You\u2019ve lit the candles, have the champagne ready and the oysters are on ice. Now all it needs is a little classical music to make your Valentine’s Day supper just perfect. May we, then, suggest the following pieces of romantic classical music to accompany your love-filled evening\u2026?<\/strong><\/p>

Six of the best love songs… without words<\/a><\/strong><\/li>
6 composers with wretched love lives<\/a><\/strong><\/li>
George Sand and Chopin in love: a spotlight on their relationship in Majorca<\/a><\/strong><\/li>
Six of the best sheet music covers inspired by love<\/a><\/strong><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div>
Best romantic classical music inspired by love<\/h2>
Price: Adoration<\/em><\/h3>Given the prejudice that she encountered throughout her career, on account of both her race and her gender, one can assume that the American composer Florence Price<\/a> <\/strong>was made of tough, gritty stuff. Despite this, her music regularly displays an abundance of joie-de-vivre<\/em>, charm and warmth. Written in 1951, two years before her death, her Adoration<\/em> implies a loving fondness built up through the years rather than the full fire of youthful passion. Though Price wrote the four-minute work for solo stringed instrument and piano, there are lovely arrangements for string ensemble and for organ.<\/p>
We named Florence Price one of the best female composers ever<\/a><\/strong> and one of the greatest black composers of all time<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>
<\/div><\/figure><h3 id=\"h-wagner-traume-from-wesendonck-lieder\"><strong>Wagner: \u2018Tr\u00e4ume\u2019 from <em>Wesendonck Lieder<\/em><\/strong><\/h3><p>In 1849 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/richard-wagner\"><strong>Wagner<\/strong><\/a> and his wife Minna fled Germany to stay with his patron Otto Wesendonck and his wife Mathilde. Although he later denied it, <strong>Wagner<\/strong> and Mathilde appear to have fallen deeply in love, causing a 10-year separation between <strong>Wagner<\/strong> and his wife.<\/p><p><em>Wesendonck Lieder<\/em>, songs written to the words of five poems by Mathilde are some of his most beautiful compositions, and he himself said \u2018I have done nothing better than these songs.\u2019 My favourite of these songs is ‘Tr\u00e4ume’, because it floors me every time. <\/p><h3 id=\"h-elgar-salut-d-amour\"><strong>Elgar: <em>Salut d\u2019amour<\/em><\/strong><\/h3><p>Musical expressions of love don\u2019t have to be long, grandiloquent affairs. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/composers\/edward-elgar\/\">Elgar<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s <em>Salut d\u2019amour<\/em> does the trick in just two-and-a-half minutes. We know from various cryptic messages left on his manuscripts that Elgar could be a soppy old soul, and this touchingly simple work for <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/articles\/violin-facts-and-invention\/\">violin<\/a><\/strong> and <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/articles\/who-invented-the-piano\/\">piano<\/a><\/strong> was given by the composer to Alice, his wife to be, as an engagement present in September 1888 \u2013 \u2018Carice\u2019, the dedicatee at the top of the score, is a conflation of her two first names, Caroline and Alice. Romantic classical music at its soppiest. <\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><iframe title=\"Salut d'Amour (Edward Elgar) - Esther Abrami and Iyad Sughayer\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/N5z3ZO0QfFE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/><\/div><\/figure><h3 id=\"h-tchaikovsky-romeo-and-juliet\">Tchaikovsky: <em>Romeo and Juliet<\/em><\/h3><p>The most famous love story of all has inspired many a composer, from <strong>Berlioz <\/strong>and Gounod to <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/composers\/sergey-prokofiev\">Prokofiev<\/a><\/strong> and, in the guise of <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/articles\/west-side-story-our-guide-to-bernsteins-original-1957-musical\"><em>West Side Story<\/em><\/a><\/strong>, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/composers\/leonard-bernstein\">Bernstein<\/a><\/strong>. Sure the most lushly romantic take on the Bard, however, has to be <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/composers\/pyotr-ilyich-tchaikovsky\">Tchaikovsky<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s fantasy-overture of 1886. Though the work\u2019s 20-or-so minutes include flashing swords and, of course, a mournful finale, by far its best known moment is the gloriously sweeping love theme at its heart, a staple of film scores and TV adverts over the years.