Program Music

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Program Music Do you ever just close your eyes and listen to music? If so, there is a good chance the music will cause you to experience a range of emotions and envision scenes based on what you are hearing. Even when there are no words, you can feel the image of the music. For example, when listening to Spring, from The Four Seasons by Antonio Vivaldi, you can hear the water flowing and the birds chirping. This is what composers call program music. It is instrumental music that can lead you to visualize non-musical events. There are no lyrics but the picture in your mind is as clear as if someone was verbally describing the scene to you. I believe program music can depict scenes with just the use of instruments. There are four main kinds of program music including the concert overture, incidental music to a play, the program symphony and the symphonic poem. The concert overture is a concert piece for the orchestra that is a single-movement. It is not a prelude to a larger symphonic work. Examples of concert overtures include Tragic Overture by Johannes Brahms and Overture in G-min...

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