Symphonic poem temporary stop to the debate as to whether the genre was dead. Nevertheless, composers began to explore the "more compact form" of the concert overture "...as a vehicle within which to blend musical, narrative and pictoral ideas." Examples included Mendelssohn's overtures "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (1826) and "The Hebrides" (1830). Between 1845 and 1847, the Belgian composer César Franck wrote an orchestral piece based on Victor Hugo's poem "Ce qu'on entend sur la montagne". The work exhibits characteristics of a symphonic poem, and some musicologists, such as Norman Demuth and Julien Tiersot, consider it the first of its genre, preceding
Julius Caesar (overture) Julius Caesar (overture) The Julius Caesar overture, Op. 128, is a concert overture written in 1851 by Robert Schumann, inspired by Shakespeare's play "Julius Caesar" and influenced by the "Egmont" and "Coriolan" overtures of Ludwig van Beethoven. "Julius Caesar" is usually associated with two other Schumann concert overtures written about that time, also inspired by great literature: "The Bride of Messina", Op. 100 (based on Schiller's eponymous play) and "Hermann und Dorothea", Op. 136 (based on Goethe's epic poem). The year 1851 was intensely active for Schumann: not only did he complete these three overtures, he also wrote his Piano