After reading about the six historical periods of Western Art music, the era that stood out to me the most is the Romantic period. This time period was a time when music was one of the “highest arts”. The passionate music from this time period brought out many emotions. This interested me a lot because the composers from this era used their music to communicate with their audiences. The intensity in their works showed us in-depth the different emotions they were trying to get across. To add on, this era also stood out to me because it caused instruments to be modified and also be invented in order to meet the composer’s new styles. The passionate and intensified music was in high demand and it also brought along new genres with it, such as the symphonic poem. Furthermore, this era was also a time of nationalism and composers used their music to either proclaim or reclaim their national pride.

The composer that I chose to listen to is Ludwig Van Beethoven. I chose to listen to his piece, Moonlight Sonata No. 14. This piece sounded exactly like what I had expected from my knowledge. This is because the piece was full of so many emotions and it could be heard through every single one of those notes. It was also very soothing and had a relaxing vibe to it which I really enjoyed.