Chapter 20

CHAPTER XII

THE ROMANTIC COMPOSERS.

SCHUBERT AND WEBER

During the latter part of Beethoven’s life—he died in 1827—new
currents were setting in, which were to influence profoundly the
trend of modern music. Two important, though in some respects
unconscious, representatives of these tendencies were actually
working contemporaneously with Beethoven, von Weber (1786-
1826) and Schubert (1797-1828). Beethoven himself is felt to be
a dual personality in that he summed up and ratified all that
was best in his predecessors, and pointed the way for most of
the tendencies operative since his time. For the designation of
these two contrasting, though not exclusive, ideals, the currently
accepted terms are Classic and Romantic. So many shades of
meaning have unfortunately been associated with the word Ro-
mantic that confusion of thought has arisen. It is also true that
the so-called Romanticists, including poets and painters as well
as musicians, in their endeavors to break loose from the for-
mality of the Classic period, have indulged in many irritating
idiosyncracies. We are beginning to see clearly that a too vio-
lent expression of individuality destroys a most vital factor in
music—universality of appeal. Yet the Romantic School cannot
be ignored. To its representatives we owe many of our finest
works, and they were the prime movers in those strivings to-
ward freedom and ideality which have made the modern world