Romantic period

The Romantic period in music lasted from approximately the 1830s to the 1910s. To some extent, the word “romantic” is just a label, a concept that cannot be strictly defined, like many others. Many of the works mentioned in all chapters of our book without exception can rightfully be called “romantic.”

The main difference between this period and others is that the composers of that era paid more attention to the feelings and perception of music, trying to express emotional experiences with its help. In this they differ from the composers of the classical period, for whom the most important thing in music was form and who tried to follow certain rules for constructing composition.

At the same time, elements of romanticism can be seen in the works of some composers of the classical period, and elements of classicism can be seen in the composers of the romantic period. So everything we talked about above is not a strict rule at all, but just a general characteristic.

History did not stand still, and all people did not suddenly become romantics, who are interested only in their emotional experiences. This is the time of the birth of socialism, postal reform and the founding of the Salvation Army. At the same time, vitamins and radium were discovered, the Suez Canal was built; Daimler designed the first automobile, and the Wright brothers made the first flight. Marconi invented radio, successfully sending a wireless message over a distance of one and a half kilometers. Queen Victoria sat on the throne of Great Britain longer than any other English monarch. The Gold Rush prompted thousands of people to travel to America.

As you flip through our book, you will notice that this is the largest of all the chapters, with no less than thirty-seven composers mentioned. Many of them lived and worked simultaneously in different countries. Therefore, we have divided this chapter into three sections: “Early Romantics,” “National Composers,” and “Late Romantics.”

As you probably already guessed, this division also does not claim to be absolutely accurate. However, we hope that it will help keep the story consistent, although it may not always follow chronological order.

These are composers who became a kind of bridge between the classical period and the period of late romanticism. Many of them worked at the same time as the “classics”, and their work was greatly influenced by Mozart and Beethoven. At the same time, many of them made their personal contribution to the development of classical music.

Our first composer of the Romantic period was a real star of his time. During his performances, he demonstrated the wonders of virtuoso violin skills and performed incredible stunts. Like the virtuoso rock guitarist Jimi Hendrix, who was born one hundred and sixty years later, Niccolo Paganini always amazed the audience with his passionate playing.

Paganini could play the entire piece on two violin strings instead of four. Sometimes

he even deliberately made the strings break in the middle of the performance, after which he still brilliantly finished the piece to loud applause from the audience.

As a child, Paganini studied music exclusively. However, his father even punished him for not exercising enough by not giving him food or water.

As an adult, Paganini was such a master of the violin that it was rumored that he had made a pact with the devil himself, since no mortal could play so magnificently. After the death of the musician, the church at first even refused to bury him on its land.

Paganini, without a doubt, himself understood all the benefits of his public appearances, asserting:

“I’m ugly, but when women hear me play, they themselves crawl to my feet.”

The style and structure of musical compositions continued to develop both in instrumental works and in opera. In Germany, the avant-garde of opera art was led by Carl Maria von Weber, although he lived in years that many do not consider to be the romantic period.

It can be said that for the Webers, opera was a family affair, and Karl traveled a lot as a child with opera troupe my father. His opera Free Shooter (Magic Shooter) entered the history of music due to the fact that folk motifs were used in it.

A little later you will learn that such a technique is considered a characteristic feature of the romantic period.

Weber also wrote several clarinet concertos, and it is for these that he is largely famous today.

Italy is the birthplace of opera, and in the person of Gioachino Antonio Rossini Italians were lucky to find a new hero of this genre. He wrote operas of both comic and tragic content with equal success.

Rossini was one of those composers who composed quickly, and in order to write an opera, he usually needed only a few weeks. At the height of his fame he once said:

“Give me the laundry bill and I’ll set it to music.”

They say that Barber of Seville Rossini composed it in just thirteen days. Such a fast pace of work led to the fact that his new operas were constantly staged in all theaters in Italy. But he did not always treat the performers of his compositions favorably and once even spoke disparagingly about them:

“How wonderful the opera would be if there were no singers in it!”

But at the age of thirty-seven, Rossini suddenly stopped writing operas and, over the last almost four decades of his life, created only Stabat Mater.

It is still not entirely clear what guided him when making such a decision, however, by that time a considerable amount had accumulated in his bank account - royalties from productions.

In addition to music, Rossini had a passion for culinary arts, and many more dishes are named after him than other composers. You can even arrange a whole lunch, which will include Rossini Salad, Rossini Omelette, and Rossini Tournedo. (Tournedos are strips of meat fried in breadcrumbs, served with pate and truffles.)

Franz Schubert, who lived only thirty-one years, had already established himself as a talented composer by the age of seventeen. For my own sake long life in total he wrote more than six hundred songs, nine symphonies, eleven operas and about four hundred other works. In 1815 alone, he composed one hundred and forty-four songs, two masses, a symphony and a number of other works.

In 1823, he contracted syphilis, and five years later, in 1828, he died of typhoid fever. A year earlier, he attended the funeral of his idol Ludwig van Beethoven.

It is noteworthy that Schubert was one of the first major composers to become famous for performing the works of others. He himself gave only one major concert in the year of his death, and even then it was eclipsed by the performance of Paganini, who came to Vienna at about the same time. So poor Schubert never achieved the respect he deserved during his lifetime.

One of Schubert's biggest mysteries is Symphony No. 8, known as Unfinished. He wrote only two parts of it and then stopped working. No one knows why he did this, but this symphony remains one of his most popular works.

Hector Berlioz was born into the family of a doctor, so he, unlike many other composers mentioned in our book, did not receive a full musical education.

At first, he decided to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a doctor, for which he went to Paris, but there he began to spend time at the opera more and more often. He eventually decided to pursue music, much to his parents' chagrin.

The image of Berlioz may seem caricatured, so far from writing to people

any composer can be imagined: very nervous and irritable, impulsive, with sudden mood swings and, of course, unusually romantic in relationships with the opposite sex. One day he attacked his ex-lover with a pistol in his hand and threatened to poison her; he pursued the other, dressed in women's clothing.

But the main subject of Berlioz's romantic aspirations was the actress Harriet Smithson, who later suffered from a severe nervous disorder - apparently, she owed it to a large extent to Berlioz himself. He first saw her in 1827, but he only managed to meet her in person in 1832. At first, Smithson rejected Berlioz, and he, wanting to achieve reciprocity, wrote A fantastic symphony. In 1833, they finally got married, but, as could be expected, a few years later Berlioz fell in love with another woman.

As for music, Berlioz loved scope. Take him as an example Requiem, written for a huge orchestra and choir, as well as four brass bands placed at each corner of the stage. This predilection for large forms did not greatly contribute to his posthumous fame. Performing his works in the form in which he intended them can be very expensive, and sometimes even impossible. But such obstacles did not bother him at all, and he continued to compose music with all the passion of which he was capable. One day he said:

“Every composer knows the pain and despair that comes from not having enough time to write down what he came up with.”

Any schoolchild reading this book should feel envious of people like Felix Mendelssohn, to people who became famous in childhood.

As we can see from numerous examples, this is far from uncommon in the world of classical music.

However, Mendelssohn succeeded not only in music; he was one of the few people who manage to achieve good results in everything they undertake - in painting, poetry, sports, languages.

It was not difficult for Mendelssohn to master all this.

Mendelssohn was lucky - he was born into a wealthy family and grew up in the creative atmosphere of Berlin artistic circles. Even as a child, he met many talented artists and musicians who came to visit his parents.

Mendelssohn first performed in public at the age of nine, and by the time he was sixteen, he had already composed String octet. A year later he wrote the overture to Shakespeare's play A dream in a summer night. But he created the rest of the music for this comedy only seventeen years later (including the famous Wedding March, which is still often performed at weddings).

Mendelssohn’s personal life was also successful: over the years of a long and strong marriage, he and his wife had five children.

He worked and traveled a lot, including in Scotland, whose inhabitants he did not speak very favorably of:

“…[they] produce nothing but whiskey, fog and bad weather.”

But this did not stop him from writing two wonderful works dedicated to Scotland. Thirteen years after the first trip was completed Scottish Symphony; the basis Overtures of the Hebrides Scottish melodies began to play. Mendelssohn was also connected with Great Britain by his oratorio Elijah, which was first staged in Birmingham in 1846. He even met Queen Victoria and gave music lessons to Prince Albert.

