By Nathan Straub

Have you ever enjoyed the music that plays during a movie? Do you suddenly have “aha!” moments when you learn that a theme from an old cartoon was actually a legitimate composition (thank you, Looney Tunes!)?

You can thank the Romantic Period for these familiar sensations. The fact is that when most people think of classical music, they are thinking of the symphonies, concertos, operas, and sonatas of the Romantic period. Composers such as Chopin, Wagner, Debussy, Verdi, Puccini, Mahler, Schumann, Schubert, Beethoven (to be discussed a separate time!), and many more composed thousands of pieces still performed around the world.