 The 19th century is the age of Romanticism in European literature, art, and music.Italian opera forsakes the Comic opera for the more serious fare of Italian lyric Romanticism.Although the generally light-hearted and ever-popular Rossini was certainly an exception to that, Italian music of the 19th century is dominated at the beginning by the likes of Bellini and Donizetti, giving to Italian music the lyrical melodies that have remained associated with it ever since.