Hector Berlioz

Romanticism is a movement in art, literature, music, and various other media that was characterized by its rejection of the ideals that defined traditional Classicism. It spanned a period of roughly 50 years and began in Western Europe, eventually spanning the western world. Many notable authors and composers were either contributors to this movement or were influenced by it, with prominent authors being Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein and whose works are the basis for many modern…

The Romanticism movement arose as a reaction to the enlightenment period; literary works of this time often reflected on a society that was lost to science and pseudo intellectuals. In general, the movement was characterized as the shifted focus from puritan works to works that stressed the importance of imagination and the value of emotion over intellect. Authors of this time period criticized the disconnect between the mind and the soul. The industrial revolution drew people even further away…

Richard Wagner (1813-1883) was a composer of the Romantic period. In addition to his title as a composer, Wagner was also a theorist, author and librettist. He is most commonly associated with the operatic genre, in which he is known for his lengthy and dramatic works. Wagner was a revolutionist of his time and sought to reform the operatic genre by using theories he developed to write operas in such a way that they served the drama. In this essay, Wagner’s ideas of Gesamtkunstwerk and leitmotiv…

The music that I have chosen is D major Violin Concerto No.1, Op.6, composed by Niccolò Paganini. To gain a more complete understanding of the composition, first we need to check the background information of the composer. Paganini was an Italian violinist, violist, guitarist, and composer. [iii] That explains why the composition mainly uses violin throughout the whole composition. It was also noted that was one of the most famous classical music composers on the romantic era. When I first…

The Romantic period of poetry wasn’t just about the romantic imaginings of the natural life; it was rife with social and political issues. The Romantic Era was a particularly turbulent time for these problems and the writers of this time reflected day-to-day struggles with poverty, the crushing power of the ruling classes and the previous fall of the French nobles at the hands of those beneath them in various ways. Shelley’s “Ozymandias” was one such politically driven poem. The idea that a…

Painting and relevance: Jacques-Louis David’s “Oath of the Horatii” was painted in 1784 and it was commissioned by the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture on behalf of the Kind Louis XVI. The inspiration of the painting had to come by Corneille’s Play “Horace” which was being performed in Paris during that time. In 1785 the painting was exhibited at the Paris Salon. The painting shows a decisive moment of will as well as a great family tragedy resulting from political consequences. The…

Lord Byron was a romantic writer whose painful beginnings and peaceful love affairs shaped him into a passionate poet who illustrated his deepest desires with the stroke of his pen. Lord George Gordon Byron was born in 1788 to an aristocratic family. Although considered royal, he had a mother that abused him and a father who abandoned him at a young age. To make matters worse, Byron was born with a physical disability known as “clubfoot”. Byron wanted to escape his circumstances, so he ran away…

related to the nature of the speaker and the content of the poems. William Blake (1757-1827) is one of the Romantic poets, whose poetry and artwork became part of Romanticism in late Eighteenth and early Nineteenth century in European Culture. William Blake wrote in the time when the world was seeing a sudden change in many phases with the industrial revolution especially in Europe. Blake’s collections of poems in the Songs of Innocence and Experience exemplify the world around him in two…

Romanticism was a movement in the 1770s that focused on the primacy of the individual, inspiration, subjectivity, and the belief in the supernatural. Transcendentalism began in the late 1820s and was influenced by other movements such as Romanticism. Romanticism and Transcendentalism can be seen throughout the poems Thanatopsis, written by William Cullen Bryant, and Song of Myself, written by Walt Whitman, respectively. The tenets of Romanticism can be seen be analyzing Thanatopsis,…

Tchaikovsky Hamad Alrashed Fall 2016Tchaikovsky Hamad Alrashed introduction Tchaikovsky an always associated composer with the Moscow school according to his teaching position , as well as using Russian harmonies , and melodies as much as the mighty five do. The turning point of view between Tchaikovsky and the five by his philosophical point of that he is akin more to western ideas. Tchaikovsky bridges the gap between the two schools, for example tonality in his thematic presentation…