ROMANTIC ART, LITERATURE AND MUSIC A LATE 18TH CENTURY CHALLENGE TO RATIONALISM & REASON

ROMANTICISM DEFINED Romanticism was an artistic, musical, and literary movement that emerged at the end of the 18th century It stressed emotion, feeling, intuition, nature, the occult, and imagination Creates the artist as bohemian; intellectuals experimented with rebellious clothing, drugs, earrings, etc.

ROMANTIC ART KEY PLAYERS Caspar David Friedrich J.M.W. Turner Theodore Gericault Eugene Delacroix These artists attempted to express emotion directly and subjectively. They rejected classical restraint in favor of warmth and movement.

CASPAR DAVID FRIEDRICH German Romantic, 1774-1840 Preoccupied with God & nature, Friedrich often intertwined nature and the divine He advised peers to “Shut your physical eye and look first at your picture with your spiritual eye.” His, Cloister Cemetery in Snow, on the right is an example of this synthesis . .

CASPAR DAVID FRIEDRICH For Friedrich, nature was a manifestation of the divine He often portrayed humans overwhelmed by their surroundings and longing for infinity On the left is his famous, Chalk Cliffs of Rugen, an example of that longing for infinity

Joseph Malford William Turner English Romantic, 1775-1851 Like many Romantic artists, Turner painted dramatic landscapes He loved ships at sea being tossed by nature’s force At left a ship is thrown in his Snowstorm FOR MORE INFO...

J.M.W. TURNER A prolific artist, Turner skillfully use light and color to depict the power of the locomotive Early in his career he accurately depicted such scenes As he developed he used general fields of color to convey power

THEODORE GERICAULT French Romantic, 1791-1824 Gericault greatly influenced the work of Delacroix Considered one of the first to “load his shadows” with emotion & power His dramatic, Raft of Medusa, is considered a Romantic masterpiece

EUGENE DELACROIX French Romantic, 1798-1863 One of the most famous Romantic painters, Delacroix embraced nationalism (a favorite Romantic topic) On the left, his Liberty Leading the People expressed French nationalism, during the Revolution of 1830 FOR MORE INFO...

EUGENE DELACROIX Delacroix’s famous, Death of Sardanapalus, was based on Lord Byron’s account of the last dramatic moments of the Assyrian King At right, a guard slits the throat of a harem woman Delacroix was renowned for his use of theatrics and movement with a dramatic use of color

ROMANTIC LITERATURE KEY PLAYERS Johann von Goethe Thomas Carlyle Walter Scott Edgar Allan Poe Mary Shelley Percy Shelley Lord Byron William Wordsworth Romantic writers, like their artistic counterparts, used emotion, sentiment and inner feelings in their works As one writer said, “It was my heart that counseled me to do it, and my heart cannot err.”

JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE German Romantic Writer, 1749-1832 Goethe’s famous novel, The Sorrows of the Young Werther, is a fine example of the new literary era The title character sought freedom and fulfillment (individualism was a common theme) Tragically, Werther commits suicide due to unrequited love Sorrow & sadness were common themes in Romantic literature

THOMAS CARLYLE English Romantic Writer, 1795-1881 Thomas Carlyle embodied sentimentality and individualism in his portrayal of the heroic figure who transformed society He believed events were determined by deeds of heroes Carlyle, in his epic book, Heroes and Hero Worship, wrote, “No sadder proof can be given by a man of his own littleness than disbelief in great men”

SIR WALTER SCOTT English Romantic Writer, 1771-1832 Scott’s novels became best sellers in Europe in the first half of the 19th century His classic novel, Ivanhoe, depicted the clash between the Saxons and the Norman Knights in medieval England A common milieu of Romantic authors was historical novels, often set in the Middle Ages

EDGAR ALLAN POE American Romantic Writer, 1808-1849 Poe helped promote a type of literature known as “Gothic” His chilling short stories emphasized the bizarre and unusual Among his most famous works was The Raven http://bau2.uibk.ac.at/sg/poe/works/poetry/raven.html

MARY SHELLEY English Romantic Writer, 1797-1851 Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, about a scientist who creates a humanlike monster has become a staple of high school English departments

PERCY SHELLEY English Romantic Poet, 1792-1822 Romantic poets believed their medium was most pure of all Romantics because it came directly from the soul Percy, the husband of Mary Shelley, lived a brief but intense life Wrote Prometheus Unbound, a poem about rebellion against society, rules and laws

LORD BYRON English Romantic Poet, 1788-1824 A true Romantic, Byron dramatized himself in his poem, Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage Died in heroic fashion fighting for Greek Independence against the Ottomans

WILLIAM WORDSWORTH English Romantic Poet, 1770-1850 Romantic poets first love was nature Wordsworth epitomized that love “One impulse from a vernal wood May teach you more of man, Of moral Evil and good, than all the sages can.” (Wordsworth, The Tables Turned)

ROMANTIC MUSIC KEY PLAYERS Ludwig van Beethoven Hector Berlioz Historians have called the 18th century the Age of Classicism and the 19th century the Age of Romanticism Beethoven was the bridge between the two

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN German Composer, 1770-1827 http://www.epdlp.com/beethoven.html Beethoven single- handedly transformed an era He is widely considered the preeminent composer of all-time THE MAN!!

BEETHOVEN Like true Romantic artists, Beethoven worked off of emotion He said, “I must write, for what weighs on my heart, I must express”

BEETHOVEN By age 13 Beethoven was off to the music capital of Europe– Vienna, Austria Between 1792-1800 he was still working within the Classical framework under the influence of both Haydn & Mozart

BEETHOVEN With the composition of the Third Symphony (Eroica- 1804), Beethoven broke through to the elements of Romanticism His use of uncontrolled rhythms to create drama set his music apart A prolific composer, Beethoven was increasingly afflicted by deafness His famous Ninth Symphony was composed when he was totally deaf

HECTOR BERLIOZ French Composer, 1803-1869 Considered a musical genius, Berlioz composed in the Romantic style Ironically never achieved the notoriety in his native France that he did in Germany, Russia and Britain

HECTOR BERLIOZ Berlioz was one of the creators of “program music” This was an attempt to use moods & sound effects to depict a story His most famous was, “Symphonie Fantastique,” a story of an intense love affair that included a fifth movement in which musically he creates an opium-induced nightmare of a witches gathering