Symphony No. 1 in B‑Flat Major

Schumann’s long-yearned-for marriage to Clara Wieck in September 1840 was a crucial turning point in his creative life. Having hitherto been occupied principally with the production of piano miniatures, the emotional extremes engendered by his separation from his beloved, and the implacable opposition and legal wranglings of her father, suddenly brought forth a flood of songs—138 in 1840 alone, making it a remarkable “year of song”. The following year, he turned his attention to orchestral music, producing not only his Symphony No. 1 and the first version of what became Symphony No. 4 but also the ebullient Overture, Scherzo & Finale and a Phantasie for piano and orchestra that would ultimately form the first movement of his Piano Concerto. The First Symphony was sketched in just four days and sleepless nights in January and orchestrated by the end of February. Schumann originally gave each movement a vernal title but subsequently removed them, leaving only the work’s overall name, Spring Symphony, for its premiere at the Leipzig Gewandhaus in March the following year, conducted by Mendelssohn. It is one of his most joyous, open-hearted large-scale works, cheerful almost throughout. Portentous brass introduces the theme from which the excitable opening movement is built, while Schumann the songwriter is the guiding spirit in the elegant “Larghetto”. The energetic “Scherzo” enfolds not one but two contrasting trio sections, and the work trips merrily to a close in the animated finale.