The Romanic Era Essay Research Paper In

The Romanic Era Essay, Research Paper In the early nineteenth century everyone used power looms and seed drills, the entire world was becoming industrialized. During the Enlightenment years before, people wanted to use reason in order to justify why things occurred; however, during the industrialization era, a few select traditionalists wanted to incorporate feeling, nature, emotion and instinct into art. (Mazour 535-536) In many forms of art, the change from rationalization to using feeling began the romantic era. Beethoven, the man who is given credit for initiating the romantic race in music, was criticized for writing in such a manner. He wrote powerful concertos and symphonies that were based on his emotions while he was composing. (Beethoven) Soon, many other artists

such as Salieri, Haydn, Bruch, and Schubert followed. Although the times were changing, even these civil men were considered bizarre for writing such untraditional and emotional music. (Klaus vii-10)The overall question being asked in this paper is whether or not studying select composers can in fact change a musician’s playing style and overall out look on music. I believe that studying these people’s lives can cause a drastic change in a person. For example, if I were to study Beethoven’s life, I would probably have a better grasp on how he was feeling at the time he composed the music; understanding the composers feelings would in fact change how I would interpret and therefore play the music. A sad mood in a piece would cause a violinist to play his instrument with more

emotion, feeling and expression; however, a joyful phrase might cause the musician to play in a cheerful nature. In other words, the composer’s mood during the time of composition can reflect how the musician will play. I feel that all of these composers must have shared a common event during their lifetime that would cause them to write music in such an unorthodox manner.Schubert was one of the original men to begin composing romantically. Born into a poor, yet educated family, Franz was often exposed to music. His father taught in a school owned by him and five other families; the school was also attached to a small multiple family house that they lived in. Although their family was not wealthy, they still enjoyed the luxuries of music. Franz took viola lessons from his

father and his eldest brother when he was young. He developed such a love for the art that he joined the choir. As soon as young Schubert was skilled enough to play the viola that he had been learning, his family began to play as a quartet for fun. (McLeish 1; Reed 11-12) By the time Franz had turned eleven, his father believed that he had such a fantastic voice, that he should try out for a scholarship for the Imperial College Music School. At his audition, the judges were so impressed with his singing abilities that he was immediately sent to their grammar school. While at the boarding school, Schubert was quite a good student; unfortunately, he soon discovered his latent musical talents; this caused him to just focus on music rather than his studies. Eventually Franz joined

the orchestra and turned out to be a remarkable leader. The concertmaster at the time, Josef von Spaun, thought that Franz had such great potential as a musician that he encouraged him to write music. Before he knew it, the young genius was composing left and right. The school orchestra began to take interest in his music and not before long, was playing a few of his pieces. (McLeish 3-4; Reed 13-17)Even though the life of this man might seem joyous and happy until this point, at age fifteen, Franz’ voice broke, his mother died, and his grades began to drop; nevertheless, a caring father was not about to let his son’s bright future go to waste. He promised his child that if he kept his grades up, he could study privately with the well-known composer Salieri. The young