Romantic music

Western art music of the nineteenth century that often emphasizes expressive intensity, expanded orchestras, and individual style. It spans diverse approaches rather than a single musical doctrine.

Chromaticism: The use of notes outside a composition’s governing diatonic scale. Chromatic harmony widened tonal color and heightened tension in Romantic compositions.
Romanticism: A movement in art and thought that emphasized emotion, imagination, nature, and individual experience. Romantic music shared this movement’s interest in intense feeling and individual expression.
Symphonie fantastique: Hector Berlioz’s 1830 program symphony depicting an artist’s obsessive love and visions. Its recurring idée fixe and vivid orchestration make it a landmark of program music.
Classical music: The Western art-music tradition associated especially with the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Romantic composers inherited Classical forms but often pursued greater scale and expressive intensity.
Piano: A keyboard instrument that produces sound when hammers strike strings. Its expanded range and power made it central to Romantic composition and domestic music-making.
Orchestration: The arrangement of musical material among instruments and instrumental groups. Larger orchestras let composers create broader contrasts of color, volume, and texture.
Ludwig van Beethoven: A German composer and pianist whose career bridged the Classical and Romantic periods. His late works and expanded forms helped open new paths for nineteenth-century composers.
Tristan und Isolde: Richard Wagner’s music drama, first performed in 1865, centered on doomed love. Its chromatic harmony became a touchstone for the tonal experimentation of late Romantic music.
Impressionism (music): A late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century musical style associated with suggestive color and fluid harmony. It offered an alternative to Romantic music’s emphasis on dramatic development and heightened expression.
Virtuoso: A performer with exceptional technical command of an instrument or voice. Romantic culture elevated the virtuoso performer into a public figure and artistic personality.

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