Mendelssohn died of a stroke at a relatively young age - at thirty-eight years old. Of course, we can say that he did not feel sorry for himself and was overtired from excessive work, but to a large extent his death was hastened by the death of his beloved sister Fanny, who was also a talented musician.

Before us is another romantic to the core. Wherein Frederic Chopin He was also distinguished by his passionate devotion to one instrument, and this is very rare for the composers mentioned in our book.

To say that Chopin loved the piano is an understatement. He admired it, he devoted his whole life to composing piano compositions and improving the techniques of playing it. There seemed to be no other instruments for him, except as an accompaniment in orchestral works.

Chopin was born in 1810 in Warsaw; his father was French by birth, and his mother was Polish. Frederic began performing at the age of seven, and his first compositions date back to the same time. I must say that he distinctive feature There was always a focus on the future.

Subsequently, Chopin became famous in Paris, where he began giving music lessons to rich people, thanks to which he himself became rich. He always paid close attention to his appearance and to ensuring that his wardrobe was in keeping with the latest fashions.

As a composer, Chopin was methodical and thorough. He never allowed himself to be careless; he honed every work to perfection. It is not surprising that composing music was a painful process for him.

In total he composed one hundred and sixty-nine solo works for piano.

In Paris, Chopin fell in love with the famous French writer with the fancy name Amandine Aurora Lucille Dupin, better known under the pseudonym George Sand. She was quite a remarkable person: she could often be found on the streets of Paris walking around in men's clothing and smoking cigars, which shocked the well-bred public. The romance between Chopin and George Sand was stormy and ended in a painful breakup.

Like some other composers of the Romantic period, Chopin did not live a long life - he died of tuberculosis at the age of thirty-nine, shortly after his breakup with George Sand.

Robert Schumann is another composer who lived a short and turbulent life, although in his case it was seasoned with a fair amount of madness. Nowadays, Schumann's works for piano, songs and chamber music are known.

Schumann was a brilliant composer, but during his lifetime he was in the shadow of his wife Clara Schumann, brilliant pianist of that time. She is less known as a composer, although she also wrote quite interesting music.

Robert Schumann himself could not perform as a pianist due to a hand injury, and it was difficult for him to live next to a woman who became famous in this field.

The composer suffered from syphilis and a nervous disorder; once he even tried to commit suicide by throwing himself into the Rhine. He was rescued and placed in a psychiatric hospital, where he died two years later.

Schumann had a pragmatic approach to art. The following statement of his is known:

“To compose, you just need to come up with a melody that no one has ever thought of.”

If Paganini can be called the king of violinists - performers, then among pianists - romantics this title rightfully belongs Franz Liszt. He was also involved in teaching and tirelessly performed the works of other composers, especially Wagner, who will be discussed later.

Liszt's piano works are extremely difficult to perform, but he wrote according to his playing technique, knowing full well that no one would play them better than him.

In addition, Liszt transcribed works by other composers onto the piano: Beethoven, Berlioz, Rossini and Schubert. Under his fingers they acquired a bizarre originality and began to sound new. Considering that they were originally written for an orchestra, one can only marvel at the skill of the musician who reproduces them amazingly accurately on one single instrument.

Liszt was a real star of his time; a hundred years before the invention of rock and roll, he led a life worthy of any rock musician, including his various love affairs. Even the decision to take holy orders did not stop him from having affairs.

Liszt also popularized performances with piano and orchestra, a genre still common today. He loved to catch the admiring glances of fans and listen to the enthusiastic screams of the audience watching his fingers fly over the keys. So he turned the piano so that the audience could follow the pianist's performance. Before this, they sat with their backs to the audience.

The general public knows Georges Bizet as the creator of the opera Carmen, but the list published at the end of our book included another of his works, Au Fond du Temple Saint(also known as Duet of Nadir and Zurga) from the opera Pearl seekers. It has consistently ranked at the top of the hit parades since we began compiling a list of the most popular works among Classic FM listeners in 1996.

Bizet is yet another child prodigy who has demonstrated his exceptional musical abilities back in childhood. He wrote his first symphony at the age of seventeen. True, he also died early, at the age of thirty-six, joining the list of untimely departed geniuses.

Despite his talent, Bizet never achieved real recognition during his lifetime. Opera Pearl divers was staged with varying success, and the premiere Carmen It ended in failure completely - the fashionable public of that time did not accept it. Favor of critics and true music connoisseurs Carmen won only after the death of the composer. Since then it has been staged in all the leading opera houses in the world.

Here's another extremely vague definition. “Nationalists” can rightfully be called not only all romantic composers, but also, to some extent, many representatives of the Baroque and classical periods.

Nevertheless, in this section we will list fourteen leading composers of the Romantic period, whose works were written in such a style that even listeners not very familiar with classical music can tell where this or that master comes from.

Sometimes these composers are classified as belonging to one or another national music school, although this approach is not entirely correct.

Usually, when we hear the word “school,” we imagine a classroom in which children, under the guidance of a teacher, perform the same task.

If we talk about composers, they were united by one common direction, and they each followed their own path, trying to find their own, unique means of musical expression.

If Russian classical music has a father - a founder, then this is, without a doubt, Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka. Nationalist musicians are distinguished precisely by the fact that they use folk melodies in their works. Glinka was introduced to Russian songs by his grandmother.

Unlike many others talented composers, so often mentioned on the pages of our book, Glinka began to seriously study music at a relatively late age - in his early twenties. At first he served as an official in the Ministry of Railways.

When Glinka decided to change his career, he went to Italy, where he performed as a pianist. It was there that his deep love for opera began. Returning home, he composed his first opera Life for the king. The public immediately recognized him as the best Russian contemporary composer. His second opera Ruslan and Ludmila, was not as successful, although it stood the test of time better.

Alexander Porfirievich Borodin belongs to the composers who, in addition to music, were actively involved in other activities. As for Borodin, he began his career as a scientist - a chemist. His first essay was called “On the effect of ethyl iodide on hydrobenzamide and amarin”, and of course you will never hear it on Classic FM, since it is a scientific work that has nothing to do with music.

Borodin was the illegitimate son of a Georgian prince; He adopted his love for music and interest in art in general from his mother, retaining them throughout his life.

Due to his constant busyness, he managed to publish only about twenty works, which included symphonies, songs and chamber music.

Together with Mily Balakirev, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Cesar Cui And Modest Mussorgsky Borodin was a member of the musical community “The Mighty Handful”. The success of all these composers is even more remarkable because they all had other activities besides music.

In this they are definitely different from most of the other composers mentioned in this book.

Borodin's most popular work is Polovtsian dances from his opera Prince Igor. It should be mentioned that he himself never completed it (although he worked on it for seventeen years). The opera was completed by his friend Rimsky - Korsakov, about whom we will talk in more detail later.

According to our opinion, Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky was the most inventive and influential of the composers of the “Mighty Handful,” although he, as an unusual person, did not escape one or two vices inherent in many representatives of creative professions.

After leaving the army, Mussorgsky got a job in the civil service. In his youth, he loved, as they say, to take a walk, he was distinguished by impressionability, and towards the end of his life he suffered from alcoholism. For this reason, he is often depicted with unkempt hair and an unnaturally red nose.

Mussorgsky often did not finish his works, and his friends did it for him - sometimes not in the way he himself intended, so now we are not sure what the author's original intention was. Opera orchestration Boris Godunov remade Rimsky-Korsakov, as well as the famous “musical picture” Night on Bald Mountain(used in the Disney film Fantasy). Orchestration to Pictures from the exhibition wrote Maurice Ravel, and in this version they are known in our time.

Despite the fact that Mussorgsky came from a wealthy family and had enormous talent as both a pianist and composer, he died at the age of only forty-two from alcoholism.

Parents Nikolai Rimsky – Korsakov dreamed that their son would serve in navy, and he lived up to their expectations. But after serving several years in the navy and making a number of sea voyages, he became a composer and music teacher, which undoubtedly came as a surprise to his family. To tell the truth, Rimsky-Korsakov was always interested in music, and even began to compose Symphony No. 1, when his ship was berthed in the industrial area of ​​Gravesend in the Thames Estuary. This is probably one of the least romantic places to write. musical works mentioned in this book.

In addition to the fact that Rimsky-Korsakov completed and revised some of Mussorgsky’s works, he himself created fifteen operas on themes from Russian life, although the influence of exotic countries is also felt in his works. For example, Scheherazade based on a tale from One Thousand and One Nights.

