# When music imitate nature



## immybutty (Jun 13, 2016)

Hey guys... I'm completely new to classic music so i'm not sure if my question is gonna sound really simple borderline ignorant but here goes anyway... my g/f took me to 'Four Seasons' by Antonio Vivaldi and in the programme given to me at the venue it described how Vivaldi wrote his music to imitate the 4 seasons e.g. Spring is recreated via music by imitating the sounds of bird song and how the second solo is performed in a way which represents the flowing of streams and the blowing of the wind etc. 

So my question is this... is this a tradition in the classics to use music to imitate things like nature and other environments like the fast paced noisy ebs and flows of city life etc. Is there a name for this approach to music? Does anyone know of any literature that focuses on this element of music? I know that film music has a lot to say on this as it uses its score to create the environment on screen but I was hoping there was a discipline specifically focused on approaching just music (without visuals) in this way.

Any advice would be great... a piece of loose thread that I can begin to unravel. 

Thanking you in advance

Immybutty


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

A huge subject! In classical music, "pure" abstract music exists side-by-side with music describing bubbling brooks, thunderstorms, battles, the Alps, soccer games, locomotives, even the streets of London or Paris. All the latter fall under the general name of "program music," which can also tell a story without depending on musical "visuals."

Other than that, I don't know of any specific name for descriptive music or specific literature about it. If you start a thread on any given programmatic topic, you're likely to get plenty of replies and listening suggestions, though!


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## immybutty (Jun 13, 2016)

Thank you so much KenOC... looked up Program Music and its pretty much exactly what I was looking for... thanks again!!


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

You're welcome! See the "Musical topics game" in the Community forum for a game just started on programmatic topics.


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## GreenMamba (Oct 14, 2012)

There is also something called word painting, which is when the music reflects the words. E.g. If the words refer to something going faster, the music will accelerate. If the words refer to a valley, the music will descend in pitch. 

I suspect there's a term in between program music and word painting that gets at onomatopoeia, such as mimicking bird calls and the wind and so forth.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Here's a fun piece of Baroque music representing a small menagerie of critters familiar to Europeans:


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