If Liszt has had a less all-embracing reaction upon modern composers, his sphere of influence has been marked and widely extended. To begin with, his harmonic style has been the subject of imitation second only to Wagner up to the advent of Richard Strauss and Debussy. His invention of the structurally elastic symphonic poem remains the sole original contribution in point of form which the nineteenth century can claim. For even the cyclic sonata form of Franck is but a modification of the academic type, and was foreshadowed by Beethoven and Schumann. The vast evolution of structural freedom, the infinite ramifications of subtle and dramatic program-music, and the resultant additions of the most stimulating character to modern musical literature rest upon the courageous initiative of Liszt. In France, Saint-Saëns' pioneer examples, though somewhat slight in substance, prepared the way for César Franck's _Les Éolides_ and _Le Chasseur maudit_, Duparc's _Lénore_, d'Indy's _La forêt enchantée_, the programmistic _Istar_ variations, _Jour d'été à la Montagne_, Dukas' _L'Apprenti-sorcier_, Debussy's _Prélude à l'Après-midi d'un faune_ and the Nocturnes (programmistic if impressionistic), Florent Schmitts' _Tragédie de Salomé_, and Roussel's _Evocations_. In Germany, Richard Strauss' epoch-making series of tone-poems, from _Macbeth_ to _Also sprach Zarathustra_, combine descriptive aptitude and orchestral brilliance with a masterly manipulation of formal elements. Weingartner's _Die Gefilde der Seligen_ and Reger's Böcklin symphonic poems may be added to the list. In Russia, Balakireff's _Thamar_, Borodine's 'Sketch from Central Asia,' Rimsky-Korsakoff's _Scheherezade_ (although a suite), Glazounoff's _Stenka Razine_ and other less vital works, Rachmaninoff's 'Isle of the Dead,' Scriabine's 'Poem of Ecstasy' and 'Poem of Fire' mark the path of evolution. Smetana's series of six symphonic poems entitled 'My Home' result directly from the stimulus of Liszt. In Finland, Sibelius' tone-poems on national legendary subjects take a high rank for their poetic and dramatic qualities. If in England, Bantock's 'Dante and Beatrice,' 'Fifine at the Fair' and other works, Holbrooke's 'Queen Mab,' Wallace's 'François Villon,' Delius' 'Paris' and Elgar's 'Falstaff' exhibit differing degrees of merit, the example of Liszt is still inspiriting. Moreover, the Lisztian treatment of the orchestra, emphasizing as it does a felicitous employment of instruments of percussion, has proved a remarkable liberating force, especially in Russia and France. Liszt's piano idiom has been assimilated even more widely than in the case of the symphonic poem and orchestral style. Smetana, Saint-Saëns, Balakireff, and Liapounoff occur at once as salient instances.