Thomas Moore

First of all came the B-flat symphony, the Spring Symphony, which Schumann wrote down with a steel pen he had found in Vienna in the Währinger Cemetery on Beethoven's grave.

the spring symphony though it had its detractors put schumann on the map so to speak more almost than anything else he had written heretofore immediately after the symphony came two other large-scale works the so-called overture scherzo and finale which modern conductors have singularly neglected and a fantaisie in a minor for orchestra and piano which was to become the first movement of the glorious piano concerto for not a few musicians the greatest of its kind in existence on the heels of this soaring masterpiece schumann embarked on another symphony as yet i have heard nothing about it wrote clara in her diary but from robert's way of going on and the d minor sounding wildly in the distance i know that another work is being created in the depth of his soul less than four months later robert handed his wife as a birthday gift the score of the d minor symphony it was not to see the light of publicity for some time however before schumann had put the finishing touches on it his thoughts began to be occupied with the subject of paradise and the peri from thomas moore's la la and he opined that perhaps something fine can be made out of it for music he was right though the beautiful oratorio one of the finest yet in america least familiar of schumann's major works was not completed for nearly two years more when it finally appeared the composer described it as an oratorio for cheerful people not for the place of prayer In the spring of 1842, Robert and Clara had been occupied with the study of the string quartets of Haydn and Mozart.

The following October, he wrote to the publisher Hertel, During the summer months, I worked with great zeal at three quartets.

We played them several times at David's, and they seemed to please players and listeners alike, in particular Mendelssohn.