Robert Schumann - Symphonies Nos. 1 ‘Spring’ and 2 (re-orchestrated by Gustav Mahler)

Robert SCHUMANN (1810–1856)

Symphonies Nos. 1 ‘Spring’ and 2 (re-orchestrated by Gustav Mahler)

Symphony No. 1 in B flat major, Op. 38 ‘Spring’

Symphony No. 2 in C major, Op. 61

Bergen Philharmonic Orchesstra

Aldo Ceccato

Recording Data: March 6-7, 1987, April 10-11, 1987 at the Grieg Hall, Bergen.

 

Robert Schumann’s works lie at the centre of German Romantic music both historically and stylistically.

Essentially a lyrical composer, his output of hundreds of songs continues the tradition of German Lieder from Schubert and Schumann’s place is undeniably in the very first rank. Song cycles such as Dichterliebe and Frauenliebe und -Leben occupy a very special place in the hearts of listeners and his melodic and harmonic strengths in these smaller forms seemed to occur naturally without the need for years of arduous compositional study.

Born in Zwickau, Saxony, Robert Schumann studied with the renowned piano pedagogue Friedrich Wieck. These piano studies eventually ended in disaster when an injury to Robert’s right hand made a concert career impossible. He switched to composition and later married Wieck’s daughter the concert pianist Clara Wieck. Songs and piano pieces had been Robert’s métier, but Clara had grander ambitions for him.

Consequently, by 1841 symphonic writing was becoming central and throughout 1845 both he and Clara were studying Bach’s works together for their contrapuntal and structural strengths. Four symphonies emerged between 1841 and 1851.

The Robert and Clara Schumann circle was a magnet for aspiring and established musicians, with friends and acquaintances that included Mendelssohn. Notably a youthful Brahms studied and lived with them for some time. However, Robert’s physical and mental health began to deteriorate seriously during the later 1840s and he succumbed to an early death in 1856.

With a family of eight children and an active concert career Clara proved the rock on which her idyllic love match with Robert was built. She was his muse and whether in his symphonies, songs or piano music Clara’s presence is always felt through many musical references. For some this seems to encapsulate the very essence of Romantic music.

Gustav Mahler and the Schumann Symphonies

Robert Schumann married Clara Wieck in 1840 and before long his First Symphony – sketched out at breakneck speed over four days – was given its initial performance on 31 March 1841 by the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, conducted by Felix Mendelssohn. Adolf Böttger’s poem Frühlingsgedicht inspired its title ‘Spring’ Symphony.

Alarming signs of deterioration in Schumann’s psychological and physical heath became evident during 1844 and 1845 but following an improvement his Second Symphony was completed in 1846 and premiered on 5 November by the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, again with Mendelssohn conducting.

Undoubtedly, Clara was influential in encouraging Schumann to broaden his compositional horizons. He had studied and attempted symphonic writing earlier during the 1830s inspired by the scores of Beethoven and Schubert, and both Robert and Clara assiduously studied Bach counterpoint during 1845.

But the road to polished orchestration proved a challenge for the composer and famously Mendelssohn had the Gewandhaus brass transpose the initial opening fanfare of the First Symphony up a third as Schumann had written impossibly low for them at that point.

Gustav Mahler (1860–1911), the late-Romantic composer and renowned conductor, reinstated the original fanfare during the early 1900s when he gently revised the orchestration of all four symphonies in light of modern instrumental developments and a doubling in size of the average symphony orchestra from around 45 to 90 players. Controversy has always followed Schumann’s four symphonies and many now argue that Schumann’s so called ‘idiosyncratic’ orchestration is actually perfectly suited to a historically informed performance by a 45- strong orchestra using period instruments. On the other hand, Mahler’s revisions have proved models of tasteful modification for large modern orchestras.