Why is the period after the Classical era called the Romantic era when Rome had long fallen?

Answer 1

First of all, the roman in romantic is refered to romance or romanesque, roman as the people live in Rome is an ethnic group. The group of words with the root 'roman' in them has a very complicated history, but the word 'romantic' in English and 'romantique' in French were both used as an adjective in the middle of 18th century to praise something beautiful, normally natural phenomena like sunsets and stuff. So it actually has little to do with the Roman Empire. And the term first became common in literary world was when the Schlegel brothers began to critisize the 'romantische poesie'(romantic poetry) as Friedrich Schlegel wrote in his Dialogue on Poetry:"I seek and find the romantic among the older moderns……"

Answer 2

The term "Romantic" in the sense of the Romantic era does not derive from Rome. It is believed to have its roots in an old French word meaning a literary style, specifically "verse narrative". Although the French word romanz is originally from the Latin term Romanicus, meaning "of the Roman style", by the time the Romantic era had begun to evolve, the word had already been subject to the influence of several other languages, and had become infused with a sense of "passion". Hence, the Romantic Era symbolised new freedom of expression of passion within art forms and literature. This is why Beethoven is seen as the embodiment of Romanticism, particularly later in his career. His later music was passionate and dynamic, rich and complex, and a significant departure from the simplicity of the Classicism that preceded it.