ROBERT SCHUMANN

Upon completing the opera Genoveva and still busy refining the Fourth Symphony, Robert Schumann immersed himself in Lord Byron’s drama Manfred. He wrote incidental music after it, which he described as follows: “A dramatic three-part poem by Byron with Schumann’s music… something completely new and unheard of…” “Never have I devoted myself to a composition with such love and energy as to Manfred”, Schumann confessed. The entire score consists of an overture and fifteen numbers for orchestra, choir and soloists. In 1852, Manfred was premiered under the baton of  the composer himself, and a few months later the entire opus was performed in Weimar, under the direction of Ferenc Liszt. The full work did not achieve such a success as did the overture, which has enjoyed popularity to this day. It does not illustrate the plot of Byron’s drama, but rather portrays a distracted and psychologically controversial soul.

Schumann’s philosophical score is performed by the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Martynas Stakionis, a Lithuanian conductor of younger generation.