Ask most people what they consider a romantic song, and you'll get answers like John Legend's "All of Me" or most anything from Marvin Gaye. But, as you know, the capital "R" in Romantic music is works composed in the Romantic style, which arose during the Romantic Period. But what characterizes Romantic Period music? How did it evolve? These are some of the questions we'll answer here.

Short description of what Romantic Era music is

At its core, composers of the Romantic Era saw music as a means of individual and emotional expression. Indeed, they considered music the art form most capable of expressing the full range of human emotion. As a result, romantic composers broadened the scope of emotional content. Music was expected to communicate to the audience, often by using a narrative form that told distinct stories.

Romantic composers prioritized the emotional or narrative content of the music above its form, which is why they broke so many of the classical composers' rules. Romantic composers didn't reject or break with the musical language developed during the Classical Period. They used its forms as a foundation for their work but felt unconstrained by them.

Beethoven is the originator of this approach. He lived and worked during the transition from the Classical to the Romantic Period, and was an inspiration to the Romantic composers who came after him.

Beethoven's symphonies "shift[ed] the terrain" for what a symphony could be. He also demonstrated coming Romantic Era characteristics, such as composing auto-biographical works and naming movements, such as the third movement of his String Quartet No. 15 in A minor, Op. 132 (Song of Thanksgiving to the Deity from a convalescent in the Lydian mode).