As I read about the different Western Art periods, I found the most interesting one to be The Romantic Period. The biggest thing that stood out to me was the fact that songs were becoming emotionally intense. I have always enjoyed songs that can effectively evoke emotions, and I am excited to see how this period is able to evoke those emotions. As the text points out, this period also coincides with increased industrialization, and like the advancement of industrial technology, this period seems to have also advanced new musical ideas, like new instruments and new musical techniques, which I also look forward to. The textbook describes the music being very emotional while being very flexible otherwise, like having both small and big numbers of musicians, and many new genres.
I listened to Frederic Chopin’s “Prelude in E-minor (op. 28 no.4).” Because of the minor key, the piece had a mix between a sad and a bittersweet kind of feeling. This song met my expectations of the emotion-packed style of the Romantic Period because of its heavy chords and the way Chopin lingered on those deep chords, which really helped me to feel the sadness within the song.
I believe that the Romantic Period is also very interesting due to the level of depth and emotion being associated with it. I think this period showed a drastic change in music since before this period, music was seen rather as an element to social economic status. This period illustrates the idea of sympathizing and reflecting with the audience’s emotions; thus building on that connection with them.
I also wrote about the Romantic Period, and I agree with how the music is able to change the emotions of people. That was also a reason why I was so captivated with it. After listening to a couple pieces by violinist Niccolo Paganini, I was able to experience this change of emotion myself which I found pretty interesting.
The Romantic Period is such an interesting/mysterious period that I was having trouble with. However after reading this post I feel like I got a little better insight on it. I believe this period was vital to music, in the sense that showing personal emotion through music became more mainstream socially rather than whatever sounded the best. This period helped connect people with music on a deeper level in a way.