I. Andante un poco maestoso; allegro molto vivace
II. Larghetto
III. Scherzo: molto vivace. Trio (1): molto più vivace; Trio (2)
IV. Allegro animato e grazioso
The opening is imposing with need of re-orchestration. Charming is the
lyric passage in the _scherzo_ that puts one in mind of Schubert’s
“Hark, Hark, the Lark”; but for the most part there is rhythmic
uniformity and boresome repetition that no change in the instrumentation
could redeem. As the thick orchestration stands, if the music is played
according to Schumann’s directions, Weingartner says, it is impossible
to produce a true _forte_ or an expressive _pianissimo_.
* * *
Schumann was married to Clara Wieck, September 12, 1840, after doubts,
anxieties, and opposition on the part of her father; after a nervous
strain of three or four years. His happiness was great, but to say with
some that this joy was the direct inspiration of the First symphony
would be to go against the direct evidence submitted by the composer. He
wrote Ferdinand Wenzel: “It is not possible for me to think of the
journal” (the _Neue Zeitschrift für Musik_, founded by Schumann, Wieck,
Schunke, and Knorr in 1834, and edited in 1841 by Schumann alone). “I
have during the last days finished a task (at least in sketches) which
filled me with happiness, and almost exhausted me. Think of it, a whole
symphony—and, what is more, a Spring symphony; I myself can hardly
believe that it is finished.” And he said in a letter (November 23,
1842) to Spohr: “I wrote the symphony toward the end of the winter of
1841, and, if I may say so, in the vernal passion that sways men until
they are very old, and surprises them again with each year. I do not
wish to portray, to paint; but I believe firmly that the period in which
the symphony was produced influenced its form and character, and shaped
it as it is.” He wrote to Wilhelm Taubert, who was to conduct the work
in Berlin: “Could you infuse into your orchestra in the performance a
sort of longing for the Spring, which I had chiefly in mind when I wrote
in February, 1841? The first entrance of trumpets, this I should like to
have sounded as though it were from high above, like unto a call to
awakening; and then I should like reading between the lines, in the rest
of the introduction, how everywhere it begins to grow green, how a
butterfly takes wing; and, in the _allegro_, how little by little all
things come, that in any way belong to Spring. True, these are fantastic
thoughts, which came to me after my work was finished; only I tell you
this about the _finale_, that I thought it as the good-bye of Spring.”
(It may here be noted that the symphony was fully sketched in four days,
and that Schumann now speaks of composing the work in February, 1841,
and now of writing it towards the end of that year.)
Berthold Litzmann, in the second volume of his _Clara Schumann_
(Leipsic, 1906), gives interesting extracts from the common diary of
Schumann and his wife, notes written while Schumann was composing this
symphony.
Towards the end of December, 1840, she complained that Robert had been
for some days “very cold toward her, yet the reason for it is a
delightful one.” On January 17-23, 1841, she wrote that it was not her
week to keep the diary, “but, if a man is composing a symphony, it is
not to be expected that he will do anything else.... The symphony is
nearly finished. I have not yet heard a note of it, but I am exceedingly
glad that Robert at last has started out in the field where, on account
of his great imagination, he belongs.” January 25: “Today, Monday,
Robert has nearly finished his symphony; it was composed chiefly at
night—for some nights my poor Robert has not slept on account of it. He
calls it ‘Spring symphony.’... A spring poem by [Boettger] gave him the
first impulse toward composition.”
According to the diary Schumann completed the symphony on Tuesday,
January 26. “Begun and finished in four days.... If there were only an
orchestra for it right away. I must confess, my dear husband, I did not
give you credit for such dexterity.” Schumann began to work on the
instrumentation January 27; Clara impatiently waited to hear a note of
the symphony. The instrumentation of the first movement was completed
February 4, that of the second and third movements on February 13, that
of the fourth on February 20, in the year 1841. Not till February 14 did
Schumann play the symphony to her. E. F. Wenzel, later a teacher at the
Leipsic Conservatory, and E. Pfundt, a kettledrum player of the
Gewandhaus orchestra, were present. “I should like,” she wrote in her
diary, “to say a little something about the symphony, yet I should not
be able to speak of the little buds, the perfume of the violets, the
fresh green leaves, the birds in the air.... Do not laugh at me, my dear
husband! If I cannot express myself poetically, nevertheless the poetic
breath of this work has stirred my very soul.” The instrumentation was
completed on February 20.
Clara wrote to Emilie Liszt after the performance: “My husband’s
symphony achieved a triumph over all cabals and intrigues.... I never
heard a symphony received with such applause.”
Robert wrote in the diary some days before that his next symphony should
be entitled “Clara; and I shall paint her therein with flutes, oboes,
and harps.”
The first movement opens with an introduction, _andante un poco
maestoso_, B flat major, 4-4, which begins with a virile phrase in the
horns and trumpets, answered by the full orchestra _fortissimo_. There
are stormy accents in the basses, with full chords in the brass and
other strings, and each chord is echoed by the wood-wind. Flute and
clarinet notes over a figure in the violas lead to a gradual _crescendo
ed accelerando_, which introduces the _allegro molto vivace_, B flat
major, 2-4. This begins at once with a brilliant first theme. The chief
figure is taken from the initial horn and trumpet call as Schumann
originally wrote it. The development of the theme leads finally to a
modulation to the key of C major, and there is the thought, naturally,
of F major as the tonality of the second theme, but this motive given
out by the clarinets and bassoons is in no definite tonality; it is in a
mode which suggests A minor and also D minor; the second section ends,
however, in F major, and the further development adheres to this key.
The first part of the movement is repeated. The free fantasia is long
and elaborately worked out. The first movement does not return in the
shape it has at the beginning of the _allegro_, but in the broader
version heard at the opening of the introduction. The long _coda_ begins
_animato, poco a poco stringendo_, on a new theme in full harmony in the
strings, and it is developed until horns and trumpets sound the familiar
call.
The second movement, _larghetto_, E flat major, 3-8, opens with a
_romanza_ developed by the violins. The second theme, C major, is of a
more restless nature, and its phrases are given out alternately by the
wood-wind and violins. The melodious first theme is repeated, B flat
major, by the violoncellos against an accompaniment in second violins
and violas and syncopated chords in the first violins and the wood-wind.
There is a new episodic theme. The first motive appears for the third
time, now in E flat major. It is sung by the oboe and horn, accompanied
by clarinets and bassoons, with passages in the strings. Near the close
of the short _coda_ are solemn harmonies in bassoons and trombones. This
movement is enchained with the _scherzo_.
The _scherzo, molto vivace_, D minor, 3-4, begins in G minor. The first
trio, _molto più vivace_, D major, 2-4, includes harmonic interplay
between strings and wind instruments. It is developed at some length,
and the _scherzo_ is repeated. There is a second trio, B flat major,
3-4, with imitative contrapuntal work, and it is followed by a second
repetition of the _scherzo_. A short _coda_ has the rhythm of the first
trio and brings the end.
_Finale_: _allegro animato e grazioso_, B flat major, 2-2. It begins
with a _fortissimo_ figure which is used hereafter. The first theme, a
cheerful, tripping dance melody, enters and is developed by strings and
wood-wind. The second theme, equally blithe, is in G major, and the
impressive initial figure of the full orchestra at the beginning of the
movement, now given out by the strings, is in the second phrase. The two
motives are worked up alternately. The free fantasia opens quietly.
Trombones sound the rhythm of the first theme of the first movement.
There is a long series of imitations on the first theme of the _finale_.
This series leads to some horn calls and a _cadenza_ for the flute. The
third section of the movement is regular, and there is a brilliant
_coda_.