Art Encounter # 2

The Romantic eras were often known for their music. The music was not considered Romantic just because it was written in the nineteenth century though. The beginning of that century found plenty of composers who were still writing Classical-sounding music. And by the end of the century, composers were turning away from Romanticism and searching for new idioms. Music of this era was often said to have expressed emotion without having any words said. The composers never had to put lyrics to their songs to get their point across. They often wanted the listener to come up with their own story of what the song was portraying.

This youtube video expresses some of the greatest composers of the romantic era. Many of the pieces of music played in this video are pieces of work that many people recognize in todays times. This is because not only did the composers of that time have an impact on people then, but they also are still making impacts on people today. The music just has a way of reaching every age for every generation. The composers of this video are people just like us but have passion for music and a creative ability to express that passion through a piece of music even without words. Composers such as Beethoven, Johann Strauss, Giacomo Paganini, Felix Mendelssohn, Elgar, Frederic Chopin, Rossini, and Peter Tchaikovsky have such a talent to be able to play such musical pieces that have been carried from genoration to genoration.

In the video the also use the words fantastic, amazing, best work, unique, and absolutely wonderful to describe the music but I dont even think that these words give these pieces justice. They are more incredible then words can express. When I listen to music such as these I can just sit back close my eyes, and feel so many different emotions. Some of them make me want to cry, while others make me want to laugh and feel joyful. Just listening to these quick pieces of the work in the video, they were able to make me feel these emotions. Music has always been an important part of my life, but there are just some pieces of music that make you feel more emotions then others.

I think the ideas and themes of music in the romantic era were just to express the emotion within oneself. The composers were expressing their emotions when creating their work and now I think they wanted you to express your emotions. The themes jump about around from being sad and touching, to happy and enlightening. Most of the work seems to be up beat and exciting and so I think that is the idea and theme of the music of that era. I think it was just supposed to make you happy and enjoy life. There are many people that go into make pieces of work that are able to express such emotion. In order to make pieces such as these in the video its often needed to have an orchestra so it gives more impact. Because of the composers and the orchestra its posible to pull such great music out.

Concept Blog Number 2

       The modern period has been a period of significant development in the fields of science, politics, warfare, and technology. The modern era discribes the historical timeline after the middle ages. Modern history is often broken into two parts the the early modern period, and the late modern period. The early modern period lasted from c. AD 1500 to around c. AD 1800 and is the time of the renaissance, and age of discovery periods. Now in the late modern period, this combination of events such as, the age of reason, the enlightenment, the romantic, and the victorian era totally changed thinking and thought of modern lives. One of the main effects in modern thinking was the enlightenment. Many aspects of the Enlightenment have influenced the belief of modern life. Enlightenment means belief in the power of human reason and by innovation in politics, religion, and education. The enlightenment developed during the age of reason. Its said that the understanding in the social world can help us improve the living conditions in the world. By looking at the three main aspects of the enlightenment, politics, religion, and education, we can get a better understanding for the modern period.  

Politics aren't just in effect for us today. They have been in effect for ages. During the Enlightenment period, new theories about what the human was and is, and about the definition of reality and the way it was perceived, along with the discovery of other societies in the Americas, and the changing needs of political societies all came about. The politics of the enlightenment period help us to better understand the needs of a human, how to form states, and what the best a state could be. These concepts also formed the distinction between government and state.

Religion is another important thing to look at, from the enlightenment period, to better understand the modern era. The enlightenment period often effected christianity. Depending on how much it was effected, there would occur two schools, rational supernaturalism and Deism. The Rational supernaturalist understood the unique role of revelation and differentiated between what could and what could not be rationally established, but they were convinced that revelation could still be defended by reason. And on the other hand you had the Deism which denied the necessity of revelation, by maintaining that after creating the universe, God does not interfere in its day-to-day runnings.

Last but not least education is important to look at, from the enlightenment time, to better understand why they did what they did in the modern era. The educational system played an important role in the transmission of ideas and ideals of the enlightenment. In Europe the education system was still being developed. During the enlightenment and French Revolution the education system really took off. Before the enlightenment the education system was not yet influenced by the scientific revolution.

By looking at the politics, religion, and education of the enlightenment era we can now see why people did what they did during the modern periods. The didn't have all the politics and laws that they had to abide by, the did not have religion playing a role into what they believed, and the certainly did not have the right education playing a role in what they knew. I think that the enlightenment was a good thing to happen because it gave us a better understanding for why people did what they did and why things became what they did.