Biography of romantic composers
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10 of the best Romantic composers in classical music history
23 November , | Updated: 14 July ,
From the year to around , Western Classical Music was defined by its soaring melodies and ever-expanding orchestras, its originality and self-expression. Here are the composers who made it all happen.
The Romantic period. “So good, they named it twice”, in the great words of composer and Classic FM presenter, John Brunning.
The ‘Early’ Romantic period began around the year with then-Classical great, Ludwig van Beethoven, whose revolutionising of the symphony gave life to a new era in music history.
Fast-forward to the turn of the century, and music was looking wildly different to how it did in the Classical era (). The Late Romantics, composers like Rachmaninov and Mahler, were expanding the orchestra to unprecedented proportions, adding more colours and instruments and turning music into a vehicle to express the full spectrum of human emotion – from sorrow to joy, passion to g
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ROMANTIC PERIOD COMPOSERS
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Best Romantic composers: from Beethoven to Rachmaninov, 19 giants of Romanticism in music
Ushered in somewhere around the turn of the 19th century, Romanticism shook up the world of classical music in ways that were both seismic and enduring. With its emphasis on emotion, individuality, and the utforskning of deeper psychological and emotional states, the work of the best Romantic composers displays a major gear change from the more structured forms and balance of the Classical period that has preceded it.
Now, personal expression was to the fore. So, too, was an interest in nature, fantasy, and the supernatural. Romantic music often set out to evoke profound emotional responses, and composers of the time were inspired by poetry, art and literature, with many works having a descriptive or 'programmatic' element - this was, after all, the era of the 'tone poem'.
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Romanticism and the 19th century
Romanticism wasn't confined to music, of course. It also swept its way inom