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Timeline[edit]
Overview[edit]
For most of the Western world, Romanticism was at its peak from approximately 1800 to 1850. The period typically called Romantic varies greatly between different countries and different artistic media or areas of thought. Margaret Drabble described it in literature as taking place "roughly between 1770 and 1848",[1] and few dates much earlier than 1770 will be found. In English literature, M. H. Abrams placed it between 1789, or 1798, this latter a very typical view, and about 1830, perhaps a little later than some other critics.[2] Others have proposed 1780–1830.[3] In other fields and other countries the period denominated as Romantic can be considerably different; musical Romanticism, for example, is generally regarded as only having ceased as a major artistic force as late as 1910, but in an extreme extension the Four Last Songs of Richard Strauss are described stylistically as "Late Romantic" and were composed in 1946–48.[4] However, in most fields the Romantic period is said to be over by about 1850, or earlier.
Beginnings[edit]
The first Romantic ideas arose from an earlier German Counter-Enlightenment movement called Sturm und Drang (German: "Storm and Stress"). This movement directly criticized the Enlightenment's position that humans can fully comprehend the world through rationality alone, suggesting that intuition and emotion are key components of insight and understanding.[5] Published in 1774, "The Sorrows of Young Werther" by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe began to shape the Romanticist movement and its ideals. The events and ideologies of the French Revolution were also direct influences on the movement; many early Romantics throughout Europe sympathized with the ideals and achievements of French revolutionaries.[6]
Early period[edit]
The early period of the Romantic era was a time of war, with the French Revolution (1789–1799) followed by the Napoleonic Wars until 1815. These wars, along with the political and social turmoil that went along with them, served as the background for Romanticism.[7] The key generation of French Romantics born between 1795 and 1805 had, in the words of one of their number, Alfred de Vigny, been "conceived between battles, attended school to the rolling of drums".[8] According to Jacques Barzun, there were three generations of Romantic artists. The first emerged in the 1790s and 1800s, the second in the 1820s, and the third later in the century.[9]
Decline[edit]
A confluence of circumstances led to Romanticism's decline in the mid-19th century, including (but not limited to) the rise of Realism and Naturalism, Charles Darwin's publishing of the Origin of Species, the transition from widespread revolution in Europe to a more conservative climate, and a shift in public consciousness to the immediate impact of technology and urbanization on the working class. By World War I, Romanticism was overshadowed by new cultural, social, and political movements, many of them hostile to the perceived illusions and preoccupations of the Romantics.
Lasting influence[edit]
Though the High Romantic Era is considered to have ended around 1850, a "Late Romantic" period and "Neoromantic" revivals are also discussed. These extensions of the movement are characterized by a resistance to the increasingly experimental and abstract forms that culminated in modern art, and the expansion and deconstruction of traditional tonal harmony in music. They continued the Romantic ideal, stressing depth of emotion in art and music while showcasing technical mastery in a mature Romantic style. By the time of World War I though, the cultural and artistic climate had changed to such a degree that Romanticism essentially dispersed into subsequent movements. The final Late Romanticist figures to maintain the Romantic ideals died in the 1940s. Though they were still widely respected, they were seen as anachronisms at that point.
Romanticism has had a lasting impact on Western civilization, and many works of art, music, and literature that embody the Romantic ideals have been made after the end of the Romantic Era. The movement's advocacy for nature appreciation is cited as an influence for current nature conservation efforts. The majority of film scores from the Golden Age of Hollywood were written in the lush orchestral Romantic style, and this genre of orchestral cinematic music is still often seen in films of the 21st century. The philosophical underpinnings of the movement have influenced modern political theory, both among liberals and conservatives.
- ^ in her Oxford Companion article, quoted by Day, 1
- ^ Day, 1–5
- ^ Mellor, Anne; Matlak, Richard (1996). British Literature 1780–1830. NY: Harcourt Brace & Co./Wadsworth. ISBN 978-1-4130-2253-7.
- ^ Edward F. Kravitt, The Lied: Mirror of Late Romanticism Archived 2022-12-04 at the Wayback Machine (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1996): 47. ISBN 0-300-06365-2.
- ^ Hamilton, Paul (2016). The Oxford Handbook of European Romanticism. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 170. ISBN 978-0-19-969638-3.
- ^ Blechman, Max (1999). Revolutionary Romanticism: A Drunken Boat Anthology. San Francisco, CA: City Lights Books. pp. 84–85. ISBN 0-87286-351-4.
- ^ Greenblatt et al., Norton Anthology of English Literature, eighth edition, "The Romantic Period – Volume D" (New York: W.W. Norton & Company Inc., 2006): [page needed]
- ^ Johnson, 147, inc. quotation
- ^ Barzun, 469