Joachim Raff - Symphony No. 3 "Im Walde" **MUST HEAR** (1869)

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• published: 13 Jul 2013
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Painting 1 - http://www.goodfon.com/wallpaper/475357.html Painting 2 - Gino Caspari is the artist. Painting 3 - "Spring Dance" Painting 4 - "Dark Forest" by VityaR83 on deviantart I. Part One: In the Daytime. Impressions and Feelings - 00:00 II. Part Two: In the Twilight. A: Dreaming - 14:23 III. B: Dance of the Dryads - 23:02 IV. Part Three: At Night. The living stillness of night in the Forest. Arrival and departure of the Wild Hunt, with Frau Holle and Wotan. Daybreak - 27:50 Raff's fame as a symphonist was assured by the Symphony No.3 in F Im Walde (In the Forest) op.153. Together with the later Lenore, it was amongst the most played of modern symphonies in its day, taking his name to both England and America. Its dramatic pictorialism seems to have created a sensation when it was first heard - an effect only lessened by his style later becoming common currency from many composers. With this work, Raff was indeed an innovator. As a true romantic, he was greatly influenced by nature - six of his nine programme symphonies relate to nature in one form or another, as do many of his other compositions. As a German, he had a particular feeling for his country's woods and forests. He wrote the work in Wiesbaden in 1869 and it was premiered in his old home of Wiemar on Easter Sunday, 1870 with great success. The acclaim for it continued throughout the rest of his life: an American critic described it as "the best Symphony of modern times, one of the very few which are worthy to go down in posterity in company with the works of Beethoven and Schumann". After one performance at which Raff was present "a complete hurricane went through the house" and Raff mounted the podium "amidst barbaric jubilation from the audience". Hans von Bülow described the symphony's success as "colossal". The published programme for his third symphony comprises short titles for each movement, but Raff may have been working to a very much longer and highly detailed unpublished programme, which is illustrated quite literally by the music - see Carol Bevier's dissertation for more detail (pp.28-93). This programme links almost every phrase and section of the work to the experiences and feelings of a "wanderer" in the Forest. It was not unknown, however, for composers to concoct such detailed programmes after the event to satisfy the incessant demands for literalism that developed amongst Victorian music lovers - those for Bruckner's "Romantic" symphony or Rubinstein's "Ocean" Symphony being contemporary examples. Whether this was so in Raff's case is not known. Each of its four movements has a descriptive sub-title meant to give a general impression of the music rather than a detailed programme which it follows. The joyful opening Allegro "Daytime. Impressions and feelings" is followed by slow Largo and fast Allegro assai movements together grouped under the title "At twilight - Dreaming and Dance of the Nyads". The extended Allegro finale depicts "Night....still murmurings.....the wild hunt of Hulda & Wotan......sunrise". The piece was hailed in Raff's lifetime as a masterpiece and it is easy to see why it made such an impression in its day with its inventive orchestration and abundance of melody.