Musical Forms

Symphonic Poem

An orchestral form in which a poem or programme provides a narrative or illustrative basis. Its origins can be seen in the Egrnont, Coriolan and third Leonore overtures of Beethoven, with their more or less explicit enactment of dramatic events. The concert overtures of Berlioz and Mendelssohn may be considered direct prototypes of the Lisztian symphonic poem, the earliest of which, Ce qu'on entend sur la montagne, is based on a poem by Hugo. This was the first of Liszt's 12 such works (1848-58).

The symphonic poem was taken up in Bohemia and Russia as a vehicle for nationalist ideas. In 1857 Smetana embarked on a group of symphonic poems, on literary subjects, clearly influenced by Liszt, but his Ma vlast ('My Country'- six works including The Moldau) is on episodes and ideas from Czech history. It was succeeded by a profusion of symphonic poems by his younger compatriots, including Dvorak and Suk. In Russia, Glinka's Kamarinskaya (1848) was a prototype for the symphonic poems of Balakirev, Mussorgsky and Borodin on national subjects. Tchaikovsky, by contrast, chose literary matenal for his Romeo and ]uliet, Francesca da Rimini and Hamlet.

Franck had written an orchestral piece on Hugo's Ce qu'on entend sur la montagne before Liszt, but the genre came to life in France in the 1870s, supported by the new Soci�t� Nationale. Saint-Sa�ns's examples, including Le rouet d'Omphale and Danse macabre, were followed by d'Indy's and Duparc's and in 1876 Franck returned to the symphonic poem with Les Eolides and later added Le chasseur maudit and Les Djinns. Among French symphonic poems Dukas's L'apprenti-sorcier is a brilliant example of the narrative type.

Richard Strauss, who preferred the term 'Tondichtung' ('tone poem'), contributed a unique body of great works to the repertory in his early career, including Don Juan, Till Eulenspiegel, Also sprach Zarathustra and Don Quixote. In them he drew on his virtuosity as an orchestrator, his mastery of chromatic and diatonic harmony and his abundant skill in the transformation of themes and interweaving them in elaborate counterpoint.

Sibelius was perhaps the last composer to contribute significantly to the repertory of the symphonic poem. Its decline in the 20th century may be attributed to the rejection of Romantic ideas and their replacement by notions of the abstraction and independence of music.

This project was created by Ahmed Azab.
Since �2001

Hosted by www.Geocities.ws