Music is one of mankind’s oldest, best bred, respected, art forms. It has a long history. The Romantic period of western classical music is one of the most important and beautiful periods in music history. What is Romantic music? How important is it? If you are interested in these questions, I recommend you read a book called The Romantics, which is written by Sarah Halliwell and published by Vaughn Publishers.

The Romantic period lasted from 1820 to 1900. It started with a literary movement in Germany in the late 18^th century. Later, Romantic ideas spread from Germany to other European countries. Romanticism not only affected composers, but also poets, dancers etc. Romanticism in music involves the expansion of formal structures within a composition, which makes the pieces more passionate and expressive.

The book “the Romantics” highlights the background of different Romantics pieces, like Beethoven’s Fur Elise. You may not know, for instance, the original name of Fur Elise (which means for Elise) was Fur Therese who was a girl Beethoven fell in love with.

Besides this, have you ever heard of Schubert, Liszt, Tchaikovsky? Are you familiar with them? They were famous composers of the Romantic period.  They did a lot to support the flourishing of the Romantics. For example: Tchaikovksy raised ballet music to its highest level. Schubert’s Art Songs captured the spirit of the poems. Art songs attained an important position in the Romantic period.  You can also learn more about them in the book.

“Secrets of the musicians” is one of my favorite parts in the book. You may find it hard to believe that Liszt could play 12 notes in a second and Tchaikovsky was a fan of Shakespeare, especially his play “Romeo and Juliet”.

You may say that books can be very boring because they’re only made up of words. This book however, also has funny cartoons inside so readers can understand and imagine the situation of the musicians.

Reading upgrades our knowledge, and music cultivates our mind. I loved listening to classical music even more after I read this book. Overall, I think it’s an educational book to read.