Forgotten Masterpiece Friday: Franz Berwald, Symphony No. 3 "Singulière"
It's Forgotten Masterpiece Friday!
This week's piece might not be so forgotten lately, seeing as I heard it twice in the last week, once in concert on Sunday and once on the radio earlier today. But when I attended the concert (Mozart to Mendelssohn Orchestra in San Francisco), the conductor asked the audience for a show of hands from everyone who had heard of the Swedish composer Franz Berwald (1796-1868), and my hand was one of only three that went up.
Berwald was an amateur musician for most of his life, with a remarkably eclectic career, and only ever heard a few of his compositions performed. He struggled to make a living as a professional violinist in Stockholm and Berlin in his 20s, and when his father died and his family was no longer able to support him, Berwald was forced to seek other employment. He turned to orthopedics, and became highly accomplished in that field. His orthopedic and physiotherapy clinics in Berlin and Vienna brought him wealth and a certain degree of fame, and he invented several orthopedic devices that remained in widespread use into the 20th century. Eventually he returned to Sweden in 1849, when he was hired to manage a sawmill and a glass factory. He was not recognized as a composer until he was an old man. His opera Estrella de Soria -- which he had composed in Vienna two decades earlier -- had a successful run in Stockholm in 1862. He finally earned his first full-time musical job in 1867, when he was appointed professor of composition at the Royal Stockholm Conservatory at the age of 71. Commissions for new compositions began to roll in around that time, but most were left unfinished as Berwald contracted pneumonia and succumbed in early 1868.
Berwald composed prolifically in the 1840s and 1850s, but only had a handful of pieces performed before the 1860s, with most of the performances involving members of his family: his brother was the soloist who premiered his violin concerto in 1821, and his cousin conducted the premiere of his first symphony in 1843 and two operettas in the mid-1840s. His music was not well received at the time, possibly because it was so far ahead of its time. Though the recently-passed Beethoven and Berwald's contemporary Mendelssohn were clear influences on his music, he tried radical experiments with the symphonic form in the 1840s that would not be widely accepted until near the turn of the 20th century, and his harmonies and atmospheric effects anticipated Late Romantic symphonists such as Bruckner and Sibelius. Even though Berwald did receive some recognition at the end of his life, most of his music would not be performed until the 20th century.
Berwald's 3rd Symphony, which he titled "Sinfonie Singulière," was completed in 1845 but not heard until 1905. The title is an apt one. The symphony opens with a sort of tone painting that would have been right at home at the turn of the 20th century when it was first performed, but which audiences would have found extremely unsettling when it was composed 60 years earlier. The entire first movement, though composed in traditional sonata allegro form, seems to create a feeling of constant transition. The second movement is the most unique of the three. It begins as an adagio movement reminiscent of Schumann, then a startling timpani strike breaks the calm and launches the orchestra into a playful scherzo. Eventually the adagio returns just as suddenly, but with a noticeably different and distinctly more modern texture. The finale, equal parts dramatic and lyrical, features some of the robust orchestration and unusual harmonic progressions that listeners often associate with much later Scandinavian composers; this movement in particular has been described as a cross between Mendelssohn and Sibelius.
I. Allegro fuocoso
II. Adagio - Allegro assai - Adagio (11:37)
III. Presto (20:33)
This week's piece might not be so forgotten lately, seeing as I heard it twice in the last week, once in concert on Sunday and once on the radio earlier today. But when I attended the concert (Mozart to Mendelssohn Orchestra in San Francisco), the conductor asked the audience for a show of hands from everyone who had heard of the Swedish composer Franz Berwald (1796-1868), and my hand was one of only three that went up.
Berwald was an amateur musician for most of his life, with a remarkably eclectic career, and only ever heard a few of his compositions performed. He struggled to make a living as a professional violinist in Stockholm and Berlin in his 20s, and when his father died and his family was no longer able to support him, Berwald was forced to seek other employment. He turned to orthopedics, and became highly accomplished in that field. His orthopedic and physiotherapy clinics in Berlin and Vienna brought him wealth and a certain degree of fame, and he invented several orthopedic devices that remained in widespread use into the 20th century. Eventually he returned to Sweden in 1849, when he was hired to manage a sawmill and a glass factory. He was not recognized as a composer until he was an old man. His opera Estrella de Soria -- which he had composed in Vienna two decades earlier -- had a successful run in Stockholm in 1862. He finally earned his first full-time musical job in 1867, when he was appointed professor of composition at the Royal Stockholm Conservatory at the age of 71. Commissions for new compositions began to roll in around that time, but most were left unfinished as Berwald contracted pneumonia and succumbed in early 1868.
Berwald composed prolifically in the 1840s and 1850s, but only had a handful of pieces performed before the 1860s, with most of the performances involving members of his family: his brother was the soloist who premiered his violin concerto in 1821, and his cousin conducted the premiere of his first symphony in 1843 and two operettas in the mid-1840s. His music was not well received at the time, possibly because it was so far ahead of its time. Though the recently-passed Beethoven and Berwald's contemporary Mendelssohn were clear influences on his music, he tried radical experiments with the symphonic form in the 1840s that would not be widely accepted until near the turn of the 20th century, and his harmonies and atmospheric effects anticipated Late Romantic symphonists such as Bruckner and Sibelius. Even though Berwald did receive some recognition at the end of his life, most of his music would not be performed until the 20th century.
Berwald's 3rd Symphony, which he titled "Sinfonie Singulière," was completed in 1845 but not heard until 1905. The title is an apt one. The symphony opens with a sort of tone painting that would have been right at home at the turn of the 20th century when it was first performed, but which audiences would have found extremely unsettling when it was composed 60 years earlier. The entire first movement, though composed in traditional sonata allegro form, seems to create a feeling of constant transition. The second movement is the most unique of the three. It begins as an adagio movement reminiscent of Schumann, then a startling timpani strike breaks the calm and launches the orchestra into a playful scherzo. Eventually the adagio returns just as suddenly, but with a noticeably different and distinctly more modern texture. The finale, equal parts dramatic and lyrical, features some of the robust orchestration and unusual harmonic progressions that listeners often associate with much later Scandinavian composers; this movement in particular has been described as a cross between Mendelssohn and Sibelius.
I. Allegro fuocoso
II. Adagio - Allegro assai - Adagio (11:37)
III. Presto (20:33)
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