h and a greater use of material than previous periods.In the music, the melody receives the greatest emphasis and the style of the music is typically melody with accompaniment. The themes became longer, with more irregular phrases than in the classical period, and the rhythms became more complex, including the use of compound meters, changing meters, cross rhythms and greater syncopation. Composers of the time also included greater use of dissonant chords, and the style became highly chromatic, which in some cases could cause the breakdown of tonality that would occur more commonly in the 20th Century. Minor keys became more frequent to help portray emotion and feeling, and modulations began to occur more frequently that in previous periods. There was a greater use of dynamics, again to add depth and excitement, which was helped by the continuing development and increasing size of the orchestra. Many forms did survive from the Classical and previous periods, such as sonata and rondo, but were greatly expanded. In particular, sonata form became typically much longer, with a greatly expanded development section. Many new genres emerged also during the period, including many different piano pieces, the German lieder, song cycles, programmatic overtures and symphonic poems. In almost all genres however, they became greatly expanded in length, and the traditionally formal style of the Classical Period was broken down, to accommodate the more emotional and irrational sounds.Romanticism pushed the boundaries of the Classical era and allowed the increased development of the music of the time. It was a forerunner to the 20th Century classical music, and allowed the emotion and imagination of the individual composers to flourish, pushing the complexity of the music forward and helping the development of the vast array of music that we see today....
