Franz Liszt wrote the symphonic poem Les Préludes, first performed in 1854.
Les Préludes was originally composed as an overture to Liszt’s choral cycle Les Quatre Élémens. Liszt later revised and retitled it as a standalone orchestral work, taking its name from a poem by Alphonse de Lamartine. The title is often translated as “The Preludes.”
The piece is important in the history of the symphonic poem, a genre Liszt developed for a single continuous orchestral movement based on an idea, story, poem, or scene. Its contrasting sections move through lyrical, martial, and reflective material rather than following the traditional multi-movement symphony format.
Les Préludes became one of Liszt’s most frequently performed orchestral works. A famous quotation associated with it—“What else is our life but a series of preludes?”—comes from Lamartine’s text, although the musical work does not literally illustrate every event described in the poem.