Symphony No. 2 in C Major, Op. 61

No other composer symbolized the Romantic movement in music as did Robert Schumann. Talented both in music and literature, as a music critic and publisher of Neue Zeitschrift für Musik, he was the principal spokesperson for the Romantic ideal and the future of music.

Schumann suffered from repeated severe bipolar episodes as well as neurosyphilis. Together, the diseases undermined his health, and at 44, he made an unsuccessful suicide attempt by casting himself into the Rhine. He died two years later in an asylum. His beloved wife, Clara, a brilliant concert pianist for whom he also felt an underlying professional envy, supported their eight children for the rest of her long life with a relentless series of concert tours.

In the summer of 1844, after returning from an arduous concert tour to Russia, Schumann suffered a nervous breakdown that left him barely able to work. By the end of the following year, he managed to finish the Piano Concerto and, in a sudden rush of inspiration, sketched out his Symphony No. 2 in a few days in December. Nevertheless, it took him 10 more months to flesh out the sketch and orchestrate it. He finished it just in time for the premiere in Leipzig on November 5 under the baton of Felix Mendelssohn. In a letter to a colleague, Schumann wrote: “I wrote my symphony in December 1845, while still in a semi-invalid state; it appears to me that one can hear this from the music. I began to feel more like myself when I wrote the last movement, and was certainly much better when I finished the whole work. All the same it reminds me of dark times.”

The unusually long, slow introduction to the symphony, including a prominent horn theme, is followed by a brief duet for the oboes in a motive that will recur throughout the movement and later in the Symphony. The movement ends with a coda that incorporates all the themes, including a triumphant statement of the opening horn theme–now blasting out on a trumpet.

The following Scherzo continues the battle of the contrasting moods. The theme is extremely agitated–perhaps reflecting the composer's mania. He presents two contrasting trios: the first lively and staccato, the second dreamy and legato.

The third movement, marked Adagio espressivo, is based on a single passionate melody introduced on the violins and immediately picked up by a solo oboe. Orchestrating this movement sapped Schumann’s emotional energy, and he had to put the symphony aside for an extended rest.

After the heartfelt Adagio, the Finale bursts forth joyously, corresponding to Schumann’s statement that he was feeling himself again. It consists of a series of themes, including a transformation of the Adagio melody. Schumann ties the symphony together by restating the opening horn call and theme from the introduction.