# Misunderstanding Concerning the Romantic Era in Music



## Roger Knox (Jul 19, 2017)

Reading posts on this forum's "Who do you think started the Romantic period?" thread has triggered an unfortunate attack of my Romantic Rant Syndrome! After staring at many screenfuls of speculation and diatribe I was ready to scream, having noticed no mention whatsoever of early French Romantic opera (Berlioz came later than the first composers). But Dr. Shatterhand saved the day with a provisional answer! Of course, Etienne Mehul is not the only name, but French opera of the late 18th century is a good place to start discussing the beginnings of Romantic era in music. Relevant French pre-Berlioz opera composers go back as far as Gretry and include Lesueur (Berlioz's teacher), Dalayrac, Mehul, Boeldieu, and Auber, as well as the major Italians Cherubini, Spontini, and Rossini who wrote French operas for Paris.

Esoteric knowledge! you say . . . Academic "elitists" and "pseudo-experts" parading their obsolete trivia to shut down TalkClassical's truly imaginative, relevant contributors! Well, I note that Dr. Shatterhand's obscure reference is to (drum roll) . . . Wikipedia! My information comes Edward Dent's quite accessible book "The Rise of Romantic Opera" -- and that's pretty much the extent of my knowledge of the topic, which is covered in many readable opera histories and online articles. Hearing musical illustrations on YouTube requires only mild exercise of the index finger. 

Any discussion of the initial question must recognize the priority of opera and of France. Yes, opera was the medium of much innovation, and France was ahead of Germany and Italy though each country had distinctive characteristics. I'm also wondering if this thread could become a place to discuss other Misunderstandings Concerning the Romantic Era in Music.


----------



## DaveM (Jun 29, 2015)

The discussion of the ‘Romantic Era’ is a pretty broad topic. I think that the discussion of romanticism in opera and instrumental music are two separate topics. For instance, IMO, the last few Mozart operas, speaking of late 18th century operas that were particularly influential (moreso IMO than the French composers you mentioned), were some of the earliest truly romantic operas whereas romantic instrumental works, for the most part, started in the early 19th century.


----------



## Larkenfield (Jun 5, 2017)

Romanticism!


----------

