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.

---

absolute music British  

noun

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

---

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

Korngold admitted that listeners might hear the terrors of Nazism in it, but still insisted that it should be seen as “pure, absolute music, with no program whatsoever.”

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

In his first two symphonies his speech was chiefly of Finland but thereafter he seemed more determined to make absolute music which would speak for itself.

From Time Magazine Archive

Here, of course, unlike absolute music, the tones are expressive, not only as other tones are through their mere sound, but also through their meaning.

From The Principles of Aesthetics by Parker, Dewitt H.