Chapter 7: Mozart and the idea of absolute music Treitler begins by referring to 19th-century music critic E.T.A. Hoffman and his characterisation of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven as ”Romantic” composers. The new art, born in the second half of the 18th century, was no longer expressive of something outside of itself, such as moods of affections, contrary to the Affektenlehre doctrine. The term "absolute music", originally created by Wagner, was coined for the new aesthetic. It was founded on the belief that instrumental music could stand on its own and free itself non-musical contents or linguistic associations. Around that time, absolute expression was also an ideal for poetry. This is the reason music came to embody the ideals poetry sought after: the expression of the ineffable, of that which is verbally elusive. It is not Treitler’s intention to try to pin down a taxonomy of traits that allow us to differentiate ”absolute music”, nor to claim that the new musical aesth