[201] This was afterwards withdrawn as impracticable. What a pity that Schumann wrote before the harp as a member of the orchestra had come into its own. For the mood which he was trying to establish compare the scoring of this Romanza with that in the Slow movement of Franck's Symphony.
[202] In Brahms, who was something of a conservative as to freedom of form, there is a striking example in the connection between the second movement and the Finale of the Third Symphony.
[203] Schumann was a true poet in the spontaneity of his themes, but often an unsuccessful architect when connecting them.
[204] For a detailed and illuminating study of this symphony and of Schumann's style in general see the last essay in Preludes and Studies by W.J. Henderson. Another excellent essay may be found in Studies in Modern Music by W.H. Hadow.
[205] Several of these were constantly played by both Paderewski and De Pachman, two of the greatest virtuosi of our day: surely a convincing tribute!
[206] See the Oxford History of Music, Vol. VI, pp. 80-84. Anyone who cares to see what Wagner owed to Mendelssohn may compare the opening theme, and its treatment, of the Fair Melusine Overture with the music of the Rhine Maidens in the Rheingold.
[207] See his treatise on Orchestration, p. 194.
[208] This is exceptionally effective in the four-hand version—in fact, it was often played as a pianoforte duet by his sister Fanny and himself—although the real poetic effect is inseparably connected with the orchestral treatment.
[209] Originally these tones were played by the Ophicleide or Serpent (now obsolete).
[210] This, after all, is a rather subtle point for a boy of seventeen to be called upon to consider. Perhaps if he had been that kind of a boy he might not have written the Overture at all!