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Program music or programmatic music is a type of instrumental art music that attempts to musically render an extramusical narrative. The narrative itself might be offered to the audience through the piece's title, or in the form of program notes , inviting imaginative correlations with the music.
- Four Sea Interludes by Benjamin Britten. Year: 1944. Britten’s Four Sea Interludes are the result of Britten’s opera Peter Grimes. The interludes condense the opera plot and use only instrumentation to tell the devastating story of how a village turns on one of its occupants.
- Rodeo by Aaron Copland. Year: 1942. Aaron Copeland is one of the most recognizable American composers of program music, and Rodeo is one of his most immediately identifiable pieces.
- Symphony No. 9 From the New World by Antonin Dvorak. Year: 1893. Dvorak's New World Symphony owes its nickname to the fact Dvorak composed it while employed by the National Conservatory of Music in America.
- L'Après Midi D’un Faune by Claude Debussy. Year: 1894. Claude Debussy almost always wrote program music, and the result is that he significantly shaped our understanding of it.
Feb 20, 2024 · A Complete Guide. Written by Dan Farrant. Last updated 20th February 2024. In Western classical music, program music refers to a piece (usually instrumental rather than vocal) that is about something or that has some kind of extra-musical meaning.
Program music, instrumental music that carries some extramusical meaning, some “program” of literary idea, legend, scenic description, or personal drama. It is contrasted with so-called absolute, or abstract, music, in which artistic interest is supposedly confined to abstract constructions in.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Jul 15, 2023 · Program music, in simple words, is instrumental music that carries a narrative or depicts specific scenes or moods. Way before lyrics took center stage, program music was the go-to method for musicians looking to tell a tale. To the uninitiated, program music might seem like a cryptic term.
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Jan 25, 2024 · Program music is a distinct genre within classical music that seeks to portray extra-musical concepts, encompassing narratives, landscapes, emotions, or specific events, through instrumental sounds.
Jul 9, 2023 · In classical music, programme music refers to a piece of music that has an extra musical narrative. In other words, music that tells a story. This is in direct contrast to abstract or absolute music which is music written for its own sake. All programme music is based on a specific narrative to evoke extra musical ideas or images.
