A symphonic poem, also called a tone poem, is a type of orchestral music that usually has one long section. It shows or describes the story or idea from a poem, story, painting, or other non-musical work. The German word Tondichtung, which means "tone poem," was first used by composer Carl Loewe in 1828. The Hungarian composer Franz Liszt later used the term Symphonische Dichtung for his 13 musical works in this style, which began in 1848.
Background
Symphonic poems are musical works that can be as long as a full symphony or a single movement of one. However, they are different from traditional classical symphonic movements because they aim to help listeners imagine scenes, pictures, ideas, or moods rather than follow strict musical forms like sonata form. This focus on inspiring imagination was influenced by Romanticism, an artistic movement that encouraged connections between music and literature, art, and drama. Music expert Hugh Macdonald explains that symphonic poems achieved three goals in the 19th century: they linked music to outside sources like stories or art, combined multiple musical sections into one main part, and raised the value of instrumental music to a level equal to or higher than opera. Symphonic poems were popular from the 1840s until the 1920s, after which composers began to move away from the style.
Symphonic poems connect different ways of expressing ideas. Researchers have studied how these works relate to non-musical sources such as art, literature, and nature. Composers used various musical techniques to represent non-musical concepts. Some methods are direct, like Sergei Rachmaninoff using an uneven 5/8 time signature in The Isle of the Dead to suggest the rocking motion of a boat. In Death and Transfiguration by Richard Strauss, the orchestra mimics the sound of an irregular heartbeat and heavy breathing. Other techniques are more abstract, such as Franz Liszt’s Hamlet, where he contrasts a somber, unresolved melody (representing Hamlet) with a calm, resolved melody (representing Ophelia) to show their complex relationship. In Death and Transfiguration, a lively melody in a major key evokes the feeling of childhood.
Some piano and chamber music pieces, like Arnold Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht, share similarities with symphonic poems in their purpose and effect. However, the term "symphonic poem" usually refers to orchestral works. A symphonic poem can be a standalone piece, like those by Richard Strauss, or part of a series combined into a symphonic suite or cycle. For example, The Swan of Tuonela by Jean Sibelius is part of his Lemminkäinen Suite, and Vltava (The Moldau) by Bedřich Smetana is part of the six-work cycle Má vlast.
The terms "symphonic poem" and "tone poem" are often used interchangeably, but some composers, like Richard Strauss and Jean Sibelius, preferred "tone poem" for their works. The German term Tondichtung (tone poem) was first used by Carl Loewe in 1828 for his piano piece Mazeppa, based on a poem by Lord Byron. This was 12 years before Franz Liszt created an orchestral version of the same subject.
Music expert Mark Bonds notes that in the early 1800s, the future of the symphonic genre seemed uncertain. While composers like Felix Mendelssohn, Robert Schumann, and Niels Gade succeeded with their symphonies, others explored shorter forms like the concert overture to blend music, stories, and visual ideas. Examples include Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1826) and The Hebrides (1830).
Between 1845 and 1847, Belgian composer César Franck wrote an orchestral piece based on Victor Hugo’s poem Ce qu’on entend sur la montagne. This work has features of a symphonic poem, and some experts consider it the first of its kind, even though Franck did not publish or define the genre. Franz Liszt is widely credited with inventing the symphonic poem. He wanted a new way to connect with audiences, using a main theme introduced at the start and developed through changes in the music while maintaining coherence.
Liszt
The Hungarian composer Franz Liszt wanted to create longer, more complex single-movement works that went beyond the concert overture form. Overtures aim to help listeners picture scenes, images, or feelings. Liszt wanted to combine this storytelling quality with the grandeur and musical complexity found in the opening movement of classical symphonies. The opening movement, which uses a structure called sonata form to contrast themes, was usually the most important part of a symphony. To achieve his goals, Liszt needed a more flexible way to develop musical themes than sonata form allowed, while still keeping the overall unity of a composition.
Liszt used two methods in his symphonic poems to reach this goal. The first was cyclic form, a technique Beethoven used to connect movements so they reflected each other’s content. Liszt expanded this idea by combining separate movements into one continuous, single-movement structure. Many of Liszt’s later works, including Les préludes, follow this approach. The second method was thematic transformation, a type of variation where a theme is changed into something completely new and independent, rather than into a related theme. As musicologist Hugh Macdonald explained, Liszt’s goal was to show the same level of complexity in how themes and musical tones interacted as found in Romantic symphonies.
