A symphonic song cycle can either refer to a

symphony A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning com ...

composed of separate movements played consecutively or to a set of symphonic works linked by theme, common composer, or common conductor. A symphonic cycle should not be confused with the closely related

song cycle A song cycle (german: Liederkreis or Liederzyklus) is a group, or cycle (music), cycle, of individually complete Art song, songs designed to be performed in a sequence as a unit.Susan Youens, ''Grove online'' The songs are either for solo voice ...

Symphonic cycle as a whole symphonic work

A symphony is essentially cyclic in nature, typically containing four interconnected movements as part of a larger work. At first the movements of a symphony were meant to be distributed among other works –

arias In music, an aria (Italian: ; plural: ''arie'' , or ''arias'' in common usage, diminutive form arietta , plural ariette, or in English simply air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrumental or orchestral accompanimen ...

overtures Overture (from French ''ouverture'', "opening") in music was originally the instrumental introduction to a ballet, opera, or oratorio in the 17th century. During the early Romantic era, composers such as Beethoven and Mendelssohn composed overt ...

concertos A concerto (; plural ''concertos'', or ''concerti'' from the Italian plural) is, from the late Baroque era, mostly understood as an instrumental composition, written for one or more soloists accompanied by an orchestra or other ensemble. The typi ...

– in extended evening social events at which music served a background or occasionally center role. The movements were meant to be connected and identified as part of the symphonic cycle through recall and quotation of earlier movements, and the finale movement meant to be seen as a destination and recap. It was not until Beethoven that a symphonic cycle came to be seen as a work needing isolated, consecutive play of the constituent movements.

Symphonic cycle as a set of works

A symphonic cycle may also refer to a set of symphonies linked through a common composer or conductor. For example, the symphonic repertoire of

Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...

, consisting of his nine numbered symphonies, may be wholly referred to as the Beethoven symphonic cycle. Another conception of the symphonic cycle is that of a set of composer's works as performed and recorded on audio/visual media by a common conductor. This practice came into existence with the establishment of audio record companies in the 1920s. {{cite web , url= http://history.sandiego.edu/GEN/recording/notes.html , title= Recording Technology History , author= Schoenherr, Steven E. , accessdate= 26 November 2008 , date= 6 July 2005 , url-status= dead , archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20100312213800/http://history.sandiego.edu/GEN/recording/notes.html , archivedate= 12 March 2010 A symphonic cycle of particular note is that of

Leonard Bernstein Leonard Bernstein ( ; August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, pianist, music educator, author, and humanitarian. Considered to be one of the most important conductors of his time, he was the first America ...

's first attempt at providing recordings for the complete symphonic works of

Gustav Mahler Gustav Mahler (; 7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911) was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th-century Austro-German tradition and the modernism ...

. The Bernstein–Mahler cycle became an advertising mechanism by which Bernstein championed the revival and critical acceptance of Mahler's music during the 1960s and '70s. Symphonic cycles of various composers are now recorded and sold in this sort of fashion featuring complete sets rendered by a common conductor or performing group.

References

Symphonies