Wanderer Above the Sea of Mist ANALYSIS

The painting shown above is titled Wanderer Above the Sea of Mist. It was created by Caspar David Friedrich in 1818, during the Romantic period. In my opinion, this painting greatly expresses many of the popular ideals from the Romantic period. The first ideal comes from the fact that this man is this man, the wanderer, is completely alone in this vast landscape. As we talked about in class, many paintings from the Romantic era depict humans alongside nature. The inclusion of natural landscapes (as opposed to industrial landscapes) is used to express the Romantic ideal of straying away from society. Unlike artwork from the enlightenment, which often showed people of specific class status in cities and towns, romantic artwork would often represent humans as an abstract object, simply part of nature. This painting differs from some of the other artwork we looked at in class, as the human in this case is actually meant to be the center focus. Other artwork would show humans in the corner of a vast landscape, barely noticeable. Although the human is not represented as that insignificant in this painting, he is still shown as puny in comparison to nature.

The fact that this painting has one solitary person, right in the middle, expresses another Romantic ideal. The subject is portrayed in a heroic manner, seemingly conquering the land. Heroes were a big part of the romantic period, as society began to greatly admire individuals, such as Beethoven and other artists of the time. Furthermore, the "hero"'s positioning represents another romantic ideal. We can only see him from behind, as he is staring out, contemplating. This is similar to a painting we examined in class, where the man was leaning over a railing, staring out. The idea of dreaming and abstract forward-thinking was definitely a big part of the Romantic period, and is further expressed by our hero staring out over the endless landscape, in deep contemplation. 

Mozart, Piano Quartet in G minor

The piece I chose for this assignment is the third movement from Mozart's Piano Quartet in G Minor. Now, while the entire quartet (and name of piece) is in minor, this particular movement is actually in G major. The parts of the movement I will be examining are the opening two phrases, which together create the opening period.

Above is my phrase diagram of the opening period. I identified the meter as 2/4, however I was hesitant as whether to call it 2/4 or 4/4. In a 2/4 metering, each phrase has 8 measures. Both phrases are melodically identical, barring their endings, or cadences. Thus I labeled phrase 1 as "a" and phrase 2 as "a'" (or "a prime"). It was a bit tricky finding the cadence note for the first phrase, as the everything does not end nicely on one note. Rather, there is a quick note from the piano accompaniment. After first identifying and humming the melody's tonic ("do"), I then hummed the cadence note for the first phrase. I found that it was "sol" (the 5th), therefore meaning phrase 1 ends on an IAC. Like I said before, the second phrase follows essentially the exact same melody, however, this time brings it back home (to tonic) and ends with a perfect authentic cadence (PAC). These two opening phrases compose what is known as a "Parallel Sectional Period". 

I thought it was interesting how even though the two phrases of the period are identical melodically, they somehow sound very different. This is because of the vast difference in texture. While "a" is only one piano playing the melody, "a prime" consists of that same piano playing along with what seems like a full string quartet. The youtube video I've posted is actually very interesting as it shows a visualization of each instrument, similar to the graphs we *attempted* to draw in class.

While analyzing this period, I realized that it truly does capture the essence of the enlightenment. We talked in class about how music from the age of reason was generally very symmetrical. This period exemplifies that as does the rest of the piece, through the repetition of phrases. Another main aspect of the enlightenment that is shown through this piece is the idea of rationalizing a problem, and then coming to an agreement or conclusion. This period does that exact thing. In the first period, it is a lone piano, trying to come to a conclusion by itself. It does not really succeed, ending in an IAC, leaving the listener with an incomplete feeling. However, the piano then gets some help from the string quartet. This symbolizes, if you will, the idea of working together as a group (as opposed to just one person) to find an answer. This "answer" is shown musically with the PAC, as now the listener is left with a sense of completion.

The Enlightenment

Over the past few classes, we have been discussing the "Age of Enlightenment", and the ideals that were present during said time period. Two of the most important topics we have discussed have the presence (or lack thereof) of the juxtaposing ideas of individual liberty and social control. 

In a sense, I feel that the most important aspect of the enlightenment is the increasing demand for this "individual liberty", or freedom, if you will. This is exemplified by the also-increasing democratic views and ideals of society in Great Britain and it's colonies. 

However, while these ideals are a major part of  the period of enlightenment, they are not its only defining characteristics. In fact, the movement of individual liberty and freedom did not come out of thin air.  Rather, they came from the new and largely-increasing middle class, who became the face of these ideals. A whole new social scene- the middle class- brought new art, music, etc. with them. As we saw in class, much of the artwork created in the enlightenment depicted scenes of middle-class citizens in "every-day" settings. This is opposed to the common classical and baroque period paintings, which seemingly only depict scenes from the extreme upper-class. 

However, although the middle class was on the rise, that's not to say there was a large upper-class, albeit decreasing in size. Another painting we saw in class was a satire, showing a wedding between an upper-class man and a middle-class woman. It showed the obvious separation between the two classes. The comically snobby rich juxtaposed to the common working man.

Another major aspect of the enlightenment was the advancements in science. Along with this, of course, came new ideas and opinions regarding religion. While before, NOT believing in God and practicing christianity was almost unheard of. However as people (women and men) became more educated and knowledgeable, new ideas came about. Once again, this all relates back to the rapid increase in demand for individual liberty, as people began to want religious freedom as well.