Character piece

A character piece is a musical composition which is expressive of a specific mood or non-musical idea.

[1] The first appearance of the term "character piece" is in the avertissement (preface) to Marin Marais's fifth book of viola da gamba music published in 1725.

Along with invoking these ideas, composers such as Robert Schumann use romantic irony to enhance the depth of their works, creating powerful illusions, “[Music] is an evidently art which lifts mankind above life”.

In the late 19th and twentieth centuries, as piano music became ambitious and larger in scale, the scope of what a character piece could reference grew as well.

The New Grove cites Smetana's "Festival of the Gypsy Peasants" and Sibelius's "The Oarsman" as examples of this later trend.