AP European History

Barron’s

Romanticism

Romanticism, a glorification of the emotional component of human nature, was a reaction , to the rationalism and restraint of the Enlightenment. The excesses of the French Revolution and the destructiveness of the Napoleonic Wars eroded faith in the “inevitable perfectibility” of humankind through Reason.

Romantic artists, composers, and writers shared a world view:

Some representative figures:

William Wordsworth (1770-1850): English, a poet who glorified the beauty and solemnity of nature.
Victor Hugo (1802-1885): French, a poet and dramatist best remembered for his vibrant novels, such as The Hunchback of Notre Dame, which explored the darker side of the human experience.
John Constable (1776-1837), an English painter who said: “Nature is spirit visible.” He painted bucolic scenes that attempted to cast rural life in an idyllic fashion, typifying the emotional examination of nature and history seen in this artistic movement.
George Sand (1804-1876): French, a countess who took a man’s name as her pen name. She wrote modern, autobiographical, emotionally revealing novels about unconventional love.
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827): German, his musical genius is expressed in virtually every musical form of his day, from songs to symphonies, and his evolution as a romantic is evident in the course of his composing. The symphonic music of his later period makes full use of the expanded orchestra, a romantic innovation that added three times as many instruments as the classical orchestra known to Mozart, and expressed the profound emotionality of romantic music.