Four Centuries of Great Music September 25, 2022 The Symphony Through the Centuries Episode 6

We begin tonight’s Four Centuries of Great Music continuing celebration of the symphony with Robert Schumann and his 4th symphony.  It was actually the 2nd symphony he wrote and completed it in 1841 along with his what are called his 1st and 2nd symphonies.  But is was highly revised in 1851 and published in this definitive version making it the last or 4th symphony in D minor, Op. 120

The 1851 (published) version of the work is in four movements  to be performed attacca which follow each other without pause: 1. Ziemlich langsam — Lebhaft. 2.  Romanze: Ziemlich langsam (A minor–A major)
3. Scherzo: Lebhaft (D minor)  and 4. Langsam — Lebhaft (D major)

Schumann’s desire to fully integrate the symphony was the reason for the revision and it reaches its apex as, the most formally innovative of his symphonies. In every movement threads of the original theme remain present and important to the structure of the entire symphony. The four movements are to be played without any break and collectively form a single large-scale formal design.

The slow introduction to the first movement reappears early in the second movement, and then has a violin arabesque based on it. A modification of this arabesque then appears in the trio section of the scherzo. The slow introduction to the finale and its main opening theme incorporate phrases from the main theme of the first movement, in different tempi. Dramatic chords from the first movement also reappear in the finale. Donald Tovey  in his “Essays in Musical Analysis” described the overall structure as "possibly Schumann's greatest and most masterly conception"

Spolier alert, we will have another Schumann symphony later in this series which I have been listening to prior to its official release but I cannot play it for you until the November 6th Four Centuries of Great Music because the album it is on is not officially released until November 4th.

Gounod’s Symphony No. 1 was written probably before 1855, but only rediscovered in the 1950s and still unaccountably neglected by orchestras. It is a  somewhat light weight but delightful contribution to the symphonic literature.  This was modeled by Gounod’s student Bizet in writing his first symphony.   Anyone familiar with Bizet’s Symphony will recognize the melodic and rhythmic similarities of the delightfully vivacious outer movements, the first movement  marked Allegro motto and the fourth movement marked Adagio, Allegro Vivace, the wistful second movement Marked Allegretto Moderato, and the drone-bass effect of the scherzo third movement marked non troppo presto.

In the first half of today’s Four Centuries of Great Music we heard Charles Gounod: Symphony no. 1 in D major which I noted was modeled by Georges Bizet in the writing of his first symphony - commonly know as the Symphony in C.  So I thought I would go ahead and play that work as the first work of this second hour

The numerous stylistic, orchestral, melodic and harmonic similarities between the Gounod and Bizet symphonies make it clear that Bizet was emulating and, in certain cases, directly quoting his teacher. There are, in fact, so many references, parodies and quotations from Gounod in Bizet's work that it is likely the young composer was consciously paying homage to his celebrated teacher. As Bizet would later write to his former teacher "You were the beginning of my life as an artist. I spring from you. You are the cause, I am the consequence.”  This sentiment permeates the compositional spirit of the Symphony in C.

First movement, marked Allegro Vivo Bizet bookends the  movement with an opening tutti chord and closing codetta with direct quotations from Gounod’s first movement.

Second movement, Andante Adagio, draws very closely from Gounod's Allegretto moderato. Like Gounod, Bizet composed a small fugue as the development section, using an identical scoring in the order of entry. Both start sotto voce with staccato articulation and share a closely similar phrase shape. And in both works, the first theme is brought back in the recapitulation over passages in the strings that recall the fugal development.

Third movement, marked Allegro Vivace, is very different in tempo and character from Gounod’s symphony but makes several references to the Gounod's scherzo in the trio section. Both are variants of the opening theme and both are played on the woodwinds over a string pedal point.

Final movement, marked Allegro vivace, Bizet directly imitates Gounod's closing phrase in his own work, drawing on the same rhythmic shape and architecture to create a miniature coda.

Finally, the scoring for both works is identical: a smaller, classical orchestra (omitting, for instance, piccolo, harp or trombones).

Although Bizet's symphony was closely drawing on Gounod's work, critics view it as a much superior composition, showing a precocious and sophisticated grasp of harmonic language and design, as well as originality and melodic inspiration. Since Gounod’s Symphony’s re-discovery in 1955, Bizet's Symphony in C has far outshone Gounod's work in the repertoire, both in terms of performance and numbers of recordings.

Camille Saint-Saens: Symphony No. 2 in A minor Op. 55

Camille Saint-Saëns was born on the 9th October 1835 in Paris into a poor family. Misfortune struck when he just three months old - his father, a clerk in the French Ministry of Interior, died of tuberculosis. His mother and his great aunt brought up Camille in strained circumstances, and it was the latter who taught him music. His musical talent was a prodigious one. By the age of three he could name any note by ear, and had completed a composition for piano - presumably with the help of his great aunt. By the age of ten he could play all of the thirty two piano sonatas of Beethoven from memory. At the age of eleven he gave his first public recital at the "Salle Pleyel" where he was hailed as a second Mozart.  And he had developed great skill as an organist.

He wrote his first symphony in 1853 while still a student and his second symphony in 1859.  This second symphony has been described by Ratner and Fallon in the Grove’s Music Online as “a fine example of orchestral economy and structural cohesion, with passages that show the composer's mastery of fugal writing.”  In an early review by Arthur Hervey  in his book “Saint Saens” (published in 1922) praised the work for the quality of being clear and transparent, and easy to understand and for the “soberness of the means employed, and command over contrapuntal devices”.  However he went on to write “On the other hand, it cannot be pronounced a particularly individual work, and strikes one as being more remarkable of ingenuity than for any real originality of thought.  Suggestions of Mozart, Beethoven and Mendelssohn are frequent.” However he did note that   “The scherzo, a bright and attractive movement pleased the Philharmonic audience so much that it had to be repeated”.

The second symphony is a large-scale composition with many innovative ideas of form and structure.

The first movement is all built out of a simple motif consisting of a chain or thirds falling and then rising. This is heard clearly on the strings at the start. The main body of the movement is a stormy allegro in which the chain of thirds is decorated in different ways and presented in different orchestral textures. The construction avoids conventional sonata form anticipating to some degree the compositional techniques favoured by Elgar, Sibelius and Janacek.

The slow movement is a short and tentative adagio in the dominant key of E major. The stormy mood returns for the scherzo, which starts with a fast and dramatic section. A slower second part follows which is quiet and gentle and in the key of A major. Saint-Saëns departs from conventional use of form by not repeating the first stormy section creating in effect two short contrasted movements. The final movement is a rondo based on a lively dance tune. It is full of drive and energy and is light hearted throughout.