The “Alpine Symphony” by Richard Strauss is one of the crucial symphonic works of the early 20th century. Although the Alpine Symphony has been accused of being mere sound cinema; film music without a film, superficial tone painting without real symphonic depth; from the beginning of the first, quite different working concepts onwards it was more than its critics wanted to concede it to be. Rather, the Alps as a subject and their musical realisation were part of a larger construct. The poetic idea of the work creates its own form, just as Strauss described it in his ideal.