A symphony is, on the face of it, reasonably simple to define. It’s a larger-scale work for orchestra and, occasionally, singers, usually divided into several movements. That said, it’s sobering to consider how much argument there’s been over the years about what constitutes a ‘real’ symphony. Let’s take a deep dive into this most enduring of musical forms, and take a look at some of the best symphonies ever written.
Speaking of which:
What exactly is a symphony in classical music?
Surely, you might think, if a piece of music works, and the composer chooses to call it ‘Symphony’, that’s an end to the matter?
Oh, dear me, no. Intellectual battles have been fought long and hard over whether the form should have a title or a literary programme, or whether it should be pure, ‘absolute’ music.
Not just intellectual battles: there are reports of fistfights between supporters of Brahms (the classical, ‘absolute’ symphony) and Liszt (the descriptive programme-symphony).
Controversy even touches on seemingly minor details of instrumentation. Critics of Franck’s Symphony argued that it couldn’t be the genuine article as it included a cor anglais. Bruckner similarly struggled for weeks against the impulse to put harps in his Eighth.
What are the greatest symphonies?
Good question. Our article on the the 20 greatest symphonies of all time will provide you with some great works to explore. You'll probably notice how many of the top 20 are by three masters of the form in particular. First comes Beethoven, whose symphonies such as the Third (Eroica), Fifth, Sixth (Pastoral) and Ninth are among the most revolutionary, most captivating, and best loved examples of the form, regularly held in concert halls around the world and staples of all the world's best orchestras.
Another composer who produced some of his greatest works in the symphonic form is Beethoven's fellow German composer, Johannes Brahms. Unlike Beethoven, who completed nine symphonies, Brahms produced just four (it took him a long while to finish his First, as he was all too aware of following in the footsteps of his illustrious predecessor).
However, all four of Brahms's symphonies are absolute masterpieces, from the craggy and (let's face it) Beethoven-esque First, via the sunny and pastoral Second and emotional and enigmatic Third, onto the grandly tragic Fourth.
Third in our trio of symphonic masters is Gustav Mahler. Like Beethoven, Mahler completed nine symphonies (and a symphonic song cycle, Das Lied von der Erde). Unlike Beethoven, he got some way towards completing a tenth (Beethoven left us only sketches).
Mahler's nine symphonies are vast canvasses. The Austrian famously remarked to his fellow composer Jean Sibelius that 'the symphony must be like the world. It must contain everything', and he put this credo into practice with symphonies that were huge sonic landscapes, embracing all moods from deep sadness to irony, and all traditions from Jewish klezmer to the Ländler of his native Austria.
Mahler's First Symphony begins with a vivid depiction of the awakening of nature in spring, featuring birdsong including cuckoo calls; his Second is gripping, funereal, dramatic by turns. The Third is another, even more powerful evocation of nature and of the Earth's primordial forces; the Fourth is light and classical, almost Mozart-like in places. His Fifth has one of the most arresting beginnings in the classical repertoire before taking us across a sweeping emotional terrain including boisterous high spirits and deep sadness. And so on.
- Which is the best Mahler symphony?
- Gustav Mahler had a traumatic 1907. Then he went to New York – and everything changed
When did the symphony hit its peak?
As per our examples above, it's probably fair to say that the symphony hit its peak (in terms purely of the number of masterpieces, now concert hall staples, being produced) around the 19th century. In the late 18th century, Mozart and Haydn were composing marvellous symphonies (41 from Mozart, more than 100 from Haydn).
The 19th was the great age of the Romantic symphony, beginning with the likes of Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann and Mendelssohn and culminating in Brahms and his great contemporaries Dvořák, Tchaikovsky (whose hyper-emotional Pathétique might be the quintessential Romantic symphony) and Bruckner.
But the symphonic form held its own in the 20th century. Alongside Mahler and Sibelius, the century's great symphonists were two Russians, Dmitri Shostakovich and Sergey Prokofiev, with honourable mentions to an American (Charles Ives), a Dane (Carl Nielsen) and two Brits (Edward Elgar and Ralph Vaughan Williams, who wrote nine, all of them captivating works).
To hear the many different directions the symphony took across the 20th century, try these two very different Fifths. First, Shostakovich's arresting, dramatic Fifth:
Next, Vaughan Williams's serene and pastoral Fifth, largely written as a source of solace during the trials and terrors of World War II:
How many movements does a symphony have?
So is there anything that can be said about symphonies in general which sets them apart? Well, for one thing, it isn’t form. Symphonies can have any number of ‘movements’ from ten (Messiaen’s Turangalîla) to one (Samuel Barber's First, Sibelius’s Seventh).
That said, a 'typical' symphony, particularly from the 18th and 19th centuries, would have four movements. We typically begin with an Allegro ('lively') first movement, often in sonata form (comprising an exposition of the theme; development of said theme; and a recapitulation of the thematic material). The second movement is typically, though not always, a slow movement, in either Adagio (slow) or Andante ('walking pace') tempo. This music will be more lyrical and reflective, giving a nice contrast to the energetic, extroverted first movement.
A standard third Movement from an 18th or 19th-century symphony will have a faster, often dance-like rhythm. This will usually be either a Minuet (most typically from the Classical period) or a slightly faster Scherzo (commoner in Romantic-era symphonies). In the midst of this movement, a slower, calmer Trio will usually bring a moment of repose. Finally, the fourth movement is typically in that lively Allegro tempo or even a faster Presto), and usually features in rondo (cyclical) or sonata form, providing the work with a typically energetic finale.
You may be able to identify outlines of classical ‘sonata form', ‘variation’, ‘scherzo’ or ‘rondo’. However, the intellectual process may in fact be closer to watching a speeded-up film of a plant growing from seed to full flower.
This notion of growth gives us a clue. In the overwhelming majority of symphonies, from Haydn’s ‘Clock’ to John Adams’s Doctor Atomic, some notion of process, of sustained movement from A to B, seems to be fundamental.
In some 18th- and early 19th-century concerts, movements of symphonies were performed with other items in between. Yet it seems that listeners returned to the symphony with a sense of unfinished business. Only when the finale had played its part was the intellectual and emotional journey over.
And ‘journey’ is the mot juste. As in the novel, which came to prominence at the time the classical symphony was beginning to define itself, an element of narrative is crucial. And as with the novel, some kind of conflict is usually what sets it in motion. To borrow a phrase from William Blake: ‘Without contraries there is no progression’.
For a six-word summary of the spirit of symphony, you could do a lot worse than that.
Visit our musical terms dictionary to find out about other musical definitions you may not know. Or browse our other guides: