Beethoven, followed by Schubert and Schumann, opened the door to springtime. This was the beginning of the era of music known as The Romantic Music Era. And how appropriately it was named. These composers, and those who followed, began breathing new life into the forms of music that had typified the proceeding classical era. Emotion, feeling, love… these were now a part of music.
     There were love songs before, and there were sad songs, but no one breathed emotion into music like Beethoven. Women would burst into uncontrollable sobs at his recitals, much to Beethoven’s disgust.
     The Romantic Era continued through the 19th Century and culminated in the works of Richard Wagner, who opened the door to feeling much further than had Beethoven. And it is this unabashed pure feeling in Wagner’s music that turns so many people away from it: people who are not yet ready in their own lives to face the sublime levels of feeling that Wagner could reach.
     Some composers, such as Debussy, Scriabin, Rachmaninov, and Sibelius, continued the composition of romantic music into the 20th Century, but the prevalent music of the 20th Century was negative music, introduced by Arnold Schönberg, whom I call the “Father of Negative Music.”
     Explore the Romantic Era with us. Once you absorb the music of this era, you will never be the same.
     What a sad thing to go through life, as many people do, and only know a tiny bit about music, perhaps just the popular music from one particular era, the one the person grew up in…. especially when there is music around them that will resonate with the highest parts of their being.