Editing German Romanticism

{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2022}}
{{Short description|Intellectual movement in German-speaking countries}}

[[Image:Caspar David Friedrich - Mondaufgang am Meer - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|right|300px|[[Caspar David Friedrich]], (1774–1840)<br>''[[Moonrise by the Sea]],'' 1822, 55x71 cm]]

'''German Romanticism''' ({{Langx|de|link=no|Deutsche Romantik}}) was the dominant intellectual movement of German-speaking countries in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, influencing philosophy, aesthetics, literature, and criticism. Compared to [[English Romanticism]], the German variety developed relatively early, and, in the opening years, coincided with [[Weimar Classicism]] (1772–1805).

The early period, roughly 1797 to 1802, is referred to as ''Frühromantik'' or [[Jena Romanticism]].<ref>Beiser, Frederick C., ''The Romantic Imperative: the Concept of Early German Romanticism'' (2003), p. ix</ref> The philosophers and writers central to the movement were [[Wilhelm Heinrich Wackenroder]] (1773–1798), [[Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling]] (1775–1854), [[Friedrich Schleiermacher]] (1768–1834), [[Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel]] (1772–1829), [[August Wilhelm Schlegel]] (1767–1845), [[Ludwig Tieck]] (1773–1853), and [[Friedrich von Hardenberg]] (Novalis) (1772–1801).<ref>Beiser, Frederick C., ''The Romantic Imperative: the Concept of Early German Romanticism'' (2003), p. 7</ref> 

The early German Romantics strove to create a new synthesis of art, philosophy, and science, by viewing the [[Middle Ages]] as a simpler period of integrated culture; however, the German Romantics became aware of the tenuousness of the cultural unity they sought.<ref name="britannica.com">{{cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/eb/article-232415/German-literature |title=German literature – Encyclopædia Britannica |publisher=Britannica.com |date=7 December 2012 |access-date=13 January 2014}}</ref> Late-stage German Romanticism emphasized the tension between the daily world and the irrational and supernatural projections of creative genius. In particular, the critic [[Heinrich Heine]] criticized the tendency of the early German Romantics to look to the medieval [[Holy Roman Empire]] for a model of unity in the arts, religion, and society.<ref name="britannica.com"/>

A major product of the invasion and military occupation, beginning under the [[First French Republic]] and continuing under [[Napoleon]], of the traditionally politically and religiously [[balkanized]] [[Germanosphere]] was the development of [[Pan-Germanism]] and [[romantic nationalism]], which eventually created the [[German Confederation]] of 1815 and the [[German Empire]] of 1871. German Romanticism was accordingly rooted in both the quest, epitomized by Baron [[Joseph von Laßberg]], [[Johann Martin Lappenberg]], and the [[Brothers Grimm]], for [[decolonisation]], a distinctly [[German culture]], and [[national identity]], and hostility to certain ideas of [[The Enlightenment]], the [[French Revolution]], the [[Reign of Terror]], and the [[First French Empire]]. Several major Romantic thinkers, especially [[Ernst Moritz Arndt]], [[Johann Gottlieb Fichte]], [[Heinrich von Kleist]], and Friedrich Schleiermacher, embraced many elements of [[Counter-Enlightenment]] political philosophy and were hostile to [[Liberalism in Germany|Classical liberalism]], [[rationalism]], [[neoclassicism]], and [[cosmopolitanism]],<ref>Siegfried Heit and Otto W. Johnston, "German Romanticism: An Ideological Response to Napoleon." ''Consortium on Revolutionary Europe 1750–1850: Proceedings'' (1980), Vol. 9, p187-197.  </ref> [[Forty-Eighters|Other Romantics]], like Heine, were fully in support of the [[German Revolutions of 1848]].

