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- Frederic Chopin (1810–1849) Frederic Chopin, born Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin, was a Polish pianist and composer known for his pieces written for the piano.
- Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel (1805–1847) Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel was a German Romantic pianist and composer. Many of her songs were published under her brother's name, Felix Mendelssohn, due to sexist attitudes of the time.
- Franz Joseph Liszt (1843–1907) Hungarian composer and pianist, Franz Liszt is arguably one of the greatest piano players to have ever lived. He was a part of the New German School and became its leading figure.
- Giuseppe Verdi (1813–1901) Giuseppe Verdi was an Italian composer known for his operas, including Jérusalem, Rigoletto, Aida and more. His operas' ability to penetrate the psyche and evoke intense emotion rank him among the most well-known Romantic composers.
- Hungarian Dances (1869–1880) Brahms was introduced to “gypsy-style” music by the Hungarian violinist Ede Reményi, who he met in 1850. His 21 Hungarian Dances were originally written for piano four hands, where two pianists play from the same keyboard, but are best known now in their orchestral arrangements.
- Academic Festival Overture (1880) The Academic Festival Overture was composed in the summer of 1880 in tribute to the University of Breslau, after Brahms discovered he was to be awarded with an honorary doctorate.
- German Requiem (1865–1868) Brahms’s German Requiem (or, to give it its full title, A German Requiem, to Words of the Holy Scriptures) is a large-scale work for chorus, orchestra, and solo soprano and baritone.
- Violin Concerto (1878) Brahms wrote only one concerto for violin, dedicating it to his close friend and almost lifelong collaborator, Joseph Joachim. The composer leaned heavily on the 19th-century violin virtuoso for support and advice during its composition, noting that he had no patience for slurs that indicated bowing rather than phrasing.
- Ludwig Van Beethoven
- Frédéric Chopin
- Fanny Mendelssohn
- Felix Mendelssohn
- Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
- Richard Wagner
- Clara Schumann
- Franz Schubert
- Johannes Brahms
- Giuseppe Verdi
Placing Beethoven here might be a little bit of cheating, but his work laid the groundwork for the entirety of the Romantic period. While most of his work came before the beginning of the Romantic period, Beethoven challenged the conventional, strict rules of the classical period and spanned the transitional period between the two styles. Though he...
Frédéric Chopin was a virtuoso pianist who composed almost exclusively solo piano pieces. He was a world-renowned musician, with many claiming no one during his time could equal him on the piano. As a child prodigy, he had already composed his earliest works and was an established concert performer by the age of 20. Though he wasn’t a prolific conc...
Fanny Mendelssohn was one of the most productive composers of the Romantic period. Her work consists of over 125 pieces for the piano and over 250 lieder ( a piece that sets poetry to some style of classical music), in total reaching over 450 pieces of music. Her brother, who we’ll discuss next, was also a famous pianist and composer. Six of her wo...
The brother and better-known sibling of Fanny Mendelssohn (at least during their lifetimes), Felix Mendelssohn was a master composer and pianist in his own right. His compositions include a variety of symphonies, concertos, piano music, organ music, and chamber music. Perhaps his best-known work was compositions for A Midsummer Night’s Dream. While...
Tchaikovsky was the preeminent composer of the Romantic periodin Russia and the first Russian composer to establish a lasting international legacy. Many of today’s most popular classic theater and concert compositions today are attributed to Tchaikovsky, including the scores of masterpiece works like Swan Lake and the Nutcracker. In Russia, most co...
Richard Wagner is best known as an opera composer and theater director. What helped him stand out as an opera composer was that he wrote both the libretto and music for each stage work. Wagner’s work as an opera composer was revolutionary; using his vision of “Gesamtkunstwerk” (a total work of art), he combined poetry, visuals, dramatic arts, and m...
Widely regarded as one of the most distinguished pianists of the Romantic Era, Clara Schumann was also a wonderful composer and music teacher. Her 61-year career would be influential in lessening the importance of virtuoso works (the most complex, hard-to-play pieces) and changing the format and repertoire of the piano. Clara’s composing career enc...
Franz Schubert was another master composer straddling the line between the classical and Romantic periods due to his place in the timeline. His legacy was carried by over 600 secular vocal works, seven complete symphonies, and a large body of choral, chamber, piano, and sacred music. Schubert played several instruments, surpassing his teachers in a...
Even those with no knowledge of classical music have listened to one of Brahms’scompositions. Never intended as a major composition, Brahms’s lullaby would be played an untold number of times to help children fall asleep and has been used countless times in other media. The work was composed by him as a gift when his friend’s second child was born,...
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was another Romantic composer made famous for opera compositions. Eventually, Verdi would dominate the Italian opera scene which would eventually influence the style in France and England. Though he didn’t try to become a figurehead of a movement or get close to other high-profile politicians, his operas had numer...
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The Romantic era produced many more composers whose names and music are still familiar and popular today: Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Schumann, Schubert, Chopin, and Wagner are perhaps the most well-known, but there are plenty of others who may also be familiar, including Strauss, Verdi, Liszt, Mendelssohn, Puccini, and Mahler.
- Symphony No.1. From the time of his Symphony No. 1 (completed in 1876) Brahms’ place in musical life was assured. Brahms felt so intimidated by Schumann‘s prediction that he was the man destined to “take over the mantle of Beethoven” that he was 43 before finally going public with his first symphony.
- Symphony No.4. Brahms’s final symphony combines intellectual rigor with an affectionate warmth that featured increasingly in his late music, climaxing in a valedictory set of variations on a Bach theme.
- Piano Concerto No.1. Brahms composed his first piano concerto in 1858 and the work was premiered in Hannover the following year. The Piano Concerto No. 1 was unbelievably booed and hissed at by early audiences but has since established itself as one of the greatest and most frequently performed piano concertos in the world.
- Violin Concerto. Brahms’s solo Violin Concerto was written in 1878 for the composer’s close friend Joseph Joachim – known in his day as “the king of violinists”.
Gramophone. Friday, March 31, 2023. The Romantic period was one of the most innovative in music history, characterised by lyrical melodies, rich harmonies, and emotive expression. Here's our beginner's guide to the greatest composers of the Romantic period. Hector Berlioz (1803-69)
Learn about the top composers of the romantic era, including Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Chopin, and more. Discover their unique styles and rich emotions that defined the 19th-century music.
![Top 10 most influential composers [*UPDATED*]](https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?p=romantic+era+composers+and+their+works+in+order+from+top&ei=UTF-8&norw=1&_tsrc=apple&age=1w&th=103.7&tw=103.7&imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ludwig-van.com%2Ftoronto%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fsites%2F2%2F2014%2F05%2FClassical_music_composers_montage.jpg&rurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ludwig-van.com%2Ftoronto%2F2014%2F05%2F15%2Ftop-10-most-influential-composers%2F&size=356KB&name=Top+10+most+influential+composers+%5B%2AUPDATED%2A%5D&oid=4&h=474&w=474&turl=https%3A%2F%2Ftse1.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DOIP.VOCAgVdVSS5XRgjIqrH_kQAAAA%26pid%3DApi%26rs%3D1%26c%3D1%26qlt%3D95%26w%3D103%26h%3D103&tt=Top+10+most+influential+composers+%5B%2AUPDATED%2A%5D&sigr=lb1_.XUSfrbA&sigit=7S1nlI6a0Nbf&sigi=Vml4yjwpl6Ey&sign=7ClqkKJewbNT&sigt=7ClqkKJewbNT "Top 10 most influential composers [*UPDATED*]")
