Schumann – Symphony No. 2 | Jörg Widmann | WDR Symphony Orchestra

Schumann – Symphony No. 2 | Jörg Widmann | WDR Symphony Orchestra
舒曼 – C 大調第二號交響曲 作品 61) | 約爾格‧維德曼 |西德廣播交響樂團

1,446 views Premiered 7 hours ago,Jan 17 2026 KÖLNER PHILHARMONIE
Robert Schumann's Symphony No. 2 performed by the WDR Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Jörg Widmann. Recorded live on 12 December 2025 at the Cologne Philharmonic Hall.

Robert Schumann – Symphony No. 2 in C major, Op. 61

00:00:00 I. Sostenuto assai – Allegro ma non troppo
00:11:31 II. Scherzo. Allegro vivace
00:18:14 III. Adagio espressivo
00:29:18 IV. Allegro molto vivace

WDR Symphony Orchestra
Jörg Widmann, conductor

Introduction to the work:
In 1844, Robert Schumann was living in Leipzig. He imagined himself becoming Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy's successor as director of the Gewandhaus Orchestra. When his hopes were dashed, Schumann moved to Dresden at the end of the year, disappointed. Here he went through a difficult phase: he was plagued by bouts of dizziness and anxiety. His inspiration for composing came to a complete standstill. But in late summer 1845, he feels renewed strength, and so on 20 September 1845, he writes to Mendelssohn: ‘For several days now, there has been a great drumming and trumpeting inside me (trombone in C); I don't know what will come of it.’ Three months later, the sound images take shape, and Schumann drafts his Second Symphony. In February and April, he worked ‘diligently on the symphony’. Then his illness caught up with him again. A cure on Norderney brought relief, and so he was able to complete his Second in September and October. Mendelssohn conducted the premiere with the Gewandhaus Orchestra on 5 November, but the audience was not very impressed. The consolation that the overly long concert programme played a significant role in this does not help. And yet Schumann does not allow himself to be discouraged: a few days later, he adds trombones to the score, following the example of Schubert's ‘Great’ C major symphony. His diary entry is succinct: ‘Symphony happiness’. Schumann himself gives a surprisingly autobiographical interpretation of the Second. He told his first biographer, Wilhelm Joseph von Wasielewski: "I sketched it [...] when I was still in great physical pain; indeed, I can say that it was, as it were, the resistance of the spirit that visibly influenced it and through which I sought to combat my condition. The first movement is full of this struggle and very moody and rebellious in character.‘ And in a letter from 1849, he adds: ’It was only in the last movement that I began to feel better again."

Text: Otto Hagedorn

Provided to YouTube by ARD Klassik