Musical forms and styles

A few forms, such as the mass and the requiem, continued little changed from the Baroque period. But many new and distinctively romantic forms were developed:

Orchestral

• Symphony: expanded compared to the classical symphony.
• Solo concerto: a large scale work in 3 or 4 movements for solo instrument and orchestra.
• Symphonic poem (tone poem): a piece of music in one movement which explores emotions, programmatic.
• Sonata: a composition for a solo instrument with piano or solo piano. A fairly long work in several movements eg Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven.
• Programme music: a composition for orchestra based on a story or a particular idea.
• Dances: new folk dance forms were introduced, partly as a result of the interest in nationalist musical styles. The Waltz was a dance in 3/4 time, the Polka a round dance in 2/4 time and the Mazurka was a Polish dance in 3/4 time.

Vocal / Choral

• Opera: a wider range of subjects and, in the case of Richard Wagner, much bigger in scale.
• Lied (plural is Lieder): a German song (always sung in German).
• Song cycle: a collection of Lieder.

Styles

• Nationalist: music concerned with creating specifically national styles different from the dominant Austrian and German styles created by Beethoven, Schubert and others. Major composers include Dvorak and Greig.
• Impressionist: a style which sets out to create a sensory impression, often of aspects of the natural world (eg La Mer by Debussy).