Question

1. Describe five ways that the music of the Romantic period differed from the music of the Classical period. In your opinion, which of these Romantic era developments improved the music most?
2. Choose one piece of music from the Romantic period. Identify the piece of music. What emotion do you think the piece is illustrating? Why? What aspects of the music indicate this emotion?

3. The Romantic period is characterized mainly by the drive to express human emotion. Choose three emotions and describe how a composer could manipulate musical elements to depict those emotions in their music.

4. Antonin Dvorak is credited with establishing a distinctly American sound in classical music. What cultures’ music did he look to in order to do this? What other groups of people within American society could he have drawn inspiration from? Think about specific areas of the country, what it is like to live there, or immigrant groups who have had an impact on our national culture.

5. Select a composer from the unit, choose one of his compositions and find two different recordings of it. Which recording do you like best? Why? Which recording sounds the most characteristic of “Romantic” music?

Answer 1

Answer: The music of the Romantic period, then, draws on themes popular centuries before, not unlike how the Classical period drew on themes from the ancient civilizations that society was interested in during the period.

Explanation: The Romantic period in the arts was a period that focused on emotion over reason. Literature, art, and music celebrated both the beauty in nature and human feelings. Emotion and what a person could see, feel, hear, taste, and touch were viewed as important aspects of life. While reason and intelligence were important, they were not given the same status as they had during the Classical period. Instead, they were aspects of humanity, but not better or superior to what individuals felt or experienced with their own bodies.

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