programmatic symphony

Program Symphony
It is a composition written in the general form of a symphony(in several movements) and based on a programmatic idea. Examples are Beethoven's *Pastoral symphony*, Berlioz' *Symphonie fantastique, Liszt's *Faust synmphony*, and R. Strauss'*Alpensinfonie*. Each movement of these symphonies has its own title, indicationg one aspect of the general program.It is based on the idea of symphonic poem(交響詩).
Symphonic Poem
It is a type of 19th- and 20th century music based on as extra-musical idea, either poem or realistic. The symphonic poem , also called tone poem,belongs to the general category of *program music, representing its most recent and most sophisticated embodiment.
It's main characteristics are:

Imaginative structure free genre,descriptive in nature.
The contents and form may be suggested by a picture, statue, play, poem, scene, personality etc.
The subject is converted into music without specific reference to the details of the original.

Works included:

Hunnerschlacht(mural painting)
Mazeppa(a Poem)
Hamlet(a Shakespeare's play)
Les preludes(1954)-transforming a single motive to reflect the diverse moods needed to portray a programmatic subject.

2007-09-27 15:51:23 補充：
Please see also http://w3.rz-berlin.mpg.de/cmp/g_symphonic_poem.htmlfor details