Romantic music

Major eras of Western classical music
Early music
Medieval c. 500–1400 Transition to Renaissance Renaissance c. 1400–1600 Transition to Baroque
Common practice period
Baroque c. 1600–1750 Transition to Classical Classical c. 1730–1820 Transition to Romantic Romantic c. 1800–1910 Transition to Modernism
Neue Musik
Modernism c. 1890–1975 Transition to Postmodernism Postmodernism from c. 1960 Contemporary from c. 1945  • 20th-century  • 21st-century
v t e

Romantic music is a stylistic movement in

Romantic composers sought to create music that was individualistic, emotional, dramatic, and often

Background

The Romantic movement was an artistic, literary, and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe and strengthened in reaction to the Industrial Revolution.^[4] In part, it was a revolt against social and political norms of the Age of Enlightenment and a reaction against the scientific rationalization of nature (Casey 2008). It was embodied most strongly in the visual arts, music, literature,^[5] and education,^[6] and was in turn influenced by developments in natural history.^[7]

One of the first significant applications of the term to music was in 1789, in the Mémoires by the Frenchman André Grétry, but it was E. T. A. Hoffmann who established the principles of musical romanticism, in a lengthy review of Ludwig van Beethoven's Fifth Symphony published in 1810, and an 1813 article on Beethoven's instrumental music. In the first of these essays Hoffmann traced the beginnings of musical Romanticism to the later works of Haydn and Mozart. It was Hoffmann's fusion of ideas already associated with the term "Romantic", used in opposition to the restraint and formality of Classical models, that elevated music, and especially instrumental music, to a position of pre-eminence in Romanticism as the art most suited to the expression of emotions. It was also through the writings of Hoffmann and other German authors that German music was brought to the center of musical Romanticism.^[8]

Traits

The classical period often used short, even fragmentary, thematic material while the Romantic period tended to make greater use of longer, more fully defined and more emotionally evocative themes.^[9]

Characteristics often attributed to Romanticism:

• a new preoccupation with and surrender to nature;^[10]
• a turn towards the mystic and supernatural, both religious and unearthly;^[11]
• a focus on the nocturnal, the ghostly, the frightful, and terrifying;^[12]
• a new attention given to national identity;^[10]
• discontent with musical formulas and conventions;^[10]
• a greater emphasis on melody to sustain musical interest;^[13]
• increased chromaticism;^[10]
• a harmonic structure based on movement from tonic to subdominant or alternative keys rather than the traditional dominant, and use of more elaborate harmonic progressions (Wagner and Liszt are known for their experimental progressions);^[10]
• large, grand orchestras were common during this period;^[10]
• increase in virtuosic players featured in orchestrations;^[10]
• the use of new or previously not so common musical structures like the song cycle, nocturne, concert etude, arabesque, and rhapsody, alongside the traditional classical genres;^[13]
• Program music became somewhat more common;^[13]
• the use of a wider range of dynamics, for example from ppp to fff (from pianississimo, or very, very quiet to fortississimo, very, very loud), supported by large orchestration;^[10]
• a greater tonal range (for example, using the lowest and highest notes of the piano);^[10]

In music, there is a relatively clear dividing line in musical structure and form following the death of Beethoven. Whether one counts Beethoven as a "romantic" composer or not, the breadth and power of his work gave rise to a feeling that the classical sonata form and, indeed, the structure of the symphony, sonata and string quartet had been exhausted.^[14]

Trends of the 19th century

Non-musical influences

Events and changes in society such as ideas, attitudes, discoveries, inventions, and historical events often affect music. For example, the Industrial Revolution was in full effect by the late 18th century and early 19th century. This event profoundly affected music: there were major improvements in the mechanical valves and keys that most woodwinds and brass instruments depend on. The new and innovative instruments could be played with greater ease and they were more reliable.^[15]

Another development that affected music was the rise of the middle class.