<\/p><div class=\"is-layout-flow is-layout-flow wp-block-group highlight-box\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container\"><ul><li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/recordings\/the-best-and-worst-recordings-of-tchaikovskys-romeo-and-juliet\">The best (and worst) recordings of Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet<\/a><\/strong><\/li><li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/romeo-and-juliet-music\">Six of the best: musical settings of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet<\/a><\/strong><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/classical-music-inspired-shakespeare\"><strong>The best classical music inspired by Shakespeare<\/strong><\/a><\/li><\/ul><h3 id=\"h-wagner-tristan-und-isolde-prelude-und-liebestod\">Wagner <em>Tristan und Isolde: Prelude und Liebestod<\/em><\/h3><p> If you and your beloved are planning a really, really long Valentine\u2019s Day dinner \u2013 around four hours or so \u2013 then playing the whole of <strong>Wagner<\/strong>\u2019s <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/guide-wagners-tristan-und-isolde\"><em>Tristan und Isolde<\/em><\/a><\/strong> should have the music pretty much covered. Alternatively, there\u2019s the <em>Prelude und Liebestod<\/em>, which distils the sumptuousness of Wagner\u2019s 1865 opera into around 20 minutes or so. Opening with the famous \u2018<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/articles\/tristan-chord-explained\">Tristan chord<\/a><\/strong>\u2019, this is a wonderful wallow in the rich orchestral sound that depicts the infatuation of the two title characters, incurred by drinking a love potion. Perfect with a glass or several of heady red. A sumptuous piece of romantic music to pop on in the background of any Valentine’s dinner. <\/p><div class=\"is-layout-flow wp-block-group highlight-box\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container\"><ul><li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/articles\/six-best-productions-wagners-tristan-und-isolde\">Six of the best… productions of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde<\/a><\/strong><\/li><\/ul><h3 id=\"h-rachmaninov-piano-concerto-no-2\">Rachmaninov <em>Piano Concerto No. 2<\/em><\/h3><p>Thanks in part to <em>Brief Encounter<\/em>, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/composers\/sergey-rachmaninov\">Rachmaninov<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s Second Piano Concerto will forever inevitably be associated with romance \u2013 the work can be heard through much of David Lean\u2019s 1945 film, as Laura Jesson (Celia Howard) and Alec Harvey (Trevor Howard) meet by chance at Carnforth Station and begin a friendship that forever teeters on the brink of full-blown romance. <\/p><p>OK, so he\u2019s pompous and she\u2019s drippy, but we still find ourselves urging them to get together. In particular, it\u2019s the work\u2019s dreamy central <em>Adagio sostenuto<\/em> that really pulls at the heart strings, both on screen and in the concert hall.<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><h3 id=\"h-scriabin-poem-of-ecstasy\">Scriabin:<em> Poem of Ecstasy<\/em><\/h3><p>Where Laura Jesson and Alec Harvey fear to venture, <strong>Scriabin<\/strong> goes in headlong in his <em>Poem of Ecstasy<\/em>. With its orchestral climaxes \u2013 screaming trumpets and all \u2013 and score markings including \u2018very perfumed\u2019, \u2018with a feeling of growing intoxication\u2019 and \u2018with a sensual pleasure becoming more and more ecstatic\u2019, it\u2019s not too tricky to guess what the Russian composer was getting at in the symphonic poem he initially titled \u2018Orgiastic Poem\u2019. One for the end of the evening, we think.<\/p><div class=\"is-layout-flow is-layout-flow wp-block-group highlight-box\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container\"><ul><li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/articles\/musics-great-romantics\">Music’s great romantic couples<\/a><\/strong><\/li><li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/articles\/love-story-behind-berliozs-symphonie-fantastique\">The love story behind Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique<\/a><\/strong><\/li><li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/articles\/valentines-day-quiz\">A Valentine’s Day quiz<\/a><\/strong><\/li><li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/articles\/four-hand-piano-when-did-the-fashion-for-piano-four-hands-start\">Four hand piano: how the fashion for piano four hands started and why it was popular for its romantic possibilities<\/a><\/strong><\/li><\/ul><figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><iframe title=\"Scriabin: The Poem of Ecstasy \/ Salonen \u00b7 The Philharmonia Orchestra\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/HAnVrdQ3qFk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/><\/div><\/figure><\/div><\/div><h3 id=\"h-franck-piano-quintet\"><strong>Franck: Piano Quintet<\/strong><\/h3><p>When <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/cesar-franck\"><strong>Franck<\/strong><\/a> composed the Piano Quintet he was 57 and had been a professor at the Paris Conservatoire for some years. He developed strong feelings for his organ and composition student, Augusta Holm\u00e8s.