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(Clara Wieck Schumann (Pen and ink drawing by Elwine von Leyser)
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In late September 1850, Robert Schumann went on a boat excursion down the Rhine with his beloved Clara. The trip provided the inspiration for his Symphony in E-flat, soon known as “The Rhenish.”
The Schumanns had moved from Dresden to Dusseldorf in early September, and the composer was welcomed with enthusiasm. He quickly wrote the “Rhenish,” laying it out in five movements, rather than the four he usually preferred. Movement two, originally subtitled “Morning on the River,” bears testimony to the stimulus provided by the expedition down his new home city’s waterway. As Allen Cohen writes in his notes to our recording, “the symphony concludes in a blaze of joy, mirroring Schumann’s newly found inner happiness and oneness with his beloved Rhineland surroundings.” A brief and joyous duet between lovers follows: “Unterm Fenster” (Beneath the Window) is sung by soprano Lorraine Hunt and baritone Kurt Ollmann, Michael Barret at the piano.
The Schumanns had moved from Dresden to Dusseldorf in early September, and the composer was welcomed with enthusiasm. He quickly wrote the “Rhenish,” laying it out in five movements, rather than the four he usually preferred. Movement two, originally subtitled “Morning on the River,” bears testimony to the stimulus provided by the expedition down his new home city’s waterway. As Allen Cohen writes in his notes to our recording, “the symphony concludes in a blaze of joy, mirroring Schumann’s newly found inner happiness and oneness with his beloved Rhineland surroundings.” A brief and joyous duet between lovers follows: “Unterm Fenster” (Beneath the Window) is sung by soprano Lorraine Hunt and baritone Kurt Ollmann, Michael Barret at the piano.
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