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The Charles Eliot Norton Lectures
The Romantic Generation
What Charles Rosen's celebrated book The Classical Style did for music of the Classical period, this new, much-awaited volume brilliantly does for the Romantic era. An exhilarating exploration of the musical language, forms, and styles of the Romantic period, it captures the spirit that enlivened a generation of composers and musicians, and in doing so it conveys the very sense of Romantic music. In readings uniquely informed by his performing experience, Rosen offers consistently acute and thoroughly engaging analyses of works by Schubert, Schumann, Mendelssohn, Bellini, Liszt, and Berlioz, and he presents a new view of Chopin as a master of polyphony and large-scale form. He adeptly integrates his observations on the music with reflections on the art, literature, drama, and philosophy of the time, and thus shows us the major figures of Romantic music within their intellectual and cultural context.
Rosen covers a remarkably broad range of music history and considers the importance to nineteenth-century music of other cultural the art of landscape, a changed approach to the sacred, the literary fragment as a Romantic art form. He sheds new light on the musical sensibilities of each composer, studies the important genres from nocturnes and songs to symphonies and operas, explains musical principles such as the relation between a musical idea and its realization in sound and the interplay between music and text, and traces the origins of musical ideas prevalent in the Romantic period. Rich with striking descriptions and telling analogies, Rosen's overview of Romantic music is an accomplishment without parallel in the literature, a consummate performance by a master pianist and music historian.
Rosen covers a remarkably broad range of music history and considers the importance to nineteenth-century music of other cultural the art of landscape, a changed approach to the sacred, the literary fragment as a Romantic art form. He sheds new light on the musical sensibilities of each composer, studies the important genres from nocturnes and songs to symphonies and operas, explains musical principles such as the relation between a musical idea and its realization in sound and the interplay between music and text, and traces the origins of musical ideas prevalent in the Romantic period. Rich with striking descriptions and telling analogies, Rosen's overview of Romantic music is an accomplishment without parallel in the literature, a consummate performance by a master pianist and music historian.
744 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1995
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About the author
Charles Rosen
61Ìýbooks49ÌýfollowersCharles Rosen was a concert pianist, Professor of Music and Social Thought at the University of Chicago, and the author of numerous books, including The Classical Style, The Romantic Generation, and Freedom and the Arts.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
October 20, 2023
Charles Rosen's Romantic Generation
Published in 1998, Charles Rosen's "The Romantic Generation" is an extraordinary erudite study of music, its performance, and its cultural history. The study was an outgrowth of lectures Rosen gave at Harvard in 1980-1981 and is a companion volume to Rosen's earlier book, "The Classical Style". Rosen combines deep scholarship and love for music with his gifts as a concert pianist. He is Professor Emeritus of Music and Social Thought at the University of Chicago.
The focus of the book is on the great composers born roughly around 1810, including Schumann, Chopin, Liszt, Mendelssohn, Bellini, and Meyerbeer. The book considers for the most part music written between 1827, when Beethoven died and the composers Rosen studies were reaching adulthood, and 1850. This focus excludes Brahms who, as Rosen points out, attempted to join the romanticism of his predecessors with a more traditional classicism. Romanticism, as Rosen develops it, resists easy definition. But the following statement, in the Preface, suggests the scope of Rosen's analysis:
"The claim of artistic autonomy that was made for music, rightly or wrongly, by the late eighteenth century, was neither really upheld nor abandoned by the following generations: rather, an attempt was made to incorporate some of the artist's own life and experience into the claim of autonomy, to transform part of the artist's world into an independent aesthetic object."
The following quotation, taken from the book's concluding chapter on Schumann also helps summarize Rosen's approach to romanticism. He writes (p. 702):
"The malaise experience with large, unified Classical forms by the generation of composers born around 1810 testifies to a loss of faith and even of interest in the calculated balances and clear articulations that these old structures implied. It corresponds to a general loss of faith in purely rational systems, a mistrust of the eighteenth-century Enlightenment and the Kantian certainties. Perhaps it also accounts for the fascination with insanity and the irrational."
"The Romantic Generation" is a long, difficult book with many threads and byways. Rosen describes romanticism broadly by comparing and contrasting it with earlier classical and baroque styles. The reader thus gets a broad musical education in this work. that goes substantially beyond romanticism. Rosen also spends several early chapters developing the literary and artistic background that he finds necessary for the understanding of the Romantic Generation of composers. There are two chapters of the book dealing with musical theory in which Rosen explains how the Romantic Generation's musical language differed from its predecessors in terms of harmony and musical phrasing. Besides these broad approaches, Rosen's study is also extraordinarily detailed in places. He offers painstaking and thorough musical analyses of many works, including Beethoven's song-cycle "To the Distant Beloved" which he finds in many ways emblematic of the coming romanticism, and the song-cycles of Schubert and Schumann. Schumann's piano music, including the Fantasiestucke, Carnaval, and Davidsbundlertanze receive detailed treatment with many illustrations from the scores. Chopin's Ballades, Mazurkas and Etudes, and Preludes, also receive lengthy and insightful textual analysis. Besides treatment of culture and music, broad and narrow, the book includes much about performance, especially on the piano. Readers who play music will learn a great deal.
