This blog post was triggered by the same Kitchener-Waterloo
Symphony Orchestra concert as the Gernsheim symphony in the first post
of this series.
Robert Schumann wrote four symphonies in all, although it's easy to get confused about the order of their composition since the second one he wrote eventually got published as the Fourth. Far too many interpreters of these works have stopped right there, and ignored another piece which is -- for my money -- a symphony in all but name.
Robert Schumann wrote four symphonies in all, although it's easy to get confused about the order of their composition since the second one he wrote eventually got published as the Fourth. Far too many interpreters of these works have stopped right there, and ignored another piece which is -- for my money -- a symphony in all but name.
Schumann in fact struggled with the appropriate title for this work. He referred to it, at one point, as his "Second Symphony." He also tried calling it a "Symphonette," a curious amalgam to replace the Italian Sinfonietta. He referred to it as a "Suite." But in the end, he settled on Overture, Scherzo, and Finale. If there's any reason why this delightful piece remains so little heard, I would suspect it's really the fault of that absurdly wordy and clumsy title. Certainly, there's no reason not to record it in harness with the numbered quartet, yet for years there were few recordings which did so (Wolfgang Sawallisch on EMI was one of the earliest, and remains a fine example).
Especially given ample precedent from Haydn, Mozart, and others, I see no particular reason why a work should be denied the title of "symphony" because of being lighter in weight, colour, or texture, or because of having only three movements.
The Overture, Scherzo, and Finale is one of the products of Schumann's glorious year of the orchestra, 1841. He began the year with his first symphony, the "Spring" Symphony, followed with this work and the Phantaisie in A Minor for piano and orchestra (which later became the opening movement of his immortal Piano Concerto), and then went on to produce the first version of the D Minor Symphony which was published years later, misleadingly labelled as the Fourth.
Readers who are familiar with the other three works he wrote in the same year may be a little surprised to hear just how different Schumann's sound world becomes in this piece. If the Spring Symphony was written under the stimulus of hearing the Schubert Great C Major Symphony, this piece owes more than a little to the Mendelssohn of A Midsummer Night's Dream and the Italian Symphony. Schumann here uses the orchestra in a very Mendelssohnian way, with graceful light textures and relatively sparing use of just 2 horns, versus his more usual four, and with trombones appearing only in the finale.
The first movement opens with a brief introduction that presents two contrasting melodic ideas. These two ideas recur during the main allegro which follows within moments. Right from the opening bars, the kinship to Mendelssohn is apparent -- especially so when the main theme is presented by the winds, with the strings dancing attendance.
The scherzo which follows dances along to a lively dotted rhythm in an unusual pattern that becomes obstinately memorable. Again, the textures are light and airy, although this music has more of a rustic country-dance feeling than one gets from Mendelssohn's fairy scherzos. The contrasting trio presents a brief singing melody from the winds, answered by the strings, which switches frequently between major and minor. The recapitulation of the scherzo after the trio is marked by a strange interpolation of two extra rhythmic bars which disrupt the regular four-bar phrases. The trio is then briefly recalled, followed by an altered reminiscence of the main melody of the first movement, before a quick little wind flourish ends the movement.
The finale has the most robust textures, partly because of the orchestration, but also because of the composer's use of fugal textures which necessarily involve more melodic lines being in play simultaneously. Yet the music remains bright and energetic, right up to the closing pages where Schumann takes his vigorous main theme and works it into a grand apotheosis like a chorale, the horns and trombones very much to the fore. It makes for a satisfying conclusion to a work which is, for me, one of the most breezy and engaging pieces its creator ever wrote.
Especially given ample precedent from Haydn, Mozart, and others, I see no particular reason why a work should be denied the title of "symphony" because of being lighter in weight, colour, or texture, or because of having only three movements.
The Overture, Scherzo, and Finale is one of the products of Schumann's glorious year of the orchestra, 1841. He began the year with his first symphony, the "Spring" Symphony, followed with this work and the Phantaisie in A Minor for piano and orchestra (which later became the opening movement of his immortal Piano Concerto), and then went on to produce the first version of the D Minor Symphony which was published years later, misleadingly labelled as the Fourth.
Readers who are familiar with the other three works he wrote in the same year may be a little surprised to hear just how different Schumann's sound world becomes in this piece. If the Spring Symphony was written under the stimulus of hearing the Schubert Great C Major Symphony, this piece owes more than a little to the Mendelssohn of A Midsummer Night's Dream and the Italian Symphony. Schumann here uses the orchestra in a very Mendelssohnian way, with graceful light textures and relatively sparing use of just 2 horns, versus his more usual four, and with trombones appearing only in the finale.
The first movement opens with a brief introduction that presents two contrasting melodic ideas. These two ideas recur during the main allegro which follows within moments. Right from the opening bars, the kinship to Mendelssohn is apparent -- especially so when the main theme is presented by the winds, with the strings dancing attendance.
The scherzo which follows dances along to a lively dotted rhythm in an unusual pattern that becomes obstinately memorable. Again, the textures are light and airy, although this music has more of a rustic country-dance feeling than one gets from Mendelssohn's fairy scherzos. The contrasting trio presents a brief singing melody from the winds, answered by the strings, which switches frequently between major and minor. The recapitulation of the scherzo after the trio is marked by a strange interpolation of two extra rhythmic bars which disrupt the regular four-bar phrases. The trio is then briefly recalled, followed by an altered reminiscence of the main melody of the first movement, before a quick little wind flourish ends the movement.
The finale has the most robust textures, partly because of the orchestration, but also because of the composer's use of fugal textures which necessarily involve more melodic lines being in play simultaneously. Yet the music remains bright and energetic, right up to the closing pages where Schumann takes his vigorous main theme and works it into a grand apotheosis like a chorale, the horns and trombones very much to the fore. It makes for a satisfying conclusion to a work which is, for me, one of the most breezy and engaging pieces its creator ever wrote.
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