Schumann: Manfred Overture | Daniel Harding & the Verbier Festival Orchestra

Robert Schumann thought of his incidental music “Manfred: Dramatic Poem with Music in Three Parts”, Op. 115 as something completely new and unprecedented. Later musicians regarded the overture to Manfred as being especially original. To this day, it is considered one of the best orchestral works that Schumann composed. The Verbier Festival Orchestra performs under the direction of Daniel Harding. The concert took place on July 29, 2010 at the Verbier Festival. Robert Schumann's (1810 - 1856) idea for “Manfred” was to write a “literary opera”. He intended to bring together his two passions, music and literature. The text for the dramatic poem is based on the poem “Manfred” by the British poet Lord Byron (1788 - 1824). Its titular hero - a typical romantic anti-hero - is deeply conflicted and fails at everything. He feels guilty about the death of his lover Astarte. With the help of dark forces, he seeks contact with Astarte. The spirits cannot help Manfred, and an abbot cannot persuade him to repent. When Manfred dies, it is unclear whether his soul will find redemption. Robert Schumann read Byron's poem at a young age. In the summer of 1848, he read it again in Karl Adolf Suckow's translation and decided to create a new musical-literary genre based on the material. He shortened the text of the poem but retained its three-part form. His Dramatic Poem with Music, composed in 1848/49, has a strange form for the time: In addition to the overture, there are 15 short movements spread over three sections and of different types: vocal solos, vocal ensembles, instrumental interludes, choruses, melodramas. Schumann composed the overture to “Manfred” in the fall of 1848. It seems that the Romantic composer had planned it from the outset as a concert piece to be performed separately without the dramatic parts. Such concert overtures had become established in the 19th century. In terms of form, they only vaguely corresponded to a sonata movement and instead placed programmatic themes in the foreground. The Manfred Overture was premiered on March 14, 1852 in Leipzig - with Robert Schumann conducting. The printed edition of the overture, intended for concertante purposes, was published in October 1852, a piano reduction in January 1853. Schumann was unable to assert himself with his new genre of “literary opera”, possibly because Richard Wagner (1813 - 1883) had caused a sensation everywhere with his new form of opera, the music drama. Nevertheless, Schumann's Manfred Overture, Op. 115 has become established as part of the concert repertoire. Clara Schumann considered the orchestral piece to be the most magnificent thing her husband Robert had created. Text: Rita Kass © IDÉALE AUDIENCE – Museec – ARTE France – 2010 Watch more concerts in your personal concert hall:    • CONCERT HALL   Find the best of Schumann here:    • BEST OF SCHUMANN   And other great works from the Romantic period can be found here:    • THE ROMANTIC ERA   Subscribe to DW Classical Music:    / dwclassicalmusic   #overture #robertschumann #romanticperiod