tone painting

noun

musical description, by harmonic, melodic, or rhythmic means, of the words of a text or the story elements in program music.

Origin of tone painting

First recorded in 1900–05

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Here Verdi has surpassed himself, and given us page after page of dramatic tone-painting of the highest order.
Verdi: Man and Musician | Frederick James Crowest
No one has approached Orlando in the ingenuity, quaintness and humour of his tone-painting.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 16, Slice 2 | Various
His command of color in tone-painting and power of dramatic suggestion have rarely been equaled, and never surpassed.
Great Italian and French Composers | George T. Ferris
A great breath of nature passed over German music, and pushed it towards tone-painting.
Handel | Romain Rolland
And an instant afterwards she was at the piano, throwing her whole soul into that wonderful piece of tone-painting.
Fragments of an Autobiography | Felix Moscheles

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