In the early 1800s, a new era of music began to form

Jumpstarted by Beethoven, this new era would reshape the music forever and would forever be
remembered as the Romantic Era.

An era that would conceive a plethora of famous composers and a century’s worth of timeless music

Music from this era simply used the structures from previous time periods and expanded upon them

Major changes in concepts such as form, key, instrumentation and expressiveness occurred to a
dramatic extent.

The romantic era started 1810-1910.

Many of the most famous composers lived during this time period.

The ideas of Romantic era music were based mostly on the importance of the individual, much like the
fundamentals of the Romantic era in literature.

Music from the Romantic era targeted the emotions of the audience, and very often those of the
composer.

Each composer of the Romantic era developed his own style, thus being identifiable through his music.

Many new styles of music emerged throughout the Romantic era.

Such as the increased use of chromaticism.

Chromatic scale is a scale which consists of every half step, using all the keys when played on the piano.

Composers throughout the Romantic era used chromaticism very often to create dramatic effect and to
develop very unusual, yet exciting melodies.

Very commonly in the Romantic era, composers would base their music on literary works. Most
commonly on Shakespeare’s works.

Introduced by Franz Liszt, a new musical form called Symphonic Poem became very popular.

A symphonic poem is a lengthy musical work that is based upon the literary works, and the story is
expressed through the music’s captivating structure.

Believed to be the composer who began the transition from the classical to the Romantic era,
Beethoven’s influential music inspired future composers to widen the horizons of the music that had
previously been confined.

He expanded the boundaries of his predecessors, creating an entire genre of his own.

His music possesses a profound sense of emotion which captivates his listeners.

Beethoven’s symphonies are the most famous of any composer. He finished 9 symphonies in his
lifetime, even through his battle with deafness.

His symphonies are the most performed today, and most recognizable.
Beethoven’s symphonies greatly increased the size of the orchestra in the 1880s. a very strong and
larger string section became required for performances of his symphonies, and a larger brass section
was introduced in his symphonies, including the first use of the trombone in a symphony, which
occurred in Beethoven’s 5th symphony.

Along with symphonies, Beethoven wrote many other types of music. Including 32 piano sonatas,
sonatas for other solo instruments such as violin, cello and horn, concertos for varying instruments,
chamber music for smaller orchestras, string quartets, trio for piano and other solo instruments, two
operas, and much much more

Beethoven is known for his extreme capability of adding emotion to music. His emotions are described
very extensively through his music.

Frederic Chopin is regarded as one of the great masters of Romantic music.

He emphasized the use of the piano as a solo instrument.

Most of his pieces were written for piano solo, and they expanded the difficulty of playing the
instrument through the techniques required to play them.

During the Romantic era, the piano was growing into a very defined instrument, and the repertoire for
solo piano music grew dramatically.

Using Beethoven’s piano pieces as inspiration, Chopin created a piano genre of his own.

He was a virtuoso pianist that suffered from ill health throughout his life; however, his music would be
remembered for centuries.

He invented mazurka, piano ballade, nocturne and many more. His music is known for being very
expressive.

Much of his music uses the term rubato, which is defined as expressive and rhythmic freedom.

That is why he is known as the Poet of the Piano.

Franz Liszt. Widely regarded as the greatest pianist of all time. He is known for his insanely difficult piano
pieces. Every piece he composed for the piano requires immense capability and technique.

His skills as a pianist soared beyond any pianist of the time period, and his precision was outstanding.

As a travelling virtuoso, he obtained fame widely throughout the world and audiences adored him.

His technically demanding pieces were often played by other famous pianists of the time period in order
to improve their own skills.

His famous song was Hungarian Rhapsody. The second half of the piece is very fast – paced and involves
many 16th notes jumps in the right hand throughout.

His skills at the piano were unfathomable, and he acquired great fame. His fame equals that of a
modern–day Rockstar.
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The greatest Russian composer of the romantic era. His music contains a large
portion of today’s recognizable themes.

His life was filled with hardships, but over a span of 53 years, he contributed heavily to the Romantic
era’s repertoire of beautiful music.

Inspired by his sensitive emotions, his music possesses a moving energy that can trigger any emotion he
wishes to portray.

His music often represented nationalism for Russia, which is why he was very famous amongst the
Russian people.

His compositions include 1812 overture, the Nutcracker, Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty and much more.

His life was filled with depression and burdens.

His love for music at this young age was so passionate that the music in his mind would never stop.

Later on in his life, he was forced to abandon his dream of writing music and to attend boarding school
to become a government worker. Throughout his life, tragedy after tragedy occurred, bringing forth his
constant depression.

But above all, he dealt with the internal struggle of homosexuality. During this time, homosexuality was
extremely forbidden in society. And so he was forced to marry a woman whom he did not love to keep
his family’s reputation untarnished.

But his marriage ultimately failed, and his struggle with homosexuality continued.

Depression caused by his internal struggle often inspired his music. But the fact that he was homosexual
in no way tarnished his beautiful music.

Before Tchaikovsky, composer of ballet music were looked down upon. But the music soon witnessed a
dramatic change when Tchaikovsky took on the task of writing ballet music. In 1876, he composed the
Swan Lake, and his music changed the subject of ballet forever. Swan Lake was the first musical ballet
piece to be created by symphonic composer and because of this, the focus of ballet was not only the
dancing but the music as well. He composed three ballet music which are being played until today; Swan
Lake, Sleeping Beauty and the Nutcracker.

After him, many future composers wrote stunning music for ballets.