# Style Differences By Country/Region for Specific Musical Eras?



## MonagFam (Nov 17, 2015)

Are there distinct differences that you can hear between different countries or regions within the same musical era?

I often see the classical era as always sounding relatively similar. If someone was to play a piece written by an Italian Composer in 1780 and then by an Austria in the same year, could you tell which was which? Are the styles that distinct?

As a follow-up: if there is a distinction, do you find that you may prefer one? Let's say you don't like the Romantic era in general, unless it is Czech composers, etc?


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

Czech, Russian, German, French, Italian, American, British are pretty distinct to me in the Romantic, Post-Romantic era. I didn't really notice differences in Baroque or Classical or Modern


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## Bettina (Sep 29, 2016)

I definitely hear national differences in Baroque music. French Baroque music (for example, Lully, Couperin, Rameau) tends to be rather mannered and elegant. Italian Baroque music (Corelli, Vivaldi, Frescobaldi), on the other hand, is more dramatic and energetic, with propulsive rhythms and less ornamentation. I enjoy both styles equally.

To some extent, I've noticed national differences in the Romantic period as well. Many German Romantic composers (such as Mendelssohn, Schumann, Brahms) placed a strong emphasis on motivic development and variation, probably influenced by Beethoven. I love the German approach to motivic development...I find it exciting to track the changes that a motive undergoes throughout the course of an entire work.

Russian Romantic composers didn't develop their material as extensively. They often repeat a melody with only minor changes throughout a piece, perhaps varying the underlying harmony while leaving the melody relatively unchanged. This technique - keeping the melody intact while changing the harmonization - comes from Glinka and it influenced many subsequent Russian composers.


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## MonagFam (Nov 17, 2015)

Bettina said:


> I definitely hear national differences in Baroque music. French Baroque music (for example, Lully, Couperin, Rameau) tends to be rather mannered and elegant. Italian Baroque music (Corelli, Vivaldi, Frescobaldi), on the other hand, is more dramatic and energetic, with propulsive rhythms and less ornamentation. I enjoy both styles equally.
> 
> To some extent, I've noticed national differences in the Romantic period as well. Many German Romantic composers (such as Mendelssohn, Schumann, Brahms) placed a strong emphasis on motivic development and variation, probably influenced by Beethoven. I love the German approach to motivic development...I find it exciting to track the changes that a motive undergoes throughout the course of an entire work.
> 
> Russian Romantic composers didn't develop their material as extensively. They often repeat a melody with only minor changes throughout a piece, perhaps varying the underlying harmony while leaving the melody relatively unchanged. This technique - keeping the melody intact while changing the harmonization - comes from Glinka and it influenced many subsequent Russian composers.


Thanks for your insight!


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

One reason for the increasing distinctiveness of national traditions in the Romantic era was the direct inspiration provided by folk music. The 19th century brought increasing national consciousness in general, motivated by the Romantic passion for individual self-expression (and by extension cultural self-expression), the growth of literary and linguistic scholarship and the exploration of indigenous traditions, archaeological and anthropological study, and travel. In the latter half of that century and into the 20th, conscious nationalism became a major element in the styles of composers who were often motivated in part by a desire to contribute to the spiritual unification of their peoples in the emerging nation states of Europe. An obvious way of doing that was to utilize features of their musical folk traditions.

Romantic composers whose work shows consciously adopted influences from traditional music include Chopin from Poland, Grieg from Norway, Smetana and Dvorak from Bohemia, Sibelius from Finland, and the "Five" and Tchaikovsky from Russia. But even composers who didn't utilize the elements of folk styles in order to sound "national" tended to be easily identified as to origin; there's no mistaking the Germanness of Wagner and the Italianness of Verdi.


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