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Western Civilization II page. |
- THE THIRD SET OF REVOLUTIONS IN THE AGE OF METTERNICH
- FRANCE
- ITALY
- GERMANY
- HUNGARY
- THE REVOLUTIONS THAT SWEPT EUROPE IN 1848 WERE THE MOST VIOLENT SINCE THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
- THEY SHARED THE COMMON CHARACTERISTIC OF NATIONALISM, LIBERALISM, AND ROMANTICISM.
FRANCE
- THEY BEGAN IN PARIS AND WERE A REVOLT OF THE WORKING CLASS TO OBTAIN POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC RIGHTS.
- LOUIS PHILIPPE HAD CONTINUED TO TURN HIS CONSTITUTIONAL MONARCHY MORE CONSERVATIVE. FREEDOM OF THE PRESS BECAME SEVERELY RESTRICTED.
- FROM 1840 TO 1848 THE GOVERNMENT OF FRANCE WAS DOMINATED BY FRANCOIS GUIZOT, LOUIS PHILIPPE'S PREMIER. A FALTERING ECONOMY ADDED TO THE PRESSURE FOR A MORE LIBERAL AND REPRESENTATIVE REGIME.
- THE "BOURGEOISIE KING" LOUIS PHILIPPE WAS OVERTHROWN AND THE SECOND FRENCH REPUBLIC WAS PROCLAIMED IN FEBRUARY 1848.
- THE FORCES OF WORKERS FAVORING A MODERATE REPUBLIC DEFEATED THOSE WORKERS FAVORING STRONG SOCIALISM.
- WHEN UNIVERSAL MANHOOD SUFFRAGE WAS GRANTED, THE PEOPLE ELECTED A CANDIDATE WHOSE VIEWS WERE COMPLETELY UNKNOWN, LOUIS NAPOLEON (THE NEPHEW OF NAPOLEON BONAPARTE) IN DECEMBER 1848.
ITALY
- REVOLTS BROKE OUT ALL OVER ITALY IN 1848. LIKE GERMANY, ITALY WAS DISUNITED. ONLY PIEDMONT AND THE PAPAL STATES HAD ITALIAN RULERS. WHILE THE SPANISH BOURBONS CONTROLLED SICILY AND NAPLES, MOST OF ITALY WAS CONTROLLED BY THE HAPSBURG EMPIRE.
- THE MOVEMENT TO UNITE ITALY INTO A SINGLE NATION WAS CALLED RISORGIMENTO (THE RESURGENCE OF ITALY).
- IN ROME, THE THEN LIBERAL PIUS IX WAS OVERTHROWN BY GIUSEPPE MAZZINI, "THE SOUL OF ITALY," AND BY GIUSEPPE GARIBALDI, "THE SWORD OF ITALY."
- BECAUSE OF FRENCH CATHOLIC PUBLIC OPINION, LOUIS NAPOLEON SENT TROOPS THAT CRUSHED THE REVOLT AND RESTORED THE NOW REACTIONARY PIUS IX TO THE THRONE.
- IN NORTHERN SECTIONS OF ITALY, AUSTRIAN TROOPS CRUSHED THOSE LOCAL REVOLTS. BY 1850, THE OLD ORDER WAS RESTORED THROUGHOUT ITALY AND THE REUNIFICATION DID NOT TAKE PLACE AT THIS TIME.
AUSTRIA
- A SERIOUS REVOLT BROKE OUT IN AUSTRIA BY LIBERALS AND BY THE DIFFERENT ETHNIC GROUPS.
- THIS TIME, METTERNICH WAS FORCED TO RESIGN AND FLEE AUSTRIA.
- AUSTRIAN TROOPS DID CRUSH REBEL FORCES, BUT AGREED TO A NEW HAPSBURG RULER, FRANCIS JOSEPH.
