Only two new genres emerged during the Romantic period: art song and symphonic poetry.

The resistance of the spirit of the Romantic period to classical ideals can be summed up in many words: sensibility versus reason, innovation versus conformity, fanaticism versus reason, and the individual versus the group. However, from a pure perspective, the musical works of Romantic composers do not so much represent a revolution against classicist ideals as they actually represent a gradual development beyond this ideal.

Those musical genres that existed during the Classical period: the symphony, the concerto, the string quartet, the piano sonata, and the opera continued to be popular throughout the nineteenth century, despite some changes in form. Only two new musical genres emerged during the Romantic period: art song and symphonic poetry.

Composers still use musical materials from Haydn, Mozart and the young Beethoven, but make them more expressive, more personal and more colorful.

The Romantic period saw the peak of melodic development, as it became longer and rhythmically more flexible. Structurally, they are no longer as neat and symmetrical as they were in the Classical period; they are more irregular. At the same time, Romantic melodies continued a trend developed in the late 18th century in which themes became more vocal and more singable.

Countless melodies composed by Schubert, Chopin, and Tchaikovsky have been adapted into popular songs and movie themes, especially love stories in movies, because these melodies are very expressive.