Romanticism#
Summary#
Romanticism represents a historically brief and superficial movement in European music that followed Beethoven’s transitional period. Nietzsche characterizes it as second-rate music lacking nobility and depth, suitable only for theatre and masses rather than genuine musicians. The later French Romanticism of the 1840s shares deep kinship with Wagner’s art, both expressing Europe’s soul pressing toward new heights through multifarious and boisterous expression, though ultimately marked by fanatic pursuit of effect and display.