Franz Schubert
1797-1828An Austrian composer who died at just 31 but still wrote hundreds of pieces, especially art songs called lieder — short, expressive songs for a singer and piano that set poems to unforgettable melodies.
What does "Romantic" mean in music?
"Romantic" music isn't really about love stories — it means music that expresses big feelings and imagination, the way Romantic-era poets and painters did. Composers wrote music that told stories, painted pictures in sound, or simply poured out an emotion, rather than following the neat, balanced forms of the Classical era.
Meet the piano's big moment
The piano became the star instrument of the era. Unlike the harpsichord, a piano lets you play the exact same note loud or soft depending on how hard you press the key — that's actually where its full name, "pianoforte," comes from ("soft-loud" in Italian). That expressive range made it perfect for the intimate, feeling-driven music Romantic composers wanted to write.
Music that tells a story
Composers also got more personal about who and what they wrote for. Some pieces described specific scenes or stories (called "programme music"), and — as you'll see with Robert Schumann below — some composers even wrote music specifically about childhood.