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. The name Symphonische Dichtung was introduced by Franz Liszt for his thirteen works of this kind, begun in 1848, among them Les Préludes. 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 form. The symphonic poem differs from the programme symphony through being in a single movement.
Well-known examples are Vltava (The Moldau), the second of the six symphonic poems in Bedřich Smetana's cycle Má vlast (1874–1879), and Richard Strauss's Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche, op. 28 (1894–95), which Strauss headed “nach alter Schelmenweise – in Rondeauform” (after the old rogue's manner – in rondo form). The example shows that a traditional form can very well serve as a framework.
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. 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.
Read the programme or the literary model, because it explains the sequence of the sections, and check whether the programme comes from the composer or was added later, because this concerns its binding force. 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.