- AUSTRIAN TROOPS, WITH THE HELP OF RUSSIA, PUT DOWN A FIERCE HUNGARIAN ATTEMPT FOR INDEPENDENCE LED BY LAJOS KOSSUTH. THIS ATTEMPT WAS TRYING TO CREATE AN AUTONOMOUS HUNGARIAN STATE WITH FREEDOM OF THE PRESS, ABOLITION OF PRIVILEGE, ANNUAL MEETINGS OF THE ASSEMBLY (DIET) AND LIMITED MALE SUFFRAGE BASED ON PROPERTY OWNERSHIP. LIKE ITALY, THE HUNGARIAN REVOLUTION FAILED.
GERMAN CONFEDERATION
- REVOLTS BROKE OUT ALL THROUGHOUT THE GERMAN STATES, INCLUDING PRUSSIA.
- LIBERALS, WITH MIDDLE CLASS BACKING, CALLED FOR THE MANY STATES TO SEND REPRESENTATIVES TO THE FRANKFORT ASSEMBLY FOR THE PURPOSE OF UNITING GERMANY.
- THE ASSEMBLY DECIDED TO OFFER THE CROWN OF EMPEROR TO FREDERICK WILLIAM IV OF PRUSSIA. THIS WAS TO BE A LIMITED MONARCHY.
- TO THEIR HORROR, HE TURNED IT DOWN SAYING THAT HE WOULD NOT "PICK UP A CROWN FROM THE GUTTER."
- THE PRUSSIAN KING THUS UNDERMINED THE LIBERAL MOVEMENT AND IT FAILED.
- LIKE ITALY AND HUNGARY, GERMAN UNIFICATION FAILED.
- THE REVOLUTIONS OF 1848 GENERALLY FAILED FOR VARIOUS REASONS INCLUDING:
- LIBERAL CONSTITUTIONS AND INCREASED CIVIL RIGHTS FAILED TO OBTAIN STRONG SUPPORT FROM THE MASSES.
- REVOLUTIONARIES WERE NOT UNITED AMONG THE DIFFERENT "COUNTRIES".
- LEADERS OF THE REVOLUTION WERE INEXPERIENCED AND LEFT INTACT ESTABLISHED AUTHORITY.
- NATIONALISM DIVIDED REVOLUTIONARIES AND PREVENTED COOPERATION.
- NO MAJOR POWER WAS WILLING TO INTERVENE AGAINST THE POWERS OF AUSTRIA AND RUSSIA.
THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
- BEFORE THE 18TH CENTURY, THE POPULATION GROWTH RATE IN WESTERN EUROPE WAS SLOW.
- THE VILLAGE WAS THE BASIC SOCIAL UNIT.
- MOST PEOPLE LIVED IN ISOLATION TO OTHER VILLAGES BECAUSE TRANSPORTATION WAS SLOW AND EXPENSIVE.
- PRODUCTS WERE MADE BY HAND.
- IN MANY PLACES IN EUROPE, MANUFACTURING WAS CARRIED ON BY A TIGHTLY ORGANIZED GUILD SYSTEM.
(1) IN IT, AN APPRENTICE WAS TAUGHT HIS TRADE BY A MASTER CRAFTSMAN.
- IN ENGLAND, THE GUILD SYSTEM WAS REPLACED BY THE DOMESTIC SYSTEM.
- IN IT, A MERCHANT CAPITALIST (OWNER OF RAW MATERIALS AND TOOLS) WOULD GIVE THE RAW MATERIALS TO ARTISANS TO BE WORKED ON IN THEIR HOMES.
- THE CAPITALIST WOULD THEN SELL THE FINISHED PRODUCT FOR A PROFIT AND GIVE THE WORKER A WAGE FOR HIS WORK.
- THE DOMESTIC SYSTEM EXISTED IN ENGLAND FOR 200 YEARS AND WAS NOT SERIOUSLY THREATENED UNTIL 1815.
