Symphonic Poems

The symphonic poems of the Hungarian composer Franz Liszt are a series of 13 orchestral works, numbered S.95-107. The first 12 were composed between 1848 and 1858 (though some use material conceived earlier); the last, Von der Wiege bis zum Grabe (From the Cradle to the Grave), followed in 1882. These works helped establish the genre of orchestral program music-compositions written to illustrate an extra-musical plan derived from a play, poem, painting or work of nature. They inspired the symphonic poems of Bedrich Smetana, Antonín Dvorák, Richard Strauss and others.