Romanticism was an artistic and intellectual movement in Europe in the mid-18th century, emphasizing emotion, nature, and nostalgia. It influenced literature, art, music, theatre, architecture, nationalism, and politics. Notable figures include Goethe, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelley, Keats, Hawthorne, Cooper, Poe, Goya, Beethoven, Chopin, Wagner, Liszt, Berlioz, Verdi, and Tchaikovsky. The movement declined with the rise of realism, but its influence remains valuable.
Romanticism was an artistic and intellectual movement that arose in Europe in the mid-18th century as an alternative to the ideals of the Industrial Revolution and the Enlightenment. Reaching its zenith in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, it emphasized the importance of emotion, sensitivity, passion, imagination and intuition over reason. The movement also placed great value on the beauty of nature and wilderness, and often emphasized a feeling of nostalgia for a bygone past, glorifying the medieval period and popular culture. People have expressed these concepts in literature, art, music, theatre, architecture, nationalism and politics. Analyzing whether these traits are evident in a work or possessed by someone is usually the best way to determine whether a person or object belongs to the period, because the era doesn’t have strict start and end dates.
Catalogues
In literature, Romanticism sparked a renewed interest in the pre-Christian mythology of Germany, Scandinavia and Finland. The German Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was one of the most influential authors of the time and his novel, The Sorrows of Young Werther, featured a moody and sensitive artist. Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, German linguists better known as the Brothers Grimm, used their talents in cultural research to collect and publish folk tales.
The writings of English poets William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge explored themes of nature and emotion in poetic language simpler than the highly formal poetry of the 18th century. Other English writers of the period include Lord George Gordon Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary Shelley and John Keats. Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein features both a passionate outcast as the protagonist and descriptions of an untamed wilderness that mirror the character’s inner torment.
American writers have also demonstrated a romantic influence. Nathaniel Hawthorne, most famous for The Scarlet Letter, dealt with the sinful nature of man and often included a moral or ethical message in pieces about him. James Fenimore Cooper focused primarily on nature and frontier life, with most scholars considering his The Last of the Mohicans to be his masterpiece. Edgar Allan Poe, author of dark stories and poems such as The Tell-Tale Heart and The Raven, is known for his focus on death and mystery.
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Artists of this time focused primarily on the expression of mood, first starting with images of weather and landscapes. Combining extremes in nature with actual historical events was a popular trend, as people tried to convey the idea that a Higher Power and the forces of the world were much stronger than men. Looser, more expressive brushstrokes were common, and artists often chose gothic, macabre, or nostalgic subjects. Important painters of the period include Francisco Goya, Theodore Gericault, Eugene Delacroix and JMW Turner.
Musica
In music, individuals have expressed romance through increased use of folk tunes. The public persona of the artist was also important, and society expected composers and performers to enact their creative struggles and indulge their passionate and artistic temperaments, especially as soloists. Many historians see Ludwig von Beethoven as the first major composer in this vein, although others consider him more “transitional” because elements of both Classicism and Romanticism are present in his works. Other important composers of the time are Frederic Chopin, Richard Wagner, Franz Liszt, Hector Berlioz, Giuseppe Verdi and Peter Tchaikovsky.
The bold freedom and emotion so characteristic of the era showed itself in music in part because instrument makers used developments from the Industrial Revolution to revise key mechanisms and master designs. With these improvements, players greatly improved their technique and were able to perform sounds and passages that previously would not have been very playable. The emphasis on nature and the common man resulted in performances for all rather than just the elite, and audiences were filled with people who, despite their lack of musical training, appreciated the works for their expressiveness and sense of dramatic connection.
theater
While earlier directors, actors, actresses, and theater crews had stuck to a formalized set of rules of performance, those of the Romantic era set aside structure, emphasizing more expression and individuality. They really appreciated the details and loved scripts that showed real heroes and heroines. Many playwrights have turned to Shakespeare for inspiration and have tried to strike a balance in combining elements of the grotesque and the beautiful, comedy and tragedy. The belief that these blends best represented the complexities of man and society was paramount.
Architecture
Starting in France, Gothic-style structures were often built during the Romantic period, which meant using large spaces and, in most cases, using vaulted ceilings with pointed arches. The overall design of the building was linear, containing many large windows so that light, which individuals associated with spirituality, could enter the rooms. Many builders decorated what they created with statues, especially gargoyles.
Nationalism and politics
One consequence of the focus on popular culture was a rise in nationalism. This was especially true in Germany, where writers urged unity among Germany’s many small states, both as an expression of shared German culture and as a means of resisting French military expansion. The movement’s concepts also had great appeal in the United States, encouraging people to venture out on their own for freedom, spurring settlers and immigrants to literally move into the wilds of the West as they developed their own sense of patriotism.
Decline
While this movement was very successful, eventually people began to see the value in accepting life and the world as it was, in not trying to exaggerate anything or add color where there really wasn’t. Realism developed in response to romantic ideals, characterized by a strong desire for truth and accuracy. While the works of the latter period are sometimes characterized as simplistic and are not necessarily as dramatic as their predecessors, they are nevertheless extremely valuable as they provide a glimpse into how people and societies thought and functioned.
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