- A SERIES OF INVENTIONS, HOWEVER, IN THE 18TH AND 19TH CENTURIES WERE TO TRANSFORM THE WAY PEOPLE MADE A LIVING AND LIVED IN SOCIETY. THESE INVENTIONS BEGAN THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION.
- MACHINES INCREASED THE INDUSTRIAL OUTPUT OVER A HUNDRED AND THEN THOUSANDFOLD COMPARED WITH BY HAND.
- IT BEGAN IN THE TEXTILE INDUSTRY. COTTON WAS THE FIRST INDUSTRY TO BE REVOLUTIONIZED IN GREAT BRITAIN. COTTON DOMINATED THE MOVEMENT OF THE ENTIRE ECONOMY OF GREAT BRITAIN. COTTON MANUFACTURING FORMED NEARLY 50% OF THE ANNUAL VALUE OF ALL BRITISH EXPORTS BETWEEN 1816 AND 1848 AND FROM THE 1790'S UNTIL THE 1860'S, BRITISH COTTON FOUND ITS SUPPLY IN THE SOUTHERN STATES OF THE U.S.
- AMONG INVENTORS THAT HELPED THE TEXTILE INDUSTRY WAS ELI WHITNEY, AND AMERICAN WHO INVENTED THE COTTON GIN IN 1793.
- ALONG WITH MACHINES THAT PRODUCED OUTPUT CAME MACHINES THAT PRODUCED NEW POWER AND ENERGY SOURCES.
(1) UNTIL THAT TIME, POWER SOURCES HAD BEEN THE HORSE, OXEN, AND WATER MILLS.
(2) IN 1785, THANKS TO THE SCOTTISH INVENTOR JAMES WATT, THE FIRST STEAM ENGINES FOR PUMPING WERE UTILIZED.
(3) VASTLY IMPROVED METHODS FOR REFINING IRON AND MINING COAL WERE ALSO INVENTED. COAL WAS THE MAJOR SOURCE OF INDUSTRIAL POWER IN THE 19TH CENTURY. IN 1800, BRITAIN PRODUCED ABOUT 90% OF THE WORLD OUTPUT.
THIS INDUSTRY STIMULATED THE BASIC INVENTION WHICH WAS TO TRANSFORM THE CAPITAL-GOODS INDUSTRIES - THE RAILWAY. BECAUSE OF THE STEAM ENGINE'S ABILITY TO PUMP WATER, MINE SHAFTS COULD NOW BE SUNK MUCH DEEPER.
- MACHINES ALSO PRODUCED A REVOLUTION IN THE AREA OF TRANSPORTATION.
(1) MODERN CANAL BUILDING BEGAN IN THE COAL FIELDS OF ENGLAND IN 1759.
(2) THE STEAM ENGINE MADE POSSIBLE THE RAILROAD LOCOMOTIVE BY THE EARLY 1820S. INCREASED DEMANDS FOR COAL AND IRON COULD NOW BE MET BY THE LOCOMOTIVE HAULING HEAVY LOADS OVER IRON RAILS. IN THE FIRST TWO DECADES OF THE RAILWAY (1830-1850), THE OUTPUT OF IRON AND COAL TREBLED IN BRITAIN. BUSINESSMEN INVESTED HEAVILY IN CONSTRUCTION OF RAILROADS TO GIVE RAILROADS THE NECESSARY CAPITAL TO GROW.
(3) THE STEAM ENGINE ALSO MADE POSSIBLE ROBERT FULTON'S INVENTION OF THE STEAMSHIP IN 1807.
- BY THE MIDDLE OF THE 19TH CENTURY, THERE WAS A FLOOD TIDE OF PEOPLE MOVING OUT OF THE RURAL VILLAGES AND INTO THE CITIES IN ENGLAND.
- ENGLAND'S INDUSTRY WAS NOW ORGANIZED AROUND THE FACTORY SYSTEM INSTEAD OF THE DOMESTIC SYSTEM.
