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
