Introduction A symphonic poem or tone poem is a piece of orchestral music in a single continuous section (a movement) in which the content of a poem, a story or novel, a painting, a landscape or another (non-musical) source is illustrated or evoked. The term was first applied by Hungarian composer Franz Liszt to his 13 works in this vein. In its aesthetic objectives, the symphonic poem is in some ways related to opera; whilst it does not use a sung text, it seeks like opera a union of music and drama. While the terms "symphonic poem" and "tone poem" have often been used interchangeably, some composers such as Richard Strauss and Jean Sibelius have preferred the latter term for pieces which were less symphonic in design and in which there is no special emphasis on thematic or tonal contrast. The symphonic poem remained popular from the 1840s until the 1920s, when the genre suffered a severe decline in popularity. Audio Many audio examples can be found with Spotify (spotify.com) > see compositions below Symphonic Poem Background One question during the 1820s and 30s was not so much whether symphonies could still be written, but whether the genre could continue to flourish and grow. Felix Mendelssohn, Robert Schumann and Niels Gade achieved successes with their symphonies, putting at least a temporary stop to the debate as to whether the genre was dead. Nevertheless, composers increasingly turned to the "more compact form" of the concert overture "as a vehicle within which to blend musical, narrative and pictoral ideas"; examples included Mendelssohn's overtures A Midsummer Night's Dream (1826) and The Hebrides (1830). Concert ouverture Although by the end of the eighteenth century opera overtures were already beginning to be performed as separate items in the concert hall, the concert overture, intended specifically as an individual concert piece without reference to stage performance, generally based on some literary theme, and technically spoken related to the sonata form, began to appear early in the Romantic era. The overture A Midsummer Night's Dream (1826) by Felix Mendelssohn is generally regarded as the first concert overture. Other examples: Mendelssohn's Hebrides Overture, (1830), Hector Berlioz's Les Francs juges (1826) and Le Corsaire (1828). Robert Schumann wrote overtures based on literature written by Friedrich Schiller, William Shakespeare and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe such as the overtures to The Bride of Messina, Julius Caesar, and Hermann und Dorothea. In the 1850s the concert overture began to be supplanted by the symphonic poem. The distinction between the two genres was the freedom to mould the musical form according to external programmatic requirements. The symphonic poem became the preferred form for the more "progressive" composers, such as César Franck and Richard Strauss, while more conservative composers like Tchaikovsky and Brahms remained faithful to the overture. Compositional practices Program music, absolute music The intention of symphonic poems to inspire listeners was a direct consequence of Romanticism which encouraged literary, pictorial and dramatic associations in music. Musical works which attempt to inspire listeners in this way are often referred to as program music, while music which has no such associations may be called absolute music (represented by Brahms). Cyclic form, thematic transformation Liszt needed in his symphonic poems a flexible method of developing musical themes, but a method that would preserve the overall unity of a musical composition. Liszt found his method through two compositional practices. The first practice was cyclic form, a procedure established by Beethoven in which certain movements are not only linked but actually reflect one another's content. Liszt took Beethoven's practice one step further, combining separate movements into a single-movement cyclic structure. Many of Liszt's mature works follow this pattern, of which Les Préludes is one of the best-known examples. The second practice was thematic transformation, a type of variation in which one theme is changed, not into a related or subsidiary theme but into something new, separate and independent. Influence Smetana, Ma Vlast Dvorak, The Water Goblin, The Noon Witch, The Golden Spinning Wheel and The Wild Dove Modest Mussorgsky, Night on Bald Mountain Saint-Saëns, La jeunesse d'Hercule César Franck, Les Djinns Vincent d'Indy, trilogy Wallenstein Jean Sibelius, Lemminkäinen Suite Richard Strauss, Tod und Verklärung, Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche, Also sprach Zarathustra Remarks Thematic transformation, like cyclic form, was nothing new in itself. It had been before Liszt used by Mozart and Haydn. In the final movement of his Ninth Symphony, Beethoven had transformed the theme of the "Ode to Joy" into a Turkish march. Weber and Berlioz had also transformed themes, and Schubert used thematic transformation to bind together the movements of his Wanderer Fantasy, a work that had a tremendous influence on Liszt.