- LARGE CONCENTRATIONS OF PEOPLE BEGAN TO ORDER THEIR LIVES AROUND THE FACTORY SYSTEM.
- THE RAILROAD AND STEAMSHIP MADE LARGE CITIES POSSIBLE BECAUSE THEY WERE ABLE TO BRING IN ENOUGH FOOD TO FEED THE PEOPLE.
- ENGLAND'S INDUSTRIAL MIGHT WAS TO BE UNCHALLENGED UNTIL AFTER 1870. AFTER THAT TIME, GERMANY AND THEN THE U.S., WOULD CLOSE THE GAP.
THE EFFECTS OF THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
- BY 1848, IT WAS CLEAR WHICH COUNTRIES (AREAS) WERE ADVANCED INDUSTRIALLY, I.E., WESTERN EUROPE (MINUS IRELAND AND THE IBERIAN PENINSULA), GERMANY, NORTHERN ITALY, PARTS OF CENTRAL EUROPE, SCANDINAVIA, AND THE U.S.
- THE GROWTH OF EUROPEAN CITIES SAW A DRAMATIC RISE BETWEEN 1800-1850. GREAT BRITAIN WAS THE LEADER WITH HALF OF ITS POPULATION LIVING IN TOWNS OR CITIES BY 1850.
- THE FACTORIES PRODUCED SO MANY GOODS THAT SUPPLIES WERE GREATER THAN THE PEOPLES' DEMAND FOR THEM.
- THEREFORE, WESTERN EUROPE BEGAN TO SEEK TRADE OUTLETS ALL OVER THE WORLD.
- THE FACTORIES BEGAN TO STRAIN ITS NATION'S SUPPLY OF RAW MATERIALS.
- AN ABUNDANT SUPPLY OF RAW MATERIALS WAS THUS SOUGHT IN ACQUIRING COLONIES IN AFRICA AND ASIA. VAST PARTS OF THE WORLD FELL UNDER WESTERN EUROPEAN POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC CONTROL, A POLICY THAT WAS TO BE CALLED IMPERIALISM.
- THERE WAS A SHARP RISE IN WESTERN EUROPE'S POPULATION BECAUSE FOOD COULD NOW BE MASS PRODUCED AND TRANSPORTED. THE POPULATION OF GREAT BRITAIN, PRUSSIA, AND EUROPEAN RUSSIA ALMOST DOUBLED BETWEEN 1800-1850.
- A MAJOR CHANGE IN SOCIAL CLASSES TOOK PLACE:
- NO LONGER WAS THE CHIEF DIVISION BETWEEN LANDED ARISTOCRAT AND PEASANT FARMER, BUT AMONG THE MIDDLE CLASS:
TOP LEVEL - BANKERS, GREAT INDUSTRIALISTS.
MIDDLE LEVEL - MOST MERCHANTS, MANAGERS, ENGINEERS, DOCTORS, LAWYERS, AND PROFESSORS.
BOTTOM LEVEL - SMALL SHOPKEEPERS, OFFICE CLERKS, SCHOOLTEACHERS.
- THE THREAT OF TECHNOLOGICAL UNEMPLOYMENT BECAME A WAY OF LIFE.
- THE FACTORY SYSTEM ALSO INTRODUCED TERRIBLE NEW WORKING CONDITIONS:
- EARLY FACTORIES HAD NO SANITARY AND SAFETY CONDITIONS. THEY WERE POORLY VENTILATED, UNHEATED, AND UNSAFE TO WORK IN.
- THERE WAS NO SYSTEM OF WORKMAN'S COMPENSATION, AND WAGES WERE VERY LOW.
- THE WORKING HOURS WERE VERY LONG AND THE WORK WAS OFTEN MONOTONOUS AND BORING. BECAUSE OF THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION, LABOR HAD TO LEARN HOW TO WORK IN A MANNER SUITED TO INDUSTRY (NO SEASONAL UPS AND DOWNS THAT HAD BEEN THE NORM ON FARMS).
