During his second concert with the NFM Wrocław Philharmonic this season, Pascal Rophé will present two monumental symphonic poems written at the turn of the 20th century. The genre was created in the first half of the 19th century, and for its creator, Ferenc Liszt, it was one of the ways  to realise the Romantic postulate of a synthesis of the arts. Symphonic poems were usually one-movement works with extra-musical inspirations: paintings, poems, mythological/folk motives or composers’ own experiences, the only limit being the composer’s invention. 

The first work featured in the programme was inspired by a drama, and the second by a philosophical treatise. The author of the play Pelléas et Mélisande, first performed in 1893, was the Belgian poet, playwright and essayist (winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1911) Maurice Maeterlinck. The story of forbidden and doomed love may not have been a great success on stage, but it proved to be inspiring for composers at the turn of the century. The first work drawing on Maeterlinck’s drama was incidental music (and later a suite) written by Gabriel Fauré, after whom Claude Debussy, Jean Sibelius, Mel Bonis and Arnold Schönberg presented their own pieces on the same theme. Schönberg’s symphonic poem from 1903 will be performed during the NFM Wrocław Philharmonic concert. This powerful composition, intended for a huge orchestra, was divided into eleven movements performed without intermissions. Later considered a work ahead of its time, it was appreciated by Gustav Mahler, who after reviewing the score congratulated his colleague, praising the expressiveness of his musical language. 

The second part of the concert will feature Richard Strauss’s symphonic poem Also sprach Zarathustra, completed a few years earlier in 1896 – a musical reflection on Friedrich Nietzsche’s philosophical treatise. The nine movements of this elaborate, colourfully instrumented piece present the metaphorical journey of the titular Persian prophet. The most recognisable fragment of this work is the opening Sunrise, which contains a characteristic trumpet theme (this is the so-called nature motif). Stanley Kubrick used it in his film 2001: A Space Odyssey – from that moment on, this introduction to Strauss’s composition became one of the most popular musical themes.