etween the freedom of
structure, instituted by Beethoven, and the Symphonic Poem of Liszt
and other modern composers. All of Schumann's symphonies contain
genuine beauties and should be familiar to the cultivated musician.
Perhaps the first in B-flat major is the most sustained, and it has a
freshness and buoyancy summed up in its title, the _Spring_, by which
it is popularly known. The exuberance of the Finale is pure Schumann
and is expressed with an orchestral eloquence in which he was
frequently lacking.[197] The Second Symphony is notable for its
sublime Adagio, Schumann's love-song--comparable to the slow movement
of Beethoven's Fourth. At some future day, conductors will have the
courage to play this movement by itself like a magnificent Torso, for
indubitably the other movements have aged beyond recall. The Third
Symphony, known as the _Rhenish_ (composed when Schumann was living at
Duesseldorf on the Rhine) is significant for its incorporation of
popular melodies from the Rhineland, and for the movement, scored
chiefly for trombones and other brass instruments, which gives a
picture of some ceremonial occasion in the Cologne Cathedral.

[Footnote 197: It is more than a matter of mere chronology to realise
that the D minor Symphony was composed in the same year as the B-flat
major. It was afterwards revised and published as No. 4, but the
vitality and spontaneity of its themes come from the first gush of
Schumann's inspiration.]

The Fourth Symphony is an uneven work, for there are many places where
Schumann's constructive power was unequal to his ideal conceptions. We
often can see the joints, and the structure--in places--resembles a
rag-carpet rather than the organic texture of an oriental rug. But the
spontaneous outpouring of melody touches our emotions and well-nigh
disarms criticism. Schumann had constantly been striving for a closer
relationship[198] between the conventional movements of the symphony;
and his purpose, in the structural treatment adopted, is indicated by
the statement published in the full score--"Introduction, Allegro,
Romanze, Scherzo und Finale _in einem Satze_" _i.e._, the work is to
be considered as a _continuous whole_ and not broken up into arbitrary
movements with rigid pauses between. The long drawn-out
Introduction,[199] with its mysterious harmonies, leads us into the
land of romance, and a portion of this introduction is happily carried
over and repeated in the Romanze. The