Program music
Program music, also known as programme music, is a genre of music that aims to narrate a specific story, evoke a scene, or express a mood. Distinct from absolute music, which exists solely for its own sake without conveying a narrative, program music flourished during the Romantic period in the nineteenth century, with composers like Hector Berlioz and Franz Liszt at the forefront. It encompasses three main forms: tone poems, concert overtures, and program symphonies, each designed to musically depict a particular theme or emotion. Notable examples include Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture and Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition.
The roots of program music trace back to the eighteenth century, with early influences such as Vivaldi's The Four Seasons and Beethoven's Symphony No. 6, which began to hint at narrative qualities. However, it was Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique that marked a significant development in this genre by integrating a distinct narrative structure. Throughout the nineteenth and into the twentieth century, composers like Richard Strauss and Igor Stravinsky expanded upon program music, creating pieces that remain influential today. Contemporary interpretations of program music can also be found in modern video game scores, where composers enhance the gaming experience through immersive musical storytelling.
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Program music
Program music, or programme music, is a type of music that describes a specific story, scene, or mood. It is the opposite of absolute music, which refers to compositions that function only as independent musical pieces and convey no underlying narrative. Program music first became popular during the nineteenth-century Romantic period thanks to the works of successful programmatic composers such as Hector Berlioz and Franz Liszt. Some of the most well-known examples of program music include Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture (1880) and Modest Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition (1874). The three primary forms of program music include the tone poem, the concert overture, and the program symphony. Although they differ in arrangement and scope, all three forms are meant to musically convey a specific narrative or conjure some sort of emotion. Regardless of its specific form, program music is an evocative type of music that creates a moving experience for the listener.
Background
Program music can take the form of a tone poem, a concert overture, or a program symphony. A tone poem, or symphonic poem, is a long single-movement piece composed for orchestral performance. Most tone poems have a free-form structure and are designed to be played by large orchestras. One of the best-known examples of a tone poem is Liszt's Hamlet. Composed in 1858, Hamlet offers a musical profile of William Shakespeare's title character in the tragic play of the same name.
Concert overtures are a variation on the traditional overture, which is an orchestral piece typically played as the introduction to an opera. As opposed to traditional overtures, concert overtures are freestanding pieces meant for concert performance that are not connected to an opera or any other works. Like tone poems, concert overtures are single-movement pieces. Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, an especially bombastic piece featuring cathedral bells and cannon fire, is one of the most familiar examples of a concert overture. Composer Felix Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night's Dream (1826) is generally considered the first concert overture ever written.
Program symphonies are larger, multi-movement musical pieces built around an extra-musical theme. Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique (1830) is an example of a program symphony. Consisting of five separate movements, Symphonie fantastique explores the tale of an especially gifted artist who poisons himself with opium after he is thrust into a deep despair brought on by unrequited love. In each movement, the artist's unattainable love appears in different forms to haunt him and push him further into madness.
A number of key characteristics are commonly associated with program music. One of these characteristics is the use of special musical motifs that represent certain characters or images. Composers also sometimes use specific musical instruments to represent a given character or image. Another common technique in program music is the transformation of established themes to reflect changes in the narrative. Many composers of program music also complement the narrative they are trying to weave by incorporating musical effects that imitate natural sounds like thunderclaps. These and other musical devices breathe life into a piece of program music and help to convey its intended narrative or imagery.
Overview
Although it did not reach its maturity until later in the nineteenth century, the early roots of program music first began to form in the eighteenth century. Up until that time, most classical music was absolute music, which meant that it had no greater meaning beyond the composition itself. Absolute music made no attempt to tell a story or create an image in the listener's mind. It was simply music for the sake of music. The trend away from absolute music began with composer Antonio Vivaldi's The Four Seasons (1725). While it did not convey any sort of narrative, The Four Seasons included separate concertos that individually represented spring, summer, autumn, and winter. The earliest example of true program music was Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 6 in F major, also known as the Pastoral (1808). Unlike The Four Seasons, Beethoven's Pastoral is specifically designed to evoke images of life in the countryside. It is important to note, however, that some music from this period is incorrectly labeled as program music. Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 14 (1801), for example, was originally written as a piece of absolute music and only erroneously came to be seen by some as program music when it was later redubbed the Moonlight Sonata.
Program music began to reach its mature form when Berlioz composed Symphonie fantastique in 1830. This landmark work was the first to convey a distinct narrative through music. In addition to pioneering this sort of musical depiction of story, Berlioz contributed to the development of program music by inspiring other composers to follow his example. Most notably, his friend and colleague Liszt was moved to experiment with program music himself and became a prolific composer of tone poems. Included among these are such works as Hamlet, Prometheus (1850), and Orpheus (1853). Liszt's trademark technique was using variations in orchestral tone color to describe certain moods or events.
The popularity of program music continued to grow throughout the remainder of the nineteenth century. Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky was among those who helped make that growth possible. His Pictures at an Exhibition was a particularly notable piece of program music that attempted to convey the point of view of a person examining the works of painter Viktor Hartmann at an art exhibit. Mussorgsky also composed Night on Bald Mountain (1886), which depicts a gathering of spirits on St. John's Eve. Similarly, German composer Richard Strauss wrote a series of tone poems that stand as powerful examples of program music. Perhaps most notable among these was Also sprach Zarathustra (1896), meaning "Thus Spoke Zarathustra," which was inspired by the Friedrich Nietzsche novel of the same name and later gained fame when it was used in the score of 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). Strauss's other well-known tone poems and program music pieces include Eine Alpensinfonie (1915), Don Quixote (1897), and Don Juan (1889).
The composition of program music continued into the twentieth century. Some examples of more modern program music include Jean Sibelius's Finlandia (1900), Igor Stravinsky's Fireworks (1908), Gustav Holst's The Planets (1914), Ottorino Respighi's Pines of Rome (1924), Johan de Meij's Symphony No. 1 "The Lord of the Rings" (1987), and Michael Daugherty's Metropolis Symphony (1993). Most of the primary examples of classical program music were composed before the twenty-first century. However, some experts consider much of the music composed for modern video games to be program music. Composers use the music’s style to enhance the game’s quality by creating an immersive experience for the player.
Bibliography
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Elizabeth, Mary. "What Is Program Music?" WiseGEEK, 23 May 2024, www.wisegeek.org/what-is-program-music.htm. Accessed 20 Nov. 2024.
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