The Romantic Generation - Hardcover

Rosen, Charles

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0002556278 ISBN 13: 9780002556279

Publisher: HarperCollins, 1995

Synopsis

The Romantic Generation is an even more important book than Charles Rosen’s last title The Classical Style (1972) (winner of the American National Book Award and many other prizes) which rapidly established itself as one of the few truly indispensible modern books about music.

The subject of this book is the generation of musicians who came to maturity between the death of Beethoven and that of Chopin in 1849 – Chopin, Liszt, Berlioz, Mendelssohn and Schumann, with shorter discussions of Bellini and Meyerbeer, and a prolonged glance back to Schubert. Rosen discusses how they changed th emusical language of their era and how their music achieved and achieves the effects it does; he does so in prose of wonderful clarity and with a range of references to other, non-musical cultural developments which makes him exceedingly rare among critics in any creative field. To these he adds the insights that only adistinguished performer can bring. The result is a second major landmark book in music criticism.

‘I have no doubt that this book is destined to become the definitive study of early Romanticism, suceeding and transcending The Classical Style. The present volume apart from being very strong on the music itself is noteworthy for two significant aspects which make it superior to anything I have previously encountered. Firstly, he directly invovles his pianistic experiences in his study; thus he is able to demonstrate facets of the compositions which simply would not be recognisable from listening or from the study of the score alone. I cannot remember any previous analogous writing of this quality by a considerable and experienced pianist. Furthermore Rosen’s extraordinary capacity for absorbing and remembering details, not only of music, for the first time makes it possible to understand Schumann and Chopin in the context of dominant cultural ideas of the early 19th century.’ Alexander Goehr, Professor of Music at Cambridge University.

About this title

Review:

"The Romantic Generation" will certainly be recognized as one of the decade's most important books about music...Rosen is a master of the sweeping generalization--more or less true, with exceptions and careful definition of terms--that will attract casual readers who seek a generalized knowledge of these composers. After a certain amount of random immersion in the music, one's disorganized perceptions can be usefully crystallized by short, pithy statements that put an experience into focus...Almost equally useful to the general reader are the pages where Rosen--often brilliantly--brings the findings of another discipline such as history or psychology into the discussion of music.--Joseph McLellan "Washington Post "

From the Back Cover:

Charles Rosen's celebrated book 'The Classical Style', published in 1972, is one of the landmarks in modern writing about music. Its successor, 'The Romantic Generation', fifteen years in the making, is now another.

An exhilarating exploration of the musical language, forms and styles of the Romantic period, 'The Romantic Generation' brilliantly captures the spirit of the generation of composers and musicians who came to maturity between the death of Beethoven in 1827 and that of Chopin in 1849, and in doing so conveys the very sense of Romantic music. Rosen sheds new light on the musical sensibilities of each composer, studies the important genres, from nocturnes and songs to symphonies and operas, explains musical principles such as the relation between a musical idea and its realisation in sound, the interplay between music and text, and traces the origins of musical ideas prevalent in the Romantic Period.

Schubert, Mendelssohn, Meyerbeer, Listz, Bellini, Berlioz and, particularly, Schumann and Chopin, are his principal subjects: about each of them he has a mass of striking new insights and illuminating observations, informed by his unique experience as a musical scholar and concert performer of the first rank. He adeptly integrates his observations on music with reflections on painting, literature, drama, and philosophy of the time – the art of landscape, a changed approach to the sacred, the literary fragment as a Romantic art form.

Rich with striking descriptions and telling analogies, Rosen's overview of Romantic music is an accomplishment without parallel in the literature of music, a consummate performance by a master pianist and music historian.

'Charles Rosen' is Professor of Music and social Thought at the University of Chicago and has been Charles Eliot Norton Lecturer at Harvard. In addition to 'The Classical Style', which won the American National book award in 1972, his previous books include 'Sonata Forms' and 'Romanticism and Realism' (with Henri Zerner).

"One can say with confidence that 'The Romantic Generation', Charles Rosen's sequel to his 'The Classical Style', is the music book not only of 1995 but also of many years to come. The author's ability to communicate his musical insights and immense learning has developed even beyond the capacities displayed in the earlier volume. Musicians of every kind should partake of both its wisdom and its practical lessons... Among non-musical anyone interested in the cultural and literary history of the period can feast on Rosen's introduction and incidental essays about the Romantic movement as a whole... William Empson distinguished two kinds of critic, the analytical and the appreciative.
In Charles Rosen they are perfectly united."
ROBERT CRAFT, 'Chicago Tribune'

"I have no doubt that this book is destines to become the definitive study of early Romanticism, succeeding and transcending 'The Classical Style'. The present volume, apart from being very strong on the music itself, is noteworthy for two significant aspects which make it superior to anything I have previously encountered. Firstly, Rosen directly involves his pianistic experiences in his study: thus he is able to demonstrate facets of the compositions which simply would not be recognisable from listening or from the study of the score alone. Furthermore, Rosen's extraordinary capacity for absorbing and remembering details, not only of music but of early nineteenth-century literature, philosophy and painting, for the first time makes it possible to understand Schumann and Chopin in the context of the dominant cultural ideas of the early nineteenth century. This makes the book remarkable, and I believe unique in the literature of music."
ALEXANDER GOEHR

"Rosen writes as though he were playing opera fantasies by Liszt...
He generates a foreground that is consistently brilliant – a brilliant compound of interpretation, enthusiasm, potted musicology, homily and polemic, wit, wisdom and learning... His analytical genius extends to both music and language, so that again and again he finds just the right words to describe a musical effect, simply, clearly and to perfection... Charles Rosen's Schumann stands out as his most original and haunting portrait...together with his Chopin, another extraordinary portrait, this will be the lasting contribution of this important book."
JOSEPH KERMAN, 'New York Review of Books'

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0002556278
• ISBN 13: 9780002556279
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 724