"The music composed by Romantic [composers]" reflected "the importance of the individual" by being composed in ways that were often less restrictive and more often focused on the composer's skills as a person than prior means of writing music.[2]

Nationalism

During the Romantic period, music often took on a much more nationalistic purpose. Composers composed with a distinct sound that represented their home country and traditions. For example, Jean Sibelius' Finlandia has been interpreted to represent the rising nation of Finland, which would someday gain independence from Russian control.^[18]

Frédéric Chopin was one of the first composers to incorporate nationalistic elements into his compositions. Joseph Machlis states, "Poland's struggle for freedom from tsarist rule aroused the national poet in Poland. ... Examples of musical nationalism abound in the output of the romantic era. The folk idiom is prominent in the Mazurkas of Chopin".^[19] His mazurkas and polonaises are particularly notable for their use of nationalistic rhythms. Moreover, "During World War II the Nazis forbade the playing of ... Chopin's Polonaises in Warsaw because of the powerful symbolism residing in these works".^[19]

Other composers, such as

History

Early Romantic

The transition of

.

. In .

Music development has now also taken an upswing in other European countries. The Irishman

symphonies

.

High Romantic

The high romanticism can be divided into two phases. In the first phase, the actual romantic music reaches its peak. The Polish composer Frédéric Chopin explored previously unknown depths of emotion in his character pieces and dances for piano. Robert Schumann, mentally immersed at the end of his life, represents in person as well as in music almost the prototype of the passionate romantic artist, shadowed by tragedy. His idiosyncratic piano pieces, chamber music works and symphonies should have a lasting influence on the following generation of musicians.

. In opera, the operas of .

The second phase of high romanticism runs in parallel with the style of realism in literature and the visual arts. In the second half of his creation, Wagner now developed his

are included in this party.

In addition, some important loners came on the scene, among whom Anton Bruckner particularly stands out. Although a Wagner supporter, his clear-form style differs significantly from that of that composer. For example, the block-based instrumentation of Bruckner's symphonies is derived from the registers of the organ. In the ideological struggle against Wagner's adversaries, he was portrayed by his followers as a counterpart of Brahms. Felix Draeseke, who originally wrote "future music in classical form" starting from Liszt, also stands between the parties in composition.

Verdi also reached the way to a well-composed musical drama, albeit in a different way than Wagner. His immense charisma made all other composers fade in Italy, including Amilcare Ponchielli and Arrigo Boito, who was also the librettist of his late operas Otello and Falstaff. In France, on the other hand, the light muse triumphed first in the form of the socio-critical

.

A specific national romanticism had by now emerged in almost all European countries. The national Russian current started by Glinka was continued in Russia by the "

ballets

and symphonies gained great popularity. Bedřich Smetana founded Czech national music with his operas and the Symphony poems oriented towards Liszt. The symphonies, concerts and chamber music works of Antonín Dvořák, on the other hand, have Brahms as a model. In Poland, Stanisław Moniuszko was the leading opera composer, in Hungary Ferenc Erkel. Norway produced its best-known composers with Edvard Grieg, creator of lyrical piano works, songs and orchestral works such as the Peer-Gynt Suite; England's voice resonated with the Brahms-oriented Hubert Parry and symphonist, as well as the bizarre^{[according to whom?]} operettas of Arthur Sullivan.

Late Romantic

In late Romanticism, also called post-Romanticism, the traditional forms and elements of music are further dissolved. An increasingly colorful orchestral palette, an ever-increasing range of musical means, the spread of tonality to its limits, exaggerated emotions and an increasingly individual tonal language of the individual composer are typical features; the music is led to the threshold of modernity. Thus, the symphonies of Gustav Mahler reached previously unknown dimensions, partly give up the traditional four-sentence and often contain vocal proportions. But behind the monumental facade is the modern expressiveness of the Fin de siècle. This psychological expressiveness is also contained in the songs of Hugo Wolf, miniature dramas for voice and piano. More committed to tradition, particularly oriented towards Bruckner, are the symphonies of Franz Schmidt and Richard Wetz, while Max Reger resorted to Bach's polyphony in his numerous instrumental works, but developed it harmoniously extremely boldly. Among the numerous composers of the Reger successor, Julius Weismann and Joseph Haas stand out. Among the outstanding late romantic sound creators is also the idiosyncratic Hans Pfitzner. Although a traditionalist and decisive opponent of modern currents, quite a few of his works are quite close to the musical progress of the time. His successor include Walter Braunfels, who mainly emerged as an opera composer, and the symphonist Wilhelm Furtwängler. The opera stage was particularly suitable for increased emotions. The folk and fairy tale operas of Engelbert Humperdinck, Wilhelm Kienzl and Siegfried Wagner, the son of Richard Wagner, were still quite good. But even Eugen d'Albert and Max von Schillings irritated the nerves with a German variant of verism. Erotic symbolism can be found in the stage works of Alexander von Zemlinsky and Franz Schreker. Richard Strauss went even further to the limits of tonality with Salome and Elektra before he took more traditional paths with the Rosenkavalier. In the style related to the works of Strauss, the compositions Emil Nikolaus von Rezniceks and Paul Graeners are shown.

