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Symphony No. 3 in E-flat Major, Op. 97 (Rhenish)
Robert Schumann

Symphony No. 3 in E-flat Major, Op. 97 (Rhenish)
Robert Schumann
(b. June 8, 1810 in Zwickau, Saxony; d. July 29, 1856 in Endenich, near Bonn, Prussia)

There is an arc to Robert Schumann's life that could be the stuff of grand opera. Had he not been a composer, he would still be remembered for his writing about music and aesthetics. Had he not injured his right hand—perhaps trying to achieve greater independence of his fingers—he might have been remembered as a piano virtuoso. After long legal wrangling with her father, he finally married Clara Wieck, the love of his life, in 1840. After marrying, there was a brilliant creative outpouring that lasted a decade, but in his last six years he spiraled downward into mental and physical decline—now widely attributed to the effects of tertiary syphilis. He died in an asylum at only forty-six years old.

Schumann composed the work in a five-week burst of inspiration in late 1850. The music was fueled by a happy trip he took with Clara to Cologne that September. It was part pilgrimage—to see Archbishop Johannes von Geissel installed as Cardinal—and part holiday to witness the Cologne Cathedral reflected in the Rhine River. Though Schumann didn't name the symphony "Rhenish" himself, he unguardedly confided to his publisher Simrock that his work "mirrors here and there something of Rhenish life" and immediately Simrock attached the sobriquet. 

The first notes of the first movement begin the primary theme, an unforgettable audacious and optimistic statement. Frequently using rhythms that skip downbeats keeps the listener guessing and engaged. A second theme, gentler and introduced by the winds, plays nicer with the downbeats, but it is soon submerged in the nervous energy that drives the movement from beginning to end. An extended development tosses bits of themes around in a multitude of keys. The main theme triumphally returns, beginning the recapitulation. As the end nears the brass come to the fore, first with a statement of the principal theme, then horn calls. A mighty celebration is over.

The second movement is labeled a scherzo, although it most resembles a Ländler, a folk dance where the men were apt to stomp their hobnail boots. The heel-kicking provides a climax before the music fades away, ending with two barely-audible pizzicato notes.

The strings sing long flowing lines and woodwinds assist to make the “not fast” third movement a restful midpoint of the symphony. Brass and timpani are silent.

At one point the fourth movement was labeled, “In the character of an accompaniment to a solemn ceremony”—doubtless referring to the installation of Cardinal von Geissel. This movement is usually thought of as the “extra” movement of this five-movement (one more than usual) symphony. The movement is a chorale that will not be hurried. It begins very slowly, in the middle reaches a sedate pace, and ends with glacial deliberateness. The Cologne Cathedral took over 600 years to complete and was nearly finished when Schumann saw it. How else could one express the awe of contemplating such an interval?

The finale seems all too brief. Boisterous and celebratory it unifies what has gone before. The optimism of the first movement, a bit of the bumptiousness of the scherzo, even the trombones we first heard in the fourth movement chorale reappear with fragments of their ceremonial proclamation. A triplet fanfare from the brass is the cue to race to the finish in a jubilant fervor.

Schumann conducted the premiere in Düsseldorf, February 6, 1851. It was his last symphony. There is also a Symphony No. 4, composed in 1841, but Schumann withdrew it before it was published. After he revised it, its number reflected its order of publication.

His motivation to see “in the flesh” the cathedral reflected in the Rhine river came from an image captured in a Heine poem he had set to music much earlier. He was so impressed he returned for another tour of the cathedral in November.

© 2010, 2026 by Steven Hollingsworth, Creative Commons Public Attribution 3.0 United States License.

Contact steve@trecorde.net

Symphony No. 3 in E-flat Major, Op. 97 (Rhenish)
Robert Schumann

Symphony No. 3 in E-flat Major, Op. 97 (Rhenish)
Robert Schumann
(b. June 8, 1810 in Zwickau, Saxony; d. July 29, 1856 in Endenich, near Bonn, Prussia)

There is an arc to Robert Schumann's life that could be the stuff of grand opera. Had he not been a composer, he would still be remembered for his writing about music and aesthetics. Had he not injured his right hand—perhaps trying to achieve greater independence of his fingers—he might have been remembered as a piano virtuoso. After long legal wrangling with her father, he finally married Clara Wieck, the love of his life, in 1840. After marrying, there was a brilliant creative outpouring that lasted a decade, but in his last six years he spiraled downward into mental and physical decline—now widely attributed to the effects of tertiary syphilis. He died in an asylum at only forty-six years old.

Schumann composed the work in a five-week burst of inspiration in late 1850. The music was fueled by a happy trip he took with Clara to Cologne that September. It was part pilgrimage—to see Archbishop Johannes von Geissel installed as Cardinal—and part holiday to witness the Cologne Cathedral reflected in the Rhine River. Though Schumann didn't name the symphony "Rhenish" himself, he unguardedly confided to his publisher Simrock that his work "mirrors here and there something of Rhenish life" and immediately Simrock attached the sobriquet. 

The first notes of the first movement begin the primary theme, an unforgettable audacious and optimistic statement. Frequently using rhythms that skip downbeats keeps the listener guessing and engaged. A second theme, gentler and introduced by the winds, plays nicer with the downbeats, but it is soon submerged in the nervous energy that drives the movement from beginning to end. An extended development tosses bits of themes around in a multitude of keys. The main theme triumphally returns, beginning the recapitulation. As the end nears the brass come to the fore, first with a statement of the principal theme, then horn calls. A mighty celebration is over.

The second movement is labeled a scherzo, although it most resembles a Ländler, a folk dance where the men were apt to stomp their hobnail boots. The heel-kicking provides a climax before the music fades away, ending with two barely-audible pizzicato notes.

The strings sing long flowing lines and woodwinds assist to make the “not fast” third movement a restful midpoint of the symphony. Brass and timpani are silent.

At one point the fourth movement was labeled, “In the character of an accompaniment to a solemn ceremony”—doubtless referring to the installation of Cardinal von Geissel. This movement is usually thought of as the “extra” movement of this five-movement (one more than usual) symphony. The movement is a chorale that will not be hurried. It begins very slowly, in the middle reaches a sedate pace, and ends with glacial deliberateness. The Cologne Cathedral took over 600 years to complete and was nearly finished when Schumann saw it. How else could one express the awe of contemplating such an interval?

The finale seems all too brief. Boisterous and celebratory it unifies what has gone before. The optimism of the first movement, a bit of the bumptiousness of the scherzo, even the trombones we first heard in the fourth movement chorale reappear with fragments of their ceremonial proclamation. A triplet fanfare from the brass is the cue to race to the finish in a jubilant fervor.

Schumann conducted the premiere in Düsseldorf, February 6, 1851. It was his last symphony. There is also a Symphony No. 4, composed in 1841, but Schumann withdrew it before it was published. After he revised it, its number reflected its order of publication.

His motivation to see “in the flesh” the cathedral reflected in the Rhine river came from an image captured in a Heine poem he had set to music much earlier. He was so impressed he returned for another tour of the cathedral in November.

© 2010, 2026 by Steven Hollingsworth, Creative Commons Public Attribution 3.0 United States License.

Contact steve@trecorde.net