Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra

Goethe’s monumental epic poem Hermann and Dorothea was one of the poet’s most popular works in the 19th century. In the background is the French Revolution, which Goethe portrays with an ironic detachment; its hero, Hermann, is a young citizen who goes against the wishes of his parents in remaining faithful to the love of his life, Dorothea, who is fleeing the worst of the uprising. The girl’s soul is not only troubled by being forced into fleeing her home but also by the martyrdom of her fiancé in Paris: can she really begin a new life in a foreign country alongside a stranger? Schumann composed an overture to the Goethe poem, at astonishing speed if we are to believe his diary entries, and at roughly the same time as he was working on Symphony No. 4. The musical connection between the two works is unmistakable and as so often in Schumann’s work, the not so hidden strands all lead back to his wife, Clara.