Reflection on the Term Romanticism in Music

Abstract

The use of the term romantic music, or musical romanticism, in everyday discourse is already so firmly rooted and self-evident that its renewed verification would seem, on the face of it, unnecessary. However, the debate in certain contemporary musicological discourse creates quite a different impression: the definitions of the term and the approaches to it are so diverse that any kind of final definition seems impossible. Nonetheless, the search for the essence and the legitimate causes for the emergence of romanticism in music cannot be limited simply to musicological findings, but rather demands an understanding of the spiritual-historical anthropology of modern man.