18th and 19th Century Arts: Enlightenment to Romanticism

The 18th Century: The Age of Enlightenment

The 18th century is known as the century of the Enlightenment, which is an intellectual movement that strives to achieve a more educated society based on reason and progress. This movement started in France and spread to other European countries. The thinking that dominates in this period is rationalism. On the basis of reason, intellectuals questioned many of the social, philosophical, and religious approaches that had been in force in Europe for centuries.

Music in the Classical Period

• At this time, public concerts became generalized throughout Europe, allowing musicians to compose independently of a patron or an institution.
• Classicism tries to produce less complex, clearer, and more accessible music.
• In Classicism, there is the disappearance of the basso continuo that had been the basis of baroque music. At this time, the melody will be the most important element in the entire musical work. In this way, in orchestras and other groups, a simple accompaniment will be performed that will never conceal the melody.

Aesthetic Change: The Sublime Romantic

At the aesthetic level, there is a transcendental change at this time. Works of art will no longer be considered beautiful for their proportion or their finish, but for their ability to produce emotions in humans, even if they are fear or terror. This new aesthetic approach is known as the sublime romantic. For this reason, artists will focus their attention on other topics such as ruins, the night, untamed nature, storms, death, and exotic places.

19th Century Music: Exalting Feelings

• The music of this period tends to exalt feelings. The composer tries to provoke emotions in the listener.
• Unlike the previous stage, in this period the author's individuality is valued, so his creation does not follow norms dictated by the academies. Musical creation will be considered as a personal exercise of genius.
• 19th-century composers tend to create longer melodic phrases without a clear conclusion. This trend became increasingly evident with the advance of the century. We can speak of "infinite melody".

Programmatic Music and New Forms

At this time, a new genre appears: the symphonic poem, which is a free-form orchestral work based on some extramusical element such as a poem, a painting, a story, etc. Music that, like the symphonic poem, tries to express non-musical ideas is called programmatic music.