Franz Liszt was the inventor of the symphonic poem (also known as the tone poem), a form in which a literary or other nonmusical source provides a narrative foundation for a single-movement orchestral work. Liszt's symphonic poems, however, were not exclusively dependent on their source material: the composer's goal was more to distill the essence of the poetic concept in music rather than to exactly recreate it. Hamlet (1858) is the tenth of the twelve symphonic poems Liszt wrote during his tenure as Grand Ducal Director of Music Extraordinary at Weimar. All twelve works are dedicated to Princess Carolyne Sayn-Wittgenstein.

Hamlet is regarded as one of Liszt's finest and most tightly executed compositions. Liszt intended this brief work, less than ten minutes in duration, as a prelude to Shakespeare's play. Instead of illustrating the play's dramatic flow, however, Liszt renders a character study of the protagonist. The work opens gloomily, broodingly, and in its course takes the listener through the many familiar changes of mood and behavior Hamlet undergoes throughout the play: the music is by turns determined, indecisive, manic, grotesque, funereal. Two interludes hint at the pure, innocent character of Ophelia; Liszt, however, does not employ these passages as resolution to the frenzy of Hamlet's often dissonant themes, instead using them as tension-generating contrast throughout. The work ends abruptly and without resolution, as if interrupted.

© Margaret Godfrey, All Music Guide