tone poem
An orchestral work that tells a story or depicts a scene in a single continuous movement.
In Depth
A tone poem (or symphonic poem) is an orchestral composition inspired by an extra-musical source — a painting, poem, landscape, legend, or historical event. Unlike a symphony, which follows abstract musical forms, a tone poem shapes its structure around the narrative or imagery it portrays. Liszt invented the genre in the 1850s, and Richard Strauss brought it to its peak with works like Don Juan, Till Eulenspiegel, and Also sprach Zarathustra (whose opening fanfare is now more famous as the theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey). Debussy's Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune and Sibelius's Finlandia are other celebrated tone poems.
The opening of Strauss's Also sprach Zarathustra was used in Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey and has since become the universal musical shorthand for cosmic grandeur.