<\/p><p>However, he had competition from many others who had fallen in love with her, including <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/camille-saint-saens\"><strong>Saint-Sa\u00ebns<\/strong><\/a>, who had proposed to her several times. <strong>Franck<\/strong> was married, so couldn\u2019t act on his feelings, so instead poured his emotions into the Piano Quintet, a work dedicated to <strong>Saint-Sa\u00ebns<\/strong>.<\/p><h3 id=\"h-faure-l-hiver-a-cesse-from-la-bonne-chanson\"><strong>Faur\u00e9: \u2018L\u2019hiver a cess\u00e9\u2019 from<em> La Bonne Chanson<\/em><\/strong><\/h3><p>The overarching theme of these choices seems to that composers cannot seem to be faithful! <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/gabriel-faure\"><strong>Faur\u00e9<\/strong><\/a> spent the summer with the banker Sigismond Bardac and his wife Emma, a soprano. <strong>Faur\u00e9<\/strong> fell completely in love with her, despite the fact that she went on to marry <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/claude-debussy\"><strong>Debussy<\/strong><\/a>. Emma worked closely with <strong>Faur\u00e9<\/strong>, singing new material for him each day. He dedicated this set of songs to her. <\/p><h3 id=\"h-mahler-adagietto-from-symphony-no-5\"><strong>Mahler: <em>Adagietto<\/em> from Symphony No. 5<\/strong><\/h3><p> This was famously written as a declaration of love to Alma, who <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/gustav-mahler\"><strong>Mahler<\/strong><\/a> would soon marry. She was excellent at getting married \u2013 and also consequently pretty good at having affairs. However, this piece was composed at the beginning of their relationship before the affairs began.<\/p><p>The conductor Willem Mengelberg, a close friend, annotated in his score of the Fifth Symphony: \u2018This <em>Adagietto<\/em> was a declaration of love to Alma! In place of a letter, he sent her this in manuscript form, not adding a further word.\u2019 <\/p><h3 id=\"h-brahms-intermezzo-op-118-no-2\"><strong>Brahms: <em>Intermezzo<\/em> Op. 118 No. 2<\/strong><\/h3><p>The whole <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/johannes-brahms\"><strong>Brahms<\/strong><\/a>\/<a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/clara-schumann-6\"><strong>Clara Schumann<\/strong><\/a> did-he-didn\u2019t-he thing will probably never definitely be answered, but there\u2019s no question there was a lot of love and respect between them. <strong>Brahms<\/strong>\u2019s <em>Six Pieces <\/em>Op. 118 were dedicated to <strong>Clara<\/strong> and this <em>Intermezzo in A <\/em>is one of the most beautiful pieces in the set.<\/p><p>\u2018My Beloved <strong>Clara<\/strong>, I wish I could write to you as tenderly as I love you and tell you all the good things that I wish you. You are so infinitely dear to me, dearer than I can say. I should like to spend the whole day calling you endearing names and paying you compliments without ever being satisfied.\u2019 <\/p><ul><li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/article\/5-best-works-clara-schumann\"><strong>Six of the best works by Clara Schumann<\/strong><\/a><\/li><\/ul><p><em><strong>Listen to Fenella Humphreys’s romantic choices here:<\/strong><\/em> <iframe src=\"https:\/\/embed.music.apple.com\/gb\/playlist\/celebrity-playlist-fenella-humphreys\/pl.df58bf2a4c7c4b3bb5813d24d92d162a?app=music\" width=\"660\" height=\"450\" frameborder=\"0\"\/><\/p><ul><li><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/article\/best-contemporary-female-composers\">9 of the best contemporary female composers<\/a><\/strong><\/li><\/ul><h3 id=\"h-janacek-string-quartet-no-2-intimate-letters\"><strong>Jan\u00e1\u010dek: String Quartet No. 2, \u2018Intimate Letters\u2019<\/strong><\/h3><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/leos-janacek\"><strong>Jan\u00e1\u010dek<\/strong><\/a>\u2019s Second String Quartet was written towards the end of his life, and in it he reflects on his long friendship with Kamila St\u00f6sslov\u00e1, married and 38 years younger than him. They exchanged over 700 letters during their friendship, and it is these which give the work its title.