Grove's dictionary of music and musicians

—
788 SYMPHONy
of technical deficiencies, and not a few things
which his contemporaries had reason to compare
unfavourably with the works of Mendelssohn
and Sterndale Bennett ; but in the end his best
work is far more interesting, far more deeply felt,
and far more really earnest through and through
than theirs. It is worth observing also that his
feelings towards them were disinterested admiration
and enthusiasm, while they thought very
slightly of him. They were also the successful
composers of their time, and at the head of their
profession, while he was looked upon as a sort
of half amateur, part mystic and part incompetent.
Such circumstances as these have no
little effect upon a man's artistic development,
and drive him in upon his own resources. Up
to a certain point the result for the world in
this instance was advantageous. Schumann
developed altogether his own method of education.
He began with songs and more or less
small pianofortepieoes. By workinghard in these
departments he developed his own emotional
language, and in course of time, but relatively
late in life as compared with most other composers,
he seemed to arrive at the point when
experiment on the scale of the Symphony was
possible. In a letter to a friend he expressed
his feeling that the pianoforte was becoming too
narrow for his thoughts, and that he must try
orchestral composition. The fruit of this resolve
was the Bl) Symphony (op. 38), which was
produced at Leipzig in 1841, and was probably
his iu'st important orchestral work. It is quite
extraordinary how successfully he grappled with
the difficulties of the greatest style of composition
at the first attempt. The manner is thoroughly
symphonic, impressive and broad, and the ideas
are more genuinely instrumental both in form
and expression than Mendelssohn's, and far more
incisive in detail, which in instrumental music
is a most vital matter. Mendelssohn had great
readiness for making a tune, and it is as clear
as possible that when he went about to make a
large instrumental work his first thought was
to find a good tune to begin upon. Schumann
seems to have aimed rather at a definite and
strongly marked idea, and to have allowed it to
govern the form of period or phrase in which it
was presented. In this he was radically in accord
with both Mozart and Beethoven. The former
in his instrumental works very commonly made
what is called the principal subject out of two
distinct items, which seem contrasted externally
in certain characteristics and yet are inevitable
to one another. Beethoven frequently satisfied
himself with one principal one, as in the first
movements of the Eroica and the C minor ; and
even where there are two more or less distinct
figures, they are joined very closely into one
phrase, as in the Pastoral, the No. 8, and the
first movement of the Choral. The first movement
of Schumann's Bb Symphony shows the
same characteristic. The movement seems
almost to depend upon the simple but very
definite first figure quoted on p. 375a which is
given out in slow time in the Introduction, and
worked up as by a mind pondering over its
possibilities, finally breaking away with vigorous
freshness and confidence in the ' Allegro niolto
Vivace.' The whole first section depends upon
the development of this figure ; and even the
horns, which have the last utterances before the
second subject appears, continue to repeat its
rhythm with diminishing force. The second
subject necessarily presents a different aspect
altogether, and is in marked contrast to the first,
but it similarly depends upon the clear character
of the short figures of which it is composed,
and its gradual work up from the quiet beginning
to the loud climax, ends in the reappearance
of the rhythmic form belonging to the
principal figure of the movement. The whole
of the working-out portion depends upon the
same figure, which is presented in various aspects
and with the addition of new features and ends
in a climax which introduces the same figure in
a slow form, very emphatically, corresponding
to the sta,tement in the Introduction. To this
climax the recapitulation is duly welded on.
The coda again makes the most of the same
figure, in yet fresh aspects. The latter part is
to all intents independent, apparently a sort of
reflection on what has gone before, and is so far
in definite contrast as to explain itself. The
whole movement is direct and simple in style,
and, for Schumann, singularly bright and cheerful.
The principles upon which he constructed
and used his principal subjects in this movement
are followed in the first movements of the other
symphonies ; most of all in the D minor ; clearly
in the C major ; and least in the EI7, which
belongs to the later period of his life. But even
in this last he aims at gaining the same result,
though by different means ; and the subject is
as free as any from the tune-qualities which
destroy the complete individuality of an instrumental
subject in its most perfect and positive
sense. In the first movement of the D minor
he even went so far as to make some important
departures from the usual outlines of form,which
are rendered possible chiefly by the manner in
which he used the characteristic figure of his
principal subject. It is first introduced softly in
the latter part of the Introduction, and gains
force quickly, so that in a few bars it breaks
away in the vigorous and passionate allegro in
the following form
P^m
which varies in the course of the movement to
:s3 and