Neoclassic/Romantic Art
Neoclassical Art
• Severe and objective form of art
– harkening back to the grandeur of ancient Greece
and Rome.
• Reaction to the feminine, over refined and
decorative Rococo style and emotional charged
Baroque style.
– Form : balanced, restrained
– Color: rich
– Figures: realistic
• Part of a general revival of interest in classical
thought, important in the American and French
revolutions.
Jacques
Louis David
• Repetition of line:
balanced
composition
• Realistic figures
• Expresses, however,
Romantic nationalism
• “Napoleon Crossing
the Alps”
• “Death of
Marat”
• Violent subject
portrayed in
restrained
manner
• Restrained
use of
chiaroscuro
Ingres
• Student of
David
• Balance
• Classical poses
• Restraint
• Romantic
nationalism
Romanticism
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Counterbalance to Neoclassic style
Emotion
Freedom: no rules
Romantic nationalism
Subject matter: weird, supernatural, exotic
as well as patriotic, genre paintings
(pastoral, sublime of the ordinary)
Goya
• Lower class, but talent got him
apprenticeships with known painters
• Aristocratic connections (and lovers) so
court painter to Charles IV and family
• Role of painter during Napoleonic
peninsular wars (2-3 May 1808; Disasters
of War)
• Afterwards: deafness, debility and French
exile
Blake
• Romantic idealism
– “I do not behold the
outward creation...
it is a hindrance
and not action.”
• Showed Social
injustice
• Imagination,
individualism
• Engraver: “drawn”
figures
Nebuchadnezzer
Whirlwind of Lovers
Friedrich (this one is Gothic)
• Fascination
with odd,
weird
• Exotic
settings in
time and
space
Constable: genre painting
• Peaceful
genre scene
• Idealized
nature
Delacroix: “Liberty Leading the People”
Gericault “The Raft of the Medusa”
Francisco Goya (Spain)
• Straddles Romantic
Realistic/naturalistic
• Disillusioned Romantic
• Realistic portrayal of
what he saw
• Technique: Romantic
• Romantic nationalism
• Family of Charles III
– Charles looks
foolish
– His wife looks hard
and domineering
– Others look self
satisfied
(Goya)
• Disasters of
War: “This is
Terrible”
• Romantic
composition
and freedom
• Realistic
subject matter
2nd of May 1808
• Napoleonic wars massacre he actually witnessed in Madrid
• Romantic composition and nationalism
3rd of May 1808
• Note use of chiaroscuro, composition and symbolism
• Faceless enemy, Christ-symbol of insurrectionist
Beethoven
• Bridged Classical and
Romantic periods
– Form used contextually
– Motifs
– Works as attempts for
perfection
• Manifested Romantic ideal
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Pastoral, Symphony No. 6
Symphony 9, Ode to Joy
Eroica
Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor,
Pathetique
Franz Schubert
• Vienna Austria
• Child prodigy
• Wrote lieder—songs with
emotional theme based on folk
tradition
• Song cycle
• Wrote for fewer instruments
– Unfinished Symphony
– Symphony in C major
• Many works were lost
Felix Mendelssohn
• Tried to preserve Classical
style
– Brought Bach out of obscurity
• Symphonies were classical
form and romantic tone
• Midsummer Night’s Dream
Frederic Chopin
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Child prodigy
Sickly his whole life: died young
Ultimate romantic love story
Made money by giving piano
concerts
• Composed mazurkas, preludes and
polonaises: nationalistic, emotional
– Etude Opus 10
– Polonaise in A flat major
– Minute Waltz
Franz Liszt
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Hungarian child prodigy
Great showman
Kind to other musicians
Several love affairs:
– Romanticism
– Individualism
• Les Preludes
• Hungarian Rhapsody
– Nationalistic
– Used folk themes
Richard Wagner
• German nationalism
– Nazis loved him
• Not a prodigy
• Immoral life
• Opera
– Leitmotif
• Depicted Germanic myths and heroes
– Die Walküre (Ride of the Valkyries)
– Tannhäuser (end of the overture)
– Tristan and Isolde (Unresolved – Liebestod)
Giuseppe Verdi
• Greatest Italian style opera
– Aida
– La Traviata
– Rigoletto
• La Donna e Mobile
• Innovation
– Focus on human emotion
– De-emphasis on bel-canto style
• Rossini: Barber of Seville
– Excellent librettos (stories)
– Orchestra an important component
Johann Strauss
• Father was excellent
composer
• Played in father’s orchestra
• More popular than his father
• Waltzes
– Embodiment of Viennese life
– Blue Danube Waltz
– Tales of the Vienna Woods
Johann Brahms
• German
• At first imitated Beethoven
until developed own style
• Mentored by Robert and Clara
Schumann
• Emotional compositions
– Hungarian Dance #5
– Lullaby
Russian Composers
• Moussorgsky,Balakirev, Borodin, Cui,
Rimsky-Korsakov
– Russian Easter Overture
• Used Russian themes
• Helped each other
• Flight of the Bumble Bee
• Night on Bald Mountain
Almaty, Kazakhstan
Peter Ilych Tchaikovsky
• Russian
• Used French style
• Ballets are most famous
– Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty
– Romeo and Juliet
• Deep emotion for his sad life
– Symphony No. 6 – Pathètique