<\/p><p>\u2018You stand behind every note, you, living, forceful, loving. The fragrance of your body, the glow of your kisses \u2013 no, really of mine. Those notes of mine kiss all of you. They call for you passionately\u2026\u2019 <\/p><h3 id=\"h-berlioz-un-bal-a-ball-from-symphonie-fantastique\"><strong>Berlioz: <em>Un Bal<\/em> (A Ball) from <em>Symphonie Fantastique<\/em><\/strong><\/h3><p>When he was 24, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/hector-berlioz\"><strong>Berlioz<\/strong><\/a> went to a performance of Hamlet, where he fell distractedly in love with the actress Harriett Smithson. He sent her love letters which she ignored. At a further attempt to capture her attention, <strong>Berlioz<\/strong> poured his broken heart into <em>Symphonie Fantastique<\/em>.<\/p><p>She later listened to the piece, realised he was rather talented, and married him the following year. Unfortunately, they probably should have left their relationship within the brilliant symphony because the marriage became increasingly miserable and they eventually separated. <\/p><p>Read more about the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/articles\/love-story-behind-berliozs-symphonie-fantastique\">love story behind Berlioz’s <em>Symphonie fantastique <\/em>here<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p><p>We named the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/recordings\/best-recordings-berliozs-symphonie-fantastique\">best recordings of <em>Symphonie fantastique <\/em>here<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p><ul><li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/article\/six-best-pieces-classical-music-summer\"><strong>The best classical music inspired by the summer<\/strong><\/a><\/li><li\/><\/ul><h3 id=\"h-schumann-kreisleriana\"><strong>Schumann: <em>Kreisleriana<\/em><\/strong><\/h3><p> Kreisleriana was written incredibly in only four days in 1838 as a dedication to his wife <strong>Clara<\/strong>. At this point in their relationship she had accepted his offer of marriage and they were in the process of fighting her father who was opposed to them. Eventually they took him to court, the judge ruled in their favour, and the happy couple married the day before <strong>Clara<\/strong>\u2019s 21st birthday.<\/p><p>In the end, <strong>Schumann<\/strong> dedicated <em>Kreisleriana<\/em> to <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/frederic-chopin\">Chopin<\/a><\/strong> who apparently commented favourably only on the design of the title page\u2026 <\/p><ul><li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/article\/six-best-schubert-songs\"><strong>Six of the best Schubert songs<\/strong><\/a><\/li><\/ul><h3><strong>Benjamin Britten: <em>Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo<\/em><\/strong><\/h3><p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/topic\/benjamin-britten\">Britten<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s first full song cycle for his partner, the tenor Peter Pears, written as a love letter to him. A tribute of romantic music from one lover to another. <\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Jeremy Pound Published: Friday, 02 February 2024 at 14:46 PM You\u2019ve lit the candles, have the champagne ready and the oysters are on ice. Now all it needs is a little classical music to make your Valentine’s Day supper just perfect. May we, then, suggest the following pieces of romantic classical music to accompany […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":38317,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"8"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/02\/romantic-classical-music-the-best-pieces-inspired-by-love-scaled.jpg",2560,1707,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/02\/romantic-classical-music-the-best-pieces-inspired-by-love-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/02\/romantic-classical-music-the-best-pieces-inspired-by-love-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/02\/romantic-classical-music-the-best-pieces-inspired-by-love-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/02\/romantic-classical-music-the-best-pieces-inspired-by-love-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/02\/romantic-classical-music-the-best-pieces-inspired-by-love-1536x1024.jpg",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/02\/romantic-classical-music-the-best-pieces-inspired-by-love-2048x1365.jpg",2048,1365,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Jeremy Pound Published: Friday, 02 February 2024 at 14:46 PM You\u2019ve lit the candles, have the champagne ready and the oysters are on ice. Now all it needs is a little classical music to make your Valentine’s Day supper just perfect. May we, then, suggest the following pieces of romantic classical music to accompany…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/38316"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

Best romantic classical music inspired by love<\/h2>