A Spring Awakening: From Bohemia to Vienna

About the Work

“The Wood Dove” (also known as “The Wild Dove”) was composed in the autumn of 1896, shortly after Dvorak’s return from America to his beloved Bohemia. It is the last of four symphonic poems he wrote in quick succession, all based on ballads from Karel Jaromir Erben’s celebrated collection Kytice (A Bouquet of Folk Legends).

The ballad tells a dark tale of guilt and retribution. A young woman poisons her husband and, after a brief period of mourning, marries another man. But a wood dove takes up residence on her first husband’s grave, singing a mournful song day after day. The dove’s persistent cooing awakens the woman’s conscience until, overwhelmed by guilt, she drowns herself in the river.

Dvorak translates this narrative into four connected musical scenes, though the music flows continuously. The work opens with a funeral march depicting the husband’s burial, followed by festive wedding music for the hasty remarriage. The dove’s haunting song appears as a recurring motif, growing ever more insistent. The final section depicts the woman’s mental disintegration and death.

Listen for: The mournful melody representing the dove’s song, which becomes increasingly prominent as the woman’s guilt intensifies. Notice how Dvorak transforms the bright wedding music into something increasingly hollow and desperate as the psychological drama unfolds.

About the Work

In February 1935, the Ukrainian-American violinist Louis Krasner approached Berg with a commission for a violin concerto. Berg, absorbed in composing his opera Lulu, was initially reluctant. But his precarious finances and, soon after, a devastating personal loss changed his mind.

On April 22, 1935, eighteen-year-old Manon Gropius died of polio. She was the daughter of architect Walter Gropius and Alma Mahler (widow of Gustav Mahler), and Berg had been deeply fond of her. Shaken to his core, Berg suddenly saw how the concerto might become a requiem for the young woman he called “an angel.” He composed the work at extraordinary speed during the summer of 1935; the finished manuscript is dated August 11.

The concerto is in two movements, each divided into two sections. The first movement offers a musical portrait of Manon: the opening Andante presents her character with tender lyricism, incorporating a lilting Carinthian folk song that evokes her youth and charm. The subsequent Allegretto depicts her dancing, full of life and grace.

The second movement confronts death directly. The Allegro opens with a twelve-tone cry of anguish, music of shattering intensity. But the final Adagio brings transcendence: Berg quotes the Bach chorale “Es ist genug” (It is enough) from Cantata BWV 60, its strange, ascending whole-tone scale perfectly suited to the twelve-tone context. The violin rises ever higher, finally dissolving into silence.

Berg did not live to hear his concerto performed. The premiere took place on April 19, 1936, in Barcelona, with Louis Krasner as soloist. The work had become a double memorial: for Manon Gropius and for Berg himself.

Listen for: The Carinthian folk tune in the first movement, evoking youthful innocence. In the second movement, listen for the moment when the Bach chorale emerges from the twelve-tone texture, its centuries-old melody offering consolation. The violin’s final ascent into the stratosphere is one of the most moving passages in all of music.

About the Work

The “Spring” Symphony marks Schumann’s triumphant entry into orchestral composition. Until 1841, he had been known primarily for his piano music and songs. It was Clara who encouraged him to think bigger, noting in her diary that his piano compositions were orchestral in feeling.

Inspired by a poem by Adolf Bottger celebrating the coming of spring, Schumann sketched the entire symphony in just four days (January 23-26, 1841) and completed the orchestration by February 20. The premiere on March 31, 1841, with Felix Mendelssohn conducting the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, was warmly received.

Originally, each movement bore a descriptive title: “The Beginning of Spring,” “Evening,” “Merry Playmates,” and “Spring in Full Bloom.” Though Schumann withdrew these before publication, they illuminate the work’s character. The symphony opens with a brass fanfare that Schumann wanted to sound “like a summons to awakening,” a clarion call that generates the thematic material for the entire first movement. The slow movement is an extended song for orchestra, drawing on Schumann’s unparalleled gift for melody. The scherzo is full of rhythmic vitality, while the finale brings the work to a jubilant close, as if spring has indeed arrived in full bloom.

Listen for: The opening brass fanfare and how its rhythm pervades the entire first movement. In the slow movement, listen for the warm, singing melody that could have come straight from one of Schumann’s Lieder. The finale’s exuberance is irresistible, carrying the listener forward on a wave of vernal optimism.