Ahh romance...The Romantic Period

The Romantic Era is estimated to have lasted from 1850 to 1920 C.E. and was a period of emancipation and great change. The Romantic Period moved away from the strict laws of restraint and balance by allowing artstic freemdom, creativity, and experimentation. During this time melody became the dominant feature and the music was very expressive; composers used this expressive means to display nationalism, which became a driving force in the late Romantic period as composers used of folk music to help express their cultural identity. During this time composers began to experiment with the length of compositions, tonal relationships, and new harmonies along with the increased use of dissonance along with the extended use of chromatism.
The use of color, where compsers not only began adding new instruments but trying to get new or different sounds out of the ones already being used, was also an important feature.
 One of the most well known composers from the Romantic Era is Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Tchaikovsky was born in Russia in 1840. He was an extremely fragile, sensitive, and charming yet breakable person. Tchaikovsky was greatly upset when his first symophony was not well recieved after he had spent so much time and effort on the work. When he showed his teacher of the time Nikolai Rubinstein his piece B Flat Minor Piano Concerto, Rubinstein critized the piece, angering Tchaikovsky to the point where he took back the dedication to his teacher and left his house.  Although Tchailovsky is well known for his compositions The Romeo and Juliet Overture, the opera Eugen Ongin, and the Violin Concerto, he more widely known as the composer of the score to the ballet The Nutcracker. Usually performed around

Christmas, the score is a multi-movement work and includes "Dance of the Sugar Plum Faries", "Trepak", "Arabian Dance", "Chinese Dance", "Dance of the Reed Flutes", and "Waltz of the Flowers" along with a few other pieces. Tchaikovsky is regarded as one of the greatest and most popular symphonists, second only to Beethoven, and as one of the most expressive Romantic composers to come from Russia.

http://library.thinkquest.org/15413/history/history-rom.htm

http://library.thinkquest.org/15413/history/history-rom.htm

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