Context,Problem,Originality:A Critical Study On Schumann's Symphonies

The symphony,originating in 17 th century,became the most prominent genre of instrumental music by the hands of Haydn,Mozart and Beethoven.However,the nine symphonies of Beethoven,especially those from his middle and late periods widely recognised as monumental models which are large in scale and carry profound messages,cast a shadow over the following generations of composers.Although the difficulty of writing a symphony was most clearly showed in the case of Brahms' s First Symphony,the works of the composers between Beethoven and Brahms,namely the “1830s”,should not be ignored,among which Schumann's four symphonies in particular worth investigating.This thesis is a research on Schumann's symphonies,which takes the postBeethovenian symphonic crisis as the background,the problem of symphony as the clue,Schumann's novel response to the problem as the content,and the influence and evaluation of Schumann's symphonies as the epilogue.This thesis includes three chapters.The first chapter puts Schumann's symphonies in the background of post-Beethovenian symphonic crisis,interpreting the monumentality of Beethoven's symphonies and the attempts of writing symphonies by other composers.Then,it explores Schumann's principles of music aesthetics as well as his symphonic ideal,and introduces the origin of each of his symphonies.The second chapter explores Schumann's novel response to the symphonic problem by analysing the musical characteristics of his symphonies.First,it conducts an analysis of the characteristics of the structure and musical language.Then,it examines the four symphonies from the aspect of the idea and the style.The third chapter,based on two previous chapters,concludes Schumann's solution to the symphonic problem and the influence of his works.Then,it explores the judgement on these works in the past,and carries out an evaluation from the present perspective.