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Baroque vs Classical vs Romantic

B

BlancoNino

Diamond Member
With all these classical threads lately (well maybe 1 or 2), I see many who like Bach, Handel, Mozart, Vivaldi, etc as opposed to many of the Romantic Composers.

Why do I bring this up? Two reasons...

1) There are WAY WAY WAY more romantic composers than Baroque and Classical combined.

2) Romantic symphonies are regarded as the highest form of music by the experts. You can study the works of Mozart and Handel...and then you can spend 10 times that amount studying Brahms and Tchaikovsky. The works are more complicated...deeper...more meaningful.

To each their own...but I was shocked to see so many prefered Baroque and Classical composers to Romantic...

Anyone care to elaborate?
 
I prefer baroque concertos because they are simpler and to me more emotional.

Sharon Isbin playing Bach on guitar, Jakob Lindberg playing Vivaldi on lute, or Joemy Wilson playing Turlough O'Carolan on hammered dulcimer just move me more than a symphony by Brahms or Tchaikovsky.

I don't disagree that Brahms and Tchaikovsky's work is more intricate and intellectually interesting but that isn't why I listen to music.

It's partly that I've never bothered to learn the mechanics so I can't properly admire the clockwork, but mostly because I design and develop software all day and that part of my brain is ready to relax and take the evening off.

That's also why I'd rather play Oblivion or Quake than chess or sudoku.
 
Originally posted by: DaveSimmons
I prefer baroque concertos because they are simpler and to me more emotional.

Sharon Isbin playing Bach on guitar, Jakob Lindberg playing Vivaldi on lute, or Joemy Wilson playing Turlough O'Carolan on hammered dulcimer just move me more than a symphony by Brahms or Tchaikovsky.

I don't disagree that Brahms and Tchaikovsky's work is more intricate and intellectually interesting but that isn't why I listen to music.

It's partly that I've never bothered to learn the mechanics so I can't properly admire the clockwork, but mostly because I design and develop software all day and that part of my brain is ready to relax and take the evening off.

That's also why I'd rather play Oblivion or Quake than chess or sudoku.
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I understand where you are coming from. I guess music, to me, is something I take seriously. I can sit down and listen to a whole 40 minute symphony and close my eyes and really get into it.
 
Originally posted by: BlancoNino
Originally posted by: DaveSimmons
I prefer baroque concertos because they are simpler and to me more emotional.

Sharon Isbin playing Bach on guitar, Jakob Lindberg playing Vivaldi on lute, or Joemy Wilson playing Turlough O'Carolan on hammered dulcimer just move me more than a symphony by Brahms or Tchaikovsky.

I don't disagree that Brahms and Tchaikovsky's work is more intricate and intellectually interesting but that isn't why I listen to music.

It's partly that I've never bothered to learn the mechanics so I can't properly admire the clockwork, but mostly because I design and develop software all day and that part of my brain is ready to relax and take the evening off.

That's also why I'd rather play Oblivion or Quake than chess or sudoku.
Click to expand...

I understand where you are coming from. I guess music, to me, is something I take seriously. I can sit down and listen to a whole 40 minute symphony and close my eyes and really get into it.
Click to expand...

I agree with you BlancoNino...thats the best way to enjoy classical imo, just you and the music! Its impossible to recreate the feeling of being at a live performance since there's so many nuances to the music that many recordings don't pickup.
 
Originally posted by: BlancoNino
With all these classical threads lately (well maybe 1 or 2), I see many who like Bach, Handel, Mozart, Vivaldi, etc as opposed to many of the Romantic Composers.

Why do I bring this up? Two reasons...

1) There are WAY WAY WAY more romantic composers than Baroque and Classical combined.
Click to expand...

Are you joking or just clueless?

2) Romantic symphonies are regarded as the highest form of music by the experts. You can study the works of Mozart and Handel...and then you can spend 10 times that amount studying Brahms and Tchaikovsky. The works are more complicated...deeper...more meaningful.
Click to expand...

Right, which experts? Also to claim that any old Romantic work is greater than, say, the Mozart Requiem or Bach's St. Matthew's Passion is pure idiocy. I AM an expert (OK an amateur expert) and I disagree with your sillines.

To each their own...but I was shocked to see so many prefered Baroque and Classical composers to Romantic...

Anyone care to elaborate?
Click to expand...

Done!

Edit: clarity and bad quoting!
 
Originally posted by: GeneValgene
baroque is an acquired taste
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NS, during Music App. class I almost stabbed my eardrums out listening to Baroque. The harpsichord has to be the worst instrument ever!!!!
 
