Robert Schumann (June 8, 1810 - July 29, 1856) was a famous German composer and music critic of the Romantic Era. He was known for many of his piano, vocal, choral and orchestral works, but had only composed mainly for piano up until 1840 when he married his wife Clara Wieck. Out of Robert Schumann’s short, well-lived life, he only wrote four symphonies in his lifetime. These Symphonies were: (1841) Symphony No. 1 in B-flat major, Op. 38 ( “Spring Symphony”), (1847) Symphony No. 2 in C major, Op. 61, (1850), Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major, Op. 97 (“Rhenish”), and ( 1841) Symphony No. 4 in D minor, Op. 120. 1841 was named Schumann’s symphony year, because it was the year that most of his ...view middle of the document...
He became a student of Freidrich Wieck and took piano lessons, and that is where he wrote some of his first piano compositions. He then later told his family that he was no longer going to do law and intended to pursue music, after that he moved to Leipzig with Wieck, but soon after he moved, he gained an issue with his hands, ending his career as a pianist but he continued to compose music throughout the 1830s for piano.
In about 1834, he founded the music journal Neue Zeitschrift fur Musik, and in this musical journal he wrote musical criticisms.He wrote under two pseudonyms named Eusebius and Florestan, Florestan tended to be the "mean critic" and Eusebius tended to be the "more polite critic." Many of his compositions around this time though were about his newly founded love, Clara Wieck, who was the daughter of his teacher. Wieck opposed their marriage, but on 1839, they took legal action to make Wieck's consent unnecessary and in 1840 were married.
In 1841 Schumann turned to writing orchestral music, and he composed 2 symphonies in this year. For years his works were widely misunderstood, but 1841 was his symphony year due to all the works he composed and success he had with them. In 1843 Schumann turned to chamber music, and he produced three string quartets and three concerted works with piano. In 1844 he moved to Dresden and there he went into a deep depression causing him to be unable to compose, but 1847-48 he returned to composing. In 1850 Schumann became town music director in Dusseldorf, and it brought him into brighter spirits, but due to his awful conducting, he was forced to step down from the job in 1852-53. In 1854, he began hallucinating and attempted suicide. Fearing that he was going mental, he entered himself into an insane asylum in 1856 and that is where the great composer died.
Symphony No. 1 in B Flat Major, Op. 38 ["Spring"] was composed in 1841 of Schumann's fantasy year, and the average duration of it is 32:21. It consists of four movements which were:
1. Andante un poco maestoso - Allegro molto vivace
2. Larghetto
3. Scherzo. Molto vivace - Trio 1. Molto più vivace - Trio 2
4. Allegro animato e grazioso
This piece was his first symphonic work ever composed. He composed this symphony in about four days, and the premiere was conducted by Felix Mendelssohn on March 31, 1841 in Leipzig. It wasn't until he composed this symphony that he was recognized for symphonies, before hand he had been recognized for his piano and vocal works. The orchestration is for two flutes, two oboes, three trombones, four horns, two in E-flat and D, and 2 in B-flat, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, and with a timpani, & triangle making up the percussive section, alone with the strings that make up the orchestra. This Symphony got it's name from Clara Wieck's diary because in it said that it was made off of the poems of Adolf Hitler, but Schumann disagreed and said it was based off of Liebesfrühling which translates in English to...
