The terms novelette and novelettish can also be derogatory, suggesting fiction which is "trite, feeble or sentimental" (Chambers Dictionary).
The word was used by the composer Robert Schumann as a title for some piano pieces, a choice that reflected his literary background and interests. The music in question (op. 21, and op. 99 no. 9) is episodic however and does not especially resemble a narrative. He was followed by Niels Gade, Stephen Heller and much later by Francis Poulenc, Witold Lutosławski ("Novelette for Orchestra"), Chaminade, Alexander Tcherepnin, and George Gershwin ("Novelette in Fourths").
