 Sometimes the text can give a basic outline that correlates to the four @-@ movement scheme of a symphony . For instance , the four @-@ part structure of Edgar Allan Poe 's The Bells , a progression from youth to marriage , maturity , and death , naturally suggested the four movements of a symphony to Sergei Rachmaninoff , which he followed in his choral symphony of the same name . The text can encourage a composer to expand a choral symphony past the normal bounds of the symphonic genre , as with Berlioz for his Roméo et Juliette , yet stay within the basic structural or aesthetic intent of symphonic form . It can also influence the musical content in parts where there is no singing , as in Roméo et Juliette . There , Berlioz allows the orchestra to express the majority of the drama in instrumental music and saves words for expository and narrative sections of the work . 
