Beethoven, Mahler, Schubert, Chopin, and Wagner—the creations nineteenth century composers have moved us and informed our ideas about music for generations. Stephen Walsh links the music of this time to the Romanticism that was defining its culture. Walsh begins with the eighteenth century, when C.P.E. Bach and Haydn were aligned with a literary movement that grew as a reaction to the individualized focus of the Enlightenment. It's an exciting, bold exploration to music that has defined us all.