2025 could be unofficially dubbed the ‘Greek Franz Berwald year’. Although the works of the Swedish Romantic composer are almost never performed in Greece (or particularly anywhere else), by the end of the year they will have appeared twice in the programs of Greek orchestras: once on January 26, when the ERT National Symphony Orchestra opened its concert with the overture Estrella de Soria conducted by Konstantinos Terzakis, and a second time this coming Monday, December 15, at the Athens Conservatoire, where the Philharmonia Orchestra of Athens will perform his absolute masterpiece, the Third Symphony, in C major, subtitled Singulière – the unique or, more accurately, the paradoxical.
Indeed, the composer’s life itself was paradoxical. Berwald (1796-1868) was born a year before Schubert into a musical family in Stockholm with distant German roots, and lived quite a long life for his era, dying a year before Berlioz. His lifespan encompasses those of Mendelssohn and Schumann, with whom he can be compared as an important symphonist of the Romantic period. He composed a total of four symphonies, all within the 1840s.
His contemporaries, and especially his compatriots, did not always view his efforts for musical innovation positively. In 1829, however, he managed to secure a royal scholarship to study in Berlin, where he also failed to establish himself as a composer, as he was not accepted by the musical world of the Prussian capital. The very well-bred Felix Mendelssohn, from their meeting, mainly remembered how arrogant Berwald was. On the other hand, until 1841, while living in Berlin, he managed to develop his parallel interest in medicine and founded a very successful orthopedic clinic.
In 1842, he managed to organize a concert of his works in Vienna, which earned him initial recognition from the international music world. However, he could not capitalize on this back in his homeland, nor in Vienna, where he returned for the three-year period 1846-49. And since he again failed to find a place in Sweden’s musical scene, in the 1850s he worked in industry as a factory manager, leaving composition for his free time. He finally managed, with great difficulty, to be appointed professor of composition at the Stockholm Conservatoire in 1867, one year before his death.
It was said that Berwald had a habit of letting his compositions “mature” on his desk, sometimes for many years, after they were completed. The Third Symphony, however, was destined to wait a long time to be heard. The manuscript is dated 1845, but it received its world premiere only in 1905 in Stockholm, conducted by Tor Aulin.
Even then – as is still the case today – hearing the work must have made a particular impression on listeners. The title Singulière (Paradoxical) is not accidental, as from the very first moment, the listener is impressed by how a small, fragmented motif recurs, building the entire first movement upon it. This movement bears the rare indication Allegro fuocoso (with fire) and easily transitions from delicate lyricism to impetuous bursts of enthusiasm. Hidden within the slow second movement is a lively scherzo, another innovation that virtually no one did before, nor perhaps after him. The third movement, contrary to what one might expect for a symphony in C major, begins in C minor, which gives a very distinctive harmonic color to the movement, which rushes along at the fast tempos of the presto. The orchestration is also amazing, and overall the work is a masterpiece in every respect.
Although even today Franz Berwald’s name is not the most familiar among music lovers, many of his works have been recorded and are cherished by the more adventurous who discover him. Given the rarity of live performances, the opportunity to hear this amazing symphony live is quite rare, and usually singulière – no longer paradoxical, but unique.
You can listen to the work here. The monophonic recording by Igor Markevitch and the Berlin Philharmonic in 1956, along with the 4th (commercially available), remains a classic. Biography and bibliography for the composer with free access to his published works can be found here: Swedish Musical Heritage – Franz Berwald
More about the Philharmonia Orchestra of Athens concert at the Athens Conservatoire:
