BLOGS

The Period of Love: Instruments Playing the Most Romantic Music

“Ladies and gentlemen, will you please stand?
With every guitar string scar on my hand,
I take this magnetic force of a man to be my lover.”

-American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, Lover

 

When you are head over heels for someone, you would only want to give them the very best.

Valentine’s Day is a significant day to show your love for your special someone.

The date of the holiday is always the fourteenth of the month of February. It is the day wherein individuals express their love for someone or something by sending them cards, flowers, or chocolates that include romantic remarks.

Since ancient times, Valentine’s Day has been connected with Cupid. However, before he was given the name Cupid, the Greeks knew him as the god of love, Eros.

Greek mythology has it that Eros, the son of Aphrodite, would use his love and hate arrows to influence the feelings of his target’s emotions.

Romans didn’t begin to tell tales of his misbehavior until after he had already taken on the youthful aspect we now recognize.

Moving forward, Valentines is an old custom to celebrate a special Valentine’s Day, which is said to have its roots in a Roman celebration.

In the midst of February, the Romans celebrated Lupercalia, which marked the beginning of their spring.

It is said that boys picked names of girls from a box as part of the festivities. During the festival, they would be dating, and occasionally they would wed.

Later, the church decided to use this festival as a time to memorialize St. Valentine in addition to turning it into a Christian holiday.

As time went by, people began using St. Valentine’s Day to convey their affection to persons they cared about over time.

A great way to show your love for your special someone is through music, through playing romantic instruments perhaps.

I mean, would it not be so nice to have someone play you romantic music?

Fascinating research shows that when presented a possible partner’s photo along with improvised music, individuals find the person to be more appealing.

This particular inclination was more prevalent in women and was more prevalent in individuals looking for committed partnerships.

According to Evolutionary-Psychology research, artists who sing or play an instrument in a personal context are more attractive than their peers who perform in front of an audience.

Furthermore, studies from Sweden and Israel demonstrate that women find men who play musical instruments to be more desirable.

The Romantic Period

The romantic movement of the 19th century and early 20th century had a profound impact on many artistic and academic fields.

Those who participated in the movement valued honesty of feeling, sublimity, the beauty of nature, independence, travel, and progress.

Industrialization has far-reaching effects on the Romantic Era and contemporary culture.

Mechanical valves and keys on instruments saw significant improvements in their ability to produce sound.

The transition from the classical to the romantic period was seamless.

Even though the transition from classical to romantic music cannot be pinpointed to an exact year, historians generally agree that it occurred sometime between 1780 and 1910.

During the romantic period, the world was blessed with numerous prestige composers.

To name just a few, Beethoven, Shumann, Schubert, Berlioz, Sibelius, Wagner, and  Dvorak  are all examples of romantic composers durin great Romantic Era composers.

Indeed, composers of the romantic period have a huge impact on us.

Until this period that we live in the world today, the music of the romantic period is still significant.

Here are some of the Most Romantic Instruments:

 

Harp

The harp is a bewitching musical instrument that has been depicted on the walls of ancient temples and tombs and has been described in various historical situations.

It is a string instrument with a couple of its strings affixed to a soundboard. A sound is made when the harpist hits or plucks the strings.

The gradation of length of the string from long to short corresponds to the change in pitch from low to high. Each string generates one note. The resonator is typically made of leather or wood.

Despite being scarce in Greece and Rome, harps were popularly played throughout the ancient Mediterranean and Middle East.

Illustrations of harps dating to around 3000 BCE have been found in Egypt and Mesopotamia.

Mesopotamia also had horizontal harps, albeit most were played vertically and played with both hands.

They were positioned on the musician’s lap and pulled using a plectrum with the strings facing the player.

Piano

Some of the forebears of the piano are the clavichord, the harpsichord, and the dulcimer.

To go back much farther, one would discover that perhaps the piano is a direct offspring of the monochord. So, the piano is technically a string instrument due to its lineage.

The harpsichord, which originated in Italy around 1500, quickly gained popularity and was exported to other European countries.

When the player presses a key, the plectrum, which is fastened to a jack, plucks the string, producing sound.

The stringed mechanism, soundboard, and general design of this instrument are all reminiscent of a piano.

Flute

The sound of the flute is created when a stream of air is forced against a sharp edge, where it splits up into eddies that alternate periodically above and below the edge, causing the air within the flute to vibrate and produce romantic music.

Theobald Boehm reworked the flute between 1832 and 1847 to increase its dynamic range, loudness, and intonation.

To make keys more usable, Boehm repositioned keyholes, enlarged finger holes, and made them default to an open position.

For a more distinct tone and lower range, he also developed flutes with cylindrical bores.

Nowadays, the Boehm keyword method is used to create the majority of modern flutes.

Trumpet

Circa 1500 B.C., skilled artisans began constructing trumpets out of wood, metal, and ceramic; bringing the trumpet’s history back to the time when people first discovered the resonance sounds generated by blowing into hollow items like conch shells and  animal horn.

Asia, Scandinavia, South America, and even Egypt have all yielded up examples of these old trumpets.

The trumpet’s origins are in its use as a signaling instrument, whether for public, religious, or military purposes.

Ancient trumpeters could send brief melodies or “calls” across great distances because the instrument’s high, clear tones carried so far.

A trumpeter from Austria named Anton Weidinger unlocked the whole chromatic range of notes just before the year 1800 by developing a new trumpet design which used holes and keys (similar to a flute or clarinet) to alter the instrument’s pitch.

As a result of this breakthrough, composers started writing pieces just for trumpet.

Besides from playing romantic instruments, the setting of your date for valentines is very important as well.

Set up a romantic date in your luxurious Brittany home.

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