- LABOR DISCIPLINE BECAME DRACONIAN. FINES AND WHIPPINGS FOR ANY INFRACTIONS OF THE RULES WERE OFTEN UTILIZED.
- WAGES WERE KEPT DELIBERATELY VERY LOW AS A MEANS OF ENSURING THAT WORKERS WOULD STAY ON THE JOB THROUGHOUT THE WEEK.
- THERE WAS WIDESPREAD ABUSE OF CHILD LABOR.
- WOMEN WERE OFTEN EXPLOITED BY BEING PAID LESS THAN MEN FOR A FULL DAY'S WORK. OUT OF ALL THE WORKERS IN THE ENGLISH COTTON MILLS FROM 1830-1850, ONLY 25% WERE MEN. OVER 50% WERE WOMEN OR GIRLS AND THE REST WERE BOYS UNDER THE AGE OF EIGHTEEN. BECAUSE MEN EARNED TOO LITTLE TO SUSTAIN THEIR FAMILY, THEIR WIVES AND CHILDREN WERE FORCED TO WORK. CHILDREN WERE FREQUENTLY BEATEN AND THE FAMILY WAS SEPARATED DURING THE WORK WEEK BECAUSE OF DIFFERENT TASKS REQUIRED.
- THE INDUSTRIAL CITIES WERE THE SCENE OF GIANT SLUMS. PEOPLE LIVED IN SMALL, OVERCROWDED, POORLY BUILT HOUSES. THE SLUM HOUSES WERE LACKING IN SANITARY CONDITIONS AND WERE A BREEDING GROUND FOR DISEASES.
THE MOST ELEMENTARY SERVICES OF CITY LIFE FAILED TO KEEP PACE WITH THE STEADY INFLUX OF PEOPLE INTO THE CITIES, E.G., HOUSING, SANITATION, WATER SUPPLY, STREET CLEANING. THE MOST OBVIOUS CONSEQUENCE OF THIS URBAN DETERIORATION WAS THE REAPPEARANCE OF MASS EPIDEMICS, I.E., CHOLERA, TYPHUS AND TYPHOID FEVER.
- A MOST INFLUENTIAL THESIS IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE 19TH CENTURY WAS THAT ADVOCATED BY THOMAS MALTHUS. HE WAS AN ECONOMIST THAT ARGUED THAT POPULATION INCREASES FASTER THAN THE SUPPLY OF FOOD UNLESS CHECKED BY EITHER DEATH OR BY DELIBERATE SEXUAL CONTINENCE. AS A CLERGYMAN, HE ADVOCATED CONTINENCE BUT REMAINED PESSIMISTIC THAT HUMAN BEINGS WERE CAPABLE OF SUCH RESTRAINTS. HE WAS AN ECONOMIST WHO BELIEVED THAT ECONOMIC PROGRESS RESTED ON IMMUTABLE LAWS THAT ALLOWED LITTLE HOPE FOR THE MASSES. ECONOMICS BECAME KNOWN AS THE "DISMAL SCIENCE" BECAUSE OF HIS DIRE ECONOMIC OUTLOOK FOR THE FUTURE.
- URBAN DEVELOPMENT WAS A PROCESS OF CLASS SEGREGATION.
- LARGE CITIES THROUGHOUT EUROPE DEVELOPED INTO GOOD WEST ENDS VS. POOR EAST ENDS. BESIDES EPIDEMICS, URBAN AREAS WERE TO EXPERIENCE INCREASES IN ALCOHOLISM, PROSTITUTION, ILLEGITIMACY, INFANTICIDE, AND SUICIDE.
- THE FACTORY SYSTEM WAS ALSO AN ECOLOGICAL DISASTER.
- THE DOMINANT ECONOMIC PHILOSOPHY OF THE NEW INDUSTRIAL AGE WAS PUT FORTH BY ADAM SMITH THE "FATHER OF MODERN ECONOMICS."
