Absolute music
Music that is free from extramusical implications.
The term is used most frequently in contradiction to program
music, in which pictorial or poetic ideas are portrayed. It usually
excludes vocal music, especially the type
in which the text clearly influences the musical language and structure.
Occasionally the term is employed in a stricter sense, excluding not only
program and vocal music but also music of a definite
emotional character, so that Bach
and, to some extent, Mozart are
considered composers of absolute music.