Rosen sees lieder and piano pieces as at the center of the Romantic Generation. Of the composers he treats, Schumann and Chopin receive the most detailed attention. Chopin receives three lengthy chapters in the middle of the book in which Rosen is at pains to rebut the claim that Chopin did not handle large musical structures well. But the first and the last word in the book go to Robert Schumann who, for Rosen, remains the prototypical romantic composer. Rosen describes Schumann as "the most representative musical figure of central European Romanticism as much because of his limitations as because of his genius: in his finest works indeed he exploited these limitations in such a way that they gave a force to his genius that no other contemporary could attain. The limitations may be summed up simply: a difficulty in dealing with the Classical forms of the previous generation". (p. 699) Only in the last chapter of the book do Schumann's symphonies, sonatas, chamber music and other works in classical form receive discussion, as Rosen tries to show how these works represent a falling-away from the romantic project in all its uniqueness and idiosyncracy. Berlioz and Liszt receive sympathetic chapters as does Mendelssohn, in a discussion I thought could have been developed further.
As an initial approach to the book, there is much to be learned from reading it straight through. In a basic reading, the many pages of musical quotation and analysis can be read relatively quickly. It was a temptation to pause and hear or rehear many of the works Rosen discusses; but if that were done, the cover-to-cover reading of the book would never be completed. The book can be revisited in detail rather than being put aside when it is completed. Thus, if the reader wants to rehear Schubert's Winterreise or Chopin's third ballade, for example, this book will offer guidance for deepening one's understanding. The more the reader knows about and loves music, the more will he or she benefit from this book.
Rosen writes clearly and thoughtfully with many observations and asides about music, history, and culture. This book is a scholarly study in the service of a passion for music. Serious lovers of music will be rewarded by reading this book and by returning to it during the course of listening or performing.
Robin Friedman
Published in 1998, Charles Rosen's "The Romantic Generation" is an extraordinary erudite study of music, its performance, and its cultural history. The study was an outgrowth of lectures Rosen gave at Harvard in 1980-1981 and is a companion volume to Rosen's earlier book, "The Classical Style". Rosen combines deep scholarship and love for music with his gifts as a concert pianist. He is Professor Emeritus of Music and Social Thought at the University of Chicago.
The focus of the book is on the great composers born roughly around 1810, including Schumann, Chopin, Liszt, Mendelssohn, Bellini, and Meyerbeer. The book considers for the most part music written between 1827, when Beethoven died and the composers Rosen studies were reaching adulthood, and 1850. This focus excludes Brahms who, as Rosen points out, attempted to join the romanticism of his predecessors with a more traditional classicism. Romanticism, as Rosen develops it, resists easy definition. But the following statement, in the Preface, suggests the scope of Rosen's analysis:
"The claim of artistic autonomy that was made for music, rightly or wrongly, by the late eighteenth century, was neither really upheld nor abandoned by the following generations: rather, an attempt was made to incorporate some of the artist's own life and experience into the claim of autonomy, to transform part of the artist's world into an independent aesthetic object."
The following quotation, taken from the book's concluding chapter on Schumann also helps summarize Rosen's approach to romanticism. He writes (p. 702):
"The malaise experience with large, unified Classical forms by the generation of composers born around 1810 testifies to a loss of faith and even of interest in the calculated balances and clear articulations that these old structures implied. It corresponds to a general loss of faith in purely rational systems, a mistrust of the eighteenth-century Enlightenment and the Kantian certainties. Perhaps it also accounts for the fascination with insanity and the irrational."
"The Romantic Generation" is a long, difficult book with many threads and byways. Rosen describes romanticism broadly by comparing and contrasting it with earlier classical and baroque styles. The reader thus gets a broad musical education in this work. that goes substantially beyond romanticism. Rosen also spends several early chapters developing the literary and artistic background that he finds necessary for the understanding of the Romantic Generation of composers. There are two chapters of the book dealing with musical theory in which Rosen explains how the Romantic Generation's musical language differed from its predecessors in terms of harmony and musical phrasing. Besides these broad approaches, Rosen's study is also extraordinarily detailed in places. He offers painstaking and thorough musical analyses of many works, including Beethoven's song-cycle "To the Distant Beloved" which he finds in many ways emblematic of the coming romanticism, and the song-cycles of Schubert and Schumann. Schumann's piano music, including the Fantasiestucke, Carnaval, and Davidsbundlertanze receive detailed treatment with many illustrations from the scores. Chopin's Ballades, Mazurkas and Etudes, and Preludes, also receive lengthy and insightful textual analysis. Besides treatment of culture and music, broad and narrow, the book includes much about performance, especially on the piano. Readers who play music will learn a great deal.
Rosen sees lieder and piano pieces as at the center of the Romantic Generation. Of the composers he treats, Schumann and Chopin receive the most detailed attention. Chopin receives three lengthy chapters in the middle of the book in which Rosen is at pains to rebut the claim that Chopin did not handle large musical structures well. But the first and the last word in the book go to Robert Schumann who, for Rosen, remains the prototypical romantic composer. Rosen describes Schumann as "the most representative musical figure of central European Romanticism as much because of his limitations as because of his genius: in his finest works indeed he exploited these limitations in such a way that they gave a force to his genius that no other contemporary could attain. The limitations may be summed up simply: a difficulty in dealing with the Classical forms of the previous generation". (p. 699) Only in the last chapter of the book do Schumann's symphonies, sonatas, chamber music and other works in classical form receive discussion, as Rosen tries to show how these works represent a falling-away from the romantic project in all its uniqueness and idiosyncracy. Berlioz and Liszt receive sympathetic chapters as does Mendelssohn, in a discussion I thought could have been developed further.
