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Stories of Symphonic Music / A Guide to the Meaning of Important Symphonies, Overtures, and Tone-poems from Beethoven to the Present Day cover

Stories of Symphonic Music / A Guide to the Meaning of Important Symphonies, Overtures, and Tone-poems from Beethoven to the Present Day

Chapter 111: SCHUMANN
By Lawrence Gilman
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About This Book

The guide offers concise, non-technical explanations of symphonies, overtures, and tone-poems, arranged by composer, that orient concert-goers to the illustrative or poetic intentions behind each work. A preface argues for knowing a composition's programme when it is central to the music; individual entries summarize a work's descriptive basis, thematic outline, and salient orchestral effects without indulging in speculative interpretations. Coverage ranges from Beethoven through late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century composers and selects items likely to appear on contemporary orchestral programs, providing practical background to enhance informed listening.

SCHUMANN

(Robert Schumann: born in Zwickau, Saxony, June 8, 1810; died in Endenich, near Bonn, July 29, 1856)

SYMPHONY No. 1, IN B-FLAT MAJOR ["SPRING"]: Op. 38

  1. Andante un poco maestoso; Allegro molto vivace
  2. Larghetto
  3. Scherzo: Molto vivace
  4. Finale: Allegro animato e grazioso

Although Schumann never publicly avowed it, the inspiration for this symphony sprang from a poem by Adolph Böttger (1815-1870), O Geist der Wolke. The music was composed early in 1841. In October of the following year Schumann sent a portrait of himself to his friend Böttger, accompanied by an inscription consisting of the opening phrase of the symphony in notation, and the words: "Beginning of a symphony inspired by a poem of Adolph Böttger. To the poet, in remembrance of Robert Schumann."

The verses of Böttger have been translated (in prose) as follows:

"Thou Spirit of the Cloud, murky and heavy, fliest with menace over land and sea; thy gray veil covers in a moment the clear eye of heaven; thy mist seethes up from afar, and Night hides the Star of Love. Thou Spirit of the Cloud, murky and damp, how thou hast frightened away all my happiness, how thou dost call tears to my face and shadows into the light of my soul! O turn, O turn thy course—In the valley blooms the spring!"

The crux of this poem, and the key to an understanding of the mood of Schumann's music, lies in the concluding line:

"In the valley blooms the spring!"

("Im Thale blüht der Frühling auf!")

Schumann himself spoke of this work as "a Spring symphony," though it is not so titled on the score. In a letter to Spohr he wrote (November 23, 1842): "I composed the symphony ..., if I may say so, under the impulse of that vernal ardor which sways men even at the most advanced age, and seizes them anew each year. I did not aim to portray or to describe; but I do believe that the season in which the symphony was conceived influenced its character and its form and made it what it is." He wrote also, on January 10, 1843, to Wilhelm Taubert (who was to produce the symphony in Berlin): "Could you imbue your orchestra with something of the springtime mood, which I had particularly in mind when I wrote the symphony in February, 1841? The trumpet-call at the entrance I should like to have sound as if it came from on high like an awakening summons. By what follows I might then suggest how on every side it begins to grow green; how, perhaps, a butterfly appears; and, by the Allegro, how gradually all springtime things burst forth. These, it is true, are fancies which occurred to me after I had finished the work. I should like to say, however, concerning the last movement, that I imagined it to suggest the departure of spring, and I would have it played in a manner not too frivolous." It will be observed that Schumann makes no reference whatever in these elucidations to what he has elsewhere alleged as the particular source of his inspiration.

That the composer originally intended to give descriptive titles to the different movements has been declared with particularity, and these are said to have been the superscriptions he planned to use: (1) "Spring's Beginning" (Frühlingsbeginn); (2) "Evening" (Abend); (3) "Merry Companions" (Frohe Gespielen); (4) "Spring at the Full" (Voller Frühling). The last of these would seem to conflict with what Schumann himself wrote to Taubert concerning the Finale.