Thematic transformation was not new. Composers like Mozart, Haydn, and even Beethoven used it. For example, Beethoven changed the theme of the "Ode to Joy" into a Turkish march in the final movement of his Ninth Symphony. Weber, Berlioz, and Schubert also used thematic transformation, with Schubert’s Wanderer Fantasy greatly influencing Liszt. However, Liszt was the first to create long, structured compositions using only thematic transformation. He used this technique not only in his symphonic poems but also in works like his Second Piano Concerto and his Piano Sonata in B minor. When needed, Liszt often removed sections of traditional musical development to shorten a piece, but kept parts that used thematic transformation.
Although Liszt was inspired by Richard Wagner’s ideas about combining drama and music in symphonic poems, Wagner only gave Liszt’s work limited praise in his 1857 essay On the Symphonic Poems of Franz Liszt. Later, Wagner and Liszt’s Weimar circle had a disagreement over their artistic beliefs.
Czech composers
Composers who created the symphonic poem after Franz Liszt were mostly from Bohemia, Russia, and France. The Bohemian and Russian composers showed how the form could express nationalist ideas that were growing in their countries during this time. Bedřich Smetana visited Liszt in Weimar in the summer of 1857, where he heard the first performances of the Faust Symphony and the symphonic poem Die Ideale. Inspired by Liszt’s work, Smetana began writing a series of symphonic pieces based on stories from literature, including Richard III (1857–58), Wallenstein’s Camp (1858–59), and Hakon Jarl (1860–61). A piano piece from the same period, Macbeth a čarodějnice (Macbeth and the Witches, 1859), is similar in size but has a more bold style. Musicologist John Clapham noted that Smetana planned these works as a series of short scenes from their literary sources and treated them like a dramatist, not a poet or philosopher. He used musical themes to represent characters, following the style of French composer Hector Berlioz in his work Roméo et Juliette more closely than Liszt’s approach. Hugh Macdonald wrote that Smetana used a clear pattern of musical description in these works.
Smetana’s set of six symphonic poems, published together under the title Má vlast, became his greatest achievements in the genre. Created between 1872 and 1879, the cycle reflects Smetana’s belief in the importance of the Czech nation while highlighting scenes and ideas from Czech history. Two musical themes connect all six pieces. One theme represents Vyšehrad, a fortress near the Vltava River, which is the subject of the second and most famous work in the cycle. The other theme is an ancient Czech hymn, Ktož jsú boží bojovníci (Ye Who Are God’s Warriors), which links the last two poems in the cycle, Tábor and Blaník.
By creating a unified cycle of symphonic poems, Smetana made what Hugh Macdonald called "one of the greatest achievements in Czech music." John Clapham wrote that Smetana expanded the purpose and scope of the symphonic poem beyond what later composers achieved. Clapham also noted that Smetana’s musical descriptions of landscapes helped create a new type of symphonic poem, eventually influencing Jean Sibelius’s Tapiola. Additionally, Macdonald wrote that Smetana’s work inspired many younger composers in the Czech lands and Slovakia, including Antonín Dvořák, Zdeněk Fibich, Leoš Janáček, and Vítězslav Novák.
Dvořák wrote two groups of symphonic poems in the 1890s. The first group, which Macdonald calls either symphonic poems or overtures, forms a cycle similar to Má vlast, with one musical theme shared across all three pieces. Originally planned as a trilogy titled Příroda, Život a Láska (Nature, Life, and Love), these works were published separately as V přírodě (In Nature’s Realm), Carnival, and Othello. The score for Othello includes notes from Shakespeare’s play, showing Dvořák intended it as a programmatic piece. However, the sequence of events and characters in the music does not match the notes exactly.
The second group of symphonic poems includes five works. Four of them—The Water Goblin, The Noon Witch, The Golden Spinning Wheel, and The Wild Dove—are based on stories from Karel Jaromír Erben’s Kytice (Bouquet) collection of fairy tales. In these pieces, Dvořák assigned specific musical themes to important characters and events. For The Golden Spinning Wheel, he created themes by setting lines from the poem to music. He also used thematic transformation, changing the king’s theme to represent the wicked stepmother and a mysterious old man in the story, as Liszt and Smetana had done. Macdonald wrote that while these works may seem complex, their literary sources clearly define the order of events and the musical structure. Clapham noted that Dvořák sometimes followed the story of The Golden Spinning Wheel too closely, but the repeated music at the beginning of The Noon Witch shows he temporarily prioritized musical balance over a strict representation of the ballad. The fifth poem, Heroic Song, is the only one without a detailed program.
