Classical Vs. Romantic Era Music Comparison And Contrast Essay Essay Sample

Some of the best musical pieces ever known to man have been developed during the Classical and Romantic eras. The Classical Era covers the period between 1750 and 1800; the Romantic Era, on the other hand, covers much of the 19th century. As can be seen, the Classical Era of music covers a relatively shorter period of time compared to the Romantic one. This is not enough to say that the musical pieces released during that shorter period are inferior to the ones released during that longer period, however.
When it comes to classical music, the role of the composer or the person who creates and writes the music is much more limited compared to romantic music. The highlight of the classical era of western music was the idea of classicalism, a style of arts (not just music, including literature, paintings) that got popularized during the mid-18th century in Europe. It highlighted the significant of instrumental music; its content was mainly composed of traits related to emotional balance and restraint. Some of the famous composers during this era were Ludwig Van Beethoven, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Joseph Hayden.
People got so used to the classical music that their rationale for creating and listening to music changed in the era that succeeded—this was the romantic era. The composers’ role and focus during this era included themes that can be related to nature and self-expression.
It is important to note that Romanticism was a comprehensive art movement, just like classicalism, that not only affected music but other forms of art as well such as literature, painting, and other intellectual works. Famous composers who emerged during this period would include Felix Mendelssohn, Robert Schumann, Franz Schubert, and Franz Liszt, among others.
In terms of harmonic language and style (and aesthetics), the obvious differences between musical pieces publicized during the two eras can be observed by checking their respective musical arrangements. In the case of classical music pieces, symphonies or long and complex sonata parts are common.
This is quite evident in Ludwig Van Beethoven’s works. In fact, among his popular musical works included a large portion of symphonies and sonatas—some of it were even solely symphonies and or sonatas. The same can, in fact, be true for musical pieces publicized during the succeeding period or the romantic era. After all, this era was just around the corner and the years it took to develop new musical pieces were not that many. One distinct feature that romantic era musical pieces had in this aspect would be the presence of larger symphony and sonata compositions that have solo piano works—something that is not typically seen in classical era musical pieces.
The harmony of majority of classical era music was mostly diatonic. Diatonic harmony is composed of two parts of music: music that is played diagonally and across or through; so when an instrumentalist plays a certain chord, he only focuses on and plays the notes included in the scale that he selected. During the romantic era, they used chromatic harmony instead of the diatonic one. The difference was that chromatic harmony uses notes that are not a part of selected scale which is why chromatic harmonized musical pieces often contain sounds that are different (but nonetheless harmonious) when one listens to it.
In conclusion, romantic and classical eras of music represent a highly significant portion of the western musical history. The latter may be a shorter period than the former but that does not tell a lot of story in terms of their different qualities. It can be said that they are equally good in terms of the quality of music popularized during the respective periods. However, just like any forms of art, the beauty of music would depend highly on the ears of the listener. Classical and Romantic music are played for different reasons or modes of expression; they also differ in terms of harmony, style, and arrangement.