In Italy, opera still dominated during this time. This is where verism developed, an exaggerated realism that could easily turn into the striking and melodramatic on the opera stage. Despite their extensive work, Ruggero Leoncavallo, Pietro Mascagni, Francesco Cilea, and Umberto Giordano have only become known through one opera at a time. Only Giacomo Puccini's work has been completely preserved in the repertoire of the opera houses, although he was also often accused of sentimentality. Despite some veristic works, Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari was mainly considered a revival of the Opera buffa. Ferruccio Busoni, a temporarily defender of modern classicity living in Germany, left behind a rather conventional, little played work. Thus, instrumental music actually only found its place in Italian music again with Ottorino Respighi, who was influenced by Impressionism.

The term Impressionism comes from painting, and like there, it also developed in music in France. In the works of Claude Debussy, the structures dissolved into the finest nuances of rhythm, dynamics and timbre. This development was prepared in the work of Vincent d'Indy, Ernest Chausson and above all in the songs and chamber music of Gabriel Fauré. All subsequent French composers were more or less influenced by Impressionism. The most important among them was Maurice Ravel, a brilliant orchestral virtuoso. Albert Rousse first processed exotic topics before he anticipated Neoclassical tendencies like Ravel. Gabriel Pierné, Paul Dukas, Charles Koechlin, and Florent Schmitt also dealt with symbolic and exotic-oriental substances. The loner Erik Satie was the creator of spun piano pieces and idol of the next generation. Nevertheless, Impressionism is often attributed to the epoch of modernity, if not seen as its own epoch.

.

In Russia,

are more lyrical.

In the Czech Republic, Leoš Janáček, deeply rooted in the music of his Moravian homeland, found new areas of expression with the development of the language melody in his operas. The local sounds are also unmistakable in the music of Zdeněk Fibich, Josef Bohuslav Foerster, Vítězslav Novák, and Josef Suk. On the other hand, in the work of the Polish Karol Szymanowski, there is a slightly morbid exoticism and later classicist measure in the work of the Pole Karol Szymanowski. The most important Danish composer is Carl Nielsen, known for symphonies and concerts. Even more dominant in his country is the position of the Finn Jean Sibelius, also a symphonist of melancholy expressiveness and clear line design. In Sweden, the works of Wilhelm Peterson-Berger, Wilhelm Stenhammar, and Hugo Alfvén show a typical Nordic conservatism, and the Norwegian Christian Sinding also composed traditionally.

The music of Spain also increased in popularity again after a long time, first in the piano works of Isaac Albéniz and Enrique Granados, then in the operas, ballets and orchestral works of Manuel de Falla, influenced by Impressionism.

Finally, the first important representatives of the United States also appeared with Edward MacDowell and Amy Beach. But even the work of Charles Ives belonged only partly to late Romanticism - much of it was already radically modern and pointed far into the 20th century.

Schools

New German School

The New German School was a loose collection of composers and critics informally led by Franz Liszt and Richard Wagner who strove for pushing the limits of chromatic harmony and program music as opposed to absolute music which they believed had reached its limit under Ludwig van Beethoven.^[23]

This group also pushed for the development and innovation of the symphonic poem, thematic transformation in musical form, and radical changes in tonality and harmony.^[24]

Other important members of this movement includes the critic Richard Pohl and composers Felix Draeseke, Julius Reubke, Karl Klindworth, William Mason, and Peter Cornelius.

The German Conservatives

The conservatives were a broad group of musicians and critics who maintained the artistic legacy of Robert Schumann who adhered to composing and promoting absolute music.^[25]

They believed in continuing along the footsteps of Ludwig van Beethoven of composing the symphony genre in the classical mold, though they would implement their own musical language.^[26]

The most prominent members of this circle were

.

The Mighty Five

The Mighty Five were a group of Russian composers centered in Saint Petersburg who collaborated with each other from 1856 to 1870 to create a distinctly Russian national style of classical music. They were often at odds with Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky who favored a more Western approach to classical composition.

