Neoromanticism was a term that originated in literary theory in the early 19th century to distinguish later kinds of romanticism from earlier manifestations.
The designation "neo" was used to acknowledge the fact that music of the second half of the 19th century remained in a romantic mode in an unromantic age, dominated by positivism, when literature and painting had moved on to realism and impressionism.
[4][5])The United States has a sizable tradition of neoromantic composers, following practitioners from the mid-20th century such as Aaron Copland, Samuel Barber, Leonard Bernstein, David Diamond, Ned Rorem and John Corigliano.
[6] Younger generations include Richard Danielpour, Jennifer Higdon, Aaron Jay Kernis, Robert Maggio and Christopher Rouse.
[6] Since the mid-1970s the term has come to be identified with neoconservative postmodernism, especially in Germany, Austria, and the United States, with composers such as Wolfgang Rihm and George Rochberg.