A programme symphony is in several movements, following roughly the same plan as a symphony and drawing inspiration from an extra-musical element.
Well-known programme symphonies include Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique which depicts the obsessive love of a young artist through his opium-induced dreams. It has descriptive titles for each movement, eg A Ball, Scene in the Countryside and March to the Scaffold. A short melodic idea (which Berlioz called an idée fixe) represents the artist’s love and keeps reappearing in different forms to haunt him.
Listen to the way Berlioz has transformed the theme in the last movement of Symphonie Fantastique – The Witches Sabbath.
Next: Lieder and other art songs
The Listening Project Blog 