EXAMPLES FROM THE WEB FOR SYMPHONY
When you write a symphony, you do it out of yourself, but not by yourself.
"I wonder if you realize what an event for your friends this symphony was," Sally broke in.
Without my friends, my symphony would have been left unwritten.
Necessarily the opera must be more romantic than the symphony.
There was nothing in the world she loved so much as a symphony orchestra.
The symphony clearly reflects the spirit of the cantata, which follows.
In 1811 another was held, for which he wrote his first symphony.
He gave a series of symphony concerts which aroused the greatest enthusiasm.
His first symphony appeared in 1851, and was performed with success.
If I were a musician I would take it as the subject for the adagio in a Wesleyan symphony.
WORD ORIGIN
late 13c., the name of various musical instruments, from Old French symphonie "harmony" (12c.), from Latin symphonia "a unison of sounds, harmony," from Greek symphonia "harmony, concert," from symphonos "harmonious," from syn- "together" (see syn-) + phone "voice, sound" (see fame (n.)).
Meaning "harmony of sounds" is attested from mid-15c.; sense of "music in parts" is from 1590s. "It was only after the advent of Haydn that this word began to mean a sonata for full orchestra. Before that time it meant a prelude, postlude, or interlude, or any short instrumental work." ["Elson's Music Dictionary"] Meaning "elaborate orchestral composition" first attested 1789 (symphonic in this sense is from 1864). Elliptical for "symphony orchestra" from 1926.