Symphony No. 2 (Berwald)

Franz Berwald completed the Symphony No. 2 in D major, "Capricieuse," on June 18, 1842, in Nyköping. The original score has been lost since the 1850s. In 1909, the Franz Berwald Foundation commissioned Ernst Ellberg to reconstruct the score from 4-stave sketches containing indications for orchestration. Ellberg's reconstruction was published in 1913 and first performed on January 9, 1914. Towards the end of the century, Nils Castegren reviewed Ellberg's reconstruction and published an "urtext" for Bärenreiter.

Ellberg's reconstruction calls for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, tenor trombone, 2 bass trombones, timpani and strings. While Berwald gave clear indications for the woodwinds and strings, such as "detailed notations ... indicating when certain wind instruments play in unison with the respective string parts or in a different octave," [Anonymous, preface to "Sinfonie Capricieuse". Melville, New York: Belwin Mills (1980): [i] in Swedish, [ii] in English] where he wanted brass and/or timpani, Berwald would merely write the names of the instruments. However, Berwald did indicate the tuning and register of the brass and timpani at the beginning of each movement. [Nils Castegren, preface to "Sinfonie capricieuse". Kassel: Bärenreiter (1989): iv in German, v in English, vi in Swedish.]

The work is in three movements,

# Allegro
# Andante
# Allegro assai

and lasts about 29 and a half minutes per Berwald's indications of duration (from which metronome markings could be extrapolated).

Discography

On Naxos Records, Okko Kamu conducts the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra on a disc that also includes the Symphony No. 1 in G minor, "Serieuse," and the overture to "Estrella de Soria". Thomas Dausgaard with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra on Chandos Records also includes the "Serieuse" but opts for "Erinnerung an die Norwegischen Alpen" instead of an overture to fill out the disc.

The "Capricieuse" is also available in 2-disc sets of Berwald's four symphonies, such as David Montgomery's set with the Jena Philharmonic on Arte Nova and Sixten Ehrling's set with the Malmö Symphony Orchestra on BIS. Roy Goodman with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra on Hyperion Records includes, besides the four completed symphonies, a fragment of a Symphony in A major and two opera overtures.

References