Dinner seminar on romanticism with Nicholas Chong (Rutgers)

The intellectual and artistic movement known as Romanticism is arguably responsible for the emphasis on originality and creativity that most of us associate with the arts, for the veneration our culture accords to perceived artistic geniuses, and for the separation of artistic activities from everyday life through museums and concert halls. This two-part seminar will consider both the origins of Romanticism and how it ended up shaping expectations about art and our very selves.

 In our first session, we will explore the key tenets of Romanticism “from the inside,” by investigating a brief example of early Romantic literature: “The Remarkable Musical Life of the Musician Joseph Berglinger,” written in 1797. The story portrays the conflict between the demands of an artist’s calling and the annoyances of daily life that frustrate his artistic ambitions. It also brings to the fore two issues that were of particular concern for the Romantics: the special importance of music as an artistic medium, and the relationship between art and religion.