The German Symphony between Beethoven and Brahms: The Fall and Rise of a Genre

by Christopher Fifield

It was Carl Dahlhaus who coined the phrase ’dead time’ to describe the state of the symphony between Schumann and Brahms. Christopher Fifield argues that many of the symphonies dismissed by Dahlhaus made worthy contributions to the genre. He traces the root of the problem further back to Beethoven’s ninth symphony, a work which then proceeded to intimidate symphonists who followed in its composer's footsteps, including Schubert, Mendelssohn and Schumann. In 1824 Beethoven set a standard that then had to rise in response to more demanding expectations from both audiences and the musical press. Christopher Fifield, who has a conductor’s intimacy with the repertory, looks in turn at the five decades between the mid-1820s and mid-1870s. He deals only with non-programmatic works, leaving the programme symphony to travel its own route to the symphonic poem. Composers who lead to Brahms (himself a reluctant symphonist until the age of 43 in 1876) are frequently dismissed as epigones of Beethoven, Mendelssohn and Schumann but by investigating their symphonies, Fifield reveals their respective brands of originality, even their own possible influence upon Brahms himself and in so doing, shines a light into a half-century of neglected nineteenth century German symphonic music.

330 pages, Hardcover

Published March 28, 2015

About the author

Christopher Fifield was an English conductor, classical music historian and musicologist based in London.

Reviews

[Cosimo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn't realize Mr. Fifield is that excellent conductor from some of my CD's until I finished the book. This only adds to my pleasure of recommending this very instructive study of the German classical symphony between Beethoven's last (1824) and Brahms' first (1876) symphonies. I don't know of any other book to cover this subject, not to mention as thoroughly as this, so this book helps also to fill a gap in music history. If you like to know more about composers such as Spohr, Lachner, Kalliwoda, Burgmüller, Gade, Raff, Volkmann, Reinecke, Goetz and many others, this book is a must read, if not the only source who puts their music in historical perspective.
I don't particularly share the opinion that after Beethoven's death it was such a huge "fall" of the genre - how could it be, when Schumann and Mendelssohn wrote all their wonderful symphonies during the very "incriminated" era? -, but it's also true, and the author depicts it with sagacity, humor and, as expected, numerous well chosen excerpts from the musical press of the day - that Beethoven was compared "to a huge meteor, which hurtled to earth and left a vast crater on impact" and whoever "dared" to write a new symphony was immediately dismissed as "epigone", confirming Stravinsky's words that "every great genius does great harm". Even Schubert complained: "Who can do anything after Beethoven?" Fortunately, the history proved them wrong.
So thanks, Mr. Fifield, for a very instructive and, I must say, very entertaining book.

[Brian · Rating 1 out of 5]

This reworked dissertation is a good source of program notes for best-forgotten symphonies between Beethoven's Ninth and Brahms's First. The author doesn't include even his own dissertation of the same title no less in the bibliography.