The Second Half of the 

Nineteenth Century

   The giants of this period were Brahms and Wagner.  Brahms wrote "absolute" music in the classical tradition, although his compositions have also a lyrical romantic quality.  His example was followed by Dvorák and other composers.  Wagner revolted against the classical traditions.  He was a neo-romantic, who followed the programmatic ideas of Berlioz and Liszt, and who thought that the highest -art was a combination of all the arts in the form of 9 4 music drama".  Pro-Brahms and anti-Wagner feelings ran very high, as did also the opposite, and it appeared, at the time, to be almost impossible to appreciate the music of the two, though we can assimilate and enjoy both today.  There was also a strong growth of nationalistic tendencies, as evidenced particularly in Russia and Czecho-Slovakia.