An Alpine Symphony (
Eine Alpensinfonie), Op. 64, is a
tone poem written by German composer
Richard Strauss in 1915. Though labelled as a
symphony by the composer, this piece forgoes the conventions of the traditional multi-movement symphony and consists of twenty-two continuous sections of music. The story of
An Alpine Symphony depicts the experiences of eleven hours (from daybreak just before dawn to the following nightfall) spent climbing an
Alpine mountain.
An Alpine Symphony is one of Strauss's largest non-operatic works in terms of performing forces: the score calls for about 125 players in total. A typical performance usually lasts around 50 minutes.