Rimsky-Korsakov was especially good at showing the beauty of the sound of the entire orchestra. He paid great attention to this in his teaching activities and thereby influenced many Russian composers who worked after him, especially Stravinsky.

Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky also used Russian folk melodies in his compositions, but, unlike other Russian national composers, he processed them in his own way, as, indeed, the musical heritage of all of Europe.

Tchaikovsky's personal life, shrouded in various secrets (there were widespread rumors about his homosexual inclinations), was not easy. He himself once said:

“It would really be something to go crazy about if it weren’t for the music!”

As a child, he was distinguished by his impressionability, and as an adult, he was prone to bouts of melancholy and even depression. More than once he had thoughts of suicide. In his youth, he studied law and worked for some time in the Ministry of Justice, but soon left the service to devote himself entirely to music. At the age of thirty-seven he unexpectedly married, but his marriage became a real torment for both himself and his wife. Ultimately, his wife was admitted to a psychiatric hospital, where she died. Tchaikovsky himself also suffered for a long time from the breakup, which occurred just two months after the wedding.

Tchaikovsky's early works were not recognized by the general public, and this caused him a lot of suffering. Interestingly, many of these works, including Concerto for violin and orchestra And Concerto for piano and orchestra No. 1, in are currently very popular. Record Piano Concerto No. 1 In general, it became the first classical music recording to receive Golden Disc status for selling a million copies.

Tchaikovsky wrote ten operas, including Evgenia Onegina, and music for ballets such as Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty And Swan Lake. Listening to this music, you immediately realize the greatness of Tchaikovsky’s talent, who knew how to create an extremely harmonious and exciting melody. His ballets are still often staged on world stages and always attract the admiration of the public. For the same reason, musical phrases from his symphonies and concertos are known even to those who have little knowledge of classical music.

For many years, Tchaikovsky enjoyed the favor of a wealthy widow named Nadezhda von Meck, who sent him large sums of money, but on the condition that they never meet in person. It is quite possible that if they met in person they would not have recognized each other.

The circumstances of the composer’s death are still not entirely clear. According to the official conclusion, Tchaikovsky died of cholera: he drank water contaminated with the virus. But there is a version according to which he himself committed suicide, fearing that his homosexual relationships would be made public.

If Glinka is considered the father of Russian classical music, then the same role is played in Czech classical music Bedřich Smetana.

Sour cream has always been inspired by Czech folk culture and the nature of its native country. This is especially felt in his cycle of symphonic poems My motherland, it took Smetana eight years to write.

Currently the most popular work in this series is Vltava, dedicated to one of the largest Czech rivers flowing through Prague.

Towards the end of his life, Bedřich Smetana became seriously ill (presumably with syphilis), became deaf and lost his mind. He died at the age of sixty.

His music influenced the next composer on our list, Antonin Dvořák, whose works have received recognition far beyond the borders of the Czech Republic.

Antonin Dvorak was a true Czech national hero who passionately loved his homeland. His compatriots reciprocated his feelings and adored him.

Dvorak's works were widely promoted by Brahms (who will be discussed a little later). Gradually, the name of Dvorak became known throughout the world. For example, he gained fans in England, where he performed at the invitation of the Royal Philharmonic Society, as well as at festivals in Birmingham and Leeds.

After this, Dvorak decided to go to the United States, where in the 1890s he was offered the position of conductor of the National Conservatory in New York, which he held for three years. Dvorak missed his homeland greatly, but never ceased to be interested in local music. Impressions of her are reflected in his Symphonies No. 9, called From the New World.

Ultimately, Dvorak decided to return home and spent the last years of his life in Prague, teaching.

In addition to music, Dvorak was interested in trains and ships, and it was this passion that apparently contributed to his agreement to visit the United States, although the large fee offered to him may have played a decisive role.

d Representatives of the National Czech Music School also include Josef Suk, Leos Janacek And Boguslav Martinu.

Norwegian Edvard Grieg belongs to the circle of composers who passionately loved their homeland. And his homeland reciprocated his feelings. In Norway, his works are still extremely popular. But things could have turned out differently, since Grieg's family was actually of Scottish origin - his great-great-grandfather emigrated to Scandinavia after losing the battle with the English at Culloden.

Grieg was best at producing works in small genres, such as Lyrical plays for piano. But his most famous concert is Piano concert, with an impressive introduction, in which the sounds of the piano seem to rain down under the tremolo of the timpani.

d Representatives of the Scandinavian national music school also include Carl Nielsen And Johan Svendsen.

Despite the fact that classical music was also written in Spain in the 19th century, not many composers lived there who achieved world fame. One of the exceptions is Isaac Albeniz, in his youth he was not distinguished by an easy-going disposition.

They say that Albeniz learned to play the piano at the age of one. Three years later he performed in public, and at the age of eight he began touring. By the age of fifteen, he had visited Argentina, Cuba, the USA and England.

Albeniz was especially successful at improvisation: he could come up with some kind of melody on the fly and immediately play it in several variations. He also demonstrated the wonders of mastering the instrument - he played with his back to it. To top it all off, he dressed up as a musketeer every time, thereby adding to the spectacle of his performances.

In adulthood, he settled down a little and amazed the public not with his shocking behavior, but with his compositions. His cycle of piano pieces became especially famous Iberia. Thanks to his success, this composer brought Spain out of the shadows and attracted the attention of the world musical community to it.

d Albéniz greatly influenced many other composers of the Spanish National School, including Pablo de Sarasate, Enrique Granados, Manuel de Falla And Heitor Villa – Lobosa(who was Brazilian).

Arthur Sullivan is well known today. But history has not treated him too fairly, since today not the best of his works are remembered. In the 1870s, he began to collaborate with the poet and librettist W. S. Gilbert. Together they wrote several comic operettas: Trial by Jury, Pirates of Penzance, Her Majesty's Frigate Pinafore, Princess Ida, The Mikado, Yeoman of the Guards and others.

Despite their enormous success joint work, these two authors did not get along very well with each other, and in the end, after heated quarrels, they stopped communicating altogether. These quarrels, however, were empty.

For example, one of them concerned the new carpet at the Savoy Theater in London, where their operettas were usually staged.

Sullivan dreamed of becoming famous as a serious composer, but by now his works that do not belong to the operetta genre have been forgotten.

However, he wrote an opera Ivanhoe, quite interesting Symphony in E minor and anthem "Forward, Christ's army!"– perhaps his most frequently performed work.

d Representatives of the English National School of Music also include Arnold Bax, Hubert Parry, Samuel Coleridge - Taylor, Charles Villiers Stanford And George Butterworth.

The French analogue of Gilbert and Sullivan operettas can be called the works Jacques Offenbach, a man who definitely had a sense of humor. He was born in Cologne and therefore sometimes signed himself as “O. from Cologne" (“O. de Cologne” sounds like “cologne”).

In 1858, Offenbach amazed the Parisians cancan from operetta Orpheus in Hell; To the sophisticated public, such dances of the common people seemed wild and obscene, however, the operetta itself was considered scandalous.

By the way, if this name seems familiar to you, it is worth remembering that music for the myth of Orpheus was written in previous centuries by Peri, Monteverdi and Gluck. Offenbach's version was satirical, intended for entertainment, and therefore included very frivolous scenes. However, despite the first impression, the public eventually fell in love with the operetta, so Offenbach himself hardly had any reason to regret what he wrote.

Among his other works, the serious opera is famous Tales of Hoffmann, in which it sounds Barcarolle.

Leo Delibes was no less influential composer than Offenbach, although now only one of his operas is mostly remembered - Lakme, in which the famous sounds Flower duet, used in numerous television screensavers and commercials.

Among Delibes' acquaintances were such great musicians as Berlioz and Bizet, with whom he worked as the director of the Lyric Theater choir in Paris.

d Representatives of the French national music school also include Alexis – Emmanuel Chabrier, Charles Marie Widor, Joseph Cantet – lub And Jules Massenet, opera Thais which, including intermezzo Reflections (Meditation), is popular among many modern violinists.

Our last two national Romantic composers are father and son, although the age difference between them (twenty-one years) is not so great for history. Johann Strauss Sr. considered the "father of the waltz". He was an excellent violinist and led an orchestra that performed throughout Europe and received handsome money for it.

