# A new term for a genre of music-Chromantic



## Gustav Mahler (Dec 3, 2014)

Hello my dear friends, 
Have you noticed how it can be rather lengthy to say "Chromatic romantic music" to describe the music of Wagner, Franck etc.?
Well, No more complications!
I came up with a new term which will make our lives much easier-"Chromantic music".
This is the time to spread the word, Literally!
Please start using the word on the forum right away if you think this word is as spectacular as I think it is. TC will start having its own terminology soon!
All the best and kind regards my friends!


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## Polyphemus (Nov 2, 2011)

PsychoChromatic


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

This almost reminds me of a lengthy discussion I had with friends concerning what to call a reincarnated carnation.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Gustav Mahler said:


> Hello my dear friends,
> Have you noticed how it can be rather lengthy to say "Chromatic romantic music" to describe the music of Wagner, Franck etc.?
> Well, No more complications!
> I came up with a new term which will make our lives much easier-"Chromantic music".


Love it. Questions: What music is included? Where does the Chromantic Era begin and end?


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

Well! Carlo Gesualdo wrote music which was chromatic. Shall we say that chromaticism began in the Renaissance? Or shall we say that chromaticism has its purpose to create a certain aesthetic in many styles throughout history?


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## Gustav Mahler (Dec 3, 2014)

Well, This term is referring to romantic chromatic music, So it doesn't apply to the renaissance chromatic music. Of course there is chromatic music in different eras other than the romantic era.
However, Maybe it started since Beethoven's later works such as the grosse fugue?


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


> Well! Carlo Gesualdo wrote music which was chromatic. Shall we say that chromaticism began in the Renaissance? Or shall we say that chromaticism has its purpose to create a certain aesthetic in many styles throughout history?


_Chromaticism_, yes. But the neologism of the day is chROMANTICISM (see the OP). Where should we put the beginnings of that? Weber? Spohr? Chopin?

I recall Beethoven clucking his tongue and scrunching up his nose over some of Weber's harmonic experiments ( I was there, I saw it). He must have foreseen the loosening of Classical formal concepts which would attend indulgence in such devices. Not that he didn't do some pretty wild things with form, of course.


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## Gustav Mahler (Dec 3, 2014)

I am not quite sure when it started. Maybe you could help me with that.
But as for the last great chromantic composer, It is probably Richard Strauss.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

Woodduck said:


> _Chromaticism_, yes. But the neologism of the day is chROMANTICISM (see the OP). Where should we put the beginnings of that? Weber? Spohr? Chopin?
> 
> I recall Beethoven clucking his tongue and scrunching up his nose over some of Weber's harmonic experiments ( I was there, I saw it). He must have foreseen the loosening of Classical formal concepts which would attend indulgence in such devices. Not that he didn't do some pretty wild things with form, of course.


Oh silly me, my brain was incorrectly correcting what my eyes saw. Chromanticism.....I still don't buy it as a pariticukar _era_ per se....but maybe if it were to be used with reference to specific works or composers. Like Tristan und Isolde or Liszt's Bagatelle sans Tonalité.


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## Gustav Mahler (Dec 3, 2014)

Yes, It might not be an era, But it can be used to describe the style and compositions of certain composers. I just thought that the word is quite nice when I came up with it, So why not to use it sometime.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

Gustav Mahler said:


> Yes, It might not be an era, But it can be used to describe the style and compositions of certain composers. I just thought that the word is quite nice when I came up with it, So why not to use it sometime.


Music theorists come up with new terms and new ideas all the time. What renders words as meaningless when talking about music is when they make generalisations, when they attempt to put vastly different composers or works into one box or when they simply make value judgements through negatively comparing it to something which it's not. In the end, it's best to be specific when creating new terms.

'Emancipation of dissonance' is actually a phrase which has been used to describe the chromatic nature of music by Wagner, Liszt and other composers who wrote chromatic music within the (loose) confines of CP tonal harmony and then into the early 20th century. Tonicisations abound, extension chords are prevalent, but all within the idea of harmonic tension and release as a structural device. What's of key importance with this label is that it describes dissonance as being used freely, such as in the aforementioned compositions by Wagner and Liszt, but what's also important is the notion of consonance in relation to dissonance. Within CP tonal harmony, the relationship of dissonance to consonance was of prime importance when it came to using harmony as a structural device and this was still there in 'chromantic' music but disappears in music of Debussy and, later on, in the 2nd Viennese School, Stravinsky and so on. So I suppose the idea of 'emancipation of the dissonance' specifically in composers who dealt with CP tonal harmony in a romantic aesthetic could be the most specific definition of 'chromanticism' I can come up with.


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