The Romantic movement in music blossomed across Europe during the nineteenth century. Fueled by the vision of Beethoven, the poetry of Schubert, and the hyper-emotionalism of Schumann, composers tapped their inner selves, often deeply inspired by their native cultures. Johannes Brahms, declared to be the heir to the mantle of Beethoven, adhered to the discipline of the classical age, yet, who has ever composed more romantically and with such passion? Gustav Mahler, whose symphonies expanded music’s horizon by leaps and bounds, penned his only work of chamber music, this achingly beautiful movement, as an idealistic student. And César Franck, the lion of French romantic composers, brought all of his sensuousness and seriousness to this epic quintet, one of the literature’s most cherished masterpieces.