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 CHAPTER XXX

SCHUMANN AND ROMANTICISM

189. General Survey.—The middle third of the 19th century is often designated as the 'romantic' period, since in it worked several of the strongest exponents of the romantic movement as applied to music, and since the trend of all composition was consciously or unconsciously away from studied adherence to 'classical' practice. That romanticism should take hold upon musical art was inevitable in an age when individuality was for the first time claiming its rights on the largest scale, but it is also true that music could not further advance without becoming much more romantic than it had been. Its very nature as an art forbade its being always confined within the limitations of academic æsthetics. Romanticism in music was no new discovery with the period here considered. Certainly much of the best work of the preceding period had been emphatically romantic in spirit and style, and truly romantic qualities may be traced more or less in still earlier periods. Yet in the mental attitude of an original critic and leader like Schumann and in a type of genius like Chopin's, for example, we encounter an intensity of romantic warmth that is new. Beginning about 1830, there were so many musicians that were moved by this spirit that they gave to their time a peculiar quality that may well be distinguished from that of any preceding time.

In the fine arts generally, 'classical' and 'romantic' are terms whose meaning is largely relative to each other. But they also have a certain amount of absolute meaning. Both may refer either to the spirit or purpose with which the artist approaches his work or to the formal qualities of the work itself.

The aim in classical art is to realize an ideal beauty which is not necessarily attached to the artist's personality and has significance somewhat as a universal type. Works in the classical spirit are objectively beautiful, commending themselves even when the percipient regards them as if they were simply impersonal things. The production of classical art is apt to be largely governed by rules or formulæ, the observance of which