Tempo Dramaturgy in Liszt’s Symphonic Poems as it Relates to the History of the Overture

Abstract

In spite of its worsening reputation, especially in German music discourse, the overture contributed substantially to the development of nineteenth-century instrumental genres. This potential for innovation was largely a result of the integration of vocal material from the ensuing opera and its associated tempo changes. As seen in Mendelssohn and Wagner, this led to the hybridization of the sonata form, to the growth of slower episodes (especially at the beginning and end), and to symmetrical and teleological form concepts. Liszt defined his newly established symphonic poem as a “one-movement genre with changing tempo and meter.” The ways in which he radicalized the overture towards a flexible, individual tempo dramaturgy is demonstrated in Les Preludes , Tasso , and Hamlet .