==Literary figures==
[[File:Der junge Goethe, gemalt von Angelica Kauffmann 1787.JPG|thumb|upright|alt=alt text|[[Angelica Kauffman]], ''[[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe]]'', 1787]]
[[File:Heinrich Heine-Oppenheim.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=alt text|[[Moritz Daniel Oppenheim]] ''[[Heinrich Heine]]'', 1831, [[Kunsthalle Hamburg]]]]
[[File:Anton Graff Heinrich von Kleist (1).jpg|thumb|upright|alt=alt text|[[Anton Graff]] ''[[Heinrich von Kleist]]'', c. 1808]] 
[[File:Joseph von Eichendorff.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=alt text|Joseph von Eichendorff]]
{{div col|colwidth=22em}}
* [[Ernst Moritz Arndt]]
* [[Achim von Arnim]]
* [[Bettina von Arnim]]
* [[Clemens Brentano]]
* [[Adelbert von Chamisso]]
* [[Joseph von Eichendorff]]
* [[Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué]]
* [[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe]]
* [[Heinrich Heine]]
* [[E. T. A. Hoffmann]]
* [[Friedrich Hölderlin]]
* [[Jean Paul]]
* [[Heinrich von Kleist]]
* [[Sophie Mereau]]
* [[Eduard Mörike]]
* [[Novalis (Friedrich von Hardenberg)]]
* [[Friedrich Schiller]]
* [[Dorothea Schlegel]]
* [[Friedrich Schlegel]]
* [[August Wilhelm Schlegel]]
* [[Ernst Schulze (poet)|Ernst Schulze]]
* [[Gustav Schwab]]
* [[Ludwig Tieck]]
* [[Ludwig Uhland]]
* [[Wilhelm Heinrich Wackenroder]]
{{div col end}}

==Philosophical figures==
{{div col|colwidth=22em}}
* [[Joseph von Eichendorff]]
* [[Johann Gottlieb Fichte]]
* [[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe]]
* [[Johann Gottfried Herder]]
* [[Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel]]
* [[August Ludwig Hülsen]]
* [[Friedrich Ludwig Jahn]]
* [[Adam Müller]]
* [[Novalis (Friedrich von Hardenberg)]]
* [[Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling]]
* [[Karoline Schelling]]
* [[Friedrich Schlegel]]
* [[Friedrich Schleiermacher]]
* [[Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand Solger]]
* [[Ludwig Uhland]]
{{div col end}}

