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

It is descriptive music, tonal painting if you will; but the color is local or national.

From Symphonies and Their Meaning; Third Series, Modern Symphonies by Goepp, Philip H.

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

It is as well though, in dealing with this subject, to draw a distinction between purely imitative and descriptive music.

From Masters of French Music by Hervey, Arthur

It is perpetually present, so that at last one comes to think, as I have been compelled to think this long time, that Purcell wrote nothing but descriptive music all his life.

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