Led by Mily Balakirev the group's main members also consisted of César Cui, Modest Mussorgsky, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Alexander Borodin.

The Belyayev Circle

The Belyayev circle was a society of Russian musicians who met in

.

This group was founded by Russian music publisher philanthropist Mitrofan Belyayev. The two most important composers of this group were Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Alexander Glazunov. Members also included Vladimir Stasov, Anatoly Lyadov, Alexander Ossovsky, Witold Maliszewski, Nikolai Tcherepnin, Nikolay Sokolov, and Alexander Winkler

Transition to Modernism

During the later half of the 19th Century, some prominent composers began exploring the limits of the traditional tonal system. Important examples include Tristan und Isolde^[27] by Richard Wagner and Bagatelle sans tonalité^[28] by Franz Liszt. This limit was finally reached during the Late Romantic period where progressive tonality is demonstrated in the works of composers such as Gustav Mahler.^[29] With these developments, Romanticism finally began to break apart into several new parallel movements forming in response, bringing way to Modernism.

Some notable movements to form in response to Romanticism's collapse include Expressionism with Arnold Schoenberg and the Second Viennese School being its main promoters and Primitivism with Igor Stravinsky being its most influential composer.

Genres

Symphony

Carried to the highest degree by Ludwig van Beethoven, the symphony becomes the most prestigious form to which many composers devote themselves. The most conservative respect to the Beethovenian model includes composers such as Franz Schubert, Felix Mendelssohn, Robert Schumann, Camille Saint-Saëns, and Johannes Brahms. Others show an imagination that makes them go beyond this framework, in form or in the spirit: the most daring of them being Hector Berlioz.

Finally, some will also tell a story throughout their symphonies; like

(musical motif to identify a character, the hero for example), it is to be compared to music with a symphonic program.

Lied

This musical genre appeared with the evolution from

.

Concerto

It is

.

Finally, the concerto will allow instrumentalist composers to reveal their virtuosity, such as Niccolò Paganini on the violin, and Frédéric Chopin, Robert Schumann, and Franz Liszt on the piano.

Nocturne

The

is usually slow, and the central part is often more agitated.

Frédéric Chopin has set the most famous form of the nocturnes. He wrote 21, from 1827 to 1846. First published in series of three (opus 9 and 15), they are then grouped in pairs (opus 27, 32, 37, 48, 55, 62).

Ballet

The Romantic ballet was developed throughout the 19th century, especially by composers such as Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in Russia and Léo Delibes in France.

Opera

France

During the 19th century, romanticism took a hold of opera and it was

is one of the most popular French operas of the mid-19th century.

During the second part of the 19th century, Georges Bizet will revolutionize opera with Carmen: "local color based on the use of Spanish songs and dances" according to Nietzsche, it is "a ray of Mediterranean light dissipating the fog of the Wagnerian ideal". Interest in "local color" works is confirmed with Lakmé by Léo Delibes, and Samson and Dalila by Camille Saint-Saëns. The most productive French composer of operas of the last part of the century was Jules Massenet composing works such as Manon, Werther, and Thaïs.

, established himself as the master of French opera-comique of the 19th century, inventing a new genre, the French opera food, which later was confused with the operetta.

At the beginning of the 20th century, romanticism in France was gradually abandoned in favor of other currents such as Impressionism or symbolism, carried in particular by Claude Debussy's Pelléas and Mélisande (1902).

Germany

(1805), the only operatic work of this composer.

was created dedicated to the exclusive representation of Wagner's works.

Wagner's influence continues in virtually all operas, even in Hänsel und Gretel by Engelbert Humperdinck. The dominant figure is then Richard Strauss, who uses orchestration and vocal techniques similar to those of Wagner in Salomé and Elektra while developing his own path. Der Rosenkavalier is the work of Strauss that had the most flamboyant success at the time.

Italy

Italian romanticism begins with Gioachino Rossini who composed works such as The Barber of Seville and La Cenerentola. He created the "bel canto" style, a style adopted by his contemporaries Vincenzo Bellini and Gaetano Donizetti.

However, the face of Italian opera is Giuseppe Verdi whose Nabucco's slave choir is a very important hymn to all of Italy. The trilogy formed by Rigoletto, Il trovatore and La traviata are among his major works but he reaches the peak of his art with Otello and Falstaff at the end of his career. He has infuled his works with unparalleled dramatic vigour and rhythmic vitality.

