Romanticism: Musical Emotion Embodied in the Visual Emotion
"Casa de Locos,” or “The Madhouse.”
Romanticism was a movement that reacted towards the scientific rationalization of nature. Despite Neoclassicism being the dominant art style of the 18th century, another movement started to blossom in the same era. Artists moved away from the restraining formality of Neoclassical style towards the emotional and uninhibited Romantic movement. The term “romance” at this time did not refer to ideas of love, but to tales written in the Romance languages such as French, Spanish, and Italian. The stories from which artists drew inspiration were mostly set in medieval contexts and had elements of fantasy. Not wanting to be governed by strict rules, artists focused on emotion as the basis for their new style. This resulted in art described as fantastic, dreamlike, and emotionally intense.
In music, romanticism originated in Germany, lasting from 1800 until around 1850. At this time, music began to embody emotional and expressive characteristics. This era sparked an increase in musical inspiration from literary, philosophical, and artistic ideas. Nationalism became a key concept in Romantic art. National independence, the struggle for freedom, and the concept of homeland were a few ideas that inspired composers to write music. One prominent example of such a composer is Frédéric Chopin, who was considered as one of the earliest composers to include elements of nationalism in his music. His composition, Nocturne in E-flat Major, Op. 9, No. 2 is in rounded binary form, where the A and B sections are gradually embellished every time they are repeated. The piece starts with a legato melody, with sustained notes that smoothly connect to one another. The melody is repeated three times throughout the piece and becomes more ornamented with runs and trills after each repetition. A notable Romantic characteristic of the piece is that the penultimate bar incorporates rhythmic freedom, indicated by the senza tempo marking (meaning “without tempo”).
This piece can be compared to the elements present in Francisco Goya’s painting “Casa de Locos,” or “The Madhouse.” Present in the painting is a repetition of the subject, or the people depicted in the painting. Similar to Chopin’s piece, each repetition of a person involves a gradual embellishment. Hooded figures in the background are repeated with varying headwear up until the foreground where figures are painted with more ornate headdresses and necklaces. Similar to the musical articulation ascribed to the legato melody in Chopin’s piece, there is a sense of smooth connectedness in the painting that is felt due to the lack of clear contrast between the figures and the ground. The brushstrokes that Goya uses make the windows and walls transition seamlessly into each other. The same technique is used to “merge” the figures laying on the ground and the floor.
Another way to compare Goya’s painting and Chopin’s composition is to note the similarities and differences in the moods expressed through the works. Generally, the color brown connotes a feeling of being grounded. The predominant dark areas in the painting direct the mood of the painting from an earthy atmosphere to one that is menacing. Although Chopin’s Nocturne is in a major key, the rhythm gives the piece a gloomy characteristic, in a similar manner to Goya’s work. The polyphonic texture of the piece endows it with a certain complexity. Goya’s painting possesses a similar complexity in the texture of the surfaces on the painting that give the illusion of roughness. The walls, for instance, are not painted with flat colors but with rough textures. This not only implies complexity, but also uncertainty. There is no clear, flat surface like in the case of minimalism or vector art. This uncertainty can also be reflected in Chopin’s piece. The polyphonic texture in some sections can mislead and present somewhat unsure, confusing segments.
Comparing visual art (such as paintings) with the intangible art of music allows one to visualize what one hears and, in the same respect, hear what one sees. The Romantic period was characterized by the focus on the emotional aspect of creating an artwork. Chopin’s Nocturne in E-flat Major, Op.9, No. 2 possesses a melancholic quality due to the different elements that form the piece. Goya’s “The Madhouse” possesses a similar quality through the use of visible elements. Since acknowledging the emotion put into the process of creating an artwork is of marked importance in the Romantic period, attempting to analyze how emotion is conveyed through different mediums can be useful in gaining a better appreciation of this emotion.
Nocturne in E-flat Major, Op.9, No. 2
References:
Bent, Ian. Music theory in the age of Romanticism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996.
Chopin, Frédéric. Nocturne in E-Flat Major, Op. 9, No. 2: Late Intermediate Piano Solo. Edited by William A. Palmer. Alfred Music, 2005.
Gunderson, Jessica. Romanticism: movements in at. Mankato, MN: Creative Education, 2015.
McNeese, Tim. Francisco Goya: The Great Hispanic Heritage Series. Infobase Publishing, 2008.
Photo of The Madhouse under public domain.
Photo of Francisco de Goya taken from: https://www.museodelprado.es/coleccion/obra-de-arte/el-pintor-francisco-de-goya/d24dba94-d730-44c5-8b46-1f1732d2b571
Photo of Frederick Chopin under public domain.