The Epic Interactive Encyclopedia 1997/The_Epic_Interactive_Encyclopedia_97.iso/r/romanticism/infotext

Text File | 1992-09-02 | 1KB | 37 lines

In music, term that generally refers to a
preoccupation with the expression of emotion
and with nature and folk history as a source
of inspiration. Often linked with
nationalistic feelings, the Romantic movement
reached its height in the late 19th century,
as in the works of Schumann and Wagner.

2.
In literature, music, and art, a style that
emphasizes the imagination, emotions, and
creativity of the individual artist. The term
is often used to characterize the culture of
19th-century Europe, as contrasted with
18th-century Classicism. Inspired by social
change and revolution (US, French) and
reacting against the classical restraint of
the Augustan age and the Enlightenment, the
Romantics asserted the importance of how the
individual feels about the world, natural and
supernatural. The French painter Delacroix is
often cited as the quintessential Romantic
artist. Many of the later Romantics were
strong nationalists, for example Pushkin,
Wagner, Verdi, Chopin. In art, nostalgia for
an imagined idyllic past and reverence for
natural beauty were constant themes,
inspiring paintings of grandiose landscapes,
atmospheric ruins, historical scenes,
portraits of legendary heroes, and so forth.
Caspar David Friedrich in Germany and J M W
Turner in England were outstanding landscape
painters, while Henry Fuseli and William
Blake represent a mystical and fantastic
trend. The Romantic mood ranged from profound
despair to dashing bravado.