Symphonic poem Tchaikovsky's work as "Isle of the Dead" (1909) does its independence from it. A similar debt to his teacher Rimsky-Korsakov imbues Igor Stravinsky's "The Song of the Nightingale", excerpted from his opera "The Nightingale". Alexander Scriabin's "The Poem of Ecstasy" (1905–08) and "" (1908–10), in their projection of an egocentric theosophic world unequalled in other symphonic poems, are notable for their detail and advanced harmonic idiom. Socialist realism in the Soviet Union allowed program music to survive longer there than in western Europe, as typified by Dmitri Shostakovich's symphonic poem "October" (1967). While France was less concerned than other countries
Symphonic poem personal belief in the greatness of the Czech nation while presenting selected episodes and ideas from Czech history. Two recurrent musical themes unify the entire cycle. One theme represents Vyšehrad, the fortress over the river Vltava whose course provides the subject matter for the second (and best-known) work in the cycle; the other is the ancient Czech hymn ""Ktož jsú boží bojovníci"" ("Ye who are God's warriors"), which unites the cycle's last two poems, "Tábor" and "Blaník." While expanding the form to a unified cycle of symphonic poems, Smetana created what Macdonald terms "one of the monuments of Czech music"