ABSTRACT
Romanticism is marked by dualism, the portrayal of the real world and the imagined alternative. Romanticism, for Hegel, signalled the end of art as the bearer of Spirit. Joseph Freiherr Von Eichendorff's literary fairy tale, The Marble Statue is a crucial example for scholars who deal with music and romanticism. The philosophical critique of romanticism stems primarily from socio-political considerations. Romanticism, in the view of these critics, shirks responsibility for improving real life by escaping into an alternative world. Friedrich Nietzsche's The Birth of Tragedy out of the Spirit of Music, heavily influenced by Arthur Schopenhauer and Der Fall Wagner, presents some of the familiar themes of romanticism, such as the rejection of the real world in favour of a fascination with dreams, intoxication and music. Romanticism, it appears, cannot be stamped out. Polemical anti-romanticism could be expressed in music as well as in music criticism. Anti-romanticism remained a strong force even through the Cold War.
