Rachmaninoff: Romantic or Post-Romantic?

<p>I think the title is self explanatory. I'm auditioning for a few summer camps that require pieces from different periods. Would Rachmaninoff be considered a romantic composer or a post-romantic composer?</p>

<p>He would best be described as "very late Romantic", or more of a "transition to 20th C" composer. Chopin, Schubert, Mendelssohn and Liszt are typical Romantics, with Chopin being the archetype. Rachmaninoff wasn't even born until the late 1800's, after Chopin was already long deceased.</p>

<p>What Allmusic said about "very late Romantic." Post-romantic would be more like Shostakovich, Prokofiev, etc.</p>

<p>It's a tough call. In style and ethos his music is unmistakably Romantic, but chronologically he just doesn't fit among them.
You should probably contact the camps and ask.
But I disagree about the "Post-Romantic" label applying to Shostakovich and Prokofiev; it's often given to Mahler, Bruckner, Strauss, early Schoenberg, etc, those composers with one foot on each side of the 'modernist' line.</p>

<p>That's why I said "etc."</p>

<p>"Russian romantic," to be specific. Rachmaninov is not considered to be a 20th-century composer, even though he lived part of his life in the 20th century.</p>

<p>For purposes of an audition, if Romantic is what they want, Rachmaninov will do just fine.</p>

<p>I really don't agree, maxtexada. In fact I would say that what makes Rachmaninov so distinctive is the sense of looking backwards throughout his music; the style of his music belongs to the 19th century, but it is self-consciously so, and the perpetual vein of nostalgia brands it as being apart from the 19th century repertoire with which it shares a language.</p>

<p>LOL ^^^ I was just gonna say "Is retrograde an option? ;)</p>

<p>PS: I like lots of Rach...</p>

<p>Hmm...don't really understand what you are saying.</p>

<p>Do you feel that Rachmaninov is more of a Romantic composer or more of a
20th-century composer?</p>

<p>I feel that he is more of a romantic composer, because I think a composer should be classified by style if his time period is close to the "norm". However, I just wanted to make sure before I recorded the application cd and all. :) Thanks</p>

<p>just ask your teacher..</p>

<p>no opinion other than that of the camp you're applying to is relevant-- not your teacher's, not mine, not your own even-- just ask the camp.</p>

<p>i think since rachmanimoff said he considered rimsky-korsakoff his inspiration, and his mentor was tchaikovsky, i would condider him romantic, even though his stlye is romantic, but his sound id chromatic . . .</p>

<p>I consider Rachmaninoff as a romantic composer, mainly because of the influence of Riccardo Wagner apparent in his works. Wagner’s music styles (motif & leitmotifs if you will) are not only pervasive in his famous 2nd and third piano concertos, but also in his brilliant third symphony. When you hear Rach’s music, you invariably have a great feeling of nostalgia especially in the last movement: The material grows ever more passionate and yearning throughout, until the piece ends by bringing back musical material from the previous movements in a slow, quiet fashion, finally culminating in a jubilant orgasm.</p>

<p>His so-called “modern” chromatic musical experiments also borrow largely from Wagner’s tristan und isolde</p>

<p>"Riccardo Wagner"
Wilhelm Verdi agrees with you.</p>

<p>;) :) ;) :)</p>

<p>All quite on the western front. . . ;)</p>

<p>okay then... :)
(how do you make the winking emoticon???)</p>

<p>Rachmaninov is often considered one of the biggest anachronisms in western musical history. He is often quoted to have been heavily influenced by Tchaikovsky during his youth. It is therefore no doubt that his pieces reflect T's style.</p>

<p>He is indeed a misfit. Though he lived in the 20th century, a century dedicated to the transformation of western art to abstractism, Rachmaninov held onto his romantic passions.</p>

<p>"a century dedicated to the transformation of western art to abstractism"</p>

<p>I would qualify that by pointing out that Schoenberg was deeply Romantic in his views of creativity, expression, and compositional process.
If the 20th century was dominated by a hangover from Romanticism, Rachmaninov is the guy who stayed up all night and never stopped drinking... still drunk while his buddies, now scornful of him, are hung over.</p>