Romantic music and development of Renaissance painting - Essay Example

To what extent are the main themes of Romantic music a development of Renaissance painting and to what extent are they distinctly different? by ) The Name of the Class (Course) Professor (Tutor) The Name of the School (University) The City and State where it is located The Date To what extent are the main themes of Romantic music a development of Renaissance painting and to what extent are they distinctly different? There is a considerable number of different aspects that reflect the peculiar nature of the human beings. Indeed, the very ability to generate verbal interaction which is not found anywhere beyond the boundaries of the social environment that is formed by humans proves that humans beings are exceptional creatures. However, one of the best ways to understand it is to examine the notion of art which is a direct consequence of the highly developed imagination. Just like any other human activity, art has been evolving. This paper will focus on two episodes in its development such as Romantic music as well as Renaissance painting, analyzing similarities as well as differences between them. First of all, it would be suitable to examine the points where they are similar. Thus, to begin with, one might mention that the development of Romantic music was driven by the same force that Renaissance painting was: the revival of interest towards the past legacy of ancestors. Indeed, in spite of the fact that there is a certain gap between the two notions in terms of time, the logic behind the actions that urged people to create new music or paintings was the same: they simply wanted to incorporate the results of their predecessors and based on them think of something new, introduce unexpected themes, pay attention to the points which were overlooked before. This might be compared to the situation when a person revisits places that are familiar to him, but can not restore the previous state and only enjoys the memories which inspire new ideas. Another similarity between Romantic music and paintings during Renaissance lies in the fact that they both put a great emphasis on the importance of the figure of the artist. It would not be a mistake to suggest that the cultural titans of Italy were as much respected as their counterparts in the musical world of Europe during Romanticism. Indeed, in that period every person who was able to create a fine piece of music was considered to be extremely talented and was approved by the public. Just like art in the times of Renaissance, music during Romanticism was considered to be the highest of arts; so the people who wanted to devote their live to it were considered to be exceptional. There is one more point that should be mentioned while considering the development of the two concepts that were discussed above. Thus, just like during Renaissance, Romanticism in music contributed to the emergence of the new perception of this kind of human activity. One might point out that visual art, just like music have existed in within human civilization for thousands of years, it was those two periods when people started to treat them in a different manner. This process, accompanied by the revival of interest, is what truly differed those periods from others. Some researchers argue that Renaissance made the aesthetic thought of humanity look backwards, but move forward with what they saw in the past. However, in order to get a better understanding of the relationship between the two notions in question, one should also pay attention to differences between them. Thus, one the most important aspects that differ Romantic music from Renaissance painting is the fact that the composers were not able to enjoy the ancient pieces of music directly. Indeed, the very nature of this art results in that tunes might be forgotten and it is absolutely not possible to revive them. The worse part about it is that “musical manuscripts only a few decades old were frequently dismembered to make flyleaves and bindings for new volumes” (Platinga 12). That is why the musicians of the period of Romanticism had to focus on relatively recent times. Speaking of other moments that are different, one should mention the absence of patronage. If one takes a close look at the period of Renaissance, one can not help noticing that all the famous individuals had less famous people who paid for their artistic experiments and contributed to their well being. Contrary to that, Romantic music suggested that every person, regardless of social status, but a gifted one, might be able to become a great composer. In other words, it opened doors for ordinary people into this kind of art and did not make them look for patronage. Thus, this changed the whole perception of what makes a successful musician: from that time on personal traits of an individual, such a talent, weighted extremely a lot. All this resulted in the final difference between Romantic music and Renaissance paintings: the development of the first was largely influenced by the advancements in printing which made copying musical pieces cheaper and more available for the people. It is true that artists from Renaissance created many pieces of art, but each of them was unique and they were not able to produce multiple copies. Music, on the other had, could be copied easily which contributed towards its spreading around Europe at a race fast speed. This, in turn had its own affect on the nature of new musical pieces that were created as well as the perception of this art. A good example may be the fact that famous composers were able to exchange their pieces of music and enjoy the work of their counterparts offering their own comments. So, as one can clearly see based on the examples that were analyzed above, there are both similarities as well as differences between the development of Romantic music and Renaissance painting. Thus, what the two share in common is the interest towards the previous practices that they would like to incorporate. In addition to that, the talented people are largely praised by the society. Finally, on a bigger level, they base on a new perception of music and art. However, there are some differences two. Some of them are caused by the very nature of the musical pieces, others – by changes in the public though as well as technological development of the time. References Plantinga, L 1984, Romantic music: a history of musical style in nineteenth-century Europe, W.W. Norton, New York. Read More