Symphonic poem Borodin's "In the Steppes of Central Asia" "powerful orchestral pictures, each unique in its composer's output". Titled a "musical portrait", "In the Steppes of Central Asia" evokes the journey of a caravan across the steppes. "Night on Bald Mountain", especially its original version, contains harmony that is often striking, sometimes pungent and highly abrasive; its initial stretches especially pull the listener into a world of uncompromisingly brutal directness and energy. Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov wrote only two orchestral works that rank as symphonic poems, his "musical tableau" "Sadko" (1867–92) and "Skazka" ("Legend", 1879–80), originally titled "Baba-Yaga". While this may perhaps be surprising,
Symphonic poem a vehicle for the nationalist ideas fomenting in their respective countries at this time. Bedřich Smetana visited Liszt in Weimar in the summer of 1857, where he heard the first performances of the "Faust Symphony" and the symphonic poem "Die Ideale". Influenced by Liszt's efforts, Smetana began a series of symphonic works based on literary subjects—"Richard III" (1857-8), "Wallenstein's Camp" (1858-9) and "Hakon Jarl" (1860–61). A piano work dating from the same period, "Macbeth a čarodějnice" ("Macbeth and the Witches", 1859), is similar in scope but bolder in style. Musicologist John Clapham writes that Smetana planned these works as "a