Early Romantic — Schubert, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Chopin, Liszt

The Romantic Era — An Age of Emotion

From the Enlightenment clarity of the Classical era covered in the previous article, music turns decisively toward 19th-century Romanticism:

• Reason → Emotion
• Balance → Individuality and originality
• Universal → Particular and national (nationalism)
• Static form → Dynamic narrative
• Music itself as beauty → Meaning beyond music (poetry, painting, nature)

Beethoven’s late period (1815–1827) already stands on the border between Classical and Romantic, and from the 1820s Romanticism becomes universal.

The Six Great Early Romantics

Born within a narrow window around 1810–1811:

Composer	Born	Died	Country	Genre
Schubert	1797	1828	Austria	Lieder, symphonies
Berlioz	1803	1869	France	Symphonies
Mendelssohn	1809	1847	Germany	Symphonies, sacred
Chopin	1810	1849	Poland → France	Piano
Schumann	1810	1856	Germany	Piano, lieder, symphonies
Liszt	1811	1886	Hungary → Germany	Piano, symphonic poems

“The great burst around 1810” — a concentration of birth years. Parallel to the “1685 concentration” (Bach, Handel, Scarlatti) in the history of mathematics.

Franz Schubert — “King of the Lied”

Franz Peter Schubert (1797–1828) was born in Vienna and died at 31. He wrote more than 1000 works, of which over 600 are lieder (songs). Called “the king of the lied.”

Life

• 31 January 1797 — Born in Vienna
• 1808 — Court choir (studies composition with Antonio Salieri)
• 1815 — At 18, Gretchen am Spinnrade, D. 118, Erlkönig, D. 328 — decisive songs
• 1818 — Leaves teaching to devote himself to music
• 1823 — Contracts syphilis; health declines
• 1827 — Attends Beethoven’s funeral as a torchbearer
• 19 November 1828 — Dies in Vienna at 31. Buried next to Beethoven (later moved to the Central Cemetery)

Unknown in His Lifetime

Schubert was nearly unknown in his lifetime. Poor and struggling, his only outlet was the “Schubertiade” — private musical evenings at friends’ homes. None of his symphonies were performed in his life.

Mendelssohn, Schumann, and Liszt rediscovered his works after his death, and he gained worldwide recognition in the 20th century.

Main Works

• Die schöne Müllerin, D. 795 (1823) — a 20-song cycle
• Winterreise, D. 911 (1827) — 24 songs, the greatest song cycle in music
• Schwanengesang, D. 957 (1828, posthumous)
• Symphony No. 8 in B minor, “Unfinished,” D. 759 (1822) — unfinished but a masterpiece, found posthumously
• Symphony No. 9 in C major, “Great,” D. 944 (1825–26) — long and heavenly
• String Quintet in C, D. 956 (1828) — two months before his death, the summit of chamber music
• Piano Sonata, D. 960 (1828) — his last sonata, deep

Winterreise (1827) — A Summit of Music

A cycle of 24 songs to poems by Wilhelm Müller — the winter wanderings of a spurned lover. “Existential loneliness expressed in music.”

Standard repertoire for the world’s singers and pianists:

• Hans Hotter, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Peter Schreier, Matthias Goerne — great baritones
• Gerald Moore, Herbert Epstein, András Schiff, Uchida Mitsuko — great accompanists

Felix Mendelssohn — Hero of the Bach Revival

Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809–1847) was born in Hamburg into a Jewish family — a wealthy family of merchants and bankers.

Life

• 3 February 1809 — Born in Hamburg. Grandfather Moses Mendelssohn was a famous Jewish philosopher
• 1811 — Family moves to Berlin
• c. 1815 — Converted from Judaism to Protestantism; adds “Bartholdy” to the family name
• 1826 — At 17, composes the Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Op. 21 — a full-blown genius
• 11 March 1829 — At 20, revives Bach’s St. Matthew Passion in Berlin after 100 years — a landmark event
• 1835–1847 — Music director of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra
• 1843 — Founds the Leipzig Conservatory
• 4 November 1847 — Dies six months after his sister Fanny’s early death, aged 38

The Bach Revival — 1829

On 11 March 1829, Mendelssohn conducted the St. Matthew Passion at the Berlin Sing-Akademie — the first performance 79 years after Bach’s death, and 102 years after the 1727 premiere.

That was the decisive moment of the Bach revival. Bach’s works were reevaluated worldwide, and it was the beginning of the modern Bach performance tradition.

“A 20-year-old rediscovered a 100-year-old genius” — a symbolic moment in music history.

Main Works

• A Midsummer Night’s Dream Overture and Incidental Music — a two-part work written at 17 and 35. The famous “Wedding March” comes from it
• Symphony No. 3 in A minor, “Scottish,” Op. 56 (1842)
• Symphony No. 4 in A major, “Italian,” Op. 90 (1833)
• Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64 (1844) — one of the three great violin concertos
• Oratorio “Elijah” (1846) — in the Bach–Handel tradition
• Lieder ohne Worte (Songs without Words) — 8 books, 48 piano pieces

Fanny Mendelssohn (1805–1847)

Felix’s older sister (by four years), a talented composer and pianist. Composed more than 500 works, but the restrictions on women meant she often published under her brother’s name. She died suddenly at 41 in May 1847, and Felix died six months later in grief (a counterpart to Germain and Noether as women composers, mirroring the earlier [Lineage of Mathematics] article on women in mathematics).

Robert Schumann — Poet and Madness

Robert Alexander Schumann (1810–1856) was born in Zwickau, Germany. In his first half he mainly wrote piano music; in his second, lieder, symphonies, and chamber music. He died at 46 of mental illness (today’s diagnosis: bipolar disorder).

