Which of the following composers most anticipated the spiritual and philosophical themes found in orchestral music from the turn of the 20th century?

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The question asks which composer most anticipated the spiritual and philosophical themes found in orchestral music around the turn of the 20th century.
Option 1: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. While Tchaikovsky produced deeply expressive and emotionally rich music, his primary focus was personal sentiment and melodic drama rather than explicitly exploring broad spiritual or philosophical concepts through orchestral abstraction. He is less often framed as a pioneer of turning orchestral music toward the late-Romantic/philosophical trajectory.
Option 2: Hector Berlioz. Berlioz was a master of program music and innovative orchestration in the 19th century, and he certainly influenced later generations. However, his work belongs more to the mid- to late-19th century, and while philosophically minded, he did not pioneer the specific turn-of-the-century movement toward spirituality and metaphysical inquiry in orchestral contexts that later composers amplified.
Option 3: Franz Liszt. Liszt, especially through his orchestral works and, crucially, the symphonic poems, played a pivotal role in transporting music toward programmatic, philosophical, and spiritual ideas expressed in a primarily orchestral medium. His innovations laid groundwork for later composers who sought to explore existential and metaphysical themes beyond traditional form, making him a strong progenitor of the turn-of-the-century shift in orchestral music.
Option 4: Richard Wagner. Wagner certainly engaged with profound philosophical and spiritual themes in his operas, and his Gesamtkunstwerk concept influenced the broader artistic milieu. Yet his primary impact is on opera rather than on orchestral music in the turn of the century, and he is not as directly associated with the orchestral move toward spiritual/philosophical exploration outside the operatic stage as Liszt is.
In summary, while several candidates contributed to the development of programmatic and metaphysical ideas, Liszt stands out for shaping the direction of orchestral music toward these themes through the symphonic poem format and his broader reformulation of orchestral narrative, which later composers built upon. The other options, though important in their own right, either predate this specific turn or center more on opera or personal expression than on the orchestral/spiritual trajectory described.

MUS207H1 F LEC0101 Midterm Test

Which of the following composers most anticipated the spiritual and philosophical themes found in orchestral music from the turn of the 20th century?

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