Final answer:
Musical Romanticism of the 19th century embraced the small through character pieces like Chopin's Nocturnes and Schumann's Kinderszenen, and the big with expansive works such as Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 and Wagner's opera cycles. These contrasting scales emphasized personal emotion and the shift away from Classical forms.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Romantic era in music embraced both the small and the big in terms of composition and the emotions they were meant to evoke. Examples of how musical Romanticism embraced the small include character pieces like Frédéric Chopin's Nocturnes and Robert Schumann's Kinderszenen, small-scale piano works that express deep emotional content and narrative storytelling through music. On the other hand, the large scale can be represented by grandiose symphonies and operas, such as Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 and Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen, which are expansive in both their musical architecture and their dramatic scope.
These contrasts in scale reflect Romanticism's broad emotional range, from the intimately personal to the vastly epic. The smaller pieces were often more accessible to the emerging middle-class audiences, aligning with their tastes and the capacities of their private salons. Conversely, the large-scale works were designed for the grand public performances that became more commonplace due to the rise of a musically interested public. Both small and large forms demonstrate Romanticism's emphasis on individual emotion, narrative storytelling, and breaking away from the stricter forms of the Classical era.