For those of us
in colder climates, we begin longing for spring’s arrival not long after the
first of the year! Robert Schumann was no different, nicknaming his First
Symphony Spring when he wrote it in
January of 1841. Clara Wieck instigated the composition, writing Schumann and
persuading him to uses his talents to explore symphonic music. The piece took
just four days to sketch, and originally contained spring-related titles for
each movement. Those were later discarded for publication, but there is no doubt
that the butterflies and birds of springtime were on the composer’s mind when
he wrote the Symphony No. 1.
What about
Joaquin Rodrigo’s reflections of springtime in his Berceuse de printemps? This lullaby for spring of 1928 is perhaps
different than the Rodrigo you are used to hearing. Known for his Concierto de
Aranjuez and other works for guitar, this piece is actually originally written
for solo piano! The piece exudes the happiness of the season for which it was
written, and is written to resemble a music box.
Next time, we
look at a few more pieces for the vernal equinox!
