<P> One of the first significant applications of the term to music was in 1789 , in the Mémoires by the Frenchman André Grétry , but it was E.T.A. Hoffmann who really established the principles of musical romanticism , in a lengthy review of Ludwig van Beethoven 's Fifth Symphony published in 1810 , and in an 1813 article on Beethoven 's instrumental music . In the first of these essays Hoffmann traced the beginnings of musical Romanticism to the later works of Haydn and Mozart . It was Hoffmann 's fusion of ideas already associated with the term `` Romantic '' , used in opposition to the restraint and formality of Classical models , that elevated music , and especially instrumental music , to a position of pre-eminence in Romanticism as the art most suited to the expression of emotions . It was also through the writings of Hoffmann and other German authors that German music was brought to the centre of musical Romanticism ( Samson 2001 ) . </P>
how is music from the romantic era generally characterized
the art most suited to the expression of emotions