descriptive music

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Though not overtly descriptive music, its four movements, playing for a little under 20 minutes, imaginatively evoke the feeling of four distinct times in the passage of a day.

From Seattle Times • Oct. 3, 2012

One writer speaks of it as a "piece in which a series of double shakes, and the satanic laugh with which it concludes, are so dear to lovers of descriptive music."

From Among the Great Masters of Music Scenes in the Lives of Famous Musicians by Rowlands, Walter

Fundamentally different the one from the other, each of these compositions comes under the category of descriptive music, and is intended to illustrate a special subject.

From Masters of French Music by Hervey, Arthur

I knew enough of the legend to be able to follow, and moreover I had always heard that Wagner's descriptive music was so wonderful that one understood everything without any text, etc.

From Italian Letters of a Diplomat's Life January-May, 1880; February-April, 1904 by Waddington, Mary Alsop King

Of course, to write an imitative phrase is quite another matter from writing a successful piece of descriptive music.

From Old Scores and New Readings Discussions on Music & Certain Musicians by Runciman, John F.