Nevertheless, the title of “King of the Waltz” rightfully belongs to his son, whose name was also Johann Strauss. His father did not want him to become a violinist, but the younger Johann still devoted his life to music and organized his own orchestra, which competed with his father’s orchestra. The younger Strauss had good business acumen, thanks to which he was able to strengthen his financial position.

Total Johann Strauss - son wrote one hundred and sixty-eight waltzes, including the most popular of them - On the beautiful blue Danube. In the end, as many as six orchestras were named after the Strauss, one of which was led by Johann the Younger’s brother Joseph, and the other by his other brother, Eduard (each of them composed about three hundred compositions).

Johann's waltzes and polkas were real hits in Viennese coffee houses, and his light and playful style became the standard for dance music throughout Europe.

Some classical music lovers still consider the Strauss compositions too vulgar and frivolous. Don't trust them and don't fall for their provocations! This family knew how to write truly great works, uplifting and memorable for a long time immediately after the first listening.

Many of the composers of this period continued to write music into the 20th century. However, we talk about them here, and not in the next chapter, for the reason that the spirit of romanticism was strong in their music.

It should be noted that some of them maintained close ties and even friendships with the composers mentioned in the subsections “Early Romantics” and “Nationalists”.

In addition, it should be borne in mind that during this period, so many magnificent composers worked in different European countries that any division of them according to any principle will be entirely conditional. If in various literature dedicated to classical period and the Baroque period, approximately the same time frames are mentioned, the romantic period is defined differently everywhere. It seems that the line between the end of the Romantic period and the beginning of the 20th century in music is very blurred.

The leading composer of 19th century Italy was undoubtedly Giuseppe Verdi. This man with a thick mustache and eyebrows, looking at us with sparkling eyes, stood a whole head taller than all the other opera composers.

All of Verdi's works are literally filled with bright, memorable melodies. In total, he wrote twenty-six operas, most of which are regularly staged today. Among them are the most famous and most outstanding works of opera of all time.

Verdi's music was highly valued during the composer's lifetime. At the premiere Hades the audience gave such a long ovation that the artists had to bow as many as thirty-two times.

Verdi was a rich man, but money could not save both of the composer’s wives and two children from the early deaths, so there were tragic moments in his life. He bequeathed his fortune to the shelter of old musicians, built under his leadership in Milan. Verdi himself considered the creation of the shelter, and not music, to be his greatest achievement.

Despite the fact that the name Verdi is primarily associated with operas, when talking about him it is impossible not to mention Requiem, which is considered one of the best examples choral music. It is full of drama, and some features of opera appear in it.

Our next composer cannot be called the most charming person. In general, this is the most scandalous and controversial figure of all those mentioned in our book. If we were to make a list based only on personality traits, then Richard Wagner I would never have gotten into it. However, we are guided exclusively by musical criteria, and the history of classical music is unthinkable without this person.

Wagner's talent is undeniable. From his pen came some of the most significant and impressive musical works of the entire period of romanticism - especially opera. At the same time, he is described as an anti-Semite, a racist, a red tape, the ultimate deceiver and even a thief, who does not hesitate to take everything he needs, and is rude without remorse. Wagner had an exaggerated sense of self-esteem, and he believed that his genius elevated him above all other people.

Wagner is remembered for his operas. This composer brought German opera to a completely new level. new level, and although he was born at the same time as Verdi, his music was very different from the Italian compositions of the period.

One of Wagner's innovations was that each main character was given his own musical theme, which was repeated every time he began to play a significant role on stage.

Today it seems self-evident, but at that time this idea produced a real revolution.

Wagner's greatest achievement was the cycle Ring of the Nibelung, consisting of four operas: Rhine Gold, Valkyrie, Siegfried And Death of gods. They are usually performed on four consecutive evenings and last about fifteen hours in total. These operas alone would be enough to glorify their composer. Despite all the ambiguity of Wagner as a person, it must be admitted that he was an outstanding composer.

A distinctive feature of Wagner's operas is their length. His last opera Parsifal lasts more than four hours.

Conductor David Randolph once said of her:

“This is the kind of opera that starts at six, and when three hours later you look at wrist watch, then it turns out that they show 6:20.”

Life Anton Bruckner As a composer, this is a lesson in how not to give up and insist on your own. He practiced twelve hours a day, devoted all his time to work (he was an organist) and learned a lot about music on his own, finishing mastering the art of composing by correspondence at a fairly mature age - at thirty-seven years old.

Today, people most often remember Bruckner's symphonies, of which he wrote a total of nine. At times he was overcome by doubts about his worth as a musician, but he still achieved recognition, albeit towards the end of his life. After performing it Symphonies No. 1 critics finally praised the composer, who by that time was already forty-four years old.

Johannes Brahms not one of those composers who were born, so to speak, with a silver stick in his hand. By the time of his birth, the family had lost its former wealth and was barely making ends meet. As a teenager, he made a living by playing in the brothels of his hometown of Hamburg. By the time Brahms became an adult, he had undoubtedly become acquainted with the less attractive aspects of life.

Brahms' music was promoted by his friend, Robert Schumann. After Schumann's death, Brahms became close to Clara Schumann and eventually even fell in love with her. It is not known exactly what kind of relationship they had, although feelings for her probably played some role in his relationships with other women - he did not give his heart to any of them.

Brahms was a rather unrestrained and irritable person, but his friends claimed that there was a gentleness in him, although he did not always demonstrate it to those around him. One day, returning home from a party, he said:

“If I didn’t offend anyone there, then I ask for their forgiveness.”

Brahms would not have won the competition for the most fashionable and elegantly dressed composer. He hated buying new clothes and often wore the same baggy, patched trousers, almost always too short for him. During one performance, his trousers almost fell off. Another time he had to take off his tie and wear it instead of a belt.

Brahms's musical style was greatly influenced by Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven, and some music historians even argue that he wrote in the spirit of classicism, by then out of fashion. At the same time, he also owns several new ideas. He was especially able to develop small musical passages and repeat them throughout the work - what composers call a "repeating motif."

Brahms did not write operas, but he tried himself in almost all other genres of classical music. Therefore, he can be called one of the greatest composers mentioned in our book, a true giant of classical music. He himself said this about his work:

“It’s not hard to compose, but it’s surprisingly hard to throw extra notes under the table.”

Max Bruch was born just five years after Brahms, and the latter would certainly have eclipsed him, if not for one work, Violin Concerto No. 1.

Bruch himself acknowledged this fact, asserting with modesty unusual for many composers:

“Fifty years from now, Brahms will be called one of the greatest composers of all time, and I will be remembered for writing the Violin Concerto in G minor.”

And he was right. True, Bruch himself has something to remember for! He composed many other works - about two hundred in total - he especially wrote many works for choirs and operas, which are rarely staged these days. His music is melodic, but he did not contribute anything particularly new to its development. Compared to him, many other composers of that time seem to be true innovators.

In 1880 Bruch was appointed conductor of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Society, but three years later he returned to Berlin. The orchestra musicians were not happy with him.

On the pages of our book we have already met many musical prodigies, and Camille Saint – Sans ranks not the least among them. At the age of two, Saint-Saens was already selecting melodies on the piano, and he learned to read and write music at the same time. At the age of three he played plays of his own composition. At the age of ten he performed Mozart and Beethoven beautifully. At the same time, he became seriously interested in entomology (butterflies and insects), and then in other sciences, including geology, astronomy and philosophy. It seemed that such a talented child simply could not limit himself to just one thing.

After completing his studies at the Paris Conservatory, Saint-Saens worked for many years as an organist. As he grew older, he began to influence musical life France, and it was thanks to him that the music of such composers as J. S. Bach, Mozart, Handel and Gluck began to be performed more often.

The most famous work of Saint-Saens is animal carnival, which the composer forbade to be performed during his lifetime. He was worried that music critics, having heard this work, would consider it too frivolous. After all, it’s funny when the orchestra on stage depicts a lion, hens with a rooster, turtles, an elephant, a kangaroo, an aquarium with fish, birds, a donkey and a swan.

Saint-Saens wrote some of his other works for not so common combinations of instruments, including the famous "Organ" Symphony No. 3, heard in the film “Babe”.

The music of Saint-Saens influenced the work of others French composers, including Gabriel Fore. This young man inherited the position of organist in the Parisian Church of St. Magdalene, which had previously been occupied by Saint-Saens.

And although Fauré’s talent cannot be compared with the talent of his teacher, he was a magnificent pianist.

