Though composers held music as their highest calling, they were also involved in writing. Many Romantic composers published essays (Berlioz, Weber, Schumann, Liszt), and found ways to try to marry poetry with music (Schumann, Schubert, Brahms). This literary breed of composers gave rise to "program music," whereby music was tied to a poetic subject, a narrative or a description. The music attempted to fully embody the subject, then transcend it. Even in those songs that contained words, music was not subordinate.
Increasing numbers of the middle class became part of the audience listening to orchestral music during the Romantic period. Public concerts, music societies, concerts given to promote good causes and concerts backed by entrepreneurs became more common, though access to symphony orchestra music was still limited. Among the important symphonies written during the Romantic era are Beethoven's Ninth Symphony (1823), Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony (1888) and Dvorák's New World Symphony (1893).
Chamber music--music composed for a small group of instruments, one instrument to a part--was not explored by all Romantic era composers. Composers looking for intimate, individual expression looked to the piano solo or lied (German art songs). Those looking for large sounds, layers and textures turned toward orchestral music. Chamber music was therefore written by those Romantic composers who felt also a kinship with the Classical period, which preceded Romanticism. These composers include Schubert, Brahms, Mendelssohn and Schumann.
As with chamber music, many Romantic period composers did not find choral music to be an able vehicle for the intimate expressions they sought to write. Nevertheless, there was activity in the three types of choral music that existed in the 19th century: part-songs, music with religious text and music for chorus and orchestra. A part-song is an unaccompanied choral piece for three or more voices.
Many of the best-known operas date from the Romantic period. In Italy, Gioachino Rossini contributed "The Barber of Seville" and "William Tell," with its famed overture. Giuseppe Verdi wrote 26 operas, among them "Rigoletto," "Aida" and "Otello." In France, Georges Bizet left us "Carmen." Richard Wagner, a giant figure in German opera, wrote a series of essays on opera theory. His works included "Tristan und Isolde," the Ring trilogy and "Parsifal."
Though many consider Beethoven a Classical period composer since he began his career during the era, he is also considered a Romanticist, dying during the Romantic era in 1827. The individuality of the Romantic period can be considered to have arisen from the democratic and egalitarian ideals that characterized the Enlightenment and Classical period. Both the American and French Revolution took place during the era. Living in such transformative times, Beethoven himself was revolutionary, his works breaking tradition in favor of self-expression and inventiveness, spurring innovation during the Romantic period.