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Absolute music is music that exists simply for its own intellectual and emotional sake, for example, fugues, sonatas and symphonies (unless they have declared ‘programmes’). Unlike programme music, it has no external references. By its nature, absolute music tends to be instrumental, or for voices making non-verbal sounds. However, some instrumental music, such as Indian classical music, is not ‘absolute’, because the melodic and rhythmic shapes on which the players improvise have recognized conventional associations. KMcL |
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