Encounter II

Nostalgia Is Not Enough: What Is Romantic?

with Michael Steinberg
Saturday, July 26
7:30 p.m., Martin Family Hall, Menlo School
Tickets: $35 adult; $15 student

The words “Romantic” and “Romanticism” have come to be used in dismayingly imprecise ways, indeed in ways far removed from what the composers, writers, and artists who first used them had in mind. Current usage, particularly in music, tends to be code for “not modern” or, to take it a step further, “don’t worry, it’s not going to upset you.” But this overlooks the desire of the real Romantics to do just that, to turn your world upside down by opening doors and windows onto previously unknown landscapes of feeling and expression. Boldness and adventure, brave new world, are the essential features of the movement that electrified the world at the beginning of the nineteenth century. In this Encounter, Michael Steinberg will, with the help of many examples, explore the origins and the nature of Romanticism and attempt, to the extent that it will allow us, to define it.

More Encounters:

Encounter I »
Encounter III »
Encounter IV »