Faure was not a rich man and therefore worked hard, playing the organ, leading the choir and giving lessons. He was engaged in writing in free time, of which there was very little left, but despite this, he managed to publish more than two hundred and fifty of his works. Some of them took a very long time to compose: for example, work on Requiem lasted more than twenty years.

In 1905, Fauré became director of the Paris Conservatory, that is, the person on whom the development largely depended French music that time. Fifteen years later, Fauré retired. Late in his life he suffered from hearing loss.

Today, Fauré is respected outside of France, although he is valued most there.

For fans English music the appearance of a figure like Edward Elgar, It must have seemed like a real miracle. Many music historians call him the first significant English composer after Henry Purcell, who worked during the Baroque period, although a little earlier we also mentioned Arthur Sullivan.

Elgar loved England very much, especially his native Worcestershire, where he spent most of his life, finding inspiration in the fields of the Malvern Hills.

As a child, he was surrounded by music everywhere: his father owned a local music store and taught little Elgar to play various musical instruments. At the age of twelve, the boy was already replacing the organist at church services.

After working in a lawyer's office, Elgar decided to devote himself to a much less reliable occupation from a financial point of view. For some time he worked part-time, giving violin and piano lessons, played in local orchestras and even conducted a little.

Gradually, Elgar's fame as a composer grew, although he had difficulty making his way outside his native county. Brought him fame Variations on an original theme, which are now better known as Enigma Variations.

Now Elgar's music is perceived as very English and is heard during major national events. At the first sounds of it Cello Concerto English immediately appears countryside. Nimrod from Variations often played at official ceremonies, and Solemn and ceremonial march No. 1, known as Land of hope and glory, performed at proms throughout the UK.

Elgar was a family man and loved a quiet, orderly life. Nevertheless, he left his mark on history. This composer with a thick, bushy mustache can be immediately spotted on the twenty-pound note. Obviously, the banknote designers felt that such facial hair would be very difficult to fake.

In Italy, Giuseppe Verdi's successor in operatic art was Giacomo Puccini, considered one of the world's recognized masters of this art form.

The Puccini family had long been involved in church music, but when Giacomo first heard opera Aida Verdi, he realized that this was his calling.

After studying in Milan, Puccini composed an opera Manon Lescaut, which brought him his first great success in 1893. After this, one successful production followed another: Bohemia in 1896, Yearning in 1900 and Madame Butterfly in 1904.

In total, Puccini composed twelve operas, the last of which was Turandot. He died without finishing this work, and another composer completed the work. At the premiere of the opera, conductor Arturo Toscanini stopped the orchestra exactly where Puccini stopped. He turned to the audience and said:

“Here death triumphed over art.”

With the death of Puccini, the heyday of Italian opera ended. Our book will no longer mention Italian opera composers. But who knows what the future holds for us?

In life Gustav Mahler was better known as a conductor than as a composer. He conducted in the winter, and in the summer, as a rule, he preferred to write.

It is said that as a child, Mahler found a piano in the attic of his grandmother's house. Four years later, at the age of ten, he gave his first performance.

Mahler studied at the Vienna Conservatory, where he began composing music. In 1897, he became director of the Vienna State Opera and over the next ten years gained considerable fame in this field.

He himself began writing three operas, but never finished them. In our time, he is known primarily as a composer of symphonies. In this genre he owns one of the real “hits” - Symphony No. 8, More than a thousand musicians and singers are involved in its performance.

After Mahler's death, his music went out of fashion for about fifty years, but in the second half of the 20th century it regained popularity, especially in Great Britain and the USA.

Richard Strauss was born in Germany and did not belong to the Viennese Strauss dynasty. Despite the fact that this composer lived almost the entire first half of the 20th century, he is still considered a representative of German musical romanticism.

Richard Strauss's global popularity suffered somewhat from the fact that he decided to remain in Germany after 1939, and after World War II he was even accused of collaborating with the Nazis.

Strauss was an excellent conductor, thanks to which he perfectly understood how a particular instrument in an orchestra should sound. He often applied this knowledge in practice. He also gave various advice to other composers, such as:

“Never look at trombones, you only encourage them.”

“Don't sweat while performing; Only the listeners should feel hot.”

Nowadays, Strauss is remembered primarily in connection with his work Thus spoke Zarathustra, the intro that Stanley Kubrick used in his film 2001: A Space Odyssey. But he also wrote some of the best German operas, among them - Der Rosenkavalier, Salome And Ariadne on Naxos. A year before his death, he also composed very beautiful Four last songs for voice and orchestra. In general, these were not Strauss’s last songs, but they became a kind of finale of his creative activity.

So far, among the composers mentioned in this book there has been only one representative of Scandinavia - Edvard Grieg. But now we are again transported to this harsh and cold region - this time to Finland, where I was born Jean Sibelius, great musical genius.

Sibelius's music absorbed the myths and legends of his homeland. His greatest work Finland, is considered the embodiment of the Finnish national spirit, just like in Great Britain national treasure Elgar's works are recognized. Moreover, Sibelius, like Mahler, was a true master of symphonies.

As for the composer’s other passions, he is in his Everyday life He was excessively fond of drinking and smoking, so that at the age of forty he fell ill with throat cancer. He also often lacked money, and the state provided him with a pension so that he could continue writing music without worrying about his financial well-being. But more than twenty years before his death, Sibelius stopped composing anything at all. He lived the rest of his life in relative solitude. He was especially harsh about those who received money for reviews of his music:

“Don't pay attention to what the critics say. Until now, not a single critic has been given a statue.”

The last one on our list of composers of the Romantic period also lived until almost the middle of the 20th century, although he wrote most of his most famous works in the 1900s. And yet he is considered a romantic, and it seems to us that he is the most romantic composer of the entire group.

Sergei Vasilyevich Rahmaninov was born into a noble family, which by that time had become quite spent. His interest in music began when he was early childhood, and his parents sent him to study first in St. Petersburg and then in Moscow.

Rachmaninov was an amazingly talented pianist, and he also turned out to be a wonderful composer.

Mine Piano Concerto No. 1 he wrote at nineteen. He found time for his first opera, Aleko.

But this life great musician, as a rule, was not particularly pleased. In many photographs we see an angry, frowning man. Another Russian composer, Igor Stravinsky, once remarked:

“The immortal essence of Rachmaninov was his gloominess. He was six and a half feet of scowl...he was a fearsome man.”

When young Rachmaninov played for Tchaikovsky, he was so delighted that he gave his score an A with four pluses - the highest grade in the entire history of the Moscow Conservatory. Soon about young talent the whole city started talking.

Nevertheless, fate remained unkind to the musician for a long time.

Critics were very harsh about it Symphonies No. 1, the premiere of which ended in failure. This caused Rachmaninov difficult emotional experiences, he lost faith in his abilities and could not compose anything at all.

In the end, only the help of an experienced psychiatrist Nikolai Dahl allowed him to get out of the crisis. By 1901, Rachmaninov completed the piano concerto, which he had worked hard on long years and which was dedicated to Dr. Dahl. This time the audience greeted the composer's work with delight. Since then Piano Concerto No. 2 has become a beloved classic performed by various musical groups around the world.

Rachmaninov began to tour Europe and the USA. Returning to Russia, he conducted and composed.

After the 1917 revolution, Rachmaninov and his family went to concerts in Scandinavia. He never returned home. Instead, he moved to Switzerland, where he purchased a house on the shores of Lake Lucerne. He always loved bodies of water and now that he had become a fairly rich man, he could afford to relax on the shore and admire the opening landscape.

Rachmaninov was an excellent conductor and always gave the following advice to those who wanted to distinguish themselves in this field:

“A good conductor must be a good driver. Both require the same qualities: concentration, uninterrupted intense attention and presence of mind. The conductor only needs to know a little about the music...”

In 1935, Rachmaninov decided to settle in the USA. At first he lived in New York, and then moved to Los Angeles. There he began to build a new house for himself, completely identical to the one he left in Moscow.

As Rachmaninov grew older, he conducted less and less and almost completely stopped composing music. He reached the heights of his fame as an excellent pianist.

Despite his homesickness, Rachmaninoff liked it in the USA. He was proud of his huge Cadillac and often invited guests to take a car ride just to show off the car.

Shortly before his death, Rachmaninov received US citizenship. He was buried in this country.

