# Need opinions on the Romantic Period of Europe



## Anton Bruckner (Sep 13, 2007)

This period had some of the greatest music and literature ever composed, but it seemed to be a period where man was grossly indulging himself in idolatry i.e self worship. Notable antichrist writers were Schiller (whose poem Beethoven set to beautiful music), Goethe (who wrote The sorrows of young werther, and Faust (I consider Faust the greatest literary masterpiece second only to the Bible, but it was subtly antichristian in that Faust got salvation through Gretchen and not faith in Jesus).

For musicians we have the beautiful music of Wagner who was a devout pagan, we have Liszt who created music for some for the antichristian literature of the day (Faust symphony), then we have the most blatant of them all, Richard Strauss who composed, (Also Sprach Zarathustra in homage of Nietzsche, and the Alpine Symphony to honor the salvation of man through works). Also we have Robert Schumann (one of my favorite composer, who had the gall to compose a secular requiem).

The only decent ones amongst the lot seemed to be Felix Mendelssohn, Brahms, and Bruckner, but even Brahms in his younger days was an ardent lover of the works of Goethe, and composed his 3rd piano sonata with gross romantic indulgences of the day.

How do you guys view the romantic period.


----------



## AV1611 (Sep 14, 2007)

I think that there were some good Romantics such as Robert Southey but I have put my Wagner to one side now.

A quote on Southey - "He wooed Liberty as a youthful lover, but it was perhaps more as a mistress than a bride; and he has since wedded with an elderly and not very reputable lady, called Legitimacy." (William Hazlitt) I think he made the correct choice


----------



## Puritan Sailor (Sep 14, 2007)

Don't forget Schleiermacher, the father of modern liberalism.


----------



## Davidius (Sep 29, 2007)

I have just begun in my studies to delve into the literature of German Romanticism and Weimar Classicism. Goethe has been lots of fun to read so far.


----------



## Anton Bruckner (Oct 2, 2007)

CarolinaCalvinist said:


> Goethe has been lots of fun to read so far.


I have great respect for Goethe, too bad he was a humanist.

Here's the link to Faust as translated by George Madison Priest. Print and read at your own leisure.

Goethe's Faust


----------



## weinhold (Oct 2, 2007)

T.E. Hulme on Romanticism and Classicism:



> Put shortly, these are the two views, then. One, that man is intrinsically good, spoilt by circumstance ; and the other that he is intrinsically limited, but disciplined by order and tradition to something fairly decent. To the one party man's nature is like a well, to the other like a bucket. The view which regards man as a well, a reservoir full of possibilities, I call the romantic; the one which regards him as a very finite and fixed creature, I call the classical.


----------

