symphonic poem

American  

noun

Music.

1. a form of tone poem, scored for a symphony orchestra, in which a literary or pictorial “plot” is treated with considerable program detail: originated by Franz Liszt in the mid-19th century and developed especially by Richard Strauss.

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symphonic poem British  

noun

1. Also called: tone poem.  music an extended orchestral composition, originated by Liszt, based on nonmusical material, such as a work of literature or folk tale

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Etymology

Origin of symphonic poem

First recorded in 1860–65

Example Sentences

Classical music has even been composed to celebrate the pines, with the most famous being the symphonic poem for orchestra that Ottorino Respighi completed in 1924.

From Washington Post • Aug. 20, 2021

"Out of only two motives, he builds this incredible 14-minute long symphonic poem for piano," he said.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 25, 2016

This is where he developed the symphonic poem genre and composed some of his finest orchestral works.

From Washington Times • Mar. 4, 2015

I wanted to make an open show with a new plot using the words of Shakespeare like a symphonic poem.

From BBC • Sep. 5, 2012

In its purest form, the symphonic poem style is what orchestral film music grew out of in the 1920s and ’30s, its job to support and describe something outside music.

From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall