Editing Robert Schumann (section)

===Orchestral===
[[File:Rhenish-opening-score.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|Opening of [[Symphony No. 3 (Schumann)|Schumann's Third Symphony]], the ''Rhenish''|alt=page of full orchestral score]]
Schumann acknowledged that he found orchestration a difficult art to master, and many analysts have criticised his orchestral writing.<ref>Daverio and Sams, pp. 789 and 792; and Burnham, pp. 152–153</ref>{{refn|Aspects of Schumann's orchestration for which he has been criticised include (i) string parts that are awkward to play – showing his lack of familiarity with string technique, (ii) a frequent failure to secure a satisfactory balance between melodic and harmonic lines, and, most seriously (iii) his tendency to have string, brass and wind sections playing together most of the time, giving what the composer and musicologist [[Adam Carse]] calls a "full-bodied but monotonously rich tint" to the colouring instead of letting the sections of the orchestra be heard on their own at suitable points;<ref>Carse, p. 264</ref> the analyst Scott Burnham refers to "an indistinct, muffled quality, in which bass lines can be difficult to discern".<ref>Burnham, p. 152</ref>|group=n}} Conductors including [[Gustav Mahler]], [[Max Reger]], [[Arturo Toscanini]], [[Otto Klemperer]] and [[George Szell]] have made changes to the instrumentation before conducting his orchestral music.<ref>Frank, p. 200; Heyworth, p. 36; Kapp, p. 239; and [https://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/schumann-symphonies-manfred-overture "Schumann Symphonies; Manfred – Overture"], ''Gramophone'', February 1997 {{registration required}} {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240516112713/https://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/schumann-symphonies-manfred-overture |date=16 May 2024 }}</ref> The music scholar [[Julius Harrison]] considers such alterations fruitless: "the essence of Schumann's warmly vibrant music resides in its forthright romantic appeal with all those personal traits, lovable characteristic and faults" that make up Schumann's artistic character.<ref>Harrison, p. 249</ref> Hall comments that Schumann's orchestration has subsequently been more highly regarded because of a trend towards playing the orchestral music with smaller forces in [[historically informed performance]].<ref name=hall1127/>

After the successful premiere in 1841 of [[Symphony No. 1 (Schumann)|the first]] of his four symphonies the {{lang|de|Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung}} described it as "well and fluently written&nbsp;... also, for the most part, knowledgeably, tastefully, and often quite successfully and effectively orchestrated",<ref>Finson (1989), p. 1</ref> although a later critic called it "inflated piano music with mainly routine orchestration".<ref>[[Gerald Abraham|Abraham, Gerald]], ''quoted'' in Burnham, p. 152</ref> Later in the year a second symphony was premiered and was less enthusiastically received. Schumann revised it ten years later and published it as his [[Symphony No. 4 (Schumann)|Fourth Symphony]]. Brahms preferred the original, more lightly scored version,<ref>Harrison, p. 247</ref> which is occasionally performed and has been recorded, but the revised 1851 score is more usually played.<ref>March, ''et al'', pp. 1139–1140</ref> The work now called the [[Symphony No. 2 (Schumann)|Second Symphony]] (1846) is structurally the most [[Classical period (music)|classical]] of the four and is influenced by Beethoven and Schubert.<ref>Harrison, pp. 252–253</ref> The [[Symphony No. 3 (Schumann)|Third Symphony]] (1851), known as the ''Rhenish'', is, unusually for a symphony of its day, in five movements, and is the composer's nearest approach to pictorial symphonic music, with movements depicting a solemn religious ceremony in [[Cologne Cathedral]] and outdoor merrymaking of Rhinelanders.<ref>Harrison, p. 255</ref>

Schumann experimented with unconventional symphonic forms in 1841 in his [[Overture, Scherzo and Finale]], Op. 52, sometimes described as "a symphony without a slow movement".<ref>Burnham, p. 157; and Abraham, p. 53</ref> Its unorthodox structure may have made it less appealing and it is not often performed.<ref>Burnham, p. 158</ref> Schumann composed six overtures, three of them for theatrical performance, preceding [[Lord Byron|Byron]]'s ''[[Manfred]]'' (1852), [[Goethe]]'s [[Scenes from Goethe's Faust|''Faust'']] (1853) and his own ''Genoveva''. The other three were stand-alone concert works inspired by Schiller's ''[[The Bride of Messina]]'', Shakespeare's ''[[Julius Caesar (play)|Julius Caesar]]'' and Goethe's ''[[Hermann and Dorothea]]''.<ref>Burnham, pp. 163–164</ref>

The [[Piano Concerto (Schumann)|Piano Concerto]] (1845) quickly became and has remained one of the most popular Romantic piano concertos.<ref name=tomes/> In the mid-twentieth century, when the symphonies were less well regarded than they later became, the concerto was described in ''The Record Guide'' as "the one large-scale work of Schumann's which is by general consent an entire success".<ref>Sackville-West and Shawe-Taylor, p. 678</ref> The pianist Susan Tomes comments, "In the era of recording it has often been paired with [[Piano Concerto (Grieg)|Grieg's Piano Concerto]] (also in A minor) which clearly shows the influence of Schumann's".<ref name=tomes>Tomes, p. 126</ref> The first movement pitches against each other the forthright Florestan and dreamy Eusebius elements in Schumann's artistic nature – the vigorous opening bars succeeded by the wistful A minor theme that enters in the fourth bar.<ref name=tomes/> No other concerto or concertante work by Schumann has approached the popularity of the Piano Concerto, but the [[Konzertstück for Four Horns and Orchestra|Concert Piece for Four Horns and Orchestra]] (1849) and the [[Cello Concerto (Schumann)|Cello Concerto]] (1850) remain in the concert repertoire and are well represented on record.<ref>March ''et al'', pp. 1134, 1138 and 1140</ref> The late [[Violin Concerto (Schumann)|Violin Concerto]] (1853) is less often heard but has received several recordings.<ref>March ''et al'', p. 1137</ref>