In the second part of the 19th century,

are melodic operas loaded with emotion.

Other countries

Other works of national inspiration:

• In
  Pyotr Ilich Tchaikovsky
  .
• In the Czech Republic, the national spirit is embodied by The Bartered Bride of Bedřich Smetana, Rusalka of Antonín Dvořák, Šárka of Zdeněk Fibich, and Jenůfa of Leoš Janáček.
• In Great Britain, Michael William Balfe, who composed The Bohemian Girl, the British romantic opera par excellence. He also composes for the French scene.

See also

• History of music
• List of Romantic-era composers
• Neoromanticism (music)

References

• Beard, David, and Kenneth Gloag. 2005. Musicology: The Key Concepts. Cornwall: Routledge.
• Casey, Christopher. 2008. "'Grecian Grandeurs and the Rude Wasting of Old Time': Britain, the Elgin Marbles, and Post-Revolutionary Hellenism". Foundations 3, no. 1:31–64 (Accessed 24 September 2012).
• Child, Fred. 2006. "Salonen on Sibelius". Performance Today. National Public Radio.
• Encyclopædia Britannica (n.d.). "Romanticism". Britannica.com. Retrieved 24 August 2010.
• Feld, Marlon. n.d. "Summary of Western Classical Music History". Linked from John Ito, Music Humanities, section 16. New York: Columbia University (accessed 11 April 2016).
• Grétry, André-Ernest-Modeste. 1789. Mémoires, ou Essai sur la musique. 3 vols. Paris: Chez l'auteur, de L'Imprimerie de la république, 1789. Second, enlarged edition, Paris: Imprimerie de la république, pluviôse, 1797. Republished, 3 vols., Paris: Verdiere, 1812; Brussels: Whalen, 1829. Facsimile of the 1797 edition, Da Capo Press Music Reprint Series. New York: Da Capo Press, 1971. Facsimile reprint in 1 volume of the 1829 Brussels edition, Bibliotheca musica Bononiensis, Sezione III no. 43. Bologna: Forni Editore, 1978.
• Grunfeld, Frederic V. 1974. Music. New York: Newsweek Books.
  ISBN 0-88225-102-3
  (de luxe).
• Gutek, Gerald Lee. 1995. A History of the Western Educational Experience, second edition. Prospect Heights, Ill.: Waveland Press.
  ISBN 0-88133-818-4
  .
• Hoffmann, Ernst Theodor Amadeus. 1810. "Recension: Sinfonie pour 2 Violons, 2 Violes, Violoncelle e Contre-Violon, 2 Flûtes, petite Flûte, 2 Hautbois, 2 Clarinettes, 2 Bassons, Contrabasson, 2 Cors, 2 Trompettes, Timbales et 3 Trompes, composée et dediée etc. par Louis van Beethoven. à Leipsic, chez Breitkopf et Härtel, Oeuvre 67. No. 5. des Sinfonies. (Pr. 4 Rthlr. 12 Gr.)". Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung 12, no. 40 (4 July), cols. 630–42 [Der Beschluss folgt.]; 12, no. 41 (11 July), cols. 652–59.
• Kravitt, Edward F. 1992. "Romanticism Today". The Musical Quarterly 76, no. 1 (Spring): 93–109. (subscription required)
• Levin, David. 1959. History as Romantic Art: Bancroft, Prescott, and Parkman. Stanford Studies in Language and Literature 20, Stanford: Stanford University Press. Reprinted as a Harbinger Book, New York: Harcourt, Brace & World Inc., 1963. Reprinted, New York: AMS Press, 1967.
• Machlis, Joseph. 1963. The Enjoyment of Music (5th ed.). New York: W. W. Norton.
• Nichols, Ashton. 2005. "Roaring Alligators and Burning Tygers: Poetry and Science from William Bartram to Charles Darwin". Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 149, no. 3:304–15.
• Ottlová, Marta, John Tyrrell, and Milan Pospíšil. 2001. "Smetana, Bedřich [Friedrich]". The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan Publishers.
• Philips, Abbey. 2011. "Spacebomb: Truth Lies Somewhere in Between". RVA News: Joaquin in Memphis. (accessed 5 October 2015)
• Samson, Jim. 2001. "Romanticism". The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan Publishers.
• Schmidt-Jones, Catherine, and Russell Jones. 2004. Introduction to Music Theory. [Houston, TX]: Connexions Project.
  ISBN 1-4116-5030-1
  .
• Searle, Humphrey, "Liszt, Franz". 1980. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan Publishers.

