Schumann Symphony No. 3, "Rhenish"

Sticky Notes: The Classical Music Podcast

Joshua Weilerstein

Clarinet, Timpani, Performing, Trombone, Cello, Trumpet, Bassoon, Classicalmusic, Performing Arts, Arts, Violin, Flute, Piano, Conductor, Music, Weilerstein

4.9 • 2.1K Ratings

🗓️ 29 February 2024

⏱️ 55 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In 1850, Robert Schumann accepted a position as the new Music Director in Dusseldorf. This job had a lot of responsibilities, including conducting the city orchestra. Schumann, along with his wife, the legendary pianist Clara Schumann, and their 7 children moved to Dusseldorf. The city made a huge to do about the Schumann’s arrival, welcoming him with balls, speeches, and parades. This was a new adventure for the Schumann family, and Robert, at least at first, was invigorated. He loved the less reserved personality of the residents of Dusseldorf, and he was deeply inspired by the Rhine river. Very quickly, Schumann had begun composing at his usual feverish pace. He wrote his cello concerto in just two weeks, and then he began a new symphony, what would turn out to be his last symphony. It would be a celebration of the Rhineland and all of its prosperity, beauty, and charm. Soon after the symphony was written however, the euphoria turned towards catasprophe. Schumann was not a good conductor, and the musicians of the orchestra soon turned bitterly against him. His compositions were still not well understood, and his mental health began sliding towards a crisis point again. So Schumann’s 3rd symphony, the Rhenish, really represents a snapshot in time - a time of euphoria, of joy, of possibility. It is this boundless energy that comes up again and again in this remarkable symphony which we are going to talk about today. We’ll discuss the wonderful varieties of joy Schumann includes in the piece, its unusual structure, it’s transcendent fourth movement, and the unique challenges of performing Schumann’s music, which often bedevil conductors to this day. Join us!

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to Sticky Notes, the Classical Music Podcast.
0:14.0	My name is Joshua Weilerstein.
0:16.0	I'm a conductor and I'm the chief conductor of the Alborg Symphony
0:19.0	and the music director of the Phoenix Orchestra of Boston.
0:21.0	This podcast is for anyone who loves classical music,
0:24.3	works in the field, or is just getting ready to dive in to this amazing world of
0:28.4	incredible music. Before we get started I want to thank my new Patreon sponsors Sarah, Matthew, Steve, Jonathan, Magdalena,
0:36.6	and all of my other Patreon sponsors for making season 10 possible.
0:40.6	If you'd like to support the show, please head over to Patreon.com slash
0:43.7	sticky notes podcast. And if you are a fan of the show, please take a moment to
0:47.5	give us a rating or review on Apple Podcasts. It is greatly appreciated.
0:54.0	So I've just returned from a wonderful week with the BBC Phil Armanic where we did two concerts with William Dawson's Negro Folk Symphony,
1:01.0	Prokofi of Second Piano Concerto.
1:03.3	The other concert had Mozart's Jupiter Symphony, Haydn's, Military Symphony, and the
1:07.8	Catherine Balch, cello Concerto, The Whisper Concerto.
1:11.3	It was a really, really fun week, one of my favorite orchestras, the BBC Philharmonic.
1:15.0	I wanted to mention one thing about the show, which will be that for the foreseeable future, I'm going to be staying with the every two week schedule.
1:22.0	As you can imagine, it's just a little bit hard to write and record and edit podcasts every week with a three month old baby.
1:30.0	As soon as it's possible, I will go back to weekly shows, but as I said, for the foreseeable future,
1:36.0	we'll be doing every two weeks, and I hope you enjoy this week's episode on a piece that I've long wanted to cover,
1:42.0	Schuman's Third Symphony, The Renish. In 1850 Robert Schuman accepted a position as the new music director in Dusseldorf.
2:07.3	This job had a lot of responsibilities, including conducting the city orchestra.
	...

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