Favourite period in music history?

[karlhenning]

Does it surprise anyon that the Romantic period is winning here? Not me.

We all like being pampered  0:)

[Henk]

We all like being pampered  0:)

  0:)

[Henk]

Romantic Period. Mendelssohn and Schubert. With Schumann, Liszt, Wagner things go wrong.

[71 dB]

Romantic Period. Mendelssohn and Schubert. With Schumann, Liszt, Wagner things go wrong.

I wish I did wrong in the style of Schumann, Liszt and Wagner instead of making them right in my own way. I would be called a genius!

[zamyrabyrd]

I like vocal friendly music. Gregorian Chant is nice and flowing and so is composed plainchant (Hildegard von Bingen). Ars Nova, though, gets somewhat intricate. Manneristic music doesn't impress me either.
ZB

[Tapkaara]

We all like being pampered  0:)

Does Romantic music equal being pampered? In what way?

[drogulus]

     My collection tells me I prefer 1850-1950.

[Tapkaara]

     My collection tells me I prefer 1850-1950.

That's very close to the bulk of my collection.

[Diletante]

     My collection tells me I prefer 1850-1950.

My favorite century, too, so I voted Romantic and Modern.

[hector murrieta]

Hard to choose only 3 periods.

My least favorite may be "classical", but there are works lumped in that period that are simply amazing.

I tend to favor modern/contemporary, with a big splash of renaissance/baroque.

[Tapkaara]

Hard to choose only 3 periods.

My least favorite may be "classical", but there are works lumped in that period that are simply amazing.

I tend to favor modern/contemporary, with a big splash of renaissance/baroque.

I don't know about this forum as I am still new, but I have had experiences where you express a general distaste for the Classical period and you might as well go jump off a bridge. I suppose if you do not drop to your knees in utter awe and worship of Mozart, you are an idiot...

Again, not saying that this is the case here, and I hope not. There is a reason the Romantic period is so popular. It offer a certain emotional depth that, well, is mostly not there in the Classical period.

HOW CAN YOU SAY THERE IS NO EMOTION IN MOZART?!?!?!?!?!?!

I didn't say that, did I? I said that the Romantic period HAS MORE, which means that the Classical period must have some. Just not enough for me. Plus, it lacks in variance of orchestral texture and color.

HOW CAN YOU SAY THERE IS NO VARIANCE OF ORCHESTRAL TEXTURE AND COLOR IN MOZART?!?!?!?!?!?!?

I didn't say that, did I? I just said that the Romantic period HAS MORE, which means the Classical period must have some.

[DavidW]

I disagree.  First of all there is no emotion in music.  Period.  There is only your emotional reaction to the music.  You can say that you are moved more deeply with romantic era music, BUT you absolutely can not say that romantic era music is more moving in general, it is not more moving for everyone or most people.

Second of all romantic era music is if anything, lacking in color relative to the other eras.  The reason is that they started increasing the orchestra sizes and pushing for blending of a great number of instruments.  Instead of being colorful it becomes instead a homogenized wall of sound.  Take Schumann's symphonies for example, they are just so drab sounding compared to the colorful arrangement of a Haydn or Mozart symphony for a chamber orchestra.

[Tapkaara]

I disagree.  First of all there is no emotion in music.  Period.  There is only your emotional reaction to the music.  You can say that you are moved more deeply with romantic era music, BUT you absolutely can not say that romantic era music is more moving in general, it is not more moving for everyone or most people.

Second of all romantic era music is if anything, lacking in color relative to the other eras.  The reason is that they started increasing the orchestra sizes and pushing for blending of a great number of instruments.  Instead of being colorful it becomes instead a homogenized wall of sound.  Take Schumann's symphonies for example, they are just so drab sounding compared to the colorful arrangement of a Haydn or Mozart symphony for a chamber orchestra.

No emotion in music? Perhaps not on a technical level...but there is some amount of emotion in all art, I think...! We react emotionally to music because the composer has poured something of himself into it. Again, you can be technical and say that music is sound sound and nothing more, but I think that is much too simplistic. That's like saying the Mona Lisa is nothing more than lines and color on a piece of canvas. I mean, technically you are right, but...

