Symphonic poem facts for kids

A symphonic poem (also called a tone poem) is a special type of orchestral music. It tells a story or describes something that isn't music itself. This could be a poem, a painting, or even an idea. It's a kind of programme music, which means music that has a meaning or story outside of just the notes.

Symphonic poems became very popular in the 19th century, during a time known as the Romantic period. These pieces usually have only one movement (a main section) and often last between 10 and 20 minutes. Some, like Ein Heldenleben by Richard Strauss, are much longer. They can feel like a symphony where all the parts flow together without stopping.

How Symphonic Poems Started

The idea of music telling a story can be seen in the Beethoven’s overtures. An overture is a piece of music played at the beginning of an opera or play. Beethoven's overtures often gave hints about the story that was about to unfold.

Later, composers like Felix Mendelssohn started writing overtures that told a story all on their own. These weren't attached to an opera or play. For example, Mendelssohn's Fingal's Cave (written in 1832) describes the sound of the sea waves hitting the rocks inside a cave in the Scottish Hebrides.

Franz Liszt's Big Role

Franz Liszt was a very important composer who made the symphonic poem a major musical style. He wrote twelve pieces he called Symphonische Dichtung, which means Symphonic poem. He named them this because the music developed and changed in a similar way to a full symphony.

One famous example is Liszt's Mazeppa (from 1851). This piece describes a poem by Victor Hugo. The poem is about a wild horse that carries a man tied to its back. The man is eventually rescued by the Ukrainians and becomes their leader.

Other Composers and Famous Works

Many other famous composers also wrote symphonic poems. These include Sergei Rachmaninoff, Modest Mussorgsky, Camille Saint-Saëns, Claude Debussy, Jean Sibelius, Bedřich Smetana, Antonín Dvořák, Pyotr Tchaikovsky, and César Franck.

A very well-known part of a symphonic poem is the opening of Richard Strauss’s Also sprach Zarathustra (written between 1895 and 1896). This music became super famous when it was used in the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Images for kids

• 

  Franz Liszt in 1858

• 

  Vyšehrad over the Vltava River, a place musically described in Smetana's Má vlast.

• 

  A drawing by Édouard Manet for L'après-midi d'un faune.

• 

  A painting of Don Quixote by Honoré Daumier, around 1855-1865.

• 

  Jean Sibelius

See also

In Spanish: Poema sinfónico para niños