As an initial approach to the book, there is much to be learned from reading it straight through. In a basic reading, the many pages of musical quotation and analysis can be read relatively quickly. It was a temptation to pause and hear or rehear many of the works Rosen discusses; but if that were done, the cover-to-cover reading of the book would never be completed. The book can be revisited in detail rather than being put aside when it is completed. Thus, if the reader wants to rehear Schubert's Winterreise or Chopin's third ballade, for example, this book will offer guidance for deepening one's understanding. The more the reader knows about and loves music, the more will he or she benefit from this book.
Rosen writes clearly and thoughtfully with many observations and asides about music, history, and culture. This book is a scholarly study in the service of a passion for music. Serious lovers of music will be rewarded by reading this book and by returning to it during the course of listening or performing.
Robin Friedman
July 3, 2023
Rosen takes what Bernstein does for orchestral works and does it for piano pieces, then compounds the excellence with gorgeous writing. A small example: "Mendelssohn's innovation places the purest display of virtuosity and the most individual expression at the heart of the form, at its center-and it has the result of making the balanced recapitulation that follows more like a gesture of obedience than of conviction." Beautifully expressed.
If I were to offer any critique, it would be that it is not long enough and, as it stands, needs a subtitle: "Chopin and some other composers." :P He spends the first third of the book on general Romantic musical concepts, the second third is devoted to Chopin, with the last third split between four other composers and opera. Chopin deserves every word, but the others received the short end of the stick here.
Didactic but never pedantic, this book needs to be on every classical music lover's shelf!
If I were to offer any critique, it would be that it is not long enough and, as it stands, needs a subtitle: "Chopin and some other composers." :P He spends the first third of the book on general Romantic musical concepts, the second third is devoted to Chopin, with the last third split between four other composers and opera. Chopin deserves every word, but the others received the short end of the stick here.
Didactic but never pedantic, this book needs to be on every classical music lover's shelf!
April 14, 2021
The book's structure imitates the pieces it discusses: a string of fragments, self contained sections that nevertheless refer outside themselves, with themes recurring in different sections; as with many of the compositions, works of literature are frequently referred to. Insights on almost every page.
1. Music and Sound
Interesting insights from the keyboard on Schumann: Humoresque Op. 20 (innere Stimme), ABEGG Variations Op. 1 (stating the theme through subtraction), Carnaval Op. 9 (defining the B section of "Eusebius" through pedal, revealing a chord through realsing the pedal and withdrawing other sounds in "Paganini"), Davidsbundlertanze Op. 6 (pedal in "Wie aus der Ferne"), Waldscenen Op. 82 (echoes and anticipations of melody in accompaniment), Fantasiestucke Opp. 12 (annotated rubato and cross-thumb playing in "Des Abends").
2. Fragments
My take-away: works which resist self-containment.
Dichterliebe (opening song), Frauenliebe und Leben (Last song postlude quotes the accompaniment of the first, omitting a key vocal phrase, which the listener is expected to silently supply), ambiguous or unexpected endings (Nocturne, Op. 32, 1), works that are collection of self-dependent and independent fragments (much of early Schumann, Chopin Preludes), quotations of other movements (Mendelssohn Octet), other compositions, (Schumann, "Florestan" from Carnaval), or other composers (Schumann, Phantasie, Op. 17).
3. Mountains and Song Cycles
Landscape in art and literature as a subject independent of history or myth - the "musical" form of these arts. Landscape evocative of the past - more geological than human time. Song cycles of Beethoven and Schubert analyzed at some length, returning to Dichterliebe and Carnaval and ¶Ù²¹±¹¾±»å²õ²ú³Ü²Ô»å±ô±ð°ù³Ùä²Ô³ú±ð, "song cycles without words".
4. Formal Interlude
Two studies in how developments from the "Classical Style" led to subsequent changes in musical language. The more frequent use of the mediant rather than the dominant in contrasting sections led to a weakening of the strong sense of tonality characteristic of late 18th century compositions. The standardization of the four bar phrase as way of establishing rhythm on a scale beyond the single bar allowed for more complex cross-rhythmic relationships and compositions of greater length.
5. Chopin: Counterpoint and the Narrative Forms
Analysis of the structure of the four Ballades (also the Polonaise, Op. 44 and Sonata 2, IV) - Rosen claims that the Barcarolle and Polonaise-Fantasy could be considered the fifth and sixth Ballades. "Program music without the program." The disregard for the Classical Style of key- and thematic relationships in music inspired by conventions and techniques of Italian opera - Etude Op. 25, 7; Sonata 3, III; Nocturne Op. 27, 2.Chopin's counterpoint, unlike Bach's, is not for the player but for the listener: he writes multiple parts that reproduce what the listener hears in Bach, without sustaining the continuous multiple voices that underlie Bach's music.
