Absolute vs. Programme Music

Absolute Music

“Pure” music – instrumental music that operates without reference to an extra-musical narrative or inspiration

A musical category that entered aesthetic discourse with the early German Romantic writers of the late-18th and early-19th centuries

Programme Music

As distinct from Absolute Music

Music which is related to an extra-musical idea, image, narrative, or structure

All music with a text can be considered programmatic

In the 19th century a distinct compositional approach developed around the concept of programmatic instrumental music

Ingres

Apotheosis of Homer

(1824)

The Romantic Character PieceDefinition according to Grove:

“A piece of music, usually for piano solo, expressing either a single mood (e.g. martial, dream-like, pastoral) or a programmatic idea defined by its title.”

Major Composers:

Schubert, Schumann, Mendelssohn, Chopin, various later composers

Some “Types” of Character Pieces:

MarchWaltzPreludeBalladeNocturneScherzoSongs without words and other descriptive works

Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849)Polish, but lived mostly in France

Composed primarily for piano

The man and the music: considered “delicate,” “sensitive”

Wrote highly expressive, melodically charged, harmonically adventurous music

Notable Works:

NocturnesMazurkasPolonaisesWaltzes, Ballades, Preludes

Robert Schumann (1810-1856)German composer, primarily active in Leipzig

Also very influential as a writer on music

Composed

String Quartets, Piano Quintet, Symphonies, Piano Concerto, Songs, Character Pieces

Interest in German Romantic literature informed a series of programmatic piano works which were also infused with biographical references

Robert and Clara Schumann

Franz Liszt (1811-1886)Hungarian pianist and composer

Lived variously in Austria, Germany, France

After Clara Schumann, most preeminent pianist of early-to-mid-19th Century

Major supporter of other composers

Piano music is known for vast technical difficulties

Highly experimental harmonic and formal procedures

Berlioz and Liszt:The Programme Symphony/

Symphonic Poem/Tone Poem

Original conception of Programme Music:

Music that is specifically concerned with narrative development – that is, with “telling a story”

Representing in sound a specific corresponding image/state

At original performances of programmatic works a written narrative was handed out to audience members to guard against an incorrect interpretation of the music

Hector Berlioz(1803-1869)