Further reading

• Adler, Guido. 1911. Der Stil in der Musik. Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel.
• Adler, Guido. 1919. Methode der Musikgeschichte. Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel.
• Adler, Guido. 1930. Handbuch der Musikgeschichte, second, thoroughly revised and greatly expanded edition. 2 vols. Berlin-Wilmersdorf: H. Keller. Reprinted, Tutzing: Schneider, 1961.
• Blume, Friedrich. 1970. Classic and Romantic Music, translated by M. D. Herter Norton from two essays first published in Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart. New York: W. W. Norton.
• Boyer, Jean-Paul. 1961. "Romantisme". Encyclopédie de la musique, edited by François Michel, with François Lesure and Vladimir Fédorov, 3:585–87. Paris: Fasquelle.
• Brendel, Franz (1858). "F. Liszt's symphonische Dichtungen". Neue Zeitschrift für Musik. 49: 73–76, 85–88, 97–100, 109–112, 121–123, 133–136 & 141–143.
• Cavalletti, Carlo. 2000. Chopin and Romantic Music, translated by Anna Maria Salmeri Pherson. Hauppauge, NY: Barron's Educational Series. (Hardcover)
  ISBN 978-0-7641-5136-1
  .
• Dahlhaus, Carl. 1979. "Neo-Romanticism". 19th-Century Music 3, no. 2 (November): 97–105.
• Dahlhaus, Carl. 1980. Between Romanticism and Modernism: Four Studies in the Music of the Later Nineteenth Century, translated by Mary Whittall in collaboration with Arnold Whittall; also with
  ISBN 0-520-03679-4
  (cloth); 0520067487 (pbk). Original German edition, as Zwischen Romantik und Moderne: vier Studien zur Musikgeschichte des späteren 19. Jahrhunderts. Munich: Musikverlag Katzbichler, 1974.
• Dahlhaus, Carl. 1985. Realism in Nineteenth-Century Music, translated by Mary Whittall. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press.
  ISBN 3-492-00539-X
  .
• Dahlhaus, Carl. 1987. Untitled review of Leon Plantinga, Romantic Music: A History of Musical Styles in Nineteenth-Century Europe and Anthology of Romantic Music, translated by Ernest Sanders. 19th Century Music 11, no. 2:194–96.
• Einstein, Alfred. 1947. Music in the Romantic Era. New York: W. W. Norton.
• Geck, Martin. 1998. "Realismus". Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart: Allgemeine Enzyklopädie der Musik begründe von Friedrich Blume, second, revised edition, edited by
  ISBN 3-476-41008-0
  (Metzler).
• Grout, Donald Jay. 1960. A History of Western Music. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.
• Lang, Paul Henry. 1941. Music in Western Civilization. New York: W. W. Norton.
• Mason, Daniel Gregory. 1936. The Romantic Composers. New York: Macmillan.
• ISBN 978-0-393-95196-7
  .
• ISBN 0-674-77933-9
  .
• Rummenhöller, Peter. 1989. Romantik in der Musik: Analysen, Portraits, Reflexionen. Munich: Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag; Kassel and New York: Bärenreiter.
  ISBN 978-3-423-04493-6
  (Taschenbuch Verlag).
• Spencer, Stewart. 2008. "The 'Romantic Operas' and the Turn to Myth". In
  ISBN 0-521-64439-9
  (pbk).
• Wagner, Richard. 1995. Opera and Drama, translated by William Ashton Ellis. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. Originally published as volume 2 of Richard Wagner's Prose Works (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., 1900), a translation from Gesammelte Schriften und Dichtungen (Leipzig, 1871–73, 1883).
• Warrack, John. 2002. "Romanticism". The Oxford Companion to Music, edited by Alison Latham. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.
  ISBN 0-19-866212-2
  .
• Wehnert, Martin. 1998. "Romantik und romantisch". Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart: allgemeine Enzyklopädie der Musik, begründet von Friedrich Blume, second revised edition. Sachteil 8: Quer–Swi, cols. 464–507. Basel, Kassel, London, Munich, and Prague: Bärenreiter; Stuttgart and Weimar: Metzler.

External links

• Music of the Romantic Era
• The Romantic Era
• Era on line