Leader, W. H. REED
Conducted by FRANK BRIDGE
Schubert completed his Fourth Symphony in April, 1816, when he was' nineteen. It had to wait more than thirty-three years for its first performance, when the Viennese musical society Euterpe' chose it for their first concert on November 19, 1849.
The Symphony has become known as the ' Tragic '. The title was not given by Schubert himself and is not particularly apt, for, in spite of the rather sombre introduction, and the passionate course of the first movement, the symphony as a whole is by no means tragic. The slow movement contains some of Schubert's loveliest melodies, and the finale (after a fascinating minuet) is fiery and spirited.
Frank Bridge's impression for small orchestra ' There is a Willow ' is based on the Queen's tale of Ophelia's death. Most listeners will well remember the lines :-
There with fantastic garlands did she come, Of crow-Howcrs, nettles, daisies and long purples, and when the willow broke, and she
... fell in the weeping brook, her clothes spread wide,
And, mermaid-like, awhile they bore her up ; What time she chanted snatches of old tunes. until her heavy garments pull'd her down to death. But vividly as the few phrases can bring a picture of the tragedy before us-poignant and tender in its sorrow-Bridge's music is not to be taken as illustrating it line by line ; it is just an impression.