6. Chopin: Virtuosity Transformed
The creation of the concert etude; the transcendence of "salon music" by deep personal expression - for many contemporaries to the point of "morbidity".
7. Chopin:From the Miniature Genre to the Sublime Style
After an rather ironic introductory section on "Folk music?" ("Folk music, in fact, is not art but nature"), Rosen walks through a large number of Chopin's published Mazurkas, which Rosen rates highly among the composer's works
8. Liszt
9. Berlioz
As he did with Chopin, Rosen here again emphasizes
Rosen rightly recognizes the extraordinary precocity of "the greatest child prodigy the history of Western music has ever known" and points out several examples of how the teenage composers was able to not only knowingly emulate the late Beethoven style, but to find in elements of that style the source of his own individual voice.
This chapter concentrates on Bellini and Meyerbeer, with Rossini as the elder influence. Rosen gives a brief overview of 18th and early 19th century opera, and though he is fairly critical of Romantic opera's dramatic excesses and absurdities, says
12. Schumann: Triumph and Failure of the Romantic Ideal
I listened to the accompanying CD after finishing the book, referring back to the relevant sections while listening. It's organized more like a concert, presenting the pieces in a different order than they are discussed in the text - opening and closing with pieces by Liszt (the Réminiscences de Don Juan and the original piano version (not labeled as such - one needs to consult the excerpt included in the book) of Petrarch Sonnet 104, surrounding 2 Nocturnes by Chopin and excerpts from some of Schumann's longer pieces. Helpful as far as it goes, but ideally one needs recordings of all the pieces discussed unless one is a proficient pianist.
1. Music and Sound
Interesting insights from the keyboard on Schumann: Humoresque Op. 20 (innere Stimme), ABEGG Variations Op. 1 (stating the theme through subtraction), Carnaval Op. 9 (defining the B section of "Eusebius" through pedal, revealing a chord through realsing the pedal and withdrawing other sounds in "Paganini"), Davidsbundlertanze Op. 6 (pedal in "Wie aus der Ferne"), Waldscenen Op. 82 (echoes and anticipations of melody in accompaniment), Fantasiestucke Opp. 12 (annotated rubato and cross-thumb playing in "Des Abends").
2. Fragments
My take-away: works which resist self-containment.
Dichterliebe (opening song), Frauenliebe und Leben (Last song postlude quotes the accompaniment of the first, omitting a key vocal phrase, which the listener is expected to silently supply), ambiguous or unexpected endings (Nocturne, Op. 32, 1), works that are collection of self-dependent and independent fragments (much of early Schumann, Chopin Preludes), quotations of other movements (Mendelssohn Octet), other compositions, (Schumann, "Florestan" from Carnaval), or other composers (Schumann, Phantasie, Op. 17).
3. Mountains and Song Cycles
Landscape in art and literature as a subject independent of history or myth - the "musical" form of these arts. Landscape evocative of the past - more geological than human time. Song cycles of Beethoven and Schubert analyzed at some length, returning to Dichterliebe and Carnaval and ¶Ù²¹±¹¾±»å²õ²ú³Ü²Ô»å±ô±ð°ù³Ùä²Ô³ú±ð, "song cycles without words".
4. Formal Interlude
Two studies in how developments from the "Classical Style" led to subsequent changes in musical language. The more frequent use of the mediant rather than the dominant in contrasting sections led to a weakening of the strong sense of tonality characteristic of late 18th century compositions. The standardization of the four bar phrase as way of establishing rhythm on a scale beyond the single bar allowed for more complex cross-rhythmic relationships and compositions of greater length.
5. Chopin: Counterpoint and the Narrative Forms
Analysis of the structure of the four Ballades (also the Polonaise, Op. 44 and Sonata 2, IV) - Rosen claims that the Barcarolle and Polonaise-Fantasy could be considered the fifth and sixth Ballades. "Program music without the program." The disregard for the Classical Style of key- and thematic relationships in music inspired by conventions and techniques of Italian opera - Etude Op. 25, 7; Sonata 3, III; Nocturne Op. 27, 2.Chopin's counterpoint, unlike Bach's, is not for the player but for the listener: he writes multiple parts that reproduce what the listener hears in Bach, without sustaining the continuous multiple voices that underlie Bach's music.
6. Chopin: Virtuosity Transformed
The creation of the concert etude; the transcendence of "salon music" by deep personal expression - for many contemporaries to the point of "morbidity".
...an element of extravagance which is one of the virtues of the Romantic style. This extravagance is a moral rather than artistic quality, a quality that Mendelssohn lacked and that was largely irrelevant to Schubert, but that Chopin shared with Schumann, Liszt, and Berlioz, whose music he despised - perhaps at least partly because of the way that each of them eccentrically realized his own personal form of extravagance.