We paid much more attention to the romantic period in our book than to all other periods of classical music.

During this era, so many interesting things happened in a variety of countries that it is simply impossible to tell about everything in a short article. Classical music has changed a lot, as has its sound, which has become richer and more intense thanks to large symphony orchestras. IN many respects perfect example The works of Rachmaninov serve this sound. If you compare him with Beethoven, it becomes clear how grandiose the changes were.

But no matter how significant these very changes that took place in the world of music during about eighty years of the Romantic period may seem, they cannot be compared with what happened later. And later the music became even more diverse and unusual - which, according to our opinion, was not always to its benefit.

During the era of romanticism, music took a paramount place in the art system. This is explained by its specificity, which allows you to most fully reflect emotional experiences using the entire arsenal expressive means.

Romanticism in music appears in the nineteenth century in the works of F. Schubert, E. Hoffmann, N. Paganini, K.M. Weber, G. Rossini. A little later, this style was reflected in the works of F. Mendelssohn, F. Chopin, R. Schumann, F. Liszt, G. Verdi and other composers.

Romanticism originated in Europe in the early nineteenth century. It became a kind of opposition to classicism. Romanticism allowed the listener to penetrate Magic world legends, songs and tales. The leading principle of this direction is opposition (dreams and everyday life, ideal world and everyday life), created by the creative imagination of the composer. This style was popular among creative people until the forties of the 19th century.

Romanticism in music reflects the problems of modern man, his conflict with outside world and his loneliness. These themes become central to the composers' work. Being gifted and different from others, a person constantly feels misunderstanding from others. His talent becomes the reason for his loneliness. That is why the favorite heroes of romantic composers are poets, musicians and artists (R. Schumann “The Love of a Poet”; Berlioz - the subtitle “An Episode from the Life of an Artist” for the “Fantastic Symphony”, etc.).

Conveying the world of a person’s inner experiences, romanticism in music quite often has a tinge of autobiography, sincerity, and lyricism. Themes of love and passion are widely used. Eg, famous composer R. Schumann dedicated many of his piano pieces to his beloved Clara Wieck.

The theme of nature is also quite common in the works of the romantics. Often composers contrast it with a person’s state of mind, coloring it with shades of disharmony.

The theme of fantasy became a real discovery for the romantics. They are actively working on creating fairy-tale and fantasy characters and conveying their images through a variety of elements musical language(Mozart “The Magic Flute” - Queen of the Night).

Often romanticism in music also turns to folk art. Composers in their works use a variety of folk elements (rhythms, intonations, ancient modes) taken from songs and ballads. This allows you to significantly enrich the content of musical pieces.

The use of new images and themes made it necessary to search for appropriate forms and so in romantic works speech intonations, natural modes, contrasts of different tonalities, and solo parts (voices) appear.

Romanticism in music embodied the idea of ​​a synthesis of arts. An example of this is the programmatic works of Schumann, Berlioz, Liszt and other composers (the symphony “Harold in Italy”, the poem “Preludes”, the cycle “Years of Wandering”, etc.).

Russian romanticism was vividly reflected in the works of M. Glinka, N. Rimsky-Korsakov, A. Borodin, Ts. Cui, M. Balakirev, P. Tchaikovsky and others.

In his works, A. Dargomyzhsky conveys multifaceted psychological images (“Mermaid”, romances). In the opera “Ivan Susanin” M. Glinka paints pictures of the life of ordinary Russian people. The works of composers of the famous “Mighty Handful” are rightfully considered the pinnacle. They use expressive means and characteristic intonations inherent in Russian folk song, everyday music, colloquial speech.

Subsequently, A. Scriabin (prelude “Dreams”, poem “To the Flame”) and S. Rachmaninov (studies-pictures, opera “Aleko”, cantata “Spring”) also turned to this style.

The romantic worldview is characterized by a sharp conflict between reality and dreams. Reality is low and unspiritual, it is permeated with the spirit of philistinism, philistinism and is worthy only of denial. A dream is something beautiful, perfect, but unattainable and incomprehensible to reason.

Romanticism contrasted the prose of life with the beautiful kingdom of the spirit, the “life of the heart.” The Romantics believed that feelings constitute a deeper layer of the soul than reason. According to Wagner, “the artist appeals to feeling, not to reason.” And Schumann said: “the mind goes astray, the feelings never.” It is no coincidence that the ideal form of art was declared to be music, which, due to its specificity, most fully expresses the movements of the soul. It was music in the era of romanticism that took a leading place in the art system.
If in literature and painting the romantic movement basically completes its development by the middle of the 19th century, then the life of musical romanticism in Europe is much longer. Musical romanticism as a movement developed in early XIX century and developed in close connection with various movements in literature, painting and theater. The initial stage of musical romanticism is represented by the works of F. Schubert, E. T. A. Hoffmann, K. M. Weber, G. Rossini; the subsequent stage (1830-50s) - the work of F. Chopin, R. Schumann, F. Mendelssohn, G. Berlioz, F. Liszt, R. Wagner, G. Verdi.

The late stage of romanticism extends to late XIX century.

The main problem of romantic music is the problem of personality, and in a new light - in its conflict with the outside world. Romantic hero forever alone. The theme of loneliness is perhaps the most popular in all romantic art. Very often associated with it is the thought of creative personality: a person is lonely when he is an extraordinary, gifted person. The artist, poet, musician are favorite heroes in the works of the romantics (“The Love of a Poet” by Schumann, “Symphony Fantastique” by Berlioz with its subtitle “An Episode from the Life of an Artist”, Liszt’s symphonic poem “Tasso”).
The deep interest in the human personality inherent in romantic music was expressed in the predominance of a personal tone in it. The revelation of personal drama often acquired a touch of autobiography among the romantics, which brought special sincerity to the music. For example, many of Schumann's piano works are connected with the story of his love for Clara Wieck. Wagner emphasized the autobiographical nature of his operas in every possible way.

Attention to feelings leads to a change in genres - lyrics, in which images of love predominate, acquire a dominant position.

The theme of nature is often intertwined with the theme of “lyrical confession”. Resonating with a person’s state of mind, it is usually colored by a feeling of disharmony. The development of genre and lyric-epic symphonism is closely connected with images of nature (one of the first works is Schubert’s “big” symphony in C major).
The theme of fantasy became a real discovery of romantic composers. Music for the first time learned to embody fabulous and fantastic images purely musical means. In the operas of the 17th and 18th centuries, “unearthly” characters (such as the Queen of the Night from Mozart’s “The Magic Flute”) spoke in a “generally accepted” musical language, standing out little from the background real people. Romantic composers learned to convey fantasy world as something completely specific (using unusual orchestral and harmonic colors).
IN highest degree Interest in folk art is characteristic of musical romanticism. Like the romantic poets, who, through folklore, enriched and updated literary language, musicians widely turned to national folklore - folk songs, ballads, epics. Under the influence of folklore, the content of European music was dramatically transformed.
The most important aspect of the aesthetics of musical romanticism was the idea of ​​a synthesis of arts, which found its most vivid expression in the operatic work of Wagner and in the program music of Berlioz, Schumann, and Liszt.

Hector Berlioz. "Fantastic Symphony" - 1. Dreams, passions...

The content of the symphony is connected with Berlioz's lover, the English actress Harriet Smithson. In 1847, during a tour in Russia, the author dedicated the Symphony Fantastique to Emperor Nicholas I.

Robert Schumann - “In the radiance...,” “I meet the gaze..”

From the vocal cycle "The Poet's Love"
Robert Schumann Heinrich Heine "In the glow of warm May days"
Robert Schumann - Heinrich "I meet the gaze of your eyes"

Robert Schumann. "Fantastic plays".

Schumann Fantasiestucke, op. 12 part 1: no. 1 Des Abend and no. 2 Aufschwung

Sheet. Symphonic poem "Orpheus"

Frederic Chopin - Prelude No. 4 in E minor

Frederic Chopin - Nocturne No. 20 in C - sharp minor

Schubert opened the way for many new musical genres - impromptu, musical moments, song cycles, lyric-dramatic symphony. But no matter what genre Schubert wrote - traditional or created by him - everywhere he appears as a composer of a new era, the era of romanticism.

