Current romantic composers have been trending recently on social media platforms. Whether it’s Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker, Rachmaninoff’s 2nd Piano Concerto, or Chopin’s Ballade No. 1, there has always been a notable climax, the sweet peak spot of the entire piece that always grabs the attention of many viewers.
Figure 1: On TikTok, Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2, “The Most Beautiful Part”
Initially, when listening to my usual Romantic era composers, I always noticed a certain climax, an exciting and thrilling excerpt from the rest of the piece. However, the true euphoric heart-racing experience did not come through to me until I experienced playing the music myself. From beautiful pieces like Pas de Deux to Mahler 2, there was always the peak spot where I felt a rush of adrenaline and an overwhelming amount of warmth in my heart. And for some reason, I have always been yearning to relive these heartfelt emotions through my romantic playlists and YouTube mixes. But why does all of this happen? How is our body able to recognize and react to certain parts of classical music, specifically ones in the Romantic era?
Salimpoor and many other researchers gathered together to study exactly what the response is when listening to peak emotion music. In a general sphere, music in general can typically be a stimuli that triggers feelings of cravings and satisfaction through dopaminergic activity. It’s similar to other stimuli such as food and money which also reinforces dopaminergic activity. Through emotional climax music however, researchers wanted to understand how dopamine levels change and how it might impact the heavy emotions and chills a listener might receive. PET scans and fMRI scans, which are brain scans, were conducted on subjects to analyze dopamine releasing throughout a listener’s experience, such as before and after the peak in a piece they enjoy. Subjects pointed out the phase right before the peak spot where they felt anticipation as well the phase where the climax is.
Figure 2: Results of Dopaminergic Activity in fMRI and PET Scans
Researchers found significant release in the two phases as compared to the rest of the duration in the music. During the anticipation, brain scans have shown increased activity in the dorsal striatum. During the peak emotional phase, the ventral striatum showed increased activity. The striatum is a portion in the brain that consists of dopamine release which can be associated with a human’s pleasure, reward, and motivation. Therefore, these results suggest that peak emotional music elicit similar engagement with chemical signals such as dopamine as a “fundamental award” despite music not being a necessity in survival.
To talk more specifically about Romantic Era classical music, many composers in this time often had a lot of expressive intensity within the pieces they composed. There are drastic dynamic contrasts, swelling melodies, and rich harmonies that create such a beautiful experience. It creates an emotional narrative, conveying emotional feelings when in the listening journey. All of these components are what plays such a big role in giving the brain the dopamine release in the striatum.
While writing this entry, I have just been listening to Moszkowski and lots of other beautiful romantic piano pieces. I replayed in my mind the cordial memories of immersing myself in a large symphony. In the photo below was my last performance with the Houston Youth Symphony. It was interesting to learn so much while my brain is firing chemical signals. I hope in the future, you guys can all take the moment to appreciate Romantic era classical composers and the beauty their music creates.
Figure 3: My last Houston Youth Symphony concert, playing Mahler’s 2nd Symphony
Sources
Salimpoor VN, Benovoy M, Larcher K, Dagher A, Zatorre RJ. 2011. Anatomically distinct dopamine release during anticipation and experience of peak emotion to music. Nature Neuroscience. 14(2):257–262. doi:https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.2726. [accessed 2025 Feb 20]. https://www.nature.com/articles/nn.2726.