==Composers==
[[Image:Richard Wagner, Paris, 1861.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=alt text|[[Richard Wagner]], 1860]]
* [[Ludwig van Beethoven]]. In his earlier works, Beethoven was a Classicist in the traditions of [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]] and [[Joseph Haydn|Haydn]] (his tutor), but his Middle Period, beginning with his third symphony (the '[[Symphony No. 3 (Beethoven)|Eroica]]'), bridges the worlds of Classical and Romantic music. Because Beethoven wrote some of his greatest music after he became totally deaf, he embodies the Romantic ideal of the tragic artist who defies all odds to conquer his own fate.{{Citation needed|date=May 2010}} His later works portray the triumph of the human spirit, most notably his 'Choral' Symphony No. 9; the stirring '[[Symphony No. 9 (Beethoven)|Ode to Joy]]' from this symphony has been adopted as the anthem of the [[European Union]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://european-union.europa.eu/principles-countries-history/symbols/european-anthem_en | title=European anthem &#124; European Union }}</ref>
* [[Johannes Brahms]]. His works are cast in the formal moulds of Classicism; he had a profound reverence for Beethoven. Brahms was also attracted to the exoticism of Hungarian folk music, and used it in such pieces as his famous ''[[Hungarian Dances (Brahms)|Hungarian Dances]]'', the final movement of his [[Violin Concerto (Brahms)|Violin Concerto]], and the 'Rondo alla zingarese' from his [[Piano Quartet No. 1 (Brahms)|Piano Quartet No. 1, op. 25, in G minor]].
* [[Franz Liszt]]. Liszt was by nationality a Hungarian, but nevertheless he spent many years in Germany, and his first language was German. Credited as the inventor of the [[tone poem]].{{Citation needed|date=May 2010}} In his old age, Liszt adopted a more dissonant, ominous flavour, characteristic works being 'la Lugubre Gondola' and 'Die Zelle in Nonnenwerth'—predating [[Impressionist music|Impressionism]] and 20th-century [[atonality]].
* [[Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy]]. A composer of the Early Romantic period, together with such figures as Schumann, Chopin and Liszt. One of the persons responsible for reviving interest in the somewhat neglected music of [[Johann Sebastian Bach]].{{Citation needed|date=May 2010}}
* [[Franz Schubert]]. Like Beethoven, his early works like his symphonies, string quartets, and piano sonatas were in the Viennese classical traditions of Mozart and Haydn. His later body of work consists mainly of song cycles and German [[Lieder]] set to poems by his contemporaries, many of which are among the most common repertoire in those categories performed today.
* [[Robert Schumann]]. His works recall the nostalgia of lost childhood innocence, first love, and the magnificence of the German countryside.{{Citation needed|date=May 2010}} As an influential critic, he played a major role in discovering new talents, among them [[Chopin]] and Brahms.{{Citation needed|date=May 2010}}
* [[Richard Wagner]]. The most famous composer of German opera; was an exponent of [[Leitmotif]]. One of the main figures in the so-called [[War of the Romantics]].
* [[Carl Maria von Weber]]. Perhaps the very first of Romantic musicians, if we exclude Beethoven and Schubert, in the sense that Weber was the first major composer to emerge wholly as a product of the Romantic school, as contrasted with Beethoven, who had started off as a Classicist.{{Citation needed|date=May 2010}} The emotional intensity and supernatural, folklore-based themes in his operas presented a radical break from the Neoclassical traditions of that time.{{Citation needed|date=May 2010}}<!--In music, "neoclassical" usually refers to a 20th-century movement. Who refers to early 19th-century opera as "neoclassical"?-->

==Visual artists==
[[Image:Philipp Otto Runge 005.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Philipp Otto Runge]], ''Self Portrait,'' 1802–1803, [[Kunsthalle Hamburg|Kunsthalle]], Hamburg]]
{{see also|Düsseldorf school of painting|Nazarene movement}}
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* [[Carl Blechen]]
* [[Carl Gustav Carus]]
* [[Johan Christian Dahl]]
* [[Christian Ezdorf]]
* [[Caspar David Friedrich]]
* [[Jacob Philipp Hackert]]
* [[Julius Hubner]]
* [[Otto Reinhold Jacobi]]
* [[Joseph Anton Koch]]
* [[Gerhard von Kügelgen]]
* [[Adrian Ludwig Richter]]
* [[Carl Rottmann]]
* [[Philipp Otto Runge]]
* [[Friedrich Wilhelm Schadow]]
* [[Carl Spitzweg]]
* [[Eberhard Wächter (painter)|Eberhard Wächter]]
* [[Anton Georg Zwengauer]]
{{div col end}}

==Architecture==
[[File:Entwurf Kirchen Oranienburger Vorstadt III Perspektive.jpg|thumb|right|[[Karl Friedrich Schinkel]]. Project for church in [[Oranienburger Vorstadt]], Berlin]]
* [[Karl Friedrich Schinkel]]

==See also==
{{div col|colwidth=22em}}
* ''[[Athenaeum (German magazine)|Athenaeum]]''
* [[Berlin Romanticism]]
* [[Culture of Germany]]
* [[Germanophile]]
* [[Heidelberg Romanticism]]
* [[Jena Romanticism]]
* [[List of Austrian intellectual traditions]]
* [[List of German-language philosophers]]
* [[Philosophy of culture]]
* [[Prussian virtues]]
* ''[[Sturm und Drang]]''
{{div col end}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
{{commons category|Romanticism in Germany}}
{{Conservatism in Germany|Ideologies}}
* Beiser, Frederick C. ''The Romantic Imperative: the Concept of Early German Romanticism''. (Harvard University Press, 2003). 
* Benz, Ernst. ''The Mystical Sources of German Romantic Philosophy'', translated by Blair R. Reynolds and Eunice M. Paul. London: Pickwick Publications, 2009. {{ISBN|978-0-915138-50-0}}. (Original French edition: ''Les Sources mystiques de la philosophie romantique allemande''. Paris : Vrin, 1968.)
* Bowie, Andrew. ''From romanticism to critical theory: The philosophy of German literary theory'' (Psychology Press, 1997).
* Breckman, Warren. "Introduction: A Revolution in Culture," in ''European Romanticism: A Brief History with Documents.'' Ed. W. Breckman. New York: Bedford/St Martin's, 2007.

