The Ideals of Instrumental Music At one point in the study of the Romantic period of music, we come upon the first of several apparently opposing conditions that plague all attempts to grasp the meaning of Romantic as applied to the music of the 19th century.  This opposition involved the relation between music and words.  If instrumental music is the perfect Romantic art, why is it acknowledged that the great masters of the symphony, the highest form of instrumental music, were not Romantic composers, but were the Classical composers, Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven?  Moreover, one of the most characteristic 19th century genres was the Lied, a vocal piece in which Shubert, Sc