7. Chopin:From the Miniature Genre to the Sublime Style
After an rather ironic introductory section on "Folk music?" ("Folk music, in fact, is not art but nature"), Rosen walks through a large number of Chopin's published Mazurkas, which Rosen rates highly among the composer's works
The mazurkas represent Chopin's supreme achievement in small form, just as the ballades do in larger (and we must remember that the Barcarolle and the Polonaise-Fantasie must be classed structurally with the ballades). I do not mean that the mazurkas are better music than the preludes, etudes, or nocturnes. Nevertheless, the mazurkas show a significant stylistic development unmatched by the other forms. The reduced small-scale constraints of the dance, far from tying Chopin's hands, inspired several works which, in their grandeur, stand midway between the miniature form and the larger structure such as the ballade. The folk origins of the genre released an uninhibited display of contrapuntal virtuosity and of sophisticated invention. The popular character of the mazurka brought forth Chopin's most aristocratic and most personal creations. Perhaps nowhere else do we feel so powerfully his combination of fastidious craftsmanship and passionate intensity.On the page, Rosen has failed, so far, to convert me to these pieces; perhaps further listening, armed now with Rosen's discussions, will provide the elusive breakthrough.
8. Liszt
... the religion of the mid-nineteenth century was less that of Gothic cathedral than of the Gothic novel."Disreputable greatness" Rosen considers that there is little artistic distinction between Liszt's original works, paraphrases and reminiscences, and transcriptions; the composer's great talent was for the transformation of existing music (not just of other composers: in many cases, as with the Transcendental Etudes, his own) into new forms, meanings, and sounds. The chapter opens with an examination of the Sonata in B Minor and closes with Réminiscences de Don Juan; Rosen points out that in the latter, the themes are chosen not just for their musical qualities, but also for their textual / dramatic content within the opera, allowing Liszt to create a new narrative out of elements of the opera's story. He contrasts this with Chopin's purely musical interest in "Là ci darem la mano" as expressed in his Op. 2. (Indeed, Alan Walker points out that Chopin ridiculed critics who claimed to hear a narrative of seduction in this work.)
9. Berlioz
He took up arms for Shakespeare, for Goethe’s Faust, Oriental exoticism, program music, the Swiss mountains with the lonely sounds of shepherd’s pipes, the Gothic macabre, the projection of the ego in the work of art, as well as the artist as an inspired lunatic � all the commonplace intellectual bric-a-brac of the period, in fact.Rosen points out that, prior to the 19th century, harmony was learned as a by-product of counterpoint; the composition of multiple independent voices was emphasized and harmony was what determined their correct or incorrect combinations. In response to the importance of harmony in late 18th century music, music educators began teaching harmony as a subject in its own right; this was how Berlioz learned the subject, in contrast to the less advanced pedagogy Chopin received in Warsaw. Unlike all the other composers Rosen discusses, however, Berlioz also never learned to play the piano, thus never learning harmonic practice by example from the counterpoint of the WTC, a universally employed source of instruction and exercises for pianists.
As he did with Chopin, Rosen here again emphasizes
... a Romantic ambition to set the moment of greatest excitement close to the endwhich made traditional sonata form with its substantial recapitulation an inadequate vehicle for the composers he discusses. Rosen finds this ambition most effectively achieved in the "Scène d'amour" from Roméo et Juliette, though he finds the other movements of the work
... ineffective - or, when effective, rather coarse, like the vulgar contrapuntal display of combining themes in the "Bal des Capulets."10. Mendelssohn and the Invention of Religious Kitsch
Rosen rightly recognizes the extraordinary precocity of "the greatest child prodigy the history of Western music has ever known" and points out several examples of how the teenage composers was able to not only knowingly emulate the late Beethoven style, but to find in elements of that style the source of his own individual voice.
If the early works of Mendelssohn, from the age of fifteen to twenty-one, remain more satisfying and impressive than the products of his later years, it is not that he lost any of his craft or even his genius. What he renounced was his daring.
The Songs Without Words have a Mozartean grace without Mozart's dramatic power, a Schubertian lyricism without Schubert's intensity. If we could be satisfied today with a simple beauty that raises no questions and does not attempt to puzzle us, the short pieces would resume their old place in the concert repertoire. They charm, but they neither provoke nor astonish. It is not true that they are insipid, but they might as well be.
The concert requiem ... was the one chance for the Romantic composer to feel as if he had been able to appropriate some part of the great tradition of religious music from Palestrina to Bach and reconceive it in his own language.11. Romantic Opera: Politics, Trash, and High Art
This chapter concentrates on Bellini and Meyerbeer, with Rossini as the elder influence. Rosen gives a brief overview of 18th and early 19th century opera, and though he is fairly critical of Romantic opera's dramatic excesses and absurdities, says
The change from Metastasio's stiff, artificial dramas to the clever and sensational melodramas of Eugène Scribe, the leading nineteenth-century librettist, is nothing to mourn.The chapter seems rather disconnected from the rest of the book in that, of the other figures discussed, only Berlioz' operatic ambitions were previously mentioned - and that only briefly in an example from Les Troyens - though the influence of Bellini's bel canto vocal writing on Chopin was discussed. It's strange that nowhere in the book does Rosen deal at any length with Paganini whose violin virtuosity had an influence on the pianism of Liszt and Schumann, as well as his personally making a significant contribution to Berlioz' financial survival.
