One legacy of Romanticism’s passion for freedom played itself out all through the nineteenth century: the struggle for national independence. The Greeks struggled against the Turks, the Poles rose up against Russia, the Czechs revolted against Austria, and Norway broke free of Sweden.

As people all over Europe became more conscious of their national characters, they also came to prize their distinctive artistic heritages more and more. This gave rise to nationalism in music. The characteristic musical feature of this movement is simply the incorporation of national folk music into concert pieces, songs, and operas. Symphonic poems or operas also were based on programs or librettos that took up national themes — a hero of history such as Russia’s Prince Igor; a national literary treasure such as the Finnish Lemminkaïnen legends; even a beloved river such as the Vltava (Moldau) in Bohemia. Such national themes were reinforced by the musical themes taken from folk song. The result was music that stirred strong emotions at home, and often made an effective ambassador abroad.

Although in the nineteenth century political nationalism was certainly a major factor all over Europe, composers in Germany, Italy, and France are usually not categorized with the musical nationalists, for musical nationalism also strove to make local music independent of Europe’s traditional cultural leaders. Nationalist composers often deliberately broke the traditional rules of harmony, form, and so on. They did this both in a spirit of defiance and also in an effort to develop new, genuinely local musical styles.