The Romantic Aesthetics Through Art

Wanderer Above the Sea of Mist by Caspar David Friedrich depicts Romantic Aesthetics. One of these Roman Aesthetics shown in this painting is nature.  The waves characterizes how nature is strong in power and in fury. The waves are crashing into the rocks with such violence that it makes the painting look intense. Not only do the waves portray the power and fury but the wind blowing in the man’s hair shows this power as well. These violent waves can also tie into another aesthetic from the Romantic era called emotional intensity. When looking at the color of the painting, there is a contrast of color from the top of the painting to the bottom. The top part of the painting show a clear and bright color and the bottom show a dark and gloomy color. As the man stands on the rocks, he has a special stance. He is showing a strong firm stance that signifies the power he has. Along with his stance, the man is able to show individualism which is another Romantic Aesthetic. In many paintings during the Romantic era, the person in the painting usually was looking away which is clearly shown in this picture as well. The viewer of the painting never sees the man’s face because the person in the picture is on their own and does not need anyone else. The picture shows that it is about the man and his action away from the audience. As one can tell, Wanderer Above the Sea of Mist by Caspar David Friedrich illustrates Romantic Aesthetics. In the painting, nature, emotional intensity, and Individualism are some of the aesthetics interpreted. These Aesthetics portray what the Romantic era displayed by art.

Mozart's Enlightenment Music

Mozart has composed many songs throughout his lifetime. When examining his songs I thought very well what song I wanted to pick. I remembered I played this song in high school on my clarinet with a group of my friends. The song was called the Clarinet Quintet. The song that is played in the video is the fourth movement of the piece. The sentence I chose occurs from the 0:00 to 0:55. The song starts out with the clarinets playing in harmony and having a smooth texture. Harmonic tension then goes on throughout the first phrase. Little by little more and more clarinets come in and completes the quintet. The first phrase ends on a perfect authentic cadence. The second phrase of the song repeats exactly like the first phrase. The feeling of joy and happiness is heard during this phrase. As the song moves along, the allegro becomes common. The third phrase becomes completely different as the song seems to become more mellow and long. There is less staccato as the clarinets take their own parts during the song. As this phrase ends on the half cadence, the songs goes back to the first phrase of the song and plays the same phrase again. When the phrase ends on the perfect authentic cadence, it goes back to the third phrase and is completely the same. Finally to the sixth phrase, it is exactly the same as the first phrase. Finally the whole period comes to an end and is the finish to the final part of the song, which is also called a parallel interrupted period. During the whole phrase there is much repetition. In fact, there is much repetition throughout the whole song. If a person continues to listen to the rest of the song, the next period has a different sentence but still much repetition.

This song clearly shows the enlightenment by the perfection of the music. Mozart's staccatos bring his perfection to reality. In the enlightenment, perfection was key to making houses and making gardens. Everything had to be symmetrical and well placed so the people visiting these house would be impressed. When Mozart leads the clarinets to their own parts, those clarinets are able to come back and complete a phrase. The melody of the sentence is simple but still has an importance. Just as the inventions made throughout the enlightenment, they were also simple but still were important to the enlightenment. It is amazing that one instrument can make up many different orchestrational sounds. The clarinet has the capacity to sound beautifully by having the ability to play different notes up and down the register. Mozart has been able to expand the clarinets ability to perform in music in way that the enlightenment was able to also expand. The enlightenment was the time when ideas expanded and made a big influence in the world for the future.

The Enlightenment Times

During the Enlightenment times, music influenced much of what happened socially throughout Europe. The art designed by many artist were made to perfection and everything had to be precise. The men controlled everything and the women were limited to do certain things. Most of the composers were men and the most famous were men. These men created music that was advanced in many ways that one could not imagine. The Enlightenment changed the way life was run through music and art for a turn for the better.

When looking at the art during the enlightenment, one could see power in buildings and sculptures. The building constructed at this time period were developed with considerably large pilars that towards over people walking by. The entrances to these building had precision shown all over them. The gardens surrounding the homes had grass growing inside of other grass. The gardens all seem to squared up and  accurately done. The upper class wanted to have the biggest everything and beat everyone else at it. The paintings during the enlightenment time showed the difference between upper class and the incoming middle class. Before the enlightenment, there was no middle class. When the merchants starts to achieve money by selling goods, the upper class was losing money. The upper class had to figure out  what the merchants were doing that was right. The merchants made deals with the upper class and were able to become one of them. If one is compare painting of an upper class picture and a painting of a middle class picture one would say the middle class like to take risks. The upper class did not want to loose anything they treasured. The middle class was asking for more. The children of the middle class were able to come up with ideas that leaded to inventions or discovering more towards discovering science. Some pictures were able to show how science appeared and thought the world to think outside the box.

Music throughout the enlightenment brought new instruments that have never been heard of before. The harpsichord had already been invented but a softer instrument took over. The piano was introduced with a softer pattern for everyone's ears to listen to. Mozart was able to take the piano and compose music scripted magically. He was able to make more delicate sound yet still using the string instruments and woodwind instruments. One could differentiate the bass notes and the melody more clearer during the pieces of music created by Mozart. The sonata theme was form through the enlightenment. The sonata form starts out with a lively moving music then turns to a slower tense music and finishes off with a fast tempo song. The sonata was used mostly in the opera and symphonic music.

As one could tell, the enlightenment times was a time of people thinking in a broader. People were able to come up with ideas that benefited life for the future. The ideas and inventions made during this time period were able to help out many countries in the future. Many countries were able to develop democracy and bureaucracy. The enlightenment was one of the greatest moments in music and artistic history.