Brief introduction of symphonic poems

Symphonic poem, a kind of symphonic music with single movement title, was born out of the concert overture of19th century 1850, emphasizing the expression o

Symphonic poem, a kind of symphonic music with single movement title, was born out of the concert overture of19th century 1850, emphasizing the expression of poetry and philosophy. Let's follow my footsteps to learn symphonic poetry!

Basic information of symphonic poems

Symphonic poetry, also known as "voice poetry", is a dramatic and lyrical one-movement orchestral genre, which was initiated by Franz Liszt. Before Liszt's symphonies appeared, musicians usually wrote in the form of concert overtures. Symphonic poetry embodies a philosophical thought, a poetic mood or a literary theme in conception. Symphonic poetry was founded by Liszt, the "King of Piano" in Hungary, in the middle of19th century.

The name of symphonic poem was created by Franz Liszt, who thought that "the title can endow instrumental music with various subtle colors, which are almost the same as those expressed by different poetic forms", Berlioz and his Harold Symphony, so he linked the title symphonic music with the poem and called it symphonic poem. His thirteen symphonic poems take poetry, drama, painting and historical deeds as themes, and widely use the method of theme deformation to shape the artistic image of specific titles. Simply put, it is an orchestra that changes according to a story.

The structural forms of symphonic poems

Symphony poetry was born in The Romantic Period, including romantic music genre and folk music genre. In the early stage of its development, symphonic poetry works were mainly in the form of sonatas, such as Bedrich Smetana's My Motherland and Borodin's On the Prairie of Central Asia. However, with the end of the era, impressionism and expressionism introduced symphonic poetry into the range of atonal music. Debussy attached importance to harmony in symphonic sketches, abandoning the bondage of traditional size and sonata, and Schoenberg adapted atonal symphonic poems in a short and pithy way.

Representative works of symphonic poems

Liszt wrote 12 symphonic poems, such as Hearing on the Mountain, Tasso, Prelude, Prometheus, Funeral of Heroes, Hungary, Hamlet and Xiongnu War and Ideal, and wrote 65,438 in his later years. Except for The Battle of Xiongnu, which is based on the murals of German painter W von Kaulbach, most of them are literary works, poems and plays. The form is flexible and changeable, often combined with the structural principle of sonata, variation and Rondo, and the method of theme deformation is widely used to transform one or several basic themes into derivative themes with different images and personalities. The structural principle of this mixed form and the expression method of theme deformation are often used by later symphonic poets.

Liszt wrote thirteen symphonic poems, most of which were based on poetry, drama or painting. There is often a preface in front of the score to explain the author's creative intention and theme, or to quote relevant poems to explain the theme of the work. This preface or quoted poem is the title of the work. For example, the title of Liszt's third symphonic poem is "Overture", which is adapted from Lamartin's "Poetry Meditation", and the preface written by Liszt according to this poem is published in front of the score as the title of this symphonic poem. The full text of the preface is like this: "What else can our life be except a group of overtures that sing the first solemn note with' death'? Love is the morning sun in everyone's heart, but how can the initial happiness and joy not be attacked by storms, so that good dreams are broken and shrines are destroyed; Under the cruel blow, how can we not rush out of the storm, throw ourselves into a quiet country life and seek comfort from memories? However, it is impossible for human beings to live in the embrace of nature and in gentle retreat for a long time. As soon as the trumpet sounded the alarm signal, he immediately took risks, no matter what kind of fighting ranks he was called to participate in; In order to fully restore self-confidence and gain enough strength in the battle. "

Lamartin's original poems are full of doubts about life and reveal negative and pessimistic thoughts. Liszt interprets Lamartin's poems according to his own point of view, and regards the stages on the road of life written in the poems as "a series of overtures" and depicts them as vivid life scrolls; Although frustrated by the blow, I finally affirmed my life and threw myself into it with confidence and vitality. Liszt flexibly applied the principle of sonata form according to the need of expressing the content of the topic. All the themes of the whole song are born out of a tune. This tone contains three tones, which are summed up from the tone of language expressing doubt. Every theme degenerated from this tone has made various changes every time it reappears, which is used to express different images and artistic conception. This technique is called "theme transformation". This "theme deformation" is a common technique used by Liszt in concertos and symphonic poems, and it is also a common technique used in various title music after Liszt.

His third symphony takes the form of a free sonata. The beginning is the introduction of Andante, and the music raises a philosophical question to explore the true meaning of life in a questioning tone. The main part is a solemn andante, which shows that life is full of youthful vitality, just like the rising sun. The connecting part is a lyric theme, which shows the warmth and happiness of love; It changed from C major in the main part to E major in the auxiliary part. The minor part is also a lyric theme to express love, which appears in E major. The development part describes the wind and rain on the road of life, and the music material is also the development of interrogative tone. This piece of music uses a lot of modelling technique, the ups and downs of cello chromatic melody, the sharp and tense disharmonious chords of woodwind and stringed instruments, the roar of brass instruments and the roar of timpani to describe the gale, lightning and thunder. When the music developed to * * *, the chromatic scale on woodwind and stringed instruments went down. Like a storm, it is shocking. The insertion part behind the expansion part is an idyllic poem describing rural life. The storm gradually subsided, and after the rain cleared, the oboe played a beautiful tune, like a shepherd's flute playing. This piece of music is a variation connecting some themes in the presentation part. In the centerfold. We can also hear the deformation of the sub-theme of the exhibition department. The love theme of the deputy department. Now it's pastoral poetry. The pastoral gradually became excited and became a March. Brass instruments sounded the horn of battle, calling on heroes to meet new life and struggle. This horn sound is another variation of the theme of the joint.

Here's the reverse part, put the secondary part first. The theme of the Ministry is transformed into a battle March again here. Finally, the theme of the main part appears, like the presentation part, without deformation. It shows that the hero has recovered his confidence and youthful strength in the battle. ?