The Symphony Through History

The symphony started out as part of the vibrant orchestral life of 18th century Vienna, the capitol of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Originally it was structured in the three-movement Italian style of fast/slow/fast. Eventually a fourth movement was added that was usually a minuet, the most popular dance of that time. The earliest examples were mostly written for small string orchestras, but, as time went along, a small number of wind instruments were added in various combinations. These early symphonies were, in effect, larger string quartets. Haydn, Mozart and their contemporaries were the ones who expanded the reach and scope of the symphony. Haydn wrote at least 107 and Mozart wrote at least 47.

In the hands of Beethoven, who was their junior, the symphony changed from common- place and frequent to rarer and more substantial. He wrote nine symphonies and it is interesting to see how far afield he traveled in just those few works. His first two symphonies are modeled after his predecessors but his third, The Eroica, presents a major leap forward. It is 50% longer and features a funeral march as the second movement. The third movement is a scherzo, a faster minuet, at breakneck speed. This movement employs three French horns in the trio section. His Fifth Symphony is, perhaps, the most famous symphony ever written. Its opening four-note motive is universal. In the fourth movement finale Beethoven surprises us by using trombones for the first time in a symphony. His next symphony is programmatic, meaning it has an extra-musical story associated with it and is known as The Pastoral Symphony. Never one to rest on his laurels, his Ninth Symphony does the unthinkable and features four vocal soloists and a chorus in the last movement.

Beethoven was such a revolutionary and creative dynamo that he set the standard in compositional practice for a hundred years to come. There were other symphonists such as Franz Schubert who made significant contributions to the genre, but nothing compared to Beethoven. Schubert’s Eighth Symphony, The Unfinished, is a masterpiece but only has two movements. His Fifth and Ninth Symphonies are considered classics and are worth checking out.

The next generation of composers also wrote wonderful symphonies in the shadow of Beethoven. Felix Mendelssohn wrote five symphonies worth hearing and Robert Schumann wrote four. The most innovative genius of this next generation was Hector Berlioz. His Symphonie fantastique of 1830 heralds a new age of instrumentation and drama. This is a five-movement work with a complex story inspiring each movement: Reveries and Passion, A Ball (waltz), Scene in the Fields, March to the Gallows, Dream of a Witches’ Sabbath. Throughout, the orchestral effects constantly amaze and delight the audience.

As the 19th century went along, many composers felt that they had little to add to the symphonic contributions of Beethoven and looked for other means to fruitfully engage an orchestra. The invention of the symphonic poem fit the bill. This form is a complex one-movement structure that is based on something extra-music like a novel, a poem, a painting, or a natural wonder. Franz Liszt was the one who seized upon this new opportunity for dramatic expression and wrote thirteen examples, Les Preludes being one of the best known.

In the 1870s and 1880s there was a resurgence of symphonic composition. Johannes Brahms, the master of the conservative, wrote four that picked up the mantle from Beethoven while his contemporaries sought new means of expressions. Bruckner wrote nine symphonies that are all flawed masterpieces but set the stage for Gustav Mahler in the next generation. Tchaikovsky, Dvorak, Borodin, Saint-Saens, and Franck have provided works that are still frequently played in concert venues from Carnegie Hall to Singapore. Throughout this period orchestras continued to grow in size and pieces tended to get longer. Mahler’s Third Symphony (1896) lasts 100 minutes and is monumental in scope and power. The last movement alone lasts longer than many early Haydn symphonies.

The tone poem made a major comeback in the hands of Richard Strauss. Between 1886 and 1898 he wrote eight examples that are brilliantly orchestrated and take the genre to new heights. The most well known are Don Juan, Death and Transfiguration, Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks, Also sprach Zarathustra, Don Quixote, and Ein Heldenleben. Claude Debussy’s famous paean to the sea, La Mer, is a kind of three-movement symphony/tone poem blend. Composed in 1905 it was not well received but has proven to be a modern masterpiece beloved by all. Two tone poems by Alexander Scriabin, The Poem of Ecstasy (1908) and Prometheus, are extraordinary blends of mysticism and magic.

You would have thought that by the beginning of the 20th century the symphony would have run out of steam, but that is not the case. A whole flock of composers including Sergei Rachmaninov, Dmitri Shostakovitch, Sergei Prokofiev, Jean Sibelius, Erwin Schulhoff, and Carl Nielsen have added major works to the genre. Other modernists have tinkered with the toy and produced new interpretations of the original model. Stravinsky’s Symphony in Three Movements, Symphony in C, and Symphony of Psalms are among some of the best examples of “new wine in old bottles.” His Symphonies of Wind Instruments from 1920 employs no strings and the usual sonata form is nowhere to be found.

Late into the 20th century the symphony was still a very usable format for creative exploration. Ralph Vaughan Williams, Henri Dutilleux, Krzysztof Penderecki, Arthur Honegger, Henryk Gorecki, Carlos Chavez, Aaron Copland, Leonard Bernstein, and Witold Lutaslawski all wrote symphonies that are important contributions to the concert repertoire. Luciano Berio’s Sinfonia (1968) is one of the most important orchestral works of the century. The genre shows no signs of subsiding in the first years of the 21st century.

Mozart Symphony 39, 40, 41

Haydn Symphony 94 “The Surprise”,

104 “The London”

Beethoven Symphony 3, 5, 9 “The Choral”

Schubert Symphony 8 “The Unfinished”

Berlioz Symphonie fantastique

Mendelssohn Symphony 4 “The Italian”

Schumann Symphony 3 “The Rhenish”

Dvorak Symphony 9 “From the

New World”

Franck Symphony in D minor

Tchaikovsky Symphony 4, 5, 6

“The Pathetique”

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Mahler Symphony 1 “The Titan”

Gustav Mahler

Sibelius Symphony 5

Stravinsky Symphony in Three Movements

Shostakovitch Symphony 5

Prokofiev Symphony 5

Berio Sinfonia

Rouse Symphony 2

Other Orchestral Music

Liszt Les Preludes

Franz Liszt

Brahms Haydn Variations

Johannes Brahms

Grieg Peer Gynt

Wagner Siegfried Idyll

Bizet L’Arlesienne Suite

Scriabin Poem of Ecstasy

Strauss Don Juan

Mussorgsky Night on Bald Mountain

Ravel Mother Goose Suite

Webern Six Pieces for Orchestra

Schoenberg Five Pieces for Orchestra

Ives Orchestral Set 2

Reich Music for Large Ensemble

Adams Short Ride in a Fast Machine

Luther Adams Becoming Ocean