* [[Lionel Gossman|Gossman, Lionel]]. "Making of a Romantic Icon: The Religious Context of Friedrich Overbeck's 'Italia und Germania.'" American Philosophical Society, 2007. {{ISBN|0-87169-975-3}}.
* Gossman, Lionel. "Orpheus Philologus: Bachofen versus Mommsen on the Study of Antiquity." ''American Philosophical Society Transactions'', 1983. {{ISBN|1-4223-7467-X}}.
* Grewe, Cordula. ''Painting the Sacred in the Age of German Romanticism''. Aldershot: Ashgate Books, 2009.[https://www.amazon.com/dp/0754606457]
* Johnston, Catherine, et al. ''Baltic Light: Early Open-Air Painting in Denmark and North Germany''. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1999. {{ISBN|0-300-08166-9}}.
* Lacoue-Labarthe, Philippe, and Jean-Luc Nancy. ''The literary absolute: the theory of literature in German romanticism'' (SUNY Press, 1988).
* Nassar, Dalia. ''The Romantic Absolute: Being and Knowing in Early German Romantic Philosophy, 1795–1804'' (U of Chicago Press, 2013).

*{{cite book |editor=O'Neill, J| title= ''German masters of the nineteenth century : paintings and drawings from the Federal Republic of Germany'' | location=New York | publisher=The Metropolitan Museum of Art | year=1981| isbn=0-87099-264-3 | url=http://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15324coll10/id/71300}}
* Pfau, Thomas. "Conjuring history: Lyric cliche, conservative fantasy, and traumatic awakening in German Romanticism." ''South Atlantic Quarterly'' 102.1 (2003): 53–92. [https://www.academia.edu/download/30218307/SAQ2003-Essay.pdf online]{{dead link|date=January 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}

* Safrankski, Rüdiger. ''Romantik. Eine deutsche Affäre.'' Munich: Carl Hanser Verlag, 2007. {{ISBN|978-3-446-20944-2}}.
* Seyhan, Azade. ''Representation and its discontents: The critical legacy of German romanticism'' (Univ of California Press, 1992).
* Siegel, Linda. ''[[Caspar David Friedrich]] and the Age of German Romanticism''. Branden Publishing Co, 1978. {{ISBN|0-8283-1659-7}}.
* Steigerwald, Joan, and J. Fairbairn. "The cultural enframing of nature: environmental histories during the early German romantic period." ''Environment and History'' 6.4 (2000): 451–496. [https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/81a3/136b2b5d59026be91d7bbb28110478a13fc5.pdf online]
* Stone, Alison. "Alienation from nature and early German romanticism." ''Ethical Theory and Moral Practice'' 17.1 (2014): 41–54. [https://philarchive.org/archive/STOAFN online]
* Stone, Alison. ''Nature, Ethics and Gender in German Romanticism and Idealism'' (Rowman & Littlefield, 2018).
* Vaughan, William. ''German Romantic Painting''. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1980. {{ISBN|0-300-02387-1}}.

{{Romanticism}}
{{Germanic peoples}}{{Napoleon}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:German idealism|Romanticism]]
[[Category:German philosophy|Romanticism]]
[[Category:German romantic painters|*]]
[[Category:19th-century German literature|Romantic]]