Russia
The development of the symphonic poem in Russia, like in the Czech lands, came from admiration for Liszt's music and a focus on national themes. This was combined with the Russian love of storytelling, which made the genre especially fitting. Critic Vladimir Stasov wrote, "Virtually all Russian music is programmatic." Macdonald notes that Stasov and a group of patriotic composers known as The Five or The Mighty Handful praised Mikhail Glinka's Kamarinskaya as "a prototype of Russian descriptive music." Although Glinka denied the piece had a program, he called it "picturesque music." Glinka was influenced by French composer Hector Berlioz, whom he met in 1844.
At least three members of The Five fully embraced the symphonic poem. Mily Balakirev's Tamara (1867–82) vividly captures the fairy-tale East, while staying closely tied to the poem by Mikhail Lermontov. Balakirev's other works, In Bohemia (1867, 1905) and Russia (1884 version), contain less narrative content and are more collections of national melodies, originally written as concert overtures. Macdonald describes Modest Mussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain and Alexander Borodin's In the Steppes of Central Asia as "powerful orchestral pictures, each unique in its composer's output." In the Steppes of Central Asia is titled a "musical portrait" and evokes the journey of a caravan across the steppes. Night on Bald Mountain, especially its original version, uses harmony that is often striking, sometimes harsh, and highly intense; its early sections pull the listener into a world of direct and energetic sound.
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov wrote only two orchestral works that qualify as symphonic poems: his "musical tableau" Sadko (1867–92) and Skazka (Legend, 1879–80), originally titled Baba-Yaga. Despite his love for Russian folklore, his symphonic suites Antar and Scheherazade are structured similarly to these works. Russian folklore also inspired symphonic poems by Alexander Dargomyzhsky, Anatoly Lyadov, and Alexander Glazunov. Glazunov's Stenka Razin and Lyadov's Baba-Yaga, Kikimora, and The Enchanted Lake all draw on national themes. The Lyadov works lack a clear harmonic rhythm, creating a sense of unreality and timelessness, much like the storytelling of a beloved fairy tale.
Although none of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's symphonic poems use Russian subjects, they balance musical form and literary material well. Tchaikovsky did not call Romeo and Juliet a symphonic poem but a "fantasy-overture." The work may be closer to a concert overture in its use of sonata form. Balakirev, who helped shape the piece, suggested structuring Romeo after his King Lear, a tragic overture in sonata form inspired by Beethoven's overtures. R.W.S. Mendl, writing in The Musical Quarterly, stated that Tchaikovsky's temperament made him well-suited for composing symphonic poems. Even his other instrumental works are structurally free and often resemble program music.
Later Russian symphonic poems, such as Sergei Rachmaninoff's The Rock and Isle of the Dead (1909), show both influence from Tchaikovsky and independence. Igor Stravinsky's The Song of the Nightingale, taken from his opera The Nightingale, reflects a debt to his teacher Rimsky-Korsakov. Alexander Scriabin's The Poem of Ecstasy (1905–08) and Prometheus: The Poem of Fire (1908–10) stand out for their unique vision of a spiritual world and advanced harmonic style.
In the Soviet Union, Socialist realism allowed program music to survive longer than in Western Europe, as seen in Dmitri Shostakovich's symphonic poem October (1967).
France
France had a long tradition of music that told stories or painted pictures, starting with composers like Berlioz and Félicien David. Because of this, French composers were interested in the poetic aspects of the symphonic poem. For example, César Franck wrote an orchestral piece based on a poem by Victor Hugo before Liszt created his first numbered symphonic poem.
The symphonic poem became popular in France during the 1870s, helped by a new group called the Société Nationale, which supported young French composers. In 1872, Camille Saint-Saëns wrote Le rouet d'Omphale, followed by three more symphonic poems, the most famous being Danse macabre (1874). In these works, Saint-Saëns explored new ways to use orchestral sounds and change musical themes. His piece La jeunesse d'Hercule (1877) was similar in style to Liszt’s music. The other three works focused on physical actions like spinning, riding, and dancing, which Saint-Saëns expressed through music. He had previously used changing themes in his overture Spartacus and later in his Fourth Piano Concerto and Third Symphony.
After Saint-Saëns, Vincent d'Indy wrote a set of three symphonic overtures called Wallenstein (1873, 1879–81), which, like Smetana’s Má vlast, covered a wide range of themes. Henri Duparc’s Lenore (1875) showed the influence of Richard Wagner in its warm, expressive writing. César Franck composed the delicate Les Éolides, followed by Le Chasseur maudit and Les Djinns, which used storytelling in a way similar to Liszt’s Totentanz. Ernest Chausson’s Vivane reflected the interest of Franck’s circle in myths and legends.
