part written for the heckelphone goes down to F2, while the lowest note the heckelphone can play is A2. Attempts to address this issue have led to the invention of the lupophone. Program Although performed as one continuous movement, An Alpine Symphony has a distinct program which describes each phase of the Alpine journey in chronological order. The score includes the following section titles (not numbered in the score): Nacht (Night) Sonnenaufgang (Sunrise) Der Anstieg (The Ascent) Eintritt in den Wald (Entry into the Forest) Wanderung neben dem Bache (Wandering by the Brook) Am Wasserfall (At the Waterfall) Erscheinung (Apparition) Auf blumigen Wiesen (On Flowering Meadows) Auf der Alm (On the Alpine Pasture) Durch Dickicht und Gestrüpp auf Irrwegen (Through Thickets and Undergrowth on the Wrong Path) Auf dem Gletscher (On the Glacier) Gefahrvolle Augenblicke (Dangerous Moments) Auf dem Gipfel (On the Summit) Vision (Vision) Nebel steigen auf (Mists Rise) Die Sonne verdüstert sich allmählich (The Sun Gradually Becomes Obscured) Elegie (Elegy) Stille vor dem Sturm (Calm Before the Storm) Gewitter und Sturm, Abstieg (Thunderstorm and Tempest, Descent) Sonnenuntergang (Sunset) Ausklang (Quiet Settles / Epilogue) Nacht (Night) In terms of formal analysis, attempts have been made to group these sections together to form a "gigantic Lisztian symphonic form, with elements of an introduction, opening allegro, scherzo, slow movement, finale, and epilogue." In general, however, it is believed that comparisons to any kind of traditional symphonic form are secondary to the strong sense of structure created by the piece's musical pictorialism and detailed narrative. Themes, form, and analysis Introduction Though labelled as a symphony by the composer, An Alpine Symphony is rather a tone poem as it forgoes the conventions of the traditional multi-movement symphony and consists of twenty-two continuous sections of music. Strauss's An Alpine Symphony opens on a unison B in the strings, horns, and lower woodwinds. From this note, a dark B minor scale slowly descends. Each new note is sustained until, eventually, every degree of the scale is heard simultaneously, creating an "opaque mass" of tone representing the deep, mysterious night on the mountain. Trombones and tuba emerge from this wash of sound to solemnly declaim the mountain theme, a majestic motive which recurs often in later sections of the piece. This passage is a rare instance of Strauss's use of polytonality, as the shifting harmony in the middle part of the mountain theme (which includes a