tone poem
1
8.0
- noun
- /toʊn poʊm/
- Specialized
:
poema sinfónico
- The composer wrote a beautiful tone poem that depicted a serene forest landscape.
Examples
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Faintly, beyond the spinning rails, he could see the gray gleam of the river in the carriage lights, that river whose moods and seasons he had portrayed in numerous songs, two quartets, and his one great tone poem.
Fiction book (1995) -
The evening got off to a solid start with Jean Sibelius's tone poem Luonnotar for soprano and orchestra, based on a creation-of-the-world story from Finland's national epic, the Kalevala.
Blog text (5) -
We will now play an original tone poem entitled "Don't Litter The Streets Of Philadelphia."
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It is a true tone poem, and its original sound defined the era.
Academic text (1999) -
In music, the outward signs of the art become the valued artifacts—great symphonies, operas, tone poems, and so on.
Academic text (1996) -
For instance, when one thinks of a symphony orchestra, one thinks not merely of a collection of instruments but of the great works composed for orchestra, such as Beethoven's symphonies or the tone poems of Strauss.
Academic text (2010) -
Woodwinds, clarinet, and French horns have marked roles in Richard Strauss's Death and Transfiguration, a tone poem describing an elderly man's struggle with death.
Blog text (32) -
Gershwin called An American in Paris a "rhapsodic ballet"; it is one extended movement with many contrasts, evoking impressions of extra-musical images, similar to a tone poem.
Academic text (1998) -
Her latest orchestral work is a tone poem that tells the story of a brave knight's quest.
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The tone poem inspired by ancient myths captivated the audience with its vivid melodies.
Synonyms
A piece for orchestra in one long part that tells a story
How Programmatic
Surface Forms
Morphology
A learner who knows 'tone' (musical character) and 'poem' (a poetic composition) can plausibly infer this refers to a musical work with poetic or expressive qualities, so the basic idea is accessible. However, the precise genre sense — an orchestral piece that evokes a story or scene — is a metaphorical extension of 'poem' to instrumental music and may not be fully predictable without exposure, so it is only partly transparent.
Etymology
The term tone poem comes from the idea of a 'poem' made of musical tones, where a composer paints a story or scene with the orchestra instead of words. That's why a tone poem means a long orchestral piece that brings to mind a story, scene, or idea.