Music

One great, exciting piece to try if you want to get into classical music--specifically the Romantic type, is Beethoven's famous Sonata No. 8 in C minor [Opus 13], called 'Sonata Pathétique', in its 1st movement, played on the piano by Brendel here.

It came out in 1799 but feels very emotional, very sweeping. You can see how Beethoven has already moved onto this new 'Romantic' music from the earlier 'Classical period' stage in the West. The timeline in Europe goes about:
Ancient and then Early Music c. pre-500 by region
Medieval Europe c. 500-1400 -- ie. Léonin, W. de Wycombe, Pérotin
Renaissance c. 1400-1600 -- ie. Palestrina, Josquin des Prez, Byrd
>>>These following below are often all called 'Classical' in common talk:
Baroque c. 1600-1720 -- ie. JS Bach, Handel, Vivaldi, Telemann, Monteverdi
Classical c. 1730-1820 -- ie. Haydn, Mozart, CPE Bach, Gluck, Boccherini
Romantic c. 1815-1930 -- ie. Beethoven, Schubert, Liszt, Chopin, Wagner

Romantic music was often extremely emotional, nationalistic, engaging and aware of its self-importance [ie. Wagner wanting people to sit and listen silently to his work instead of eating, talking and playing cards with the music as a light diversion and soundtrack in the background]

Start listening at the 1:45 mark and listen as the sweet, delicate structure morphs into something incredibly exciting. This mark was also used in the evening concert scene in the palace during the Beethoven film Immortal Beloved with Gary Oldman playing the composer himself. Isabella Rosselini is also great in the film, and interestingly, she actually had a romance with him in real life.