Sturm und Drang

Storm and Stress — a late 18th-century aesthetic movement emphasising intense emotional expression, dramatic contrasts, and turbulent energy in music and literature.

Associated with minor-mode symphonies and keyboard works from the 1760s–70s (Haydn, early Mozart). Anticipated the emotional extremes of Romanticism. In performance, Sturm und Drang passages call for sharp dynamic contrasts and a sense of barely contained agitation.