Everybody knows that to unlock a door you need a key. In the same way, to unlock a piece from a certain musical time period, you need a key.

There are three different keys you can use to unlock a Romantic Era piece. The first is the date. Since Romantic music was composed in the 1800s, the piece has to have been composed in the 1800s, also. The composer is the second key. Some popular Romantic composers include Mendelssohn, Chopin, Schumann, Liszt, Brahms, Grieg, and many more. The final key is the style of the piece. Because Romantic music was a reaction to eloquent, particular classical music, most Romantic music is big and grand. Also, Romantic music generally uses a wide range of dynamics. This is because the full scale piano had recently been invented, and it took the place of a smaller piano on which dynamics were almost impossible to produce. You can use these three keys to decide if a piece you are playing is from the Romantic Era or not.