12. Schumann: Triumph and Failure of the Romantic Ideal
Schumann is the most representative figure of Central European Romanticism as much because of his limitations as because of his genius: in his finest works, indeed, he exploited those limitations in such a way that they gave a force to his genius that no other contemporary could attain. The limitations may be summed up simply: a difficulty in dealing with the Classical forms of the previous generation, or what Schumann and his contemporaries conceived to be those forms.Rosen looks briefly at the Romantic fascination and fear of madness, and there is an unstated implication that the turn toward classical forms, as well as revisions to his earlier works, late in Schumann's career was unconsciously a way of demonstrating and maintaining sanity. Rosen suggests that Kreisleriana Op. 16, was inspired more by than by , suggesting that the fifth piece is "more the image of the cat rather than of the young Kapellmeister".
I listened to the accompanying CD after finishing the book, referring back to the relevant sections while listening. It's organized more like a concert, presenting the pieces in a different order than they are discussed in the text - opening and closing with pieces by Liszt (the Réminiscences de Don Juan and the original piano version (not labeled as such - one needs to consult the excerpt included in the book) of Petrarch Sonnet 104, surrounding 2 Nocturnes by Chopin and excerpts from some of Schumann's longer pieces. Helpful as far as it goes, but ideally one needs recordings of all the pieces discussed unless one is a proficient pianist.
December 25, 2011
From the Preface, one can gather that the book is going to be heavy on piano literature. Charles Rosen's, The Romantic Generation focuses almost solely on piano literature. There are passing mentions of Liszt's Faust Symphony, Schumann's Rhenish Symphony and a few others but that is it. Only one chapter is devoted to Opera. I believe that there is more the Romantic Generation than piano compositions.
I would say that Rosen's writing towards the final two or three chapters grew a little sloppy, and points were brought up in passing that should have had an entire chapter devoted to them, especially in the chapter on Opera. I don't know if I believe that three chapters need to be devoted to Chopin, but to each there own.
This book shows tremendous research and analysis; sometimes too much analysis. With this being said, this is a must read for any classical music enthusiast.
I would say that Rosen's writing towards the final two or three chapters grew a little sloppy, and points were brought up in passing that should have had an entire chapter devoted to them, especially in the chapter on Opera. I don't know if I believe that three chapters need to be devoted to Chopin, but to each there own.
This book shows tremendous research and analysis; sometimes too much analysis. With this being said, this is a must read for any classical music enthusiast.
May 3, 2021
Wonderful.
I need to revisit parts on romantic opera and Liszt.
I would recommend the beginning to anyone, but as it moves on it becomes very dense. The more information one has from before, the more one learns it seems. I knew to little about some topics, which made Rosen's points impossible to understand, unfortunately, because whenever I did understand him, he continually transformed my views on music, art and life.
I need to revisit parts on romantic opera and Liszt.
I would recommend the beginning to anyone, but as it moves on it becomes very dense. The more information one has from before, the more one learns it seems. I knew to little about some topics, which made Rosen's points impossible to understand, unfortunately, because whenever I did understand him, he continually transformed my views on music, art and life.
December 15, 2024
Impressively detailed (particularly about his beloved Chopin!) but with a somewhat imbalanced structure and a rather more pianistically-specific focus than one might hope for (but there will be other books for that!).
April 4, 2010
This is the third book I've read by Charles Rosen, and my admiration for him is undiminished. His writing is always clear and insightful. I also like that he seems to write from a position of abolute respect for an committment to the music.
The Romantic Generation is about the music of the first half of the nineteenth century. Rosen concentrates most heavily on Schumann, Chopin, and Liszt, but he also deals with Mendelssohn and Berlioz as well as touching on opera. This makes the book very wide-ranging and somewhat complex. However, it is also thoroughly illuminating with regard to the inner workings of Romantic music. I gained a lot of clarity and insight about aspects of this music - Chopin in particular - that had previously been rather mysterious to me.
The Romantic Generation is about the music of the first half of the nineteenth century. Rosen concentrates most heavily on Schumann, Chopin, and Liszt, but he also deals with Mendelssohn and Berlioz as well as touching on opera. This makes the book very wide-ranging and somewhat complex. However, it is also thoroughly illuminating with regard to the inner workings of Romantic music. I gained a lot of clarity and insight about aspects of this music - Chopin in particular - that had previously been rather mysterious to me.
November 9, 2007
Charles Rosen is the musical iconoclast’s iconoclast, and he is also a very insightful analyst as well as pianist. Charles Rosen the insightful analyst is in evidence throughout this book, such as the fascinating section showing the influence that the Italian bel canto tradition had on Chopin’s melodic writing. Charles Rosen the iconoclast can be seen and enjoyed in the chapter on Berlioz, where he essentially turns the traditional academic dismissals of Berlioz entirely on its head. And, if you actually bought the book new (unlike me, who picked it up from a used bookstore) you can enjoy Charles Rosen the pianist in a CD collection of some excerpts of pieces he discusses in the book.
October 17, 2016
Large parts of the translations from German, French, and Italian are inaccurate (e.g. Rosen translates the German mässig [moderate] with massive). Apart of that interesting ideas and clear argument. For four stars I would have liked a conclusion and a better integration of the historical sources, which were well selected by Rosen though.
January 3, 2009
Still reading, but full of the most astute insights into music history, music theory, and the science and art of musicianship. For pianists especially, a really enlightened work on the major Romantic composers.
September 23, 2007
One of the very, very best books I've ever read about music. As with much Rosen, an ability to read music and some basic theoretical knowledge is assumed.
