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
Johannesburg Festival Overture March 1957. André Kostelanetz recorded the work with the New York Philharmonic in the Columbia 30th Street Studios on 2 December 1959. Johannesburg Festival Overture Johannesburg Festival Overture is a composition for orchestra by the English composer William Walton, composed for the 70th anniversary of Johannesburg in 1956. In January 1956, Walton received a commission from Ernest Fleischmann, musical director of the Johannesburg Festival Committee, to celebrate the seventieth anniversary of the city. Fleischmann included in his request to “include some African themes”. Walton composed the overture between February and the end of May 1956, and revised it before publication