Overblown Romantics Explore the most evocative period of European musical history with your class!
The ‘Romantic’ period of European musical history ran from roughly 1830 to around 1900. Music of this period is characterised by powerful, emotive expression, and many of the era’s composers fit the description of the
‘tortured artist’ whose innermost demons can only be exorcised through music! This period saw the introduction of orchestral ‘programme music’ - music which was designed to tell a particular story, and hand in hand with this went the expansion of the orchestra to include more of every instrument and a few new ones besides! This resulted in works of extreme passion and drama, often using themes such as dreams and nightmares, mythology and legend, magic and the supernatural, and, of course, love! Music during this time period was very lyrical, with long sustained melodies, often returned to and developed several times within one piece of music. Composers had complete freedom to structure their music however they wished, resulting in a variety of disparate styles and genres developing during this period.
