Development to 19th Century Romantic Music

 c. 1730         -  The popularity of baroque music begins fading and a nascent classical music, 
                          galant, developes.  The classical symphony develops in the 1740s.  

 1768 - 1772  -  Joseph Haydn writes five minor key symphonies that have been associated with 
                          the proto-romantic Sturm und Drang literary movement.

 1780s            -  Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart contributes to the Sturm und Drang style with 
                           two minor key symphonies, two piano sonatas, two piano concertos and more.  

 1799              -  Ludwig van Beethoven publishes the dramatic Pathétique piano sonata.  

 1801              -  Beethoven publishes the "Moonlight" piano sonata.

 1805              -  Beethoven premiers his third symphony, the "Eroica", generally considered
                          to be a milestone in the transition from classicism to romanticism.

 1806 - 1826   -  Beethoven continues the move toward romanticism.  Between 1815 and 1828, 
                           Franz Schubert makes vital romantic contributions.

 1830               -  Frederic Chopin publishes his second piano concerto and Hector Berlioz's 
                           Symphonie fantastique is premiered in Paris.

c. 1830 - 1860  -  Franz Liszt, Felix Mendelssohn, and Robert Schumann, along with Berlioz and Chopin, 
                             are the most important instrumental composers of the early Romantic era.