History (Late Romantic)
History of Music 14C-20C – Late Romantic period
Late Romantic Period (c.1860 – c.1920)
The structure and formality of the music became less important as the emotional and dramatic content although Brahms retained more links with classical formality. Opera reached new heights through composers like Richard Wagner and Guiseppe Verdi.
The short period after World War 1 is the most puzzling of all, as composers have moved in many contrasting and contrary directions. The Austrian composer, Anton Webern (1883-1945) was experimenting with a mind-blowingly complex new form known ‘serial structure’, while his compatriot Franz Lehar (1870-1948) was writing operas as if he still lived in the mid 19th century.
The 20th century proved the most incredibly diverse century ever for classical music, not to mention all the great new innovations in Jazz, Blues, Rock and Popular music. It is then, as ever, left to the listener to decide what he or she prefers from this great pot-pourri of sound.
Please listen to the 3 videos on this page and 6 more on the next (modern) page and you may begin to appreciate the enormous variety of music that arose from the late romantic era and mushroomed throughout the modern period.
