Symphonic poem
Programme music in one movement.
What it means
The symphonic poem is a single-movement orchestral work relating to an extra-musical subject — a poem, a narrative, a picture, a landscape, an idea. The reference is named in the title and often in an accompanying programme. The form does not follow a traditional scheme but the depicted process, while working with familiar means such as thematic transformation, contrast, and intensification.
Musical use
The genre arose in the middle of the nineteenth century and stands in the context of the debate about programme music and absolute music. Its most important procedure is the transformation of few themes, which change their character in the course of the piece and thereby present development. This makes it possible to hold together a long single-movement arc without adopting sonata-movement form. The symphonic poem differs from the concert overture through its larger scope and freer layout; from the programme symphony through being in a single movement.
Performance practice
Get an overview of the themes and their transformations, and mark where the same material appears in new form; the coherence depends on this. Know the underlying programme, without narrowing the music to it — it explains turns but does not replace musical shaping. Plan the tension arc over the whole work and hold strength back for the climax. Watch the balance in densely orchestrated sections and clarify tempo transitions early.
Bear in mind that the programme explains the music but does not replace it: whoever derives the shaping solely from the narrative misses the musical logic of the piece. Work with both and check how the course results from the material. Mark the themes and their transformations, because the coherence depends on them. Well-known examples are Smetana's The Moldau and Strauss's Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks. Read the programme or the literary model, because it explains the sequence of the sections.
Check whether the programme comes from the composer or was added later, because this concerns its binding force.