Beethoven

Romanticism developed as a reaction to the Age of Enlightenment and the rationalism and realism preponderance that dominated that period. In this sense, idealism and imagination, the greater impact of feelings and soul manifestations made their way as the preponderant factor in expressing one's inner emotions. Additionally, the ideas and important characters of the French Revolution made their way in the romantic artistic expressions. Further more, in music, things such as the presence of folk music to reflect the national beliefs of composers characterize the romantic music.

If we refer to Beethoven, first of all, we see in many of his creations the attempt to delimitate a truly ideal hero. His Eroica Symphony is perhaps the best example in this direction, as it was initially created to reflect the glorious figure of General Bonaparte. However, the fact that he chose to crown himself as Emperor of France in a return to monarchy made Beethoven strike his name out of the dedication.

His music forms are also an important characteristic that define him as a Romantic composer. Indeed, his preference for sonatas allowed him both to use his enormous potential of imagination and to sustain it with borrowings from folk music or local influences. The symphony as well was redefined to fit his Romantic profile, Beethoven choosing to go with a more flexible structure than the previous one defined by Haydn, which was rigid and had fixed rules.

Besides the argument mentioned previously, as an individual in society Beethoven reflected Romantic characteristics. Indeed, he was badly adapted to social norms, had very few friends and lived almost exclusively for the sake of his art and his creations. In this sense, he reflected the Romantic ideal of art for art and dedicated his entire existence to creating rather than anything else.