# Favorite Romantic Era Composers



## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

Chopin (Nocturnes, Waltzes)
Beethoven (Symphonies, Piano Sonatas, String Quartets)
Schubert (Piano Sonatas, Symphonies, Impromptus)


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## EvaBaron (Jan 3, 2022)

Captainnumber36 said:


> Chopin (Nocturnes, Waltzes)
> Beethoven (Symphonies, Piano Sonatas, String Quartets)
> Schubert (Piano Sonatas, Symphonies, Impromptus)


Beethoven was more of a classical composer than a romantic composer


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

EvaBaron said:


> Beethoven was more of a classical composer than a romantic composer


I put him in with the Romantics.


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## EvaBaron (Jan 3, 2022)

Captainnumber36 said:


> I put him in with the Romantics.


I would reconsider that, he was more of a transitional composer from the classical to the romantic era. Beethoven died in 1827 and the Romantic period of western classical music began around 1830.


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## Brahmsianhorn (Feb 17, 2017)

Too many to name

I could do Renaissance:

1. Lassus
2. Josquin
3. Monteverdi


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## Xisten267 (Sep 2, 2018)

If we consider Beethoven and Schubert as transitional composers and not really romantic, my three favorites are:

1. Wagner (mainly for the operas)
2. Brahms (mainly for the chamber music, the symphonies, the concertos and the requiem)
3. Tchaikovsky (mainly for the symphonies, the ballets and the concertos)


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

EvaBaron said:


> I would reconsider that, he was more of a transitional composer from the classical to the romantic era. Beethoven died in 1827 and the Romantic period of western classical music began around 1830.


It's close enough for me to lump him in with the Romantics.


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## ORigel (May 7, 2020)

1. Beethoven if he counts as Romantic, but late Beethoven is hard to categorize. I like Late Beethoven the most.

2. Brahms. Much of his chamber music, his orchestral music, German Requiem

3. Mahler. Symphonies.

4. Schubert. Last two symphonies, Winterreise, mature chamber music

5. Dvorak. He is versatile and almost as successful in some genres as Brahms

6. Bruckner. Symphonies

7. Mendelssohn. Elijah, some of his chamber music, symphonies, concertos, Songs Without Words.


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## ORigel (May 7, 2020)

EvaBaron said:


> I would reconsider that, he was more of a transitional composer from the classical to the romantic era. Beethoven died in 1827 and the Romantic period of western classical music began around 1830.


Some date the Romantic Period as starting with Middle Beethoven; others have it starting around 1820 with works like Weber's _Der Freischütz. _Still others date it starting when Beethoven died, which is as inaccurate as thinking the Baroque literally ended with the death of J.S. Bach.


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## haziz (Sep 15, 2017)

Tchaikovsky
Dvorak
Kalinnikov
Borodin
Chopin


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## golfer72 (Jan 27, 2018)

Definitely Schubert for his Piano sonatas. Brahms for chamber and Symp and Mahler


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## Neo Romanza (May 7, 2013)

If we're talking about strictly Romantic Era composers (and not transitional ones), then I choose the following: Berlioz, Tchaikovsky and Bruckner.

P. S. I'm disheartened that I couldn't include Wagner, Liszt and Dvořák along with the afore-mentioned composers. I love both of these composers dearly as well.


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## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

Honestly, it's a crowded field and they're all pretty good. It's not like the Classical period, where you have Haydn and Mozart and then you fall off a cliff and land on Cherubini.


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

Couchie said:


> It's not like the Classical period, where you have Haydn and Mozart and then you fall off a cliff and land on Cherubini.


Try this. The harmonies-


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

Rachmaninoff








I was just watching these Igudesman & Joo shows, btw.


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## Neo Romanza (May 7, 2013)

hammeredklavier said:


> Rachmaninoff
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I don't think Rachmaninov counts. Look at his timeline.


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## mossyembankment (Jul 28, 2020)

Schumann, Chopin, Schubert, Wagner. Don't care much about Brahms or Liszt, unfortunately.


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## ORigel (May 7, 2020)

Neo Romanza said:


> I don't think Rachmaninov counts. Look at his timeline.


Rachmaninov was a Romantic composer. The "timeline" is a crude guideline-- the boundaries of each period is fuzzy. Rennisance music was being written in the 17th century. Baroque and trasitional music were being written in the second half of the 18th century. Classical style composers were writing music as the early Romantics wrote their music. And some Romamtic composers were writing in the 20th century.


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## neoshredder (Nov 7, 2011)

Tchaikovsky, Dvorak, Brahms, Chopin, and Grieg.


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## Neo Romanza (May 7, 2013)

ORigel said:


> Rachmaninov was a Romantic composer. The "timeline" is a crude guideline-- the boundaries of each period is fuzzy. Rennisance music was being written in the 17th century. Baroque and trasitional music were being written in the second half of the 18th century. Classical style composers were writing music as the early Romantics wrote their music. And some Romamtic composers were writing in the 20th century.


Rachmaninov was a transitional figure. His timeline speaks for itself and is the reason I didn't choose Mahler, Strauss and Sibelius as my three picks.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Wagner 
Mahler
Bruckner 
Brahms 

I don't listen to the early romantics that much except for Beethoven or Berlioz, occasionally. Schubert, and Mendelssohn a couple times a year.


