The story of Schumann is both a celebration of greatness and a tragedy. While he achieved so much, and had such a profound influence on the German Romantic movement, he also suffered severely from depression, contemplation and attempts of suicide, fears and realities of insanity, and the physical affects of syphilis.
The New Grove Dictionary of Music states that Schumann "represents the quintessential Romantic composer, with his emphasis on self-expression, his strong vein of lyricism, and his interest in extra-musical associations." I would also like to add another characteristic, that of a rhythmic drive propelling the music to a climax. These characteristics are clearly evident in his Third Symphony (the last to be composed of the four).
While much has been said of Schumann's ineptness as an orchestrator, he was, on the other hand, a very practical orchestrator. German orchestras of his day showed serious weaknesses, and often, as was the case with the Düsseldorf Orchestra which premiered the Third, key members of the orchestra were often not present in performances. In an effort to have all the important musical lines heard, Schumann doubled and often tripled the coverage of each line. The natural result is a thick and rather monochromatic orchestral sound. If, however, we take into consideration Schumann's compositions for his main instrument, the piano, also a rather monochromatic instrument, we observe that he wrote thick, closely- spaced chords and rhythmically busy inner parts, all contributing to the power, Romantic warmth and expressiveness of his music. Instead of pointing out that his orchestration is thicker and less colorful than his contemporaries, we should instead note how individual his sound is, and how idiomatically he wrote for the orchestra. Particularly good orchestration is demonstrated in his introduction of trombones into the solemn and magisterial fourth movement. His embracing of the recently "chromatic" horns, and the demanding parts he wrote for them, particularly in the third movement and in the Konzertstück for Four Horns, are revolutionary, predating Wagner's significant developments in this area. The kaleidoscopic changes of color in the woodwinds and horns in the trio of the Scherzo is also a lovely piece of orchestration. The warm use of violas and cellos in the slow movement is delicious, and matched beautifully by the predominance of clarinet and bassoon timbres.
In spite of all the criticisms of Schumann's orchestral music, it is the content of the music, according to those critical of his orchestration, that keeps it in the concert hall. I would add that it is also Schumann's directness of expression that has rarely been equaled. The expression in his music is the natural and effortless expression of Schumann's temperament and artistic personality. Nothing is forced, contrived, or done solely for effect or show. His soul is bared for all to see through his music.
The Third Symphony was written a few months after he assumed the position of Municipal Music Director at Düsseldorf, a city in north-west Germany on the Rhine river. This was a very happy time for Schumann. He felt that his position as a leading composer in Germany was being acknowledged, and he was gaining early success, both personally and artistically, with this new position. Since the Schumanns were unfamiliar with this region of Germany, they decided to cruise the Rhine south to the city of Cologne. While in Cologne, Schumann conceived the idea of writing a symphony that, according to a letter to the publisher, "perhaps here and there reflects a bit of local color." Hence the nickname "Rhenish." Another event, said to have been the inspiration for the fourth movement, was the enthronement of the Cardinal Archbishop Geissel at the imposing and beautiful Gothic Cologne Cathedral.
The first movement has great rhythmic drive and intensity. From the start the meter is in question, as the music in the first six measures cuts across the meter in a broad hemiola, only to be tentatively established in the seventh. It is only at the bridge passage, with its running eighth-note scales, that the meter is solidified. The second theme, by contrast, is a lyrical chorale introduced by the winds. The second movement, while listed as a Scherzo, is more a rustic Ländler, and attempt at showing a bit of the local color. The rising figure in the cellos at the opening may be a depiction of the Rhine. Wagner, when writing Das Rheingold three years later, used both the key of the "Rhenish," E-flat, for his Rhine-motive, and also an arpeggio figure and rhythm that closely resembles Schumann's theme. The "trio" section features the winds and interesting chromatic horn writing. The third movement, with the odd tempo indication of "not fast," is a delicate, song-like movement, nearly devoid of any climaxes. The highly polyphonic fourth was originally given the indication "in the style of a solemn ceremony." The austere, high-church feel and intricate accompanimental figurations give this a particularly sixteenth-century feel. Trombone sonority gives this movement an especially solemn tone. The finale, with its light-hearted atmosphere, shows Schumann's sunniest and happiest mood. This movement also has a bit of local color, with fanfares in the horns and energetic rhythms. A typical Schumann feature is to have the coda be the climax, and this is clearly the case here. The coda, which brings back some themes from the fourth movement, keeps building in intensity to a rousing finish, with hunting horn calls and firmly established tonality. The work was premiered, to resounding approval, during Schumann's first season at Düsseldorf. It is tragic that within four years, driven mad by illness and voices in his head, Schumann attempted suicide by leaping from a bridge into the Rhine. He never fully recovered, dying in a lunatic asylum two and a half years later, with wife Clara and friend Johannes Brahms at his side.