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
Cuban Overture "Échale Salsita". Other songs referenced by the piece's themes and phrases include the traditional folk song La Paloma. The overture is in ternary form. The work under the title "Rumba" received its première at New York's now-demolished Lewisohn Stadium on 16 August 1932, as part of an all-Gershwin programme held by New York Philharmonic. The concert was a huge success. As Gershwin wrote: The work was greeted favorably by critics. It was renamed "Cuban Overture" three months later at a benefit concert conducted by Gershwin at the Metropolitan Opera to avoid giving audience the idea that it was simply a