Originally posted by: BlancoNino
With all these classical threads lately (well maybe 1 or 2), I see many who like Bach, Handel, Mozart, Vivaldi, etc as opposed to many of the Romantic Composers.

Why do I bring this up? Two reasons...

1) There are WAY WAY WAY more romantic composers than Baroque and Classical combined.

2) Romantic symphonies are regarded as the highest form of music by the experts. You can study the works of Mozart and Handel...and then you can spend 10 times that amount studying Brahms and Tchaikovsky. The works are more complicated...deeper...more meaningful.

To each their own...but I was shocked to see so many prefered Baroque and Classical composers to Romantic...

Anyone care to elaborate?
Click to expand...

I agree with you. Most romantic music is "better" IMO, but there is a lot of awesome Baroque/Classical music out there as well.
 
Originally posted by: jhayx7
Originally posted by: GeneValgene
baroque is an acquired taste
Click to expand...

NS, during Music App. class I almost stabbed my eardrums out listening to Baroque. The harpsichord has to be the worst instrument ever!!!!
Click to expand...

You people are weird, what can I say. Harpsichord is a gorgeous instrument. Have you heard, say, Couperin played well on a good harsichord? "Les barricades mystérieuses" is one of the most satisfying pieces of Western music! (say the "experts", ha!) Oddly enough, I found a free MP3 of it online, though played on guitar. The performance isn't great, but it's a start (linky) for you chumps. 😀
 
Originally posted by: BlancoNino
With all these classical threads lately (well maybe 1 or 2), I see many who like Bach, Handel, Mozart, Vivaldi, etc as opposed to many of the Romantic Composers.

Why do I bring this up? Two reasons...

1) There are WAY WAY WAY more romantic composers than Baroque and Classical combined.

2) Romantic symphonies are regarded as the highest form of music by the experts. You can study the works of Mozart and Handel...and then you can spend 10 times that amount studying Brahms and Tchaikovsky. The works are more complicated...deeper...more meaningful.

To each their own...but I was shocked to see so many prefered Baroque and Classical composers to Romantic...

Anyone care to elaborate?
Click to expand...

Tchaikovsky is awesome 🙂

**EDIT**
Prokofiev is great too.
 
Ignoring the flaws and errors of the OP, I shall respond.

I love the technical perfection that is obtained by Baroque composers. They manage to take emotion and combine it with a prim, proper sensibility. I love the instruments of the era, the harpsichord can just take you back and make you feel like you are living in the day. Also, some of my favorite vocal music comes from this era. Handel's oratorios are amazing. I just picked up Saul the other day and have been listening to it over and over.

Classical music is so melodious. I love hearing Mozarts piano concertos or Haydn's "Seasons." Early Beethoven symphonies, while possibly Romantic era, are so heavily influenced by the Classical movement, they make me wish I could write and express music and emotions.

The Romantic era has produced some of the most expressive music ever. I love how this music is so open to interpretation. There is a right and wrong way to play a piece, but the composers allow greater room for expression and emotion. I think of pieces by Chopin, specifically his Nocturnes. Robert Schumann, his piano concerto, his piano works, and my favorite composer, Sergei Rachmaninoff, writer of some of the most haunting and compelling music ever.

There, that's why I like each era.
 
Well, it's a matter of preference. I prefer Romantic to Classical... but there are tremendous pieces scattered across time, and saying that one period is better than another is analogous to voting on party lines without considering the issues.
 
I much prefer Romantic era music to any other you mentioned as that music to me is an expression of emotion that cannot be contained with mere words. Baroque is simply boring and Classical is tolerable but doesn't touch Romantic.
 
Don't get me wrong here folks...I love Handel's water music suite and several other baroque peices...

In response to Oboeguy...you're right about the amount of composers, but I meant popular ones...

 
Originally posted by: fitzov
Hardly more complicated; more colorful, perhaps.
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Are you kidding me? I just listened to Sibelius' second symphony...tell me that's not more complicated than ANYTHING mozart or handel wrote.
 
Originally posted by: BlancoNino
Originally posted by: fitzov
Hardly more complicated; more colorful, perhaps.
Click to expand...

Are you kidding me? I just listened to Sibelius' second symphony...tell me that's not more complicated than ANYTHING mozart or handel wrote.
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Heh, there I have to agree. Pick-up a book on harmony and composition... you don't get to the Romantic stuff for a couple of YEARS.
 
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