Musical Style: Romantic

Romantic period 1815 - 1910

Romantic style

The Romantic era established the idea of tonality.  Composers  took the great structural harmonic plans of Bach and Beethoven and added their own chromatic innovations, ranging through key changes like giants in the mountains. 
Chromaticism and dissonance started to be used. Modulations could be effected with a single pivot note rather than pivot chords.

Romantic structure

The Romantic era extended  sonata form, producing huge symphonies. 
But alongside this, there was an explosion in the composition of songs and songs without words.  Field and Chopin wrote many nocturnes for piano.  Many piano works also had narrative or pictorial structures, such as Liszt's "Années de pélérinage" or Grieg's Lyric pieces.  Composers such as Dvorak, Mahler and Arensky also became aware of their own national styles and brought folk songs and dances into 'art' music in new ways.  This was arguably the golden age for expressive pianistic writing, seen in the work of Chopin, Mendelssohn, Liszt and Grieg.       
The Romantic period also saw the rise of the virtuoso solo performer.  Liszt (above), in addition to his skills as a composer, was also a flamboyant and dazzling pianist and consummate showman.  

Romantic instruments

One of the most important features of the 18th century was the development of the piano from a wooden-framed instrument with leather-covered hammers to an instrument with an iron frame and felt-covered hammers much like the upright and grand pianos of today. The greater strength of the frame allowed for longer, thicker strings and as a result, a much warmer and richer sound.