He was an eclectic, and his first aim seems to have been to give the drama a tonal investiture which should be in keeping with its character, external as well as internal.
At times his music rushes along like a lava stream of passion, every measure pulsating with eager, excited, and exciting life.

He revels in instrumental color.

The language of his orchestra is as glowing as the poetry attributed to the royal poet whom his operatic story celebrates.
Many composers before him made use of Oriental cadences, rhythms, and idioms, but to none do they seem to have come so like native language as to Goldmark.

It is romantic music, against which the strongest objection that can be urged is that it is so unvaryingly stimulated that it wearies the mind and makes the listener long for a change to a fresher and healthier musical atmosphere..