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## Lisztianwagner (2 mo ago)

There are many in my case, since it's one of my favourite musical periods; but some of them can be: Wagner, Liszt, Mahler, Beethoven, Rachmaninov, Tchaikovsky, Richard Strauss, Johann Strauss II and Chopin. That's true Mahler, Strauss and Rachmaninov have timelines which wouldn't make them precisely Romantic composers, but I think their composing styles can do that overall.


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## jurianbai (Nov 23, 2008)

nice... let me troll in my obscure early Romantic composers:

- Louis Spohr (violin concerto no.8 in Am may be his best known, Clarinet concerto, and about 30+ obscures string quartets nobody listen to.. lol)

- George Onslow, also lot of string quartets

- Anton Reicha, lot of wind chamber music

- Franz and Ignaz Lachner brother


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## Neo Romanza (May 7, 2013)

Lisztianwagner said:


> There are many in my case, since it's one of my favourite musical periods; but some of them can be: Wagner, Liszt, Mahler, Beethoven, Rachmaninov, Tchaikovsky, Richard Strauss, Johann Strauss II and Chopin. That's true Mahler, Strauss and Rachmaninov have timelines which wouldn't make them precisely Romantic composers, but I think their composing styles can do that overall.


Alright, you've convinced me! I'll change my votes to Mahler, Strauss and Sibelius.


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## ORigel (May 7, 2020)

Neo Romanza said:


> Rachmaninov was a transitional figure. His timeline speaks for itself and is the reason I didn't choose Mahler, Strauss and Sibelius as my three picks.


Basically all the authorities disagree with you about Rachmaninoff. Pay attention to the style his music was in, not his "timeline." 

Mahler, Strauss, and Sibelius can be considered late Romantic. If you value timelines, Mahler composed his early symphonies in the late 1880s and 1890s.


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## Neo Romanza (May 7, 2013)

ORigel said:


> Basically all the authorities disagree with you about Rachmaninoff. Pay attention to the style his music was in, not his "timeline."
> 
> Mahler, Strauss, and Sibelius can be considered late Romantic. If you value timelines, Mahler composed his early symphonies in the late 1880s and 1890s.


I don't think we should just throw a timeline out the window. They're important. Is Barber a Romantic even though his music falls squarely into the Modern era? If we're to only pay attention to the style of music that was composed, then you could argue that Romantic Era music never actually ended and has continued up to our current point in time.


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## ORigel (May 7, 2020)

Neo Romanza said:


> I don't think we should just throw a timeline out the window. They're important. Is Barber a Romantic even though his music falls squarely into the Modern era? If we're to only pay attention to the style of music that was composed, then you could argue that Romantic Era music never actually ended and has continued up to our current point in time.


The Romantic Era ended, but Romantic composers existed after it. Anyway, Rachmaninoff composed many of his works during the late Romantic era, or just after it. Many of the preludes were composed in the 1890s. The Piano Concerto no. 2 was completed in 1901. The first and second symphonies were completed in 1895 and 1907 respectively. 

This is why everyone considers Rachmaninoff a Romantic composer. He started composing during the Ronantic Era and continued to write in a Romantic style. Unlike Mahler, no one considers him transitional or post-Romantic.


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## Neo Romanza (May 7, 2013)

ORigel said:


> The Romantic Era ended, but Romantic composers existed after it. Anyway, Rachmaninoff composed many of his works during the late Romantic era, or just after it. Many of the preludes were composed in the 1890s. The Piano Concerto no. 2 was completed in 1901. The first and second symphonies were completed in 1895 and 1907 respectively.
> 
> This is why everyone considers Rachmaninoff a Romantic composer. He started composing during the Ronantic Era and continued to write in a Romantic style. Unlike Mahler, no one considers him transitional or post-Romantic.


Alright, I understand your point (not that I ever refuted that Rachmaninov didn't write Romantic music of course).


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## Andante Largo (Apr 23, 2020)

1. Sibelius, Jean (1865 – 1957) [Finland] 
2. Respighi, Ottorino (1879 – 1936) [Italy]
3. Karłowicz, Mieczysław (1876 – 1909) [Poland] 
Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Mario (1895 – 1968) [Italy] 
4. Reinecke, Carl (1824 - 1910) [Germany]
Brahms, Johannes (1833 – 1897) [Germany] 
5. Chopin, Fryderyk (1810 – 1849) [Poland]
Wieniawski, Henryk (1835 – 1880) [Poland]
Rheinberger, Josef (1839 – 1901) [Liechtenstein]
6. Noskowski, Zygmunt (1846 - 1909) [Poland]
Glazunov, Alexander (1865 - 1936) [Russia]
Perosi, Lorenzo (1872 – 1956) [Italy]
7. Bruch, Max (1838 - 1920) [Germany]
Delius, Frederick (1862 – 1934) [England]
Melartin, Erkki (1875 – 1937) [Finland]
8. Saint-Saëns, Camille (1835 – 1921) [France]
Fuchs, Robert (1847 - 1927) [Austria]
Peterson-Berger, Wilhelm (1867 - 1942) [Sweden]
9. Żeleński, Władysław (1837 – 1921) [Poland]
Novák, Vítězslav (1870 - 1949) [Czechia]
Rachmaninov, Sergei (1873 - 1943) [Russia]
10. Dobrzyński, Ignacy Feliks (1807 – 1867) [Poland]
Sgambati, Giovanni (1841 - 1914) [Italy]
Różycki, Ludomir (1884 - 1953) [Poland]

My favorite works of these composers contain mainly instrumental orchestral works (mainly symphonies, symphonic poems, suites and concertos) but also instrumental chamber works and exceptionally solo works in the case of Chopin.


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