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Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
Overture from Overture, Scherzo and Finale
Composed: c. 1841
Premiered: 1841, Leipzig
Duration: 7 minutes

 

After years of somewhat tempestuous courtship, Robert Schumann married Clara Wieck on September 12, 1840, one day before her 21st birthday, when she could have been legally married without her father’s consent. She was an internationally renowned concert pianist, a composer in her own right, and was to become an important exponent of Robert’s music. Her earnings often provided the main financial support of their household. 

Schumann’s emotional condition was subject to extreme fluctuations, and when Clara become pregnant for the first time, he went into a state of overwhelming euphoria. During the first six months of 1841, although he had virtually no experience of any instrument except the piano and voice, he completed his First Symphony (the Spring Symphony); the Overture, Scherzo, and Finale; the Piano Concerto; and the first version of the Clara Symphony, which eventually became his Fourth Symphony. All this was in addition to editing and writing each month two issues of his magazine devoted to contemporary music. Small wonder Schumann complained he was exhausted: “I feel like a young woman who has just given birth – so relieved and happy, but also sick and sore.” 

The Schumanns were in some doubt about what title to give the Overture, Scherzo, and Finale. On various occasions they referred to it as a Symphony without a Slow Movement, a Suite, and a Sinfonietta. Although there are thematic linkages between the movements, Schumann felt that they could be performed independently. Unlike in a true symphony, the whole is not greater than the sum of its parts. The work owes a good deal to Mendelssohn’s influence, both in its melodies and in the clear, light orchestration. (Schumann’s hand with the orchestra usually tended to be rather heavy). 

The Overture, Scherzo and Finale, together with the Clara Symphony, had its first performance at a concert which also included Liszt playing some of his own dazzling piano works, among them one for two pianos, with Clara as his partner. The new orchestral works seemed pale by comparison with Liszt’s personal flamboyance. Over the years, the Overture, Scherzo, and Finale has not received the attention it deserves, and it remains a little known work. 

Program note by the late Dr. C.W. Helleiner

Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
Overture from Overture, Scherzo and Finale
Composed: c. 1841
Premiered: 1841, Leipzig
Duration: 7 minutes

 

After years of somewhat tempestuous courtship, Robert Schumann married Clara Wieck on September 12, 1840, one day before her 21st birthday, when she could have been legally married without her father’s consent. She was an internationally renowned concert pianist, a composer in her own right, and was to become an important exponent of Robert’s music. Her earnings often provided the main financial support of their household. 

Schumann’s emotional condition was subject to extreme fluctuations, and when Clara become pregnant for the first time, he went into a state of overwhelming euphoria. During the first six months of 1841, although he had virtually no experience of any instrument except the piano and voice, he completed his First Symphony (the Spring Symphony); the Overture, Scherzo, and Finale; the Piano Concerto; and the first version of the Clara Symphony, which eventually became his Fourth Symphony. All this was in addition to editing and writing each month two issues of his magazine devoted to contemporary music. Small wonder Schumann complained he was exhausted: “I feel like a young woman who has just given birth – so relieved and happy, but also sick and sore.” 

The Schumanns were in some doubt about what title to give the Overture, Scherzo, and Finale. On various occasions they referred to it as a Symphony without a Slow Movement, a Suite, and a Sinfonietta. Although there are thematic linkages between the movements, Schumann felt that they could be performed independently. Unlike in a true symphony, the whole is not greater than the sum of its parts. The work owes a good deal to Mendelssohn’s influence, both in its melodies and in the clear, light orchestration. (Schumann’s hand with the orchestra usually tended to be rather heavy). 

The Overture, Scherzo and Finale, together with the Clara Symphony, had its first performance at a concert which also included Liszt playing some of his own dazzling piano works, among them one for two pianos, with Clara as his partner. The new orchestral works seemed pale by comparison with Liszt’s personal flamboyance. Over the years, the Overture, Scherzo, and Finale has not received the attention it deserves, and it remains a little known work. 

Program note by the late Dr. C.W. Helleiner