The Romantic period (1820-1900) was a period that focused on emotional intensity, breaking rules and individual experiences. The most common definintion for this period is , ” romantic is applied to literature , visual arts and music that emphasize imagination over objective observation, intense emotion over reason, freedom and spontaneity over order and control”. One thing i find very interesting about this time period is that dramatic stories could be told without words.

One thing i already know about this time period is the romantic period did not mean romance, most music was about war and personal feelings not love and this is why i feel like this is the most misunderstood period. The text book describes the romantic period as a adventure for the musician it was like a rebel era , something not seen before.

During the Baroque time period in Europe, the most interesting information I learned was how much painful, and terrible stuff that happens almost every day of the timeline result to the creation of something soo creative and beautiful. during the baroque era, the daily lives of the people are not as easy as it is today in the present century. at that time, the government was totally monarchs and not democratic which led to the wars and tragic because people are fighting to rise to power either by physical wars, or by playing harsh politics. the text described music from the Baroque period as strongly contrasting effects, dramatic intensity etc. this makes sense because we can draw a conclusion that the people needs a way of voicing their dramatic experience because of the terrible events, therefore, their sense of music, art, and literature improved to open way of telling tales with anger, love, joy, and grief.

I choose George Frederic Handel and listened to some of his songs like water fall, and the arrival of the Queen of Sheba. the art piece sounds similar to what I was expecting —lots of musical instrument being played with out voice. but to the honest, I wasn’t expecting high beat sounds. I was expecting relaxation or long pause in the music to show sadness or to change to mood of the listener. another confession of mine is that I can’t seems to connect to this music. I can’t understand if its full of sadness, happiness, anger, or grief. they all just sound like a celebration music to me.because of the history of the era, I was just expecting music filled with anger, saddness, and grief.

The most interesting thing about the Romantic period is that its music is focused a lot on emotion over reason and more on individuality. It was during this time that a lot of musicians used music as a way of letting out their intense emotions. I already knew that there was more emotional intensity and rule-breaking during the romantic period. The textbook says that the Romantic period was a time when music emphasized intense emotion over reason, “freedom and spontaneity over order and control, individual over universal experience.” Also that many artists demonstrated their unhappy love relationships, etc through their art. During this time they also increased the number of performers and instruments in the orchestra, and meant to be performed to larger audiences. 

I listened to Nicolo Paganini and the music sounded like what I would expect it to. There were moments of dramamtic playing and moments that were calm, thereby reflecting the change in emotions one feels. It also sounds like music that would be played back then, and not so much in the present. His music was mainly violin playing and would be seen as more popular back then than now.

The historical period I read on was the Baroque period. What I have found interesting during the Baroque period is how there was a lot of historical events going on at that time. In the text it says that more colonies was being established in the new world (America), there were religious conflicts between the Catholics and Protestants, there was a lot of violence going on in England, and the powers of the absolute monarch in France reached a new height where the citizens had to pay heavy taxes to Louis IV and 20,000 courtiers. What I already know about this period is that there was also a lot of art and architecture to express their emotion. The text describes the music from the Baroque period by saying, how there was a rise instrumental music (like sonata, concerto, and suite) and how composers used their instruments for specific emotional states. I listened to music from the Baroque era, and it sounded like what I expected from the text. In the text it says that there is dramatic intensities based on whether a certain part of the song is loud or soft, and the emotional feeling of the music is either happy ,joyful, anger, love or grief.

I can say that the Twentieth Century music is the type of music that we all know till this day. It’s the time of music that has a rhythm and easy to choreograph. Comparing to all the other time periods, Twentieth Century has more of an advanced technologies and instruments. So what interest me the most during this time period was how they developed a different type of melody and music compared to the last time period. According to the reading packet it stated, ” Today the opportunities to hear music and the types of music that are available have expanded dramatically as a result of modern technology and increased contact among peoples.” This really made me wonder of how difficult it was to listen to music during the old days since technologies wasn’t as developed as today. So I was interested on how they came up with these modern instruments and technology during the Twentieth Century.

During the Twentieth Century, I know that music wasn’t like the type of music since the Medieval Period and so on. Twentieth Century music has more of a repetition and danceable rhythm like Jazz and Rock. It has a different type of style to it and when I listen to the music sound, It wasn’t what I expected but I can tell its more hyper than the other music sounds because I can hear them using technologies rather than just instruments. We can also see that many artists uses technologies to create the beats and melodies in todays world so it’s nice to read more about how music was created and how different music was during in each time periods.

This historical period was not what I expected. I have never heard of the Baroque period but learning about it was interesting. The level of violence present throughout this historical era is what makes it most interesting. The Thirty-year war occurred because protestants were forced into Catholicism, and half of their population died because of it. There were beheadings such as Mary Queen of Scots, because she was planning the murder of Queen Elizabeth I. Citizens were being heavily taxed because Louis XIV was living at a palace in Versailles, which he built, and he decided that he wanted citizens to support him. Essentially, there was a lot of drama, and many people were harmed because of this. Baroque music is described as vibrant in the textbook. In this time period, art has changed from being reserved for the aristocracy to becoming accessible to all. There were paintings, sculptures, and operas. In all these art forms, they were all described as “romantic expressions” meaning that there was intense emotion, rich color, and specific details to really demonstrate all the dramatic but powerful art being created.  