Claude Debussy’s Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune (1892–94), originally part of a set of three pieces, described the desires and dreams of a faun in the afternoon heat. Paul Dukas’s The Sorcerer’s Apprentice continued the storytelling style of the symphonic poem. Maurice Ravel’s La valse (1921) was seen by some as a humorous imitation of Viennese music. Albert Roussel’s first symphonic poem, inspired by Leo Tolstoy’s novel Resurrection (1903), was followed by Le Poème de forêt (1904–06), which had four parts and used a repeating structure. Pour une fête de printemps (1920) was first written as the slow part of his Second Symphony. Charles Koechlin composed several symphonic poems, including those based on Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book. Through these works, Koechlin showed that the symphonic poem could still be meaningful even after it was no longer widely used.
Germany
Liszt and Richard Strauss both worked in Germany. Liszt may have created the symphonic poem, while Strauss developed it further. However, the form was not as popular in Germany as in other countries. Johannes Brahms and Richard Wagner were the most important German composers of their time. Brahms focused on absolute music, and Wagner specialized in music drama. Neither of them wrote symphonic poems. As a result, only a few symphonic poems were created by German and Austrian composers, including Hugo Wolf’s Penthesilea (1883–85), Alexander von Zemlinsky’s Die Seejungfrau (1902–03), and Arnold Schoenberg’s Pelleas und Melisande (1902–03). Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht (1899), written for six string instruments, is sometimes called a non-orchestral symphonic poem because of its clear connection between music and poetry.
Alexander Ritter, who wrote six symphonic poems inspired by Liszt’s style, greatly influenced Richard Strauss’s approach to program music. Strauss composed works based on a wide range of subjects, including literature, legends, philosophy, and personal experiences. His famous symphonic poems include Macbeth (1886–87), Don Juan (1888–89), Death and Transfiguration (1888–89), Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks (1894–95), Also sprach Zarathustra (1896), Don Quixote (1897), Ein Heldenleben (1897–98), Symphonia Domestica (1902–03), and An Alpine Symphony (1911–1915).
In these works, Strauss used orchestration in highly detailed and realistic ways, expanding the expressive power and scope of program music. He often used a large orchestra with unusual instruments and created vivid musical effects, such as using brass instruments to mimic the sound of sheep bleating in Don Quixote. Strauss’s use of musical structure is also notable. He skillfully changed musical themes and combined multiple themes in complex ways. In Don Quixote, he used variation form very effectively, and in Till Eulenspiegel, he used rondo form well. As Hugh Macdonald wrote in The New Grove (1980), Strauss often used simple, descriptive musical themes, such as the three-note motif at the start of Also sprach Zarathustra. He also used rich, chromatic harmonies for love themes and returned to simple, diatonic harmonies for calm, peaceful moments, such as in the ending of Don Quixote, where a solo cello plays a beautiful, major-key version of the main theme.
Other countries and decline
Jean Sibelius had a strong interest in the symphonic poem, creating more than a dozen of these works and many shorter pieces. These compositions span his entire career, from En saga (1892) to Tapiola (1926), showing his deep connection to Finland and its myths. The Kalevala, a Finnish storybook, provided excellent material for his music. Combined with Sibelius’s natural skill in writing symphonies, this helped him create well-organized and natural musical structures, especially in Tapiola (1926). Pohjola’s Daughter (1906), which Sibelius called a "symphonic fantasy," is closely tied to its story and shows a clear musical structure that few other composers achieved. Starting with his Third Symphony, Sibelius aimed to blend the traditions of symphonies and tone poems. Symphonies usually focus on serious themes, musical ideas, and formal structure, while tone poems often include storytelling and creative sounds. However, in Sibelius’s later works, the differences between these forms became less clear, as musical ideas from one piece sometimes appeared in another. One of Sibelius’s most important works, Finlandia, highlights Finland’s fight for independence. He wrote it in 1901 and later added choral lyrics—the Finlandia Hymn by Veikko Antero Koskenniemi—to the central section after Finland gained independence.
Symphonic poems were not as strongly linked to national identity in other countries, even though many composers wrote similar works. In Great Britain, composers such as Arnold Bax and Frederick Delius created these pieces. In the United States, composers like Edward MacDowell, Howard Hanson, Ferde Grofé, and George Gershwin wrote symphonic poems. In Denmark, Carl Nielsen composed them, and in Poland, Zygmunt Noskowski and Mieczysław Karłowicz did the same. In Italy, Ottorino Respighi wrote symphonic poems. However, as the 20th century began, many composers moved away from Romantic ideals and focused more on abstract ideas and music’s independence. This shift led to fewer symphonic poems being written.