Life

• 8 June 1810 — Born in Zwickau. His father was a bookseller
• 1830s — Studies piano with Friedrich Wieck; meets his daughter Clara
• 1834 — Founds the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik, launching Chopin and later Brahms
• 1840 — Marries Clara Wieck (over her father’s objections, via a court case). The “year of song” — 138 songs composed
• 1843 — Teaches at the Leipzig Conservatory (founded by Mendelssohn)
• 1850 — Music director in Düsseldorf; mental illness worsens
• February 1854 — Attempts suicide in the Rhine; committed to an asylum
• 29 July 1856 — Dies at Endenich asylum at 46

“Double Personality” — Florestan and Eusebius

Schumann invented two personalities in his music criticism:

• Florestan — passionate, extroverted
• Eusebius — introspective, dreamy

An expression of Schumann’s duality. Later interpreters see it as a foreshadowing of his mental illness.

Main Works (First Half — Piano)

• Carnaval, Op. 9 (1834–1835) — 20 character pieces
• Kinderszenen, Op. 15 (1838) — 13 pieces; “Träumerei” is beloved
• Kreisleriana, Op. 16 (1838) — 8 pieces, from Hoffmann’s musical novellas
• Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 54 (1841–1845) — dedicated to Clara; one of the three great piano concertos
• Fantasy in C major, Op. 17 (1836) — a vast piano fantasy

Main Works (Second Half)

• Symphony No. 1, “Spring,” Op. 38 (1841)
• Symphony No. 3, “Rhenish,” Op. 97 (1850)
• Cello Concerto in A minor, Op. 129 (1850)
• Dichterliebe, Op. 48 (1840) — Heine settings

Clara Schumann (1819–1896)

His wife — the greatest woman pianist of the 19th century. A child prodigy, active in performance for more than 60 years. After Schumann’s death her deep friendship with Brahms (understood as platonic) is legendary.

A rare example of a woman established as a professional pianist. A direct forerunner of Argerich, Uchida, and others.

Frédéric Chopin (1810–1849)

Treated at length in article 05 of the sister [Lineage of the Piano] series. Here he takes his place as one of the six early Romantics.

• Poland → Paris; dies of tuberculosis at 39
• Ten years with the novelist George Sand
• Concentrated on the piano — over 200 works
• The nocturne, mazurka, polonaise, ballade, scherzo, étude, prelude raised to art

Franz Liszt (1811–1886)

Detailed in the next article of the sister [Lineage of the Piano] series (06). Here we outline only:

• Journeys through Hungary → Paris → Weimar → Rome
• “Magician of the piano”; invented the recital
• Founded the symphonic poem in Weimar from 1848
• Took minor orders in 1865 (Abbé Liszt)
• Died at Bayreuth in 1886

Hector Berlioz — French Romanticism

Hector Berlioz (1803–1869) is the great French Romantic:

• Symphonie fantastique, Op. 14 (1830) — the story of a lovesick artist in music; invents the idée fixe (fixed idea)
• Grande messe des morts, Op. 5 (1837)
• Roméo et Juliette, Op. 17 (1839) — a “dramatic symphony”
• Traité d’instrumentation (1843) — the world’s standard textbook on orchestration

Huge orchestras, the fulfillment of programme music, original harmony — a direct influence on Wagner, Mahler, and R. Strauss.

Musical Traits of Romanticism

Programme Music (Programmusik)

Music that expresses stories, poems, or paintings:

• Beethoven’s Pastoral — a forerunner
• Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique — the fulfillment
• Liszt’s symphonic poems — “telling a poem symphonically”
• R. Strauss’s Don Quixote, Don Juan — the successors

Idée fixe and Leitmotif

• Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique — the idée fixe (a theme representing the beloved returns in each movement)
• Liszt and Wagner — developed into the leitmotif

Growth

• Orchestra size (30 → 80 → 100 players)
• Symphony length (30 → 60 → 90 minutes)
• Complexity of harmony

Nationalism

• Chopin (Poland) — mazurka, polonaise
• Glinka (Russia) — the “Russian national opera”
• Smetana (Bohemia) — Má vlast
• Later generations — Tchaikovsky, Dvořák, Sibelius (next-next article)

The Professionalization of the Performer — Birth of the Virtuoso

In the 19th century, the performer becomes a profession:

• Pianists: Liszt, Clara Schumann, the Rubinstein brothers, Hans von Bülow
• Violinists: Paganini (demonic virtuosity), Joachim
• Conductors: Wagner, Hans von Bülow — establishes the independent profession

Modern Impact

• Lied (art song) — Schubert’s Winterreise is still frequently performed
• Piano music — Chopin, Schumann, and Liszt are core to teaching and performance worldwide
• The Bach revival — Mendelssohn’s contribution enables modern Bach culture
• Programme music — the direct ancestor of film and video-game music today
• Leipzig Conservatory — founded by Mendelssohn, still one of the world’s foremost

From This Article to the Next

We have traced 40 years of the early Romantic era. The next article turns to the late Romantic period (1850–1900). Richard Wagner (1813–1883) and Musikdrama, the Bayreuth Festival; Johannes Brahms (1833–1897) and the continuation of the Classical tradition; Gustav Mahler (1860–1911) and his enormous symphonies; Richard Strauss (1864–1949) and symphonic poems and operas — 50 years in which Romanticism expands to the extreme. Runs in parallel with article 07 (Schumann and Brahms) of the sister [Lineage of the Piano] series, seen here from the broader orchestral and operatic angle.