I chose Arcangelo Corelli as the major figure in music. I think his music does fit with what I expected from this era. There are shifts in the music tone and it kind of tells a story with its sound, ranging from quiet and low tones (sadder) to high and loud tones (happier), which the Baroque period is all for expressing our emotions.  

In my opinion, the most interesting thing about the romanticism period is that music and art started getting emotionally intense and dramatic. I know that the period started using more dynamics in music in order to be more expressive. As well as the use of symphonies and harmonies had begun to become more common. According to the textbook, it says that the romantic period began in the 19^th century, and artists had started perceiving the world in a “romantic aesthetic”. The composers used “poetic lyricism, dramatic contrasts and harmonic complexity”.  Which, eventually led to an increase in orchestra size. Although once the 20^th century had begun many artists had tried to step away from the aesthetic of the romanticism period. I decided to look up Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and one of his most popular and well known pieces is a ballet called Swan Lake, which he wrote in the mid-late 19^th century. In this particular piece he frequently uses a range of dynamics, going from a pianissimo directly into a fortissimo or fortississimo. Once the piece gets towards the climax of the story, the symphony in the background helps with engaging the listener and putting them on edge for dramatic effect as the music begins to sound deeper, slower and goes into a crescendo. While listening to this certain piece, I was able to visualize the story Tchaikovsky had put together through his music and I was able to hear the emotional intensity, the use of dynamics and articulations, as well as the use of harmonies. 

Something that I found really interesting about Romantic era is that composers found inspiration through nature, poetry, paintings, etc,. “The romantics of the 19th century sought inspiration in nature (poetry of Wordsworth, paintings of constable and turner)” (”Music: a social experience, chapter one, page 29). I think if composers from the Romantic era were alive they would found a lot of inspiration in museums like the MET, because there is so much paintings and nature that someone could easily get inspired. Something that I knew from era is that it originated in Europe and slowly began to expand around the world. The textbook describes it as something sad or a love tragedy, I think that romantic music was a way for composers to express what they were feeling.

Composers of the romantic era had a lot advantage by using many instruments from the past to compose their songs as well as poetry. One Major figure in music that I choose from the Romantic era is Frederic Chopin. Chopin’s music does sound how the textbook explains it because it sounds sad Chopin emphasizes romantic music with just the melody of the piano, and doesn’t need to add lyrics for you to understand what the melody is trying to convey. I also think that he can be explaining a romance tragedy with his music but we have different opinions on how to emphasize his music.

The Middle Ages, a period of history of western Europe, began around 450 AD and ended around 1450.  I know that the Middle Ages are also referred to as the “Dark ages” and Europe was run by kings and queens. During this era, Christianity spread. I find the spread of religion most interesting about this era because I am Christian myself and the great cathedrals built during this era really spark interest in me. These cathedrals were built for a place of public worship. Monasteries were established as self-sufficient religious communities. Monasteries were centers of learning and have a special significance in the history of European music. The Europeans borrowed sacred texts and they were an important part of their liturgy. They had chants sung in church services. These chants were passed through oral tradition. They practiced the chants with melodies added to them. The monks ultimately developed the notation of two or more stimulus melodies and created early rules for creating new music. I listened to Francesco Landini-Ecco la primavera. This piece was beautifully sung by women. They sounded like angels which I expected from this era of very faithful people. I also listened to Leonin. This music has beautiful instruments that complement the voices. It sounds similar to hymns that would be sung in a catholic church today.

Ellie Cerullo

The most interesting thing about this historical period is the large number of changes it brought to the field of music. Within the 20th-century historical period, major shifts occurred such as American composers straying away from the widely used Romantic European conventions to creating their own distinctive styles. Charles Ives for example was one composer who sought to develop his own by employing dissonance, atonality, complex rhythms, and nonlinear structures. It states how, “Charles Ives, writing in the first two decades of the century, was the first American to move away from the Romantic European conventions of form and style by employing dissonance, atonality, complex rhythms, and nonlinear structures”(Page 33). Within this period the biggest change could be considered to be the changes artist were willing to make to develop music. As time went on more artists sought their own music and as a result, began making music with their own take or beliefs. Like Charles Ives, John Cage was another composer who experimented with developing music. It states how “John Cage would challenge listeners to completely rethink what constituted music and art through his radically experimental works…Cage paved the way for the so-called “downtown” New York experimental scene that broke down barriers between music, visual art, performance, and so forth”(page 34). It is clear that the 20th century period of music was different from what people were used to and sought to incorporate more of the composer’s personality. 

Although I do not know much about the music from this period based on the textbook I can see that it was a very experimental and changing time for music. From the way it was described in the textbook, we can see how musicians and composers sought to create a different type of music that did not exist, and as a result, more composers put their own unique personalities into their pieces. The “Major Figures in Music” I decided to choose was Michael Jackson. Based on listening to several of his songs I noticed how some of his songs contained synthesized or digitally altered sounds as the reading stated. It states in the article how, “Synthesized, sampled, and digitally altered sounds are commonly used for special effects in popular music, movie scores, and works for the concert hall”(page 34). It was common practice for musicians to use these newly developed sounds in their music and Michael Jackson can be seen using them. It made his songs seem fresher and more uplifting to listen to, it was different from other songs that were more calm and smooth.