List of symphonic poems

This is a list of some notable composers who wrote symphonic poems.

Mily Balakirev[]

• Russia (Second Overture on Russian Themes)
• In Bohemia (Overture on Czech Themes)
• Tamara

Béla Bartók[]

• Kossuth (1903)

Arnold Bax[]

• Cathaleen-ni-Hoolihan (1905)
• Into the Twilight (1908)
• In the Faëry Hills (1909)
• Rosc-catha (1910)
• Christmas Eve (1912, r. 1921)
• Nympholept (1912, orch. 1915, r. 1935)
• The Garden of Fand (1913, orch. 1916)
• Spring Fire (1913)
• In Memoriam (1916)
• November Woods (1917)
• Tintagel (1917, orch. 1919)
• Summer Music (1917, orch. 1921, r. 1932)
• The Happy Forest (1922)
• The Tale the Pine Trees Knew (1931)
• Northern Ballad No. 1 (1927)
• Northern Ballad No. 2 (1934)
• Prelude for a Solemn Occasion (Northern Ballad No. 3) (1927, orch. 1933)
• A Legend (1944)

Hector Berlioz[]

• Chasse royale et orage

Alexander Borodin[]

• In the Steppes of Central Asia (actually 'Musical Picture'; 1880)

George Whitefield Chadwick[]

• Symphonic Sketches

Ernest Chausson[]

• Viviane

Claude Debussy[]

• Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune (Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun)
• La Mer (The Sea)

Frederick Delius[]

• Hiawatha, VI/2 (1888)
• Three Small Tone-poems, VI/7 (1890)

1. Summer Evening
2. Winter Night (or, Sleigh Ride)
3. Spring Morning

• Paa Vidderne (On the Mountains), VI/10 (1890–92)
• Over the Hills and Far Away, VI/11 (1895–97); fantasy overture for orchestra
• Paris: The Song of a Great City, VI/14 (1899–1900); nocturne for orchestra
• Two Pieces for Small Orchestra, VI/19 (1911–12)

1. On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring
2. Summer Night on the River

• Eventyr (Once Upon a Time), VI/23 (1917)
• A Song of Summer, VI/26 (1929–30)

Paul Dukas[]

• L'apprenti sorcier (The Sorcerer's Apprentice), symphonic scherzo after Goethe (1896–97)

Antonín Dvořák[]

• Symphonic Poem, in A minor, Op. 14 (1874)
• Vodník (The Water Goblin), Op. 107 (1896)
• Polednice (The Noon Witch), Op. 108 (1896)
• Zlatý kolovrat (The Golden Spinning Wheel), Op. 109 (1896)
• Holoubek (The Wild Dove), Op. 110 (1896; r. 1897)
• Píseň bohatýrská (A Hero's Song), Op. 111 (1897)

Edward Elgar[]

• Cockaigne
• In the South

George Enescu[]

• Vox maris

Lorenzo Ferrero[]

• La Nueva España, a set of six symphonic poems (1992–99)

Zdeněk Fibich[]

• Othello, Op. 6
• Spring, Op 13
• Záboj, Slavoj a Luděk, Op. 37
• The Tempest, Op. 46
• Toman and the Wood Nymph, Op. 49

César Franck[]

• Ce qu'on entend sur la montagne, symphonic poem after Victor Hugo, (1845–87, posth.)
• Rédemption, for soprano, chorus and orchestra, M. 52 (1872, r. 1874)
• Les Éolides, M. 43 (1876)
• Le Chasseur maudit (The Accursed Huntsman), M. 44 (1882)
• Les Djinns, for piano and orchestra, M. 45 (1884)
• Psyché, for orchestra and chorus, M. 47 (1886–88)

George Gershwin[]

• An American in Paris (actually 'Tone Poem'; 1928)
• Cuban Overture

Alexander Glazunov[]

• Stenka Razin

Geoffrey Gordon[]

• Shock Diamonds

Ferde Grofé[]

• Knute Rockne
• Trylon and Perisphere
• Atlantic Crossing

Percy Grainger[]

• Train Music

Karl Amadeus Hartmann[]

• Miserae (1933–34, previously titled Symphony No. 1)

Lee Holdridge[]

• Scenes of Summer (September/October 1973)

Gustav Holst[]

• Egdon Heath

Arthur Honegger[]

• Pacific 231

John Ireland[]

• The Forgotten Rite (1913, published 1918)

Mieczysław Karłowicz[]