The three main stages of European musical romanticism of the 19th century - early, mature and late - correspond to the stages of development of Austrian and German romantic music. But this periodization must be specified and somewhat clarified in relation to the most important events in the musical art of each country.
The early stage of German-Austrian musical romanticism dates from the 1910s to the 20s, coinciding with the climax of the struggle against Napoleonic rule and the subsequent onset of dark political reaction. The beginning of this stage was marked by such musical phenomena as the operas “Ondine” by Hoffmann (1913), “Silvana” (1810), “Abu Hasan” (1811) and the program piano piece “Invitation to the Dance” (1815) by Weber, the first truly original Schubert's songs - “Margarita at the Spinning Wheel” (1814) and “The Forest King” (1815). In the 20s, the heyday of early romanticism began, when the genius of the early faded Schubert unfolded in full force, when The Magic Shooter, Euryata and Oberon appeared - the last three, most perfect operas of Beber, in the year of whose death (1820) A new “luminary” is breaking out on the musical horizon - Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, who performed a wonderful concert overture - A Midsummer Night's Dream.
The middle stage falls mainly on the 30-40s, its boundaries are determined by the July Revolution in France, which had a significant impact on the advanced circles of Austria and especially Germany, and the revolution of 1848-1949, which powerfully swept through the German-Austrian lands. During this period, the creativity of Mendelssohn (died in 1147) and Schumann flourished in Germany, whose compositional activity only crossed the indicated line for a few years; Weber's traditions are dispelled by Marschner in his operas (his best opera, Taps Geilschg, was written in 1833); during this period, Wagner goes from a novice composer to the creator of such striking works as Tannhäuser (1815) and Lohengrin (1848); however, Wagner's main creative achievements were still ahead. In Austria, at this time, there was some lull in the field of serious genres, but the creators of everyday dance music, Joseph Lainer and Johann Strauss the Father, were gaining fame.
The late, post-revolutionary period of romanticism, spanning several decades (from the early 50s to approximately the mid-90s), was associated with a tense socio-political situation (rivalry between Austria and Prussia in the unification of German lands, the emergence of a united Germany under the rule of militaristic Prussia and the final political isolation of Austria). At this time, the problem of a unified, all-German musical art is acute, contradictions between various creative groups and individual composers are more clearly revealed, and a struggle of directions arises, sometimes reflected in heated polemics on the pages of the press. Attempts to unite progressive musical forces countries is undertaken by Liszt, who moved to Germany, but his creative principles associated with the ideas of radical innovation based on software are not shared by all German musicians. A special position is occupied by Wagner, who absolutized the role of musical drama as “the art of the future.” At the same time, Brahms, who managed in his work to prove the enduring significance of many classical musical traditions in their combination with a new, romantic worldview, becomes the head of the anti-Liszt and anti-Wagner movements in Vienna. The year 1876 is significant in this regard: the premiere of Wagner’s “Ring of the Nibelung” takes place in Bayreuth, and Vienna gets acquainted with Brahms’s first symphony, which opened the period of the highest flowering of his work.

The complexity of the musical and historical situation of these years is not limited to the presence various directions with their bases; - Leipzig, Weimar, Bayreuth. Vienna. In Vienna itself, for example, artists as dissimilar to each other as Bruckner and Wolf work, united by a common enthusiastic attitude towards Wagner, but at the same time not accepting his principle of musical drama.
In Vienna, Johann Strauss son, the most musical leader of the century, creates” (Wagner). His wonderful waltzes and later operettas make Vienna the largest center of entertainment music.
The post-revolutionary decades are still marked by some outstanding phenomena of musical romanticism, but signs of the internal crisis of this movement are already making themselves felt. Thus, the romantic in Brahms is synthesized with the principles of classicism, and Hugo Wolf gradually realizes himself as an anti-romantic composer. In short, romantic principles lose their exclusive significance, sometimes being combined with some new or revived classical trends.
Nevertheless, even after the mid-80s, when romanticism was clearly beginning to become obsolete, individual bright outbreaks of romantic creativity still appeared in Austria and Germany: the last piano works of Brahms and the late symphonies of Bruckner were covered in romanticism; major composers turn of the XIX century and 20th centuries - the Austrian Mahler and the German Richard Strauss - sometimes manifest themselves as typical romantics in the works of the 80-90s. In general, these composers become a kind of link between the “romantic” nineteenth century and the “anti-romantic” twentieth.)
"The closeness of the musical culture of Austria and Germany, due to cultural and historical traditions, does not, naturally, exclude certain national differences. In the fragmented, but nationally united Germany and in the politically united, but multinational Austrian Empire (“patchwork monarchy”), the sources that fed musical creativity and the tasks faced by musicians were sometimes different. Thus, in backward Germany, overcoming petty-bourgeois stagnation and narrow provincialism was a particularly pressing task, which, in turn, required educational activities of various forms on the part of the leading representatives of the arts. conditions, an outstanding German composer could not limit himself to just composing music, but also had to become a musical and social figure. And indeed, German romantic composers energetically carried out cultural and educational tasks and contributed to the general rise in the level of the entire musical culture in Russia. home country: Weber - as an opera conductor and musical critic, Mendelssohn - as a concert conductor and a major teacher, founder of the first conservatory in Germany; Schumann - as an innovative music critic and creator of a new type of music magazine. Later, Wagner’s musical and social activity, rare in its versatility, unfolded as a theater and symphony conductor, critic, esthetician, opera reformer, and creator of a new theater in Bayreuth.
In Austria, with its political and cultural centralization (the regimental hegemony of Vienna as a political and cultural center), with the implanted illusions of patriarchy, imaginary prosperity, and with the actual dominance of the most brutal reaction, broad social activity was impossible1. In this regard, one cannot but attract attention to the contradiction between the civic pathos of Beethoven's work and the forced social passivity of the great composer. What can we say about Schubert, who was formed as an artist in the period after the Congress of Vienna of 1814-1815! The famous Schubert circle was the only possible form of unification of advanced representatives of the artistic intelligentsia, but such a circle could not have a genuine public resonance in Metternich's Vienna. In other words, in Austria, the largest composers were almost exclusively creators of musical works: they could not express themselves in the field of musical and social activities. This applies to Schubert, and to Bruckner, and to Johann Strauss the son, and to some others.
However, in Austrian culture it is also worth noting such characteristic factors that positively influenced the art of music, giving it at the same time a specifically Austrian, “Viennese” flavor. Concentrated in Vienna, in a peculiar motley combination, elements of German, Hungarian, Italian and Slavic cultures created the rich musical soil on which the democratic in its orientation creativity of Schubert, Johann Strauss and many other composers grew. The combination of German national traits with Hungarian and Slavic later became characteristic of Brahms, who moved to Vienna.