February 4, 2017
One of the best music books I've read, and I've read a lot. Erudite and deeply wise, this is someone writing about music from the inside. I particularly loved his chapters on Chopin.
April 11, 2025
This book was a stretch. To fully keep up with Rosen’s analyses would require a more solid grounding in theory and more facility in sight-reading a score than I possess. But even the amount I understood was enlightening. I often stopped to listen to the works he discusses, which also made progress through the book slow (but enjoyable).Ìý
Rosen situates Chopin, Schumann, and the other composers he discusses in the context of literature and philosophy of the time, about which he offers judgments and opinions as solidly grounded as those he offers on music.
I particularly enjoyed the charity in his remarks, whether pointing out the shortcomings of the greats or the strengths of flawed composers. I was also impressed with his scholarly investigation of editions and their variants, some from the composer and some from mistakes in the engravings. Interestingly, some of the printer errors continue to appear. Now I’m especially curious about performances of Schumann’s piano works. Do they use the composer’s revisions or return to the first editions (to Rosen, clearly superior)?
I borrowed this from the library, but this is a book I wouldn’t mind having on my shelf to refer to again and again. I withheld the fifth star only because the difficulty might challenge many readers. But any music lover would agree that this is an outstanding achievement.
Rosen situates Chopin, Schumann, and the other composers he discusses in the context of literature and philosophy of the time, about which he offers judgments and opinions as solidly grounded as those he offers on music.
I particularly enjoyed the charity in his remarks, whether pointing out the shortcomings of the greats or the strengths of flawed composers. I was also impressed with his scholarly investigation of editions and their variants, some from the composer and some from mistakes in the engravings. Interestingly, some of the printer errors continue to appear. Now I’m especially curious about performances of Schumann’s piano works. Do they use the composer’s revisions or return to the first editions (to Rosen, clearly superior)?
I borrowed this from the library, but this is a book I wouldn’t mind having on my shelf to refer to again and again. I withheld the fifth star only because the difficulty might challenge many readers. But any music lover would agree that this is an outstanding achievement.
October 4, 2024
let's be honest to each other. This book is so embellished with so many words that a red thread throughout the book, except that one knows that it's about the Romantics and the composers born around 1810 (fortunately the summary is on the cover) is far to be seen.
having read enough books about music and about this era I do think that this is probably the worst written book on the whole topic. It seems to me a public masturbation of something not very substantial in which we as readers are being the voyeurs that should get interested.
I don't leave books unfinished and I truly want to learn form any book I read that's why I finished it but I was able to summarise this nearly 750 page beast into 2 a4's. Mr Rosen was a pianist, not a writer, and where I could appreciate his book on the Classic Era, I have to admit, I am not going to touch one of his books anymore.
True mastery of a writer or a teacher is being able to summarise a vast amount of knowledge into a very simple sentence (or 2), if one needs 750 pages to endlessly make proof your statements, just quit and stop talking please...
having read enough books about music and about this era I do think that this is probably the worst written book on the whole topic. It seems to me a public masturbation of something not very substantial in which we as readers are being the voyeurs that should get interested.
I don't leave books unfinished and I truly want to learn form any book I read that's why I finished it but I was able to summarise this nearly 750 page beast into 2 a4's. Mr Rosen was a pianist, not a writer, and where I could appreciate his book on the Classic Era, I have to admit, I am not going to touch one of his books anymore.
True mastery of a writer or a teacher is being able to summarise a vast amount of knowledge into a very simple sentence (or 2), if one needs 750 pages to endlessly make proof your statements, just quit and stop talking please...
May 31, 2012
Se questo fosse un paese civile, la lettura di questo bel saggio di Charles Rosen sarebbe accessibile a tutti.
Ma siccome in questo disgraziato paese nessuno dei tanti benemeriti riformatori della scuola ha ritenuto di dover inserire né la musica né la sua storia nella scuola superiore (con il risultato che si continua a studiare e a pensare il Cinquecento amputato del genio di Claudio Monteverdi);
e siccome in questo disgraziato paese l’applicazione scellerata di pedagogie malintese fa sì che si ritenga pericolosissimo per le fragili menti dei piccoli italiani lo sforzo di decifrare quattro pallette bianche e nere su un pentagramma e foriero di irreversibili conseguenze psicologiche il traumatico contatto con parole complicate come semibreve –telecomando sì, semibreve no-;
mi corre l’obbligo di segnalare che il testo è corredato di ampi esempi musicali che potrebbero renderne qua e là un po� difficoltosa la comprensione. Ma se questo, e solo questo, vi inducesse a rinunciare alla lettura di questo libro sarebbe un vero peccato.
Il saggio di Rosen infatti indaga e mette a fuoco una serie di questioni ( l’irruzione della soggettività , il sentimento della natura, il rapporto con il passato, il corteggiamento della morte, l’anelito all’infinito, il mito del popolo, l’estetica del frammento) che sono comuni a tutta l’arte romantica, ma che spesso trovarono proprio nella musica la più alta espressione, quasi a provare con la compiutezza della realizzazione la convinzione che fu di Schlegel e di Tieck e di Coleridge e di Novalis e di Heine (ma più tardi anche di Schopenauer e di Nietzsche) della superiorità della musica su tutte le arti e del suo essere un potente e insostituibile strumento della conoscenza.