• Returning Waves, Op. 9 (1904)
• Eternal Songs, Op. 10 (1906)
• Lithuanian Rhapsody, Op. 11 (1906)
• Stanisław i Anna Oświecimowie, Op. 12 (1906)
• A Sorrowful Tale, Op. 13 (1907–1908)
• An Episode during Masquerade, Op. 14 (1908–09)

Franz Liszt[]

• Liszt's symphonic poems:
  • Ce qu'on entend sur la montagne (1848–9) (after Victor Hugo)
  • Tasso: lamento e trionfo (1849) (after Byron)
  • Les Préludes, after Lamartine (1848, rev. before 1854)
  • Orpheus (1853–4)
  • Prometheus (1850)
  • Mazeppa (1851)
  • Festklänge (1853)
  • Héroïde funèbre (1849–50)
  • Hungaria (1854)
  • Hamlet (1858)
  • Hunnenschlacht (1857)
  • Die Ideale (1857) (after Schiller)
  • Von der Wiege bis zum Grabe (1881–2)

William Lloyd Webber[]

• Aurora^[1]

Leevi Madetoja[]

• Kullervo, Op. 15 (1913)
• Sammon ryöstö (The Abduction of The Sampo), for baritone and male choir, Op. 24 (1915); text from the Kalevala
• Aslak Smaukka, for baritone and male choir, Op. 37 (1917)
• Väinämöisen kylvö (Väinämöinen Sows the Wilderness), for soprano (or tenor), Op. 46 (1919–20); text from the Kalevala

Frederik Magle[]

• Cantabile suite – 3 symphonic poems (2004–09)

Richard Mohaupt[]

• Town Piper Music (Stadtpfeifermusik) (1941)

Modest Mussorgsky[]

• Night on the Bare Mountain

Carl Nielsen[]

• Saga-Drøm (Saga Dream), Op. 39 (1908)
• Pan og Syrinx (Pan and Syrinx), Op. 49 (1918)

Sergei Rachmaninoff[]

• Prince Rostislav (1891)
• The Rock, Op. 7 (1893)
• Caprice bohémien, Op. 12 (1892–94)
• Isle of the Dead, Op. 29 (1908)

Osmo Tapio Räihälä[]

• Ardbeg (2003)
• Barlinnie Nine (2005)
• Rautasade (Iron Rain) (2008)

Max Reger[]

• Vier Tondichtungen nach A. Böcklin (Four Tone Poems after Arnold Böcklin) for orchestra, Op. 128 (1913)

Cemal Reşit Rey[]

• Bebek Efsanesi, symphonic poem for orchestra
• Karagöz
• Denizciler Marşı Başlayış
• Çağrılış
• Fatih

Ottorino Respighi[]

• Fontane di Roma (Fountains of Rome), P 106 (1916); part I of Respighi's Roman Trilogy
• Ballata delle gnomidi (Ballad of the Gnomes), P 124 (1919)
• Pini di Roma (Pines of Rome), P 141 (1924); part II of Respighi's Roman Trilogy
• Feste Romane (Roman Festivals), P 157 (1928); part III of Respighi's Roman Trilogy

Silvestre Revueltas[]

• Sensemayá

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov[]

• Night on Mount Triglav
• Sadko (Symphonic Picture)
• Scheherazade

Camille Saint-Saëns[]

• Spartacus (1863)
• Le Rouet d'Omphale, op.31 (1869)
• Phaéton, op. 39 (1873)
• Danse macabre, Op.40 (1874)
• La Jeunesse d'Hercule, Op.50 (1877)
• La Muse et le Poète, Op.132 (1910)

Arnold Schoenberg[]

• Verklärte Nacht, Op.4
• Pelleas und Melisande, Op.5

Alexander Scriabin[]

• Symphonic Poem, in D minor (1896)
• The Poem of Ecstasy, Op. 54 (1905–08); often listed as Symphony No. 4
• Prometheus: The Poem of Fire, Op. 60 (1910); often listed as Symphony No. 5

Dmitri Shostakovich[]

• The Execution of Stepan Razin, Op. 119 (1964)
• October, Op. 131 (1967)

Jean Sibelius[]

One of the most prolific (and significant) contributors to the genre; compositions marked with an asterisk were inspired by Finnish mythology:

• En saga (A Saga or A Fairy Tale), Op. 9 (1892, r. 1902)
• Vårsång (Spring Song), Op. 16 (1894, r. 1895 and 1902)
• Skogsrået (The Wood Nymph), Op. 15 (1894–95)
• Lemminkäinen Suite (also known as Four Legends from the Kalevala), a cycle of four symphonic poems, Op. 22 (1895) *

