<Li> There is no agreement regarding sacred songs . Many song settings of biblical or sacred texts were composed for the concert stage and not for religious services; these are widely known as art songs (for example, the Vier ernste Gesänge by Johannes Brahms). Others sacred songs may or may not be considered art songs . </Li> <Li> A group of art songs composed to be performed in a group to form a narrative or dramatic whole is called a song cycle . </Li> <P> Art songs have been composed in many languages, and are known by several names . The German tradition of art song composition is perhaps the most prominent one; it is known as Lieder . In France, the term mélodie distinguishes art songs from other French vocal pieces referred to as chansons . The Spanish canción and the Italian canzone refer to songs generally and not specifically to art songs . </P> <P> The composer's musical language and interpretation of the text often dictate the formal design of an art song . If all of the poem's verses are sung to the same music, the song is strophic . Arrangements of folk songs are often strophic, and "there are exceptional cases in which the musical repetition provides dramatic irony for the changing text, or where an almost hypnotic monotony is desired ." Several of the songs in Schubert's Die schöne Müllerin are good examples of this . If the vocal melody remains the same but the accompaniment changes under it for each verse, the piece is called a "modified strophic" song . In contrast, songs in which "each section of the text receives fresh music" are called through - composed . Most through - composed works have some repetition of musical material in them . Many art songs use some version of the ABA form (also known as "song form" or "ternary form"), with a beginning musical section, a contrasting middle section, and a return to the first section's music . In some cases, in the return to the first section's music, the composer may make minor changes . </P>

What became the standard german term for the art song