Robert Ainsley And The Influence On Romantic Music

Classical music is boring. That sentiment may be most closely associated with the unappreciative philistine or perhaps someone who has simply never developed a taste for classical music. However boredom with the classical forms of music must have been widespread amongst some of the nineteenth century’s most prominent musicians and composers.Tired of the conventional standards of music, composers began to adapt classical models to create a new form music which allowed them to more freely express emotions. In the early years of the 1800s, a major shift occurred in popular music as composers moved away from classicism and the Romantic Era began. Romanticism was not a movement isolated to music, rather it encompassed all of the arts and was the
In The Encyclopedia of Classical Music Robert Ainsley discusses the influence of literature on Romantic composers. Ainsley says “Many Romantic composers were heavily influenced and inspired by writers.” He then goes on to list writers who influenced composers and their musical works including Goethe, Schiller, Ruckert, Byron, and Scott. Literature provided the foundations for many significant musical works. Ainsley notes “One of the fundamental novelties about pure Romanticism was that it was music designed to be about something rather than being purely abstract.” Writers provided concrete ideas on which composers could structure their music. Romantic music, unlike classical music, was not about lofty abstract ideas. Romanticism was concerned with the common experience of humanity and all the emotions and struggles that came with
Austrian artist Josef Danhauser’s painting Liszt am Flügel (Liszt at the Piano) is one of the most well known paintings of Liszt, and over the years the picture has become a representation of musical romanticism. As described by art historian Katherine Ellis, the painting portrays Liszt seated at a piano surrounded by a group of his friends who are all seemingly captivated by his music. Two notable musical figures, the violinist Nicoló Paganini and the opera composer Gioachino Rossini, are present in the painting, but more importantly there are also three famous writers included in the scene: George Sand, Alexandre Dumas, and Victor Hugo. Also it is interesting to note that there is a portrait of Lord Byron hanging on a wall in the background (Hamilton). Because Liszt at the Piano is a painting it is most directly connected with the visual arts. However the subject matter is of the picture is primarily concerned with the emotion of music, and there are multiple allusions to the literary world. This painting is a tangible culmination of visual, musical, and literary arts in the Romantic Era, and it offers proof of the explicit connection between musicians, writers, and artists. The implications of Liszt at the Piano are