1. Lemminkäinen ja saaren neidot (Lemminkäinen and the Maidens of the Island) (1895, r. 1897 and 1939) *
2. Tuonelan joutsen (The Swan of Tuonela) (1893-1895, r. 1897 and 1900) *
3. Lemminkäinen Tuonelassa (Lemminkäinen in Tuonela) (1895, r. 1897 and 1939) *
4. Lemminkäinen palaa kotitienoille (Lemminkäinen's Return) (1895, r. 1897 and 1900) *

• Finlandia, Op. 26 (1899, r. 1900); arranged from Press Celebrations Music, JS 137
• Pohjolan tytär (Pohjola's Daughter), Op. 49 (1906) *
• Pan och Echo (Pan and Echo), Op. 53a (1906)
• Öinen ratsastus ja auringonnousu (Nightride and Sunrise), Op. 55 (1909)
• Dryadi (The Dryad), Op. 45/1 (1910)
• Luonnotar (Spirit of Nature), for soprano and orchestra, Op. 70 (1913); text from the Kalevala *
• Barden (The Bard), Op. 64 (1913, r. 1914)
• Aallottaret (The Oceanides), Op. 73 (1913–14, r. 1914)
• Tapiola, Op. 112 (1926) *

Bedřich Smetana[]

• Richard III, Op. 11/JB 1:70 (1857–58)
• Valdštýnův tábor (Wallenstein's Camp), Op. 14/JB 1:72 (1858–59)
• Hakon Jarl, Op. 16/JB 1:79 (1860–61)
• Má vlast (My Homeland), JB 1:112 (1874–79); a cycle of six symphonic poems

1. Vyšehrad (The High Castle)
2. Vltava (The Moldau)
3. Šárka
4. Z českých luhů a hájů (From Bohemia's Woods and Fields)
5. Tábor
6. Blaník

William Grant Still[]

• Darker America (1924)
• Africa (1930)
• Kaintuck (1935)

Richard Strauss[]

One of the most prolific (and important) contributors to the genre. He preferred the term "tone poem," rather than "symphonic poem."

• Aus Italien (From Italy), Op. 16 (1886)
• Don Juan, Op. 20 (1888)
• Macbeth, Op. 23 (1886–88)
• Tod und Verklärung (Death and Transfiguration), Op. 24 (1889)
• Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche (Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks), Op. 28 (1894–95)
• Also sprach Zarathustra (Thus Spoke Zarathustra), Op. 30 (1896)
• Don Quixote, Op. 35 (1897)
• Ein Heldenleben (A Hero's Life), Op. 40 (1898)
• Symphonia Domestica, Op. 53 (1903)
• Eine Alpensinfonie (An Alpine Symphony), Op. 64 (1915)

Josef Suk[]

• , Op.29 (A Summer's Tale)
• Praga
• The Ripening
• Cycle of Symphonic Poems from Czech History

Igor Stravinsky[]

• Le chant du rossignol

Sergei Taneyev[]

• Oresteia (labeled as an "overture", but really a symphonic poem based on themes from his opera of the same name)

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky[]

• The Storm, Op. (posth.) 76 (1864)
• Fatum, Op. 77 (1868)
• Romeo and Juliet, overture-fantasy after Shakespeare, TH 42 (1869–70, r. 1880)
• Francesca da Rimini, symphonic fantasia after Dante, Op. 32 (1876)
• The Tempest, symphonic fantasia after Shakespeare, Op. 18 (1873)
• Marche slave, Op. 31 (1876)
• Hamlet, overture-fantasy, Op. 67a (1889)
• The Voyevoda, Op. (posth.) 78 (1891)

Geirr Tveitt[]

• Nykken

Johan Wagenaar[]

Richard Wagner[]

• Siegfried Idyll

Anton Webern[]

• Im Sommerwind (actually 'Idyll after B. Wille', 1904)

Eric Whitacre[]

• Godzilla Eats Las Vegas (for winds, 1996)

Haydn Wood[]

• Mannin Veen: Dear Isle of Man (1933)

Alexander von Zemlinsky[]

• Die Seejungfrau (The Little Mermaid), fantasy after Hans Christian Andersen (1902–03)

Airat Ichmouratov[]

• David of Sassoun, symphonic poem after Armenian epos, Op. 11 (2006)
• The Letter from an Unknown Woman, for Strings, Op. 56 (2017)

See also[]

• List of program music

References[]