The common practice period in European art music is defined by three major eras: the Baroque, Classical, and Romantic eras of music. Each era is associated with a series of differing artistic aesthetics and ideals that permeate and continually develop throughout the era. These eras of musical aesthetics can generally be divided into three sections: A. Early, in which the aesthetics of the new era are being compiled and exhibited. B. High, in which the aesthetics of the era have been essentially codified and receive widespread acceptance. C. Late, in which the development of said aesthetics reaches a zenith and can no longer be further extended without the emergence of a new period in music. In the late sections of every musical period, there is a timeframe in which the older aesthetics of the period are being extended to a breaking point. This timeframe is often labeled as the transitional period in a musical era, where the foundation of the musical aesthetic is still firmly rooted in the older era yet the use of extended techniques points towards the emergence of a new era. 

Chronologically defining the major eras in music (as well as their early, middle, and late sections) is difficult and often a source of contention for music historians. This is because music aesthetics are not monolithic; ideas develop as gradually as the seasons change and it can be hard to pinpoint an exact year in which the old era has died and the next era springs anew. 

With the hindsight of modern history, we can look at specific turning points during transitional periods as major signals of the end of an era. For example, we often look at the deaths of defining musical figures to symbolize deaths of an era, especially if the death of the composer was not followed immediately by major composers who continued the deceased’s musical aesthetics. This can be compounded with the emergence of new aesthetic schools of thought around the same time as the major figure’s death. Using this kind of criteria, most historians agree that the Baroque era ended with the death of Johann Sebastian Bach in 1750, and the Classical era ended with the death of Schubert in 1828 (preceded by the death of Beethoven in 1827). These chronological definitions are made stronger by the simultaneous emergence of a new generation who, while still being influenced by the older generation, forged new musical boundaries that exceeded and expanded the language of music past what was formerly considered acceptable. E.g., Bach’s sons continued his legacy in wildly contrasting directions, leading to the early Classical era in which the aesthetics of the Galant style reigned supreme. Schubert’s death is succeeded by the emergence of works such as Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique (1830) and Chopin’s Op.10 Études (1832), both of which expanded the language of music far beyond the boundaries of Classicism. 

So if the Baroque and Classical eras have widely accepted formal chronological distinctions, what of the Romantic era? Musical historians have struggled with placing an exact date on the end of the Romantic era, with many of them acknowledging that around the turn of the 20th century, the Romantic era simply bled into Modernism and all that followed. Indeed, with major musical figures as different as Schoenberg and Elgar finding their own varying degrees of success at the time, the distinctions between the Romantic and Modern eras become quite muddled. In truth, it is impossible to attain objective chronological distinctions between any era or period of music; we only assign approximate dates for convenience and pedagogical purposes. In this vein, I will attempt to assign approximate dates for the various sections within Romantic music and assign a date to its eventual decline and death.