I'm sure the romantic ideology of the politically shifting landscape at the time also played a role. Freedom of expression is very important for this all to hav

I'm sure the romantic ideology of the politically shifting landscape at the time also played a role. Freedom of expression is very important for this all to have taken place, but being "real" tends to look different to different people. To those complaining about current artists being "cookie cutter" and simply copying the past, there are plenty of prolific composers and 60's bands that have songs that are heavily influenced by other artists in which you could easily tell where they got that material from. There have been terrible "pop" artists that have gained recognition since the times of medieval taverns to the 21st century (although their reach to the masses is much greater now). Tchaikovsky began writing compositions very similar to his influencers, just like some current artists have done with the music they grew up listening to. And honestly, that's ok.