The Romantic era lacks color? I'll just have to kindly disagree with you there!

[Sid]

I don't think that the best music was composed in any period. All periods produced great music, but in different ways.

However, if forced, my favourites are:

Modern, contemporary, Renaissance.

I really like music from the period between the two world wars. It was a time of great political, social and economic upheaval & the music composed then reflects these complexities & challenges.

I also like contemporary music, as it often seems to break the rules, and this I find interesting, challenging & engaging.

& I'm just beginning to get into Renaissance music. I just bought a CD of Byrd's 3 Masses & really like the polyphonic sounds.

[Sid]

No emotion in music?...

I think what David W was trying to say that classical music is tonal. Tonality (or lack of it?) forms the basis of classical music. It's a big contrast to jazz, which has more improvisation & opportunity for the performer to interpret the music in a more emotional way. However, unless a composer edits a piece, classical music is fixed in time. It's the perception that a listener brings to a piece that really makes it come to life. So I can understand what David W is getting at regarding classical music in general.

As for whether the Romantic or Classical era has more emotion, the jury is out on that one. Just listen to the slow movement of Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante for violin & viola, or the corresponding movement of Beethoven's Violin Concerto - they can be just as moving as one of the Romantic concertos. So I don't think either period lacks emotion, the listener just might have to use their perception a bit more, depending on the piece they are listening to. For me, it all comes down to perception.

[Tapkaara]

As for whether the Romantic or Classical era has more emotion, the jury is out on that one. Just listen to the slow movement of Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante for violin & viola, or the corresponding movement of Beethoven's Violin Concerto - they can be just as moving as one of the Romantic concertos. So I don't think either period lacks emotion, the listener just might have to use their perception a bit more, depending on the piece they are listening to. For me, it all comes down to perception.

I'm not sure if Beethoven is "classical" in the same sense as Mozart, though...

[Gurn Blanston]

I think what David W was trying to say that classical music is tonal. Tonality (or lack of it?) forms the basis of classical music. It's a big contrast to jazz, which has more improvisation & opportunity for the performer to interpret the music in a more emotional way. However, unless a composer edits a piece, classical music is fixed in time. It's the perception that a listener brings to a piece that really makes it come to life. So I can understand what David W is getting at regarding classical music in general.

As for whether the Romantic or Classical era has more emotion, the jury is out on that one. Just listen to the slow movement of Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante for violin & viola, or the corresponding movement of Beethoven's Violin Concerto - they can be just as moving as one of the Romantic concertos. So I don't think either period lacks emotion, the listener just might have to use their perception a bit more, depending on the piece they are listening to. For me, it all comes down to perception.

Good post, Sid, I like that.

In simpler terms (I love simple, it suits me ) in classical era music you bring your emotions and the music, which you must actively interact with, helps you come to terms with them. In Romantic music, the emotion is provided by the composer and all the work is done for you, you just have to listen.

Needless to say, I am a Classical Era fan...



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Listening to:
Quatuor Festetics - Hob 03 27 Quartet in Eb for Strings Op 17 #3 1st mvmt - Andante grazioso

[Tapkaara]

There's tonality in Romantic music too, so I'm confused as to what tonality has to do with the "emotional content" of a work??

[Gurn Blanston]

There's tonality in Romantic music too, so I'm confused as to what tonality has to do with the "emotional content" of a work??

I don't know, I was only liking the second part of his post.



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Listening to:
Quatuor Festetics - Hob 03 27 Quartet in Eb for Strings Op 17 #3 3rd mvmt - Adagio

[Sid]

All that I was saying that classical music is much more fixated on tonality than say jazz, where there is much more freedom of expression (the piece is not fixed on the page, but the performer can interpret it more freely & often depart from the fixed tonality). So I guess I'm talking more from the performers point of view (the emoition s/he adds to the piece) about the difference between classical & jazz. Sorry, I'm not a musician, so if this sounds rather incoherent, then that's the reason. That's why I think classical has less built in emotion than jazz. But, as with any music, classical can also be emotional depending on how we percieve it.

If anything, I'd say Baroque music can be very expressive, judging from the huge differences between recordings/performances of a piece like The Four Seasons. There seems to be much more freedom in the interpretation of this music than some may give it credit for...