What contributed to the popularity of German Lieder in the early nineteenth century was the the flourishing of German literature in the Classical and Romantic era. During this time, compossers found the inspiration in poetry that triggered the genre. Mozart and Bethoven are viewed as pioneers of this type of art, but was Schubert who balanced music and words.
German Lieder (lied; meaning song in German) has its origins in the 12th century. They are songs that combine both poetry and music on themes as pastor or romantic love. First only involved monophonic melodies and with time evolved in polyphonic. In the 18th and 19th centuries it was played by a single singer and a piano, and orchesta acompaniment was a later development.