content” (L33, 4:33). Romantic era music featured some general characteristics

As stated by Greenberg (2009): “As Ernst Theodor Wilhelm, better known as E.T.A. Hoffman wrote, quote, Beethoven's music sets in motion the lever a fear, of awe, of horror, of suffering and awakens just that infinite longing which is the essence of Romanticism. He is accordingly a completely Romantic composer, unquote” (L33, 1850). Beethoven’s music catalyzed the Romantic era into being and became the proverbial bridge from

This secular logic drew the upper and middle classes to seek excitement and thrills through entertainment with macabre, Gothic and supernatural content. “The 19th century had the Gothic novel and the poets and writers like Edgar Allan Poe and Mary Shelley. It had musical compositions like Hector Berlioz's "Dream of a Witch's Sabbath," the fifth movement of his Symphonie Fantastique, and Franz Liszt's "Totentanz," a piece of music based on the Black Death of the 14th century-- art that titillates, terrifies, and amuses all at the same time” (L 33,