of a set of incidental numbers which Schumann
composed to illustrate Byron's dramatic poem, represents some of his
most typical inspiration, and so is well worthy of our study. The
music is labored at times, especially in the Development, and the
orchestration is often dry and stereotyped. But the conception was a
powerful one, and there is a genuine correspondence between the nature
of the music and the spirit of the poem. It is evident that the
subject made a deep impression on Schumann, whose own imagination,
addicted to mysterious and even morbid broodings, was strongly akin to
that of Byron's fictitious character. The composition is program music
of the subjective order, comparable to Beethoven's _Coriolanus_,
_i.e._, the themes are dramatic characterizations: the first typifying
the stormy nature of Manfred; the second, with its note of pleading,
the mysterious influence over the recluse of the spirit of Astarte. As
in all works of this kind the music cannot be readily appreciated
without a knowledge of the poem which it illustrates.[193] As for the
structure, Schumann clings too closely to the Sonata-form. The music
is eloquent just in proportion as he gives his fancy free rein; where
he tries to force the themes into an arbitrary mould, the result is
unsatisfactory--especially the development, which is neither very
dramatic nor interesting from a purely musical point of view. The work
opens with three spasmodic syncopated[194] chords, and then follow
twenty-four measures (lento and at first pianissimo) of a preludial
nature with suggestions of the Manfred theme. The movement becomes
gradually faster and more impassioned until, in measure 26, we reach
the presentation of the first theme (allegro agitato) which, with its
frequent syncopations, is characteristic of Manfred's restless
nature. The transition begins in measure 39; at first with a
repetition of the main theme, which soon modulates to F-sharp minor,
in which key the second theme enters, in measure 51. This theme--in
three portions--seems to embody different aspects of the feminine
influence of Astarte. The first portion, measures 51-61, with its
undulating, chromatic outline, may be said to typify the haunting
apparition so real to Manfred's imagination and yet so intangible; the
second, 62-67, contains a note of impassioned protest, and the third,
68-77, is a love message of tender consolation. If this interpretation
seem too subjective, a careful readi