Vic-Visual+Art+and+Music

=**Visual Arts and Music of the Victorian Era (1837-1901)**= Alekhya Yechoor

= = =Art= The wealth that existed during the Victorian era influenced all branches of visual art including sculptures, paintings, and architecture. The art of the Victorian era was lavish, detailed, and elaborate. This was a direct revolt against the monotonous art that originated from the beginning of Britain’s industrialization period. Painters utilized rich, intense colors and they were extremely detailed in all of their works. In the beginning of the Victorian period was the Pre-Raphaelite movement Paintings and sculptures from this movement were very realistic and concentrated on depicting nature. They would also include a moral message in their works. Later in the Victorian era, more eclectic, but still highly symbolic works appeared. Victorian era art was all very detailed and symbolic, which directly displayed the wealth of the era.

Pre-Raphaelite Movement
This movement began when the [|Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood] was created in 1848 by seven artists including [|Dante Rossetti] and [|William Holman Hunt]. They drew from examples of [|Raphael] and incorporated elements of Raphael’s work into their own. The goal of the Brotherhood was to reject the rules of the industrialized England. The art be filled with detailed, colorful representations of nature. A unique characteristic of this movement was the inclusion of symbolism and literature of William Shakespeare into the works.



Classicism and Neoclassicism
This movement of the Victorian era is a form of painting inspired by ancient Greece and Rome. The art that came out of this movement had mythological and historical themes. The art was very structured, rich, and detailed. [|Frederick Leighton] and [|Lawrence Alma-Tadema] were the leading classicists. These artists exemplified the Victorian era due to their use of rich colors and their meticulous attention to detail.

Romanticism
This movement was a reaction against the structured principles of Classicism. The movement favored art that sprung from emotion rather than reason. The art depicted symbolic or significant events with rich color and detail. Great artists of this movement are [|Caspar David Friedrich], [|John Constable] , [|J.M.W. Turner] and [|William Blake]. They all used bright colors and would paint symbolic events, which is characteristic of the art of the Victorian era.



Impressionism
The impressionism movement was a reaction against the structured art that existed during the Victorian era. The art of this era focused on the changing effects of light and color. This movement produced highly symbolic work and used bright colors. The major artists of the movement included [|Claude Monet], [|Alfred Sisley] and [|Pierre-Auguste Renoir]. The symbolic works of this movement fit in well with the other works of the Victorian era because of their bright colors and symbolism.

Post-Impre[[image:http://img2.allposters.com/images/NYG/76051.jpg width="239" height="192" align="left" caption="Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh"]]ssionism
This movement was greatly influenced by the Impressionism movement, but produced art that was less pleasant. It also incorporated more emotion than impressionism art. The continued use of bright colors and symbolism classified the art of this movement as Victorian era art. Some famous artists of this movement [|Paul Cezanne], [|Vincent van Gogh] , and [|Paul Gauguin].

=Music= Music was extremely important in the lives of Victorians. Due to the prosperity of the Victorian era, Victorians made more time for entertainment and leisure. This created an extraordinary growth in the popularity of music. As music became more popular, people began to not only listen to it, but also joined in and made their own music. The music was often lively and would incorporate vocal and instrumental elements. It usually involved several parts and many songs were made for duets, triplets or groups. By the end of the Victorian era, music was central to everyone’s lives.

Brass [[image:wikim1.jpg width="315" height="172" align="left" caption="The Lochgelly Band"]] Bands
As people moved away from agrarian communities and into industrialized cities, brass band music became very popular. They were created in response to industrialization and became popular among the working class. During its peak there were 20,000 brass bands. [|Brass bands] are music groups featuring a range of brass and percussion instruments. The music was lively and was meant to bring workers together and create a sense of community. This is characteristic of the Victorian era because of the sense of nationality and community it created. The lively music was also characteristic of the Victorian Era. The most famous brass band is the [|Black Dyke Mills Band], which was created in 1816 and still exists today.

Music Hall
[|Music Hall] music was the dominant form of music in Victorian England and was immensely popular. This type of music referred to the songs in performances that included comedy and specialty acts. These songs were lively and catchy. These songs were easily enjoyable and were often sung in Victorian homes. Music Hall music is a fusion of influences from folk songs with Negro spiritual music. This appealed to the people of the Victorian era, who had more leisure time because of the prosperity of the era. These lively, catchy tunes were characteristic of the Victorian era.

[|Arthur Lloyd] was a Scottish songwriter of the Victorian era and was the first successful songwriter for Music Hall. He wrote over 185 songs, some of which are still sung today. His most famous song is “Married to a Mermaid”.

Hubert Parry
[|Hubert Parry] was born in 1848 at Bournemouth, England. He wrote many compositions including piano pieces, chamber music, orchestral works, incidental music, oratorios, and other choral works. His contributions to music were very notable and paved a path for many of his successors, such as [|Sir Edward Elgar] (a popular composer of the early 1900s). His music was based on the classical works of Schumann and other composers of the Classical time period. The sophistication of his music was very appealing to Victorians. He was known as one of the rejuvenators of English music tradition, along with [|Charles Villiers Stanford]. His most famous work was “Jerusalem.”

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[[image:wikim4.jpg width="147" height="216" align="left" caption="Sir Arthur Sullivan"]]Sir Arthur Sullivan
[|Sir Arthur Sullivan] was a famous composer of the last 19th century. His music ranged from symphony to hymn. He is most remembered for his collaboration with [|Sir William Gilbert]. Sullivan composed the Savoy Operas. This became one of the most famous operettas of the time and is still famous today. Sir Arthur Sullivan’s compositions were entertaining and were very popular in the Victorian era. They represented the Victorian attitude.

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For More Information on Art and Music of the Victorian Era: http://www.victorianweb.org/