German Romanticism is unimaginable without the forest. An entire generation elevated nature’s idyllic habitat to mystical heights, the forest became refuge for secret yearnings, often filled with unfathomable anxiety. All these aspects are instantaneously revealed in the romantic novel Ahnung und Gegenwart by Joseph von Eichendorff. There, the forest is an allegory of the human soul taking centre stage in the narrative. Schumann felt profoundly inspired and set several of the novel’s poems to music. These songs entered his “most romantic” work, the Liederkreis, Op. 39, which in turn is closely linked to the Waldszenen. An important hint for their kindred spirits can be found in the first draft of Vogel als Prophet. Schumann was planning to use the last line of Zwielicht from Ahnung und Gegenwart as an epigraph for his most enigmatic Waldszenen movement: “Be on your guard! Stay alert and awake!”

Waldszenen were composed in 1848/49 and became one of the musical key works of the 19th century. A ‘programmatic’ walk along imaginary landscapes reflects on wild hunts and nature’s solitude. We tremble at haunted spots, enjoy the comfort of hospitality and listen to enigmatic birds. Energetic episodes and cryptic lyricisms form metaphors of highly romantic scenes, which immediately appealed to Schumann’s contemporaries. In a Berliner Musik-Zeitung Echo review from 1851, the critic took delight in the Waldszenen’s “enigmatic rustling, the distant melodies” and “the mystical flowers in the enchanting forest of music”. Over 160 years later, the orchestration intends to deepen its inherent complexity and vitalise the zeitgeist of German Romanticism with all its nuances.