program music (redirected from Programme symphony)

program music Instrumental music of the 19th and 20th cent. that endeavors to arouse mental pictures or ideas in the thoughts of the listener—to tell a story, depict a scene, or impel a mood. Moussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, intended by the composer as program music, might be contrasted with a symphony of Brahms, which is considered as absolute music. It is so called because it relies on a "program" (an expanatory text or narrative) to explain its extra-musical associations. Examples are the symphonic poems of Liszt, and Sorceror's Apprentice by Dukas.