10 Famous Program Music

Descriptive or Programme Music

A simple description of a program music: it refers to music that portrays specifically what the composer wants to communicate to the listener or audience. It tells stories with the voices of instruments.

1. An American in Paris (1928), by George Gershwin
An American reacts to the atmosphere of Paris, France. It even includes taxi horns. One of his best-known compositions, George Gershwin's An American in Paris is a jazz-influenced symphonic poem he composed in 1928. It is inspired by the time he had spent in Paris in the 1920s, evoking the sights and energy of the the city.

2. Carnival of the Animals (1886), by Camille Saint-Saëns
The Carnival of the Animals (Le carnaval des animaux) is a short piece of music, around 25 minutes, known as the "grand zoological fantasy," as the French composer Camille Saint Saens called it. It depicts a parade of animals, portrayed with a wonderful humour. It is a musical suite of 14 movements, written for private performance by an ad hoc ensemble of two pianos and other instruments. (Refer to February 26 video.)

3. Four Seasons (c. 1725), by Antonio Vivaldi
Antonio Vivaldi's most famous Four Seasons includes four concerti representing the four seasons: Summer, Spring, Autumn and Winter. This music is his most recorded and performed compositions. It was first played by the talented orphans of the Conservatorio dell' Ospedale della Pietà in 18th-century Venice, for which Vivaldi wrote instrumental music and oratorios.

4. On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring (1912), by Frederick Delius
On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring is a tone poem, a lovely scene, composed by Delius and first performed in Leipzig on October 23, 1913. The orchestral strings produce an atmosphere of a warm spring day, and a cuckoo still away a lovely mood through the woodwind. The piece opens with a slow three-bar sequence. Its first theme is an exchange of cuckoo calls, first for oboe, then for divided strings. The second theme is scored for first violins, taken from a Norwegian folk song, "In Ola Valley," which was brought to his attention by Percy Grainger, Australian composer and folk-arranger. The clarinet returns with the cuckoo before the piece finishes in a pastoral fashion. The music has such a pastoral beauty and serenity in the air.  (Delius 'On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring' - Felix Slatkin conducts. YouTube, uploaded by adam28xx. Accessed August 22, 2020)