Program music tells a story or depicts a scene without words through instrumental music. It developed in the 19th century drawing from sources outside of music like encounters with nature. There are four main forms of orchestral program music: 1) program symphonies which have multiple movements and a descriptive title, 2) concert overtures which are one-movement pieces in sonata form, 3) symphonic poems which are one-movement tone poems written for orchestra in various forms, and 4) incidental music intended to accompany dramatic performances. Piano music was also popular as a programmatic form, with composers like Chopin writing nocturnes, preludes, etudes, and dances to depict moods and scenes

1. Program and
Piano Music
Music 9 Lesson #1

2. Program Music
•19th century
•Sources outside music
•Encounter with nature
•Instrumental music
• Moods, emotions, aspects of love

3. •It tells a story without words
•Written for piano or orchestra

4. Four Main Forms of
Orchestral Program Music
1. Program Symphony
 numerous movements
Symphony with program
Descriptive title

5. 1. Reveries, Passions
2. A Ball
3. Scene in the Country
4. March to the Scaffold
5. Dream of a Witches’ Sabbath
Symphonie Fantastique
by Hector Berlioz

6. 2. Concert Overture
 1 movement – sonata form
Opera overture
Independent composition

7. 3. Symphonic Poem
 Tone poem
For orchestra (1 movement)
Written in many forms
Invented by Franz Liszt
Expression for nationalism
Les Prelude – Franz Liszt
Till Eulenspiegel – Richard Strauss

8. 4. Incidental Music
 intended to accompany the action
or mood of a dramatic stage
performance.
 important moments.
Mendelssohn’s “Wedding March”
 Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s
Dream”

9. Piano Music
•Popularity in piano
•Piano performer is also the
composer
•Mozart and Beethoven

10. Chopin
“Poet of the piano”
Nocturne
Night song
A kind of serenade
Nocturne in E-flat Major, Op. 9
Impromptu
Extemporaneous character

11. Prelude
Short mood piece
Chopin’s Prelude in C Minor
Minuet
Slender or small
Very small dance steps
Three-four time
Accompanies dances

12. Scherzo
Joke
Etude
Study
Exercise
Piano studies

13. Mazurka and Polonaise
Stylized dance pieces
Based on Polish
Suite
Sonata de camera
Series of dance movements