absolute music

American  

noun

1. instrumental music, as a concerto or string quartet, that draws no inspiration from or makes no reference to a text, program, visual image, or title and that exists solely in terms of its musical form, structure, and elements.

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absolute music British  

noun

1. music that is not designed to depict or evoke any scene or event Compare programme music

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Etymology

Origin of absolute music

First recorded in 1885–90

Compare meaning

How does absolute-music compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• program music vs. absolute music

Example Sentences

Is it a piece of absolute music, a symphony in the tradition of Bruckner and Mahler?

From New York Times • Nov. 10, 2022

When Korngold returned to absolute music, it was to slay the same old dragons, though atonality had hardly achieved popular acceptance in the interim.

From New York Times • Nov. 10, 2022

Besides his film music, Morricone wrote more than 150 concert works, which he considered absolute music, many avant-garde.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 7, 2020

"I was very involved in absolute music, in how certain notes react to one another," he says.

From Time Magazine Archive

He did not quite reach absolute music, but in certain moments he divined it, as in the introduction to the fugue of the Sonata for Hammerclavier.

From Sketch of a New Esthetic of Music by Busoni, Ferruccio