Besides the lied, the other chief type of Romantic miniature composition was the short piano piece. Such pieces were written in great profusion in the nineteenth century, and they appeared under many names. Frédéric Chopin preferred simple genre titles such as Nocturne, Waltz, Scherzo, or Étude (study). Robert Schumann preferred descriptive titles. Piano miniatures were composed at all levels of difficulty, ranging from virtuoso showpieces, which hardly anyone but their composers could manage, to unassuming pieces playable (and enjoyed) by beginning students.

A good general name for these short Romantic piano pieces (one sometimes used by the Romantics themselves) is character pieces, for the essential point about them is that each portrays some definite mood or character. In principle, at least, this is as true of the brilliant virtuoso works as of the simple ones. Each conveys an intense, distinct emotion — an emotion often hinted at by an imaginative title supplied by the composer.

This explains why the Romantic character piece can be thought of as analogous to the Romantic song, or lied, though without its poem. Indeed, six books of such piano pieces by Felix Mendelssohn are entitled Songs without Words. Some of them have descriptive subtitles that stress still further their similarity to lieder: “Spinning Song,” “Spring Song,” “Venetian Boat Song.”