1st Symphony (Schumann)
Robert Schumann's Symphony No. 1 in B flat major op. 38 , also known as the Spring Symphony , was composed at the height of his life in just four days in January 1841. He himself said that the work was “born in a fiery hour” and that he himself was “whole been blessed "about this work:
“I wrote the symphony, if I may say, in that urge to spring, which probably carries people away into old age and invades them anew every year. I didn't want to depict or paint; I believe that the very time in which the symphony was created influenced its design and that it just became what it is. "
A poetic suggestion for the symphony was provided by u. a. a short poem by Adolf Böttger , which ends with the lines:
O turn, turn your run
In the valley, spring blossoms!
A line that Schumann writes about:
"Right from the first trumpet entry, I want it to sound as if from on high, like a call to awakening - I could then put into what follows, how it starts to green everywhere, probably even a butterfly soars, like everything gradually comes together what belongs to spring. "
The call of a Leipzig night watchman was named as an alternative source of inspiration.
Sentence names
- Movement: Andante un poco maestoso - Allegro molto vivace
- Movement: Larghetto - attacca :
- Movement: Scherzo (Molto vivace)
- Movement: Allegro animato e grazioso
The playing time is approx. 35 minutes.
Orchestral line-up
Two flutes , two oboes , two clarinets , two bassoons , four horns , two trumpets , three trombones , timpani , triangle , strings
Note: Schumann had not considered that natural horns and natural trumpets cannot play the main theme at the beginning without dull-sounding stopping tones. (Valve instruments were still rare back then!) So he had to set this beginning - on the advice of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, a third higher. Even the Dutch conductor Johann Joseph Hermann Verhulst, who was friends with Schumann, changed this again. Later did this u. a. Gustav Mahler and Fritz Busch as well. Heinz Holliger also had this original form played in his complete recording of the symphonic works. Today, however, it is very controversial whether this new 'change' should be made; however, the surviving sources are not clear. Allegedly, Schumann is said to have favored the original form later - after it went to press. (Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy had advised Schumann on the instrumentation of this symphony. This is probably why Felix Weingartner considers the instrumentation of this symphony in his book " Advice for Performances Classical Symphonies; Volume II" [ Breitkopf & Härtel 1918 ] to be very successful and hardly suggests any changes. He is content with a few dynamic retouches and labels.)
The actually 'wrong' timpani tones can be softened by skilful timpanists by striking the timpani in the middle - according to old playing tradition - and thus making the tone indifferent. It then acts - especially with the small timpani in Schumann's time - more like a kind of big drum. Nevertheless, many conductors have used the possibilities of modern pedal timpani and corrected the notes.
reception
At the premiere on March 31, 1841, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy conducted the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra . The work was very well received by the audience.
literature
- Martin Demmler: Schumann's symphonies: a musical work guide (= Beck'sche series: Knowledge. Volume 2211). CH Beck, Munich 2004, ISBN 3-406-44811-9 , pp. 24–42 ( limited preview in Google book search).
- Lodewijk Muns: Schumann's First Symphony: 'The Nightwatchman'. In: The Musical Times 151 (2010), No. 1911, pp. 3-17, JSTOR 20721615 .
- Norbert J. Schneider : Robert Schumann. I Symphony in B flat major op. 38 (= masterpieces of music 34). Wilhelm Fink, Munich 1983, ISBN 3-7705-2107-2 .
Web links
- 1st Symphony (Schumann) : Sheet music and audio files in the International Music Score Library Project
Individual evidence
- ↑ Quoted from: Richard Batka : Schumann . Reclam, Leipzig 1891, Series of Musicians' Biographies, Volume 13. S. 57.
- ↑ Lodewijk Muns: Schumann's First Symphony: 'The Nightwatchman'. In: The Musical Times 151 (2010), No. 1911, pp. 3-17, JSTOR 20721615 .