Manfred Overture, Op. 115 / Symphony No. 2 in C, Op. 61

Home , Julius Caesar (overture)

BR EUL jo —_— STS 15285 A Schumann Ye SIDE ONE SCHUMANN: MANFRED OVERTURE, Op. 115 (11:50) Symphony No.2 in C SYMPHONY No. 2 in C, Op. 61 Manfred Overture,Op.115 1. Sostenuto assai - Allegro ma non troppo (12:30) SIDE TWO Orchestre de la Suisse Romande SCHUMANN: SYMPHONY No. 2 in C, Op. 61 (Contd.) 2. Scherzo. Allegro vivace (6:53) Ansermet 3. Adagio espressivo (9:11) 4. Allegro molto vivace (8:51)

SYMPHONY No. 2 in C, Op. 61 Recapitulation is reached after a fine passage of about two MANFRED OVERTURE, Op. 115 Schumann’s long illness and final mental collapse are thought to dozen bars on a long held pedal G, and the coda is heralded by Manfred is a dramatic poem by Byron, and Byron was one of the have arisen not so much from nervous strain and overwork a turn into the bright key of A, and a gentle woodwind phrase chief standard-bearers of the Romantic Movement in Europe. (coupled with his inability to cope with some professional prob- derived from bar 1, followed by con fuoco activity which brings Quite characteristically it portrays in powerful and sombre lems) as from a pressure on the brain which, had modern surgery in their trumpets triumphantly with their motto-call. terms the struggles of a proud soul, an outcast from society. been available, could probably have been relieved and the com- SECOND MOVEMENT: Scherzo (Allegro vivace) Now while Schumann was an ornament of the same movement, poser restored to health. However this may be, he was ill during Here the two-trio system is employed. The beginning is deter- he inclined more generally to the tender sensibilities of his tour with his wife in Russia in 1844—a tour which produced mined, almost dour. Schumann tended to be the slave, not the Laurence Sterne, say, than to the often flamboyant heroics of a good deal of mortification. In December of 1845 he was still master of his rhythms, or of an idea. He is at his happiest in Byron. Yet he had in his soul a capability for sterner stuff as unwell, but resisting, and some of his resistance is evident in this movement in his key-changes, which have been happily witness the Manfred music, the overture to Julius Caesar or the this symphony. He said that while sketching it he suffered severe likened to flashes of flame. The first trio begins in triplets but music to Faust. pain, partly induced by the hard work it involved. His case, which they soon disappear from the rhythm producing an effect of As a drama, Manfred is almost impracticable for stage pre- presents complexities of both mind and body, has never been humorous wilfulness. The running section returns, and the sentation and the incidental music and orchestral accompani- fully understood. second trio makes a quiet chordal start in the strings, its theme ments to the spoken words which, a year later, Schumann pro- vided, do not make the problem simpler. Manfred was mounted This symphony is actually the third, though numbered “2”. being treated in counterpoint. Schumann joins his sections in Weimar in 1852 and Liszt directed the music; the same year It was first performed at Leipzig by Mendelssohn; in New York neatly; and near the end springs the surprise of the trumpet-call a concert performance was given in Leipzig under the composer. in 1854, and in England (Crystal Palace) in 1865. from the opening of the symphony. Schumann opens his overture with syncopated chords spread THIRD MOVEMENT: Adagio espressivo FIRST MOVEMENT: Sostenuto assai - Allegro ma non troppo over the full orchestra with the exception of trombones and An affectionate adagio, full to the brim with song. Its large droops Schumann felt something “freakish, contumacious” in this move- drums. They induce a feeling of suspense, the spell of which is sound a little pathetic against the sympathetic string syncopa- ment, largely, we may presume, because of his state of health. heightened by a group of vague harmonies with woodwind color- tion. The romantic singers of the orchestra, clarinet and oboe, Though he spoke of it as “full of reminiscences of a gloomy ing; through this emerges a syncopated melody rising in the duet with the theme already introduced by the strings. This is time” and the start as “more or less clad in armour’’, the hearer strings and quickening gradually until the main section, marked Schumann in his ripest romantic vein. today is likely to find the Allegro exhilarating rather than other- “in a passionate tempo”, is reached. A loud outburst has pre- wise. Before the second strain of the melody the horns gave: an pared us for this and we realize that the string melody is Schu- echo of the now familiar trumpet-call. The resumption of the Schumann had adopted the plan of starting his symphonies mann’s first subject. Its interest and urgency is intensified by first strain (on a pedal note) is accompanied by handsome deco- new figurations which lead to a second subject. with an introduction. This one contains a ‘“‘motto” theme, a call rations in the strings; and the major key ending is sweetened by This comprehensive theme is carefully elaborated and its on the brass which is heard in the course of the allegro, in the chromatic harmony. scherzo, and at the end of the last movement. The finale also commencement, entrusted to flutes and violins (over a flutter- contains a reminiscence of the slow movement, and there are FOURTH MOVEMENT: Allegro molto vivace ing motive in the violas), is used in the Requiem which forms touches of the prelude in other movements. This procedure, of Now for the chivalric Schumann, in another kind of mastery. One part of the incidental music. The theme continues with a phrase a unifying order, was operated with more or less success by many feature of his movement is the rush from C to G and back at for violins and then another for violins and flutes. It is devel- composers of the nineteenth century. the start. Transition is made by quaver string runs against wind oped in all its grandeur and raised to an impassioned climax. In triplets; and another of the movement-linking elements is found the development the theme is broken down into its component The opening is impressive, the call floating upon a quiet wave in the second subject’s similarity to the start of the slow move- parts and worked out at some length. Sustained chords in trum- of string tone. At the fifteenth bar the woodwind have a new, ment; an element further drawn to our attention a little later, pets and trombones lead to a dramatic pause, and then a further very romantic phrase. This is altered when the pace quickens, after the noble energy of the finale has again been established. transformation of fragments of the subject is heard, strings and becomes, in the allegro, the basis of the figuration, as the There is some good contention between woodwind and brass playing a predominant part. phrase at bar 15 (rise and fall: D, E flat, A down to D) is taken in the development. After a great climax and a full close in the Recapitulation is straightforward: after such a passionate up as a bridge to the chief second subject, in G, running in even movement’s original key, which might make it appear that the development, the first theme is indeed welcome. But the second notes. Its close reproduces the wave-motion which we heard at end has come, the oboe, supported by the other woodwind, subject is determined to rise to a greater climax than ever, be- the start; and as the exposition closes we are reminded of the first sings a final quiet song of accomplishment, whose upward- fore leading into the coda. In the latter an entirely new theme theme of the allegro. mounting spirit is derived, notationally, from the finale’s first for three trumpets enters over one of the motives extracted The development is extensive—about a hundred and forty bars. bars. This is developed and finally, after a pause, the strings from the all-important second subject. The volume of sound It includes much use, in Schumann’s rather dogged way, of out- take it up for the last time, in full, unbroken confidence. The gradually dies down and the pace slackens until violins alone standing rhythms we have noted, and a neat three-note wind combination of rhythms of two and three is sinewy. During the are heard. We are back in the clouded regions of the opening treatment of the four-note outline D, E flat, A, D — this coda, the four-note theme (D, E flat, A, D) is heard and the but with this difference: the music is now charged with brief against the strings’ reiteration of a figure from early in the last clinching element in the’ symphony is the use in the brass but impressive reminders of both main themes. The curtain is allegro. of the old motto-theme. ready to rise on Byron’s drama itself.

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