Specific to the musical culture of Austria was the extremely wide distribution different forms entertaining music - serenades, cassations, divertissements, which occupied a prominent place in the work of the Viennese classics Haydn and Mozart. In the era of romanticism, the importance of everyday, entertainment music not only remained, but became even stronger. It is difficult to imagine, for example, the creative image of Schubert without that folk-everyday current that permeates his music and which goes back to Viennese parties, picnics, holidays in parks, and to casual street music-making. But already in the time of Schubert, a stratification within Viennese professional music began to be observed. And if Schubert himself still combined in his work symphonies and sonatas with waltzes and ländlers, which appeared in literally hundreds,1 as well as marches, ecossaises, polonaises, then his contemporaries Lainer and Strauss the Father made dance music the basis of their activity. Subsequently, this “polarization” finds expression in the correlation of the works of two peers—the classic of dance and operetta music Johann Strauss the Son (1825–1899) and the symphonist Bruckner (1824–1896).
When comparing Austrian and German music proper of the 19th century, the question of musical theater inevitably arises. In Germany of the Romantic era, opera, starting with Hoffmann, was of paramount importance as a genre capable of expressing with the greatest completeness actual problems national culture. And it is no coincidence that the musical drama Wagnerad was a grandiose achievement of the German theater. In Austria, Schubert’s repeated attempts to achieve success in the theatrical field were not crowned with success." No matter how one evaluates the creative potential of Schubert himself in the field of theatrical music, one cannot help but admit that the situation in Metternich’s Vienna did not create incentives for serious operatic creativity, did not contribute to the creation of theatrical works " big style" But folk performances of a comedic nature flourished—singspiels by Ferdinand Raimund with music by Wenzel Müller and Joseph Drexler, and later, domestic singspiels of the theater by I. N. Nestroy (1801-1862), which incorporated the traditions of French vaudeville. As a result, it was not musical drama, but the Viennese operetta that arose in the 70s that determined the achievements of Austrian musical theater on a pan-European scale.
Despite all these and other differences in the development of Austrian and German music, the common features in the romantic art of both countries are much more noticeable. What are the specific features that distinguished the work of Schubert, Weber and their closest successors - Mendelssohn and Schumann - from the romantic music of other European countries?
Intimate, soulful lyrics, covered in dreaminess, are especially typical of Schubert, Weber, Mendelssohn, and Schumann. Their music is dominated by that melodious melody, purely vocal in origin, which is usually associated with the concept of the German “Lied”. This style is equally characteristic of songs and many melodious instrumental themes of Schubert, lyrical operatic arias of Weber, “Songs without Words” by Mendelssohn, and “Ebsebievsky” images of Schumann. The melody inherent in this style differs, however, from the specifically Italian operatic cantilenas of Bellini, as well as from the affective and declamatory turns characteristic of the French romantics (Berlioz, Menerbere).
Compared to progressive French romanticism, characterized by elation and effectiveness, filled with civil, heroic-revolutionary pathos, Austrian and German romanticism looks generally more contemplative, self-absorbed, subjectively lyrical. But his main strength is in revealing inner world man, in that deep psychologism that emerged with particular completeness in the Austrian and German music, causing the irresistible artistic impact of many musical works. This. however, it does not exclude individual bright manifestations of heroism and patriotism in the works of romantics in Austria and Germany. Such are the mighty heroic-epic symphony in C major by Schubert and some of his songs (“To the driver Kronos”, “Group from Hell” and others), the choral cycle “Lyre and Sword” by Weber (based on poems by the patriotic poet T. Kerner “Symphonic Etudes” "Schumann, his song "Two Grenadiers"; finally, individual heroic pages in such works as Mendelssohn's "Scottish Symphony" (apotheosis in the finale), Schumann's "Carnival" (finale, his third symphony (first movement). But the heroics of Beethoven plan, the titanism of the struggle are revived on a new basis later - in the heroic-epic musical dramas of Wagner in the very first stages of German-Austrian romanticism, the active, effective principle is much more often expressed in images that are pathetic, excited, rebellious, but not reflective, as in Beethoven. purposeful, victorious process of struggle. Such are Schubert’s songs “Shelter” and “Atlant”, Schumann’s Florestan images, his “Manfred” overture, Mendelssohn’s “Run Blaz” overture.

Images of nature occupy an extremely important place in the works of Austrian and German romantic composers. The “empathetic” role of images of nature is especially great in the vocal cycles of Schubert and in the cycle “The Love of a Poet” by Schumann. The musical landscape is widely developed in Mendelssohn's symphonic works; he is associated primarily with the elements of the sea ("Scottish Symphony", overtures "Hebrides-", "Sea Silence and Happy Voyage"). But a characteristic German feature of landscape imagery was that “forest romance”, which is so poetically embodied in the introductions of Weber’s overtures to “The Magic Marksman” and “Oberon”, in the “Nocturne” from Mendelssohn’s music to Shakespeare’s comedy “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”. From here the threads stretch to such Bruckner symphonies, as the fourth (“Romantic”) and seventh, to the symphonic landscape “The Rustle of the Forest” in Wagner’s tetralogy, to the picture of the forest in Mahler’s first symphony.
Romantic longing for an ideal in German-Austrian music finds specific expression, in particular, in the theme of wandering, the search for happiness in another, unknown land. This appeared most clearly in the works of Schubert (“The Wanderer”, “The Beautiful Miller’s Wife”, “Winter Reise”), and later in Wagner in the images of the Flying Dutchman, Wotan the Traveler, and the wandering Siegfried. This tradition in the 80s leads to Mahler's cycle “Songs of the Wandering Apprentice”.
Great place, given to fantastic images, is also a typically national feature of German-Austrian romanticism (it had a direct impact on the French romantic Berlioz). This is, firstly, the fantasy of evil, Demonism, which found its most vivid embodiment in “Siena in the Valley of the Wolf” from Weber’s opera “The Magic Shooter”, in “The Vampire” by Marschner, the cantata “Walpurgis Night” by Mendelssohn and a number of other works. Secondly, the fantasy is light, subtly poetic, merging with beautiful, full of enthusiasm images of nature: scenes in the opera “Oberon” by Weber, the overture “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” by Mendelssohn, and then the image of Wagner’s Lohengrin - the messenger of the Grail. The intermediate place here belongs to many Schumann images, where fantasy embodies a wonderful, whimsical beginning, without much emphasis on the problem of evil and good.
In the field of musical language, Austrian and German romanticism constituted an entire era, extremely important from the point of view of the general evolution of the expressive means of art. Without dwelling on the unique style of each major composer individually, we will note the most general features and trends.

The widely implemented principle of “songability” - a typical general tendency in the work of romantic composers - extends to their instrumental music. It achieves greater individualization of melody through a characteristic combination of actual song and declamation turns, singing of foundations, chromatization, etc. The harmonic language is enriched: the typical harmonic formulas of the classics are replaced by a more flexible and varied harmony, the role of plagality and side steps of the mode increases. Its colorful side becomes important in harmony. The gradually increasing interpenetration of major and minor is also characteristic. Thus, from Schubert, essentially, comes the tradition of major-minor comparisons of the same name (usually major after minor), since this became a favorite technique in his work. The scope of application of the harmonic major is expanding (minor subdominants in cadences of major works are especially characteristic). In connection with the emphasis on the individual and the identification of subtle details of the image, there are also achievements in the field of orchestration (the importance of specific timbre coloring, the increasing role of solo instruments, attention to new performing touches of strings, etc.). But the orchestra itself basically does not change its classical composition.
The German and Austrian romantics were, to a greater extent, the founders of the romantic program (Berlioz could also rely on their achievements in his Symphony Fantastique). And although programmaticity as such, it would seem, is not characteristic of the Austrian romantic Schubert, the saturation of the piano part of his songs with figurative moments, the presence of elements of hidden programming present in the dramaturgy of his major instrumental works, determined the composer’s significant contribution to the development of programmatic principles in music. The German romantics already have an emphasized desire for programmaticity both in piano music (Invitation to the Dance, Weber's Concertstück, Schumann's suite cycles, Mendelssohn's Songs Without Words) and in symphonic music (Weber's opera overtures, concert overtures, Mendelssohn's overtures , Schumann's Manfred Overture).
The role of the Austrian and German romantics in the creation of new compositional principles is great. The sonata-symphonic cycles of the classics are being replaced by instrumental miniatures; the cyclization of miniatures, clearly developed in the sphere of vocal lyrics by Schubert, is transferred to instrumental music (Schumann). Large one-movement compositions also appeared, combining the principles of sonata and cyclicity (Schubert's piano fantasy in C major, Weber's Concertstück, the first movement of Schumann's fantasy in C major). Sonata-symphonic cycles, in turn, underwent significant changes among the romantics, and various types of “romantic sonata” and “romantic symphony” emerged. But still the main achievement was the new quality musical thinking, which determined the creation of miniatures that were full in content and power of expressiveness, was that special concentration of musical expression that made a separate song or one-part piano piece a focus of deep ideas and experiences.

At the head of the rapidly developing Austrian and German romanticism there were individuals who were not only brilliantly gifted, but also advanced in their views and aspirations. This determined their enduring significance musical creativity, its meaning is " new classics", which became clear by the end of the century, when the musical classics of the countries German language represented, in essence, not only the great composers XVIII centuries and Beethoven, but also the great romantics - Schubert, Schumann, Weber, Mendelssohn. These remarkable representatives of musical romanticism, deeply revering their predecessors and developing many of their achievements, managed at the same time to open a completely new world of musical images and compositional forms corresponding to them. The prevailing personal tone in their work turned out to be in tune with the moods and thoughts of the democratic masses. They established in music that character of expressiveness that was aptly described by B.V. Asafiev as “living, sociable speech, from heart to heart” and which makes Schubert and Schumann similar to Chopin, Grieg, Tchaikovsky and Verdi. About the humanistic value of the romantic musical movement, Asafiev wrote: “Personal consciousness is manifested not in its isolated, proud isolation, but in a unique artistic reflection of everything that people are alive with and that excites them always and inevitably. In such simplicity, invariably beautiful thoughts and reflections about life sound - the concentration of the best that is in a person.”

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