Symphonic Poems as Part of Opera in the Works of Russian Composers of the Xix Century

This article reveals, for the first time, the features of the formation of the genre of symphonic poem in opera. Vivid imagery, the importance in the drama and composition of a musical and stage work, and the important role in revealing the artistic idea of the opera contributed to the enrichment of the content of symphonic episodes, the transformation of the symphonic poem into an autonomous phenomenon, and the direction of its further development. The existence of a symphonic poem inside an opera was of great importance for the formation of the inherent features of the new genre. The examples discussed in the article demonstrate different types of symphonic poems in terms of scale, their place in the performance, and the degree of isolation from arias. The study reveals a tendency to increasingly isolate the symphonic poem from the opera genre: by the middle of the XIX century, the orchestral genre was becoming an independent phenomenon. The role of the symphonic poem in the development of artistic ideas, images, characters, and the musical and thematic content of an opera made it possible to identify specific methods of musical expression, especially onomatopoeia and sound figures. There is also a connection with plastic art forms—painting, sculpture, and architecture – which determines the impulse for further development of symphonic poem in programmatic symphonism.