symphonies, a trend that was
taken up later by many composers,
especially Franz Liszt, who
developed a form known as the
symphonic poem, or tone poem.
Liszt was also famous as a
young man for his virtuosity when
performing his own piano pieces,
and he gained a large and devoted
following. These solo piano recitals
were popular entertainment of the
period, especially when given by
Romantic characters such as
Liszt or Frédéric Chopin, whose
more delicate and lyrical style of
composition appealed particularly
to French audiences.Exceptions to the rule
Despite the popularity of Romantic
music, some composers missed
the elegance of Classicism. In
fashionable Vienna, for example,Johann Strauss I and II, father and
son, played on this nostalgia with
their waltzes, but other composers
also felt the lack of discipline in
Romantic music. Foremost among
them was Johannes Brahms,
who moderated expression within
stricter Classical forms. Another
was Felix Mendelssohn, whose
oratorios harked back to the
Baroque period, reviving German
and English choral traditions laid
down by Handel and Bach.Romantic opera
Opera, with its combination of
literature and music, was ideally
suited to portraying Romantic
themes and ideas. Carl Maria von
Weber established the template
for Romantic opera by choosing
German folklore rather than
Classical mythology as his subjectmatter and aiming for a more
convincing form of dramatic
representation. Others followed his
lead: Bizet in France, the giants of
Italian opera, Verdi and Puccini,
who pursued a new kind of realism
in opera, and in Germany, Richard
Wagner, whose operas were on the
grandest of scales and stretched
musical language. With his
innovatory harmonies, Wagner
challenged the idea of tonality,
which had been the foundation
of musical form since the end of
the Renaissance.
Wagner inspired what is now
known as the late Romantic style,
exemplified by composers such as
Anton Bruckner, Gustav Mahler,
and Richard Strauss. This heralded
the beginning of modern music in
which the old rules of harmony no
longer applied. ■1853
1857
1867 1876 1900
1876 1896 1908
The premiere of
Giuseppe Verdi’s
La traviata in Venice
shocks audiences by
taking a fallen woman
as its subject matter.Franz Liszt’s Faust
Symphony, inspired by
Johann Wolfgang von
Goethe’s play of the
same name, premieres
in Weimar, Germany.Johann Strauss II
writes The Blue
Danube, a waltz
with a rich symphonic
sound that takes
Europe by storm.Johannes Brahms’s
First Symphony premieres
in Karlsruhe, Germany,
recalling the Classical
style of Beethoven.The brutal plot of Giacomo
Puccini’s opera Tosca
typifies verismo (“realism”),
a form of opera popular in
Italy and France.The fourth part of
Richard Wagner’s Ring
Cycle opens in Bayreuth,
marking the end of his
“total artwork,” composed
over 26 years.Inspired by Nietzsche’s
novel, Richard Strauss
composes Also sprach
Zarathustra, a symphonic
poem that rejects
Romantic conventions.Gustav Mahler
writes Das Lied
von der Erde, a
contemplation on
the inevitability
of death.ROMANTIC 1810 –1920 145
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