The Romantic Period, Part 2: 1860 – 1914

Dr. Robert Butts, Maestro, Baroque Orchestra of NJ
5 Monday afternoons 1:30–3:00pm (1 ½ hours)
June 2, 9, 16, 23, and 30

The Romantic era extended through the early twentieth century.   Composers continued to explore the ideas of the earlier period, expanding the emotional and artistic goals of intensity and personal expression.  As the world moved towards more global awareness, ideas of nationalism, urbanization, and industrialization increased, and the concert and musical theater worlds became the center of everything.  Verdi and Wagner set opera in a new musical and dramatic direction, followed by the realism of composers at the turn of the century.  Operetta vied with opera for attention, and musical theater in America developed into primary entertainment.  The symphony became standard for composers while the concerto continued as the most popular concert form. Chamber music grew in popularity, as did the importance of popular songs and dance.       

As the century turned, new technologies impacted the arts, most significantly recording, broadcasting, and film.  Composers of the period included Tchaikovsky, Brahms, Verdi, Wagner, Puccini, Strauss, Bizet, Gilbert & Sullivan, Rachmaninoff, Debussy, and early modernists like Schoenberg and Stravinsky.                                               

Dr Robert Butts has won acclaim as conductor, composer, and educator.  He is the founder and director of the Baroque Orchestra of NJ, now in its 29th season.  He teaches/lectures at Montclair State University, the Caspersen School of Graduate Studies at Drew University, NJ Council for the Humanities, and Saint Elizabeth University.  He has conducted major orchestra and opera performances throughout NJ and the US and guest appearances in Romania, the Czech Republic, Russia, Italy, and England. Dr. Butts received his M.A. in Musicology from the University of Iowa with a specialty in 17th and 18th century music and a D.M.A. in conducting from the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago.  He also studied conducting at Juilliard with Maestro La Selva.

His awards include the 2019 Artist of the Year Award by the New York Classical Music Society; the 2019 Exemplary Leader Award from the Morris County Chamber of Commerce, the 2016 Tourism Award from the Morris County Tourism Bureau, the 2015 Comcast Newsmaker Award from Comcast, and the 2015 Honored Artist Award.