German Scenes
Dresden
robbery
removing a fallen tree
French troops stealing cattle
procession
prize horse
Biedermeier style
In Central Europe, the Biedermeier era refers to the middle-class sensibilities of the historical period between 1815, the year of the Congress of Vienna at the end of the Napoleonic Wars, and 1848, the year of the European revolutions. Although the term itself is a historical reference, it is currently used to denote the artistic styles that flourished in the fields of literature, music, the visual arts and interior design.
Biedermeier can be associated with phases in early 19th-century German history. The first is the growing urbanization and industrialization leading to a new urban middle class, and with it a new kind of audience. The early Lieder of Schubert, which could be performed at the piano without substantial musical training, illustrate the broadened reach of art in this period. Biedermeier writers wrote for the middle-class.