E dunque, attraverso l’analisi delle opere di Schubert, di Schumann, di Chopin, di Mendelssohn, di Liszt e di Berlioz, Rosen mostra come un gruppo di ragazzini, armati solo di idee e passione, e naturalmente di uno straordinario talento, operarono nel linguaggio musicale una vera e propria rivoluzione che tradusse in opere mirabili, ancora oggi nocciolo duro del repertorio eseguito nelle sale da concerto, quel fervore etico ed estetico, tanto spesso così confuso da non riuscire quasi ad articolarsi in compiute teorie, che accomunò gli intellettuali e gli artisti del primissimo Ottocento.
In conclusione, un libro davvero consigliato a chiunque sia interessato a questa stagione della cultura europea perché essa non rimanga inesplorata nel suo frutto più bello: la sua musica.
Ma siccome in questo disgraziato paese nessuno dei tanti benemeriti riformatori della scuola ha ritenuto di dover inserire né la musica né la sua storia nella scuola superiore (con il risultato che si continua a studiare e a pensare il Cinquecento amputato del genio di Claudio Monteverdi);
e siccome in questo disgraziato paese l’applicazione scellerata di pedagogie malintese fa sì che si ritenga pericolosissimo per le fragili menti dei piccoli italiani lo sforzo di decifrare quattro pallette bianche e nere su un pentagramma e foriero di irreversibili conseguenze psicologiche il traumatico contatto con parole complicate come semibreve –telecomando sì, semibreve no-;
mi corre l’obbligo di segnalare che il testo è corredato di ampi esempi musicali che potrebbero renderne qua e là un po� difficoltosa la comprensione. Ma se questo, e solo questo, vi inducesse a rinunciare alla lettura di questo libro sarebbe un vero peccato.
Il saggio di Rosen infatti indaga e mette a fuoco una serie di questioni ( l’irruzione della soggettività , il sentimento della natura, il rapporto con il passato, il corteggiamento della morte, l’anelito all’infinito, il mito del popolo, l’estetica del frammento) che sono comuni a tutta l’arte romantica, ma che spesso trovarono proprio nella musica la più alta espressione, quasi a provare con la compiutezza della realizzazione la convinzione che fu di Schlegel e di Tieck e di Coleridge e di Novalis e di Heine (ma più tardi anche di Schopenauer e di Nietzsche) della superiorità della musica su tutte le arti e del suo essere un potente e insostituibile strumento della conoscenza.
E dunque, attraverso l’analisi delle opere di Schubert, di Schumann, di Chopin, di Mendelssohn, di Liszt e di Berlioz, Rosen mostra come un gruppo di ragazzini, armati solo di idee e passione, e naturalmente di uno straordinario talento, operarono nel linguaggio musicale una vera e propria rivoluzione che tradusse in opere mirabili, ancora oggi nocciolo duro del repertorio eseguito nelle sale da concerto, quel fervore etico ed estetico, tanto spesso così confuso da non riuscire quasi ad articolarsi in compiute teorie, che accomunò gli intellettuali e gli artisti del primissimo Ottocento.
In conclusione, un libro davvero consigliato a chiunque sia interessato a questa stagione della cultura europea perché essa non rimanga inesplorata nel suo frutto più bello: la sua musica.
February 4, 2015
Like his earlier The Classic Style, this is somewhat of a classic, referred to in many other books on the subject. After four introductory chapters, it has 3 chapters on Chopin and one each on Berlioz, Liszt, Mendelssohn, Romantic Opera, and Schumann.
I have to admit that these have never been among my favorite composers, perhaps because of early over-familiarity -- I grew up when the classical radio stations rarely ventured outside the 19th century, so when I heard anything earlier or later it always sounded fresher and more interesting; perhaps because this is not my favorite period in any of the arts. But Rosen does a good job in explaining not only what they were doing but why, showing the structural resemblance of this music to the literature and art of the early Romantic movement.
I think after reading this I will be relistening to these composers a little differently.
I have to admit that these have never been among my favorite composers, perhaps because of early over-familiarity -- I grew up when the classical radio stations rarely ventured outside the 19th century, so when I heard anything earlier or later it always sounded fresher and more interesting; perhaps because this is not my favorite period in any of the arts. But Rosen does a good job in explaining not only what they were doing but why, showing the structural resemblance of this music to the literature and art of the early Romantic movement.
I think after reading this I will be relistening to these composers a little differently.
July 14, 2024
I read this book in part, not in full -- maybe a third of its more than 700 pages. It is oppressively long, a fact Rosen sort of apologizes for (to us and to his publisher) at the outset. That is not the only sort of apology he offers: he gives an excuse for not discussing female composers of the period that is so dismissive that it is almost worse than if he had offered no explanation at all. Too much time is spent on Chopin for my taste (nearly one third of the book). Fitfully illuminating but also meandering, this is not the equal of The Classical Style.
June 27, 2015
good but a bit beyond my level of comprehension - I can listen to Chopin but have never liked him, so can't appreciate Rosen's take.
November 4, 2014
An excellent interdisciplinary study of music, although you might find the stylistic category unsatisfactory
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