- HE ADVOCATED LAISSEZ FAIRE ECONOMICS.
- THIS DOCTRINE CALLED FOR THE GOVERNMENT TO KEEP ITS HANDS OFF BUSINESS. HE STATED THAT BUSINESS WOULD PROSPER IF LEFT UNCHECKED AND COMPLETELY FREE.
- LAISSEZ FAIRE WAS THE GOSPEL OF THE INDUSTRIALISTS AND THE OFFICIAL POLICY OF GREAT BRITAIN AND THE U.S.
- IN RESPONSE TO LAISSEZ FAIRE AND THE EVILS OF INDUSTRIALIZATION, THERE GREW UP THE PHILOSOPHY OF SOCIALISM.
- IN GENERAL, IT CONDEMNED THE PRIVATE CONCENTRATION OF WEALTH IN THE HANDS OF A FEW, AND CALLED FOR PUBLIC OR WORKER OWNERSHIP OF BUSINESS.
- THE SOCIALIST BELIEVED THAT THE GOVERNMENT SHOULD ENSURE COOPERATION AMONG BUSINESSES INSTEAD OF FIERCE ECONOMIC COMPETITION.
- THE MOST RADICAL FORM OF SOCIALISM WAS FOUNDED BY KARL MARX (1818-83) AND WAS CALLED COMMUNISM.
- IN HIS WORKS, THE COMMUNIST MANIFESTO (1848) AND IN DAS CAPITAL (1867), HE OUTLINED THE THEORY OF COMMUNISM INCLUDING:
- ALL HISTORY WAS AN ECONOMIC INTERPRETATION, AND IS A STRUGGLE BETWEEN CLASSES.
- THE PRESENT EXPLOITERS, THE CAPITALISTS, WOULD DESTROY THEMSELVES AND BE REPLACED BY THE WORLD'S FIRST CLASSLESS SOCIETY MADE UP OF THE PROLETARIAT (WORKERS).
ROMANTICISM & THE REVOLT AGAINST REASON
- AT THE SAME TIME AS THE CONGRESS OF VIENNA, EUROPE EXPERIENCED A NEW ARTISTIC AND INTELLECTUAL MOVEMENT KNOWN AS ROMANTICISM.
- ROMANTICISM WAS A REACTION TO THE AGE OF REASON AND THE PHILOSOPHIES.
- THE ENLIGHTENMENT HAD PUT MUCH STRESS ON MAN'S ABILITY TO REASON AND TO DISCOVER NATURAL LAWS TO LIVE IN HARMONY IN SOCIETY.
- THE ROMANTICISTS PLACED THEIR HIGHEST EMPHASIS ON MAN'S INTUITION AND EMOTION. MAN IS PRIMARILY A CREATURE OF FEELING.
- EMPHASIS WAS PLACED ON THE CULTIVATION OF EMOTION, SENSATION AND PHYSICAL PASSION.
- IN CONTRAST TO THE ENLIGHTENMENT'S EMPHASIS ON NATURAL LAWS AND ORDER IN SOCIETY, THE ROMANTICISTS BELIEVED THAT LAWS CONFINED THE INSTINCTS OF MAN.
- IN CONTRAST TO A SOCIETY'S NEED FOR ORDER, THE ROMANTICISTS UPHELD THE RIGHT OF SELF-DETERMINATION AND INDIVIDUALISM.
- ROMANTICISM HAD A BELIEF IN THE INNATE GOODNESS OF MAN IN HIS NATURAL STATE.
- POETRY AND THE NOVEL WERE IMPORTANT LITERARY EXPRESSIONS OF ROMANTICISM. ROMANTIC POETS USUALLY DEALT WITH THE FOLLOWING THEMES:
- THE LOVE OF NATURE
- THE CULT OF BEAUTY
- THE EXOTIC AND THE NON-RATIONAL
- AMONG THE GREAT ENGLISH ROMANTIC POETS WERE:
- WILLIAM WORDSWORTH - "DAFFODILS"
- GEORGE GORDON, LORD BYRON - "SHE WALKS IN BEAUTY"
- PERCY BYSSTHE SHELLEY - "TO A SKYLARK"
- JOHN KEATS - "ODE ON A GRECIAN URN"
- SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE - "THE RIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINER" AND "KUBLA KHAN"
- AMERICA PRODUCED ITS OWN GREAT ROMANTIC POETS:
- EDGAR ALLAN POE - "THE RAVEN" AND "ANNABEL LEE"
- RALPH WALDO EMERSON - "THE SNOWSTORM" AND "CONCORD HYMN"
- WALT WHITMAN - "LEAVES OF GRASS" AND "WHEN LILACS LAST IN THE DOORYARD BLOOMED"
- ROMANTICISM PRODUCED FIRST-RATE WORLD PROSE WRITING AS WELL:
- THE ENGLISH AUTHORS: SIR WALTER SCOTT - IVANHOE, AND JANE AUSTEN - PRIDE & PREJUDICE
- THE FRENCH AUTHORS: VICTOR HUGO -
THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME, AND ALEXANDER DUMAS -
THE THREE MUSKETEERS
- AMERICA PRODUCED ITS OWN GREAT AUTHORS:
(1) WASHINGTON IRVING - RIP VAN WINKLE
(2) NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE - THE SCARLET LETTER
(3) HENRY DAVID THOREAU - WALDEN AND AN
ESSAY ON CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE
- ROMANTICISM WAS TO PRODUCE ITS OWN STYLE OF ARCHITECTURE AS WELL.
- DURING THE 18TH CENTURY, ARCHITECTURE WAS OF THE CLASSICAL STYLE.
- BEGINNING IN 1830, THERE WAS A "GOTHIC REVIVAL" WHICH STRESSED TOWERS AND POINTED ARCHES.
- ROMANTICISM BROUGHT ABOUT MAJOR CHANGES IN THE WORLD OF MUSIC.
- THE 18TH CENTURY STYLE OF MUSIC CONFORMED TO THE CLASSICAL STYLE. THE MUSIC HAD BEEN THAT OF THE MINUET AND THE SONATA, WHICH HAD A LOT OF FORM, PROPORTION, AND PRECISION.
- THE PERSON CHIEFLY RESPONSIBLE FOR CHANGING THIS WAS LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770-1827). BEETHOVEN, INFLUENCED BY ROMANTICISM, ADDED TO MUSIC'S EMOTIONAL FORCES NEVER BEFORE HEARD.
(1) HE COMPOSED 9 SYMPHONIES AND WROTE HIS 9TH SYMPHONY WHILE TOTALLY DEAF.
(2) IN SHORT, BEETHOVEN SUCCEEDED IN FREEING MUSIC FROM DRY FORMALISM.
- IN ADDITION TO BEETHOVEN, GERMANY ALSO GAVE US BRAHMS (1833-1897).
- HE BECAME THE GREATEST COMPOSER OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE 19TH CENTURY.
(1) SCHUBERT, MENDELSSOHN, AND WAGNER WERE AMONG THE GREAT GERMAN COMPOSERS.
- FROM ITALY, ROSSINI (1792-1868) AND VERDI (1813-1901) WERE GIANTS IN THE FIELD OF MUSIC.
- FROM POLAND CAME CHOPIN (1810-49) - WHO WAS ONE OF THE WORLD'S GREATEST COMPOSERS AND PIANISTS.
- FROM HUNGARY CAME TCHAIKOVSKY (1840-1893) FAMOUS FOR HIS 1812 OVERTURE.
- FROM RUSSIA CAME TCHAIKOVSKY (1840-1893), FAMOUS FOR HIS 1812 OVERTURE.