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As early as 1840 Clara Wieck, Robert Schumann’s beloved wife and adviser, had written in her diary that her husband’s musical conceptions «do not find enough room on the piano», and hoped he would begin to write for the orchestra. She was granted her wish at once. In 1841 Schumann turned his attention to orchestral music, composing two symphonies, a Fantasy (which became the first movement of the Piano Concerto) and the Overture, Scherzo and Finale, whose title is simply a list of its three movements, because none of the traditional musical genres corresponded to this kind of symphonic suite, unique and original in form.
Variations for piano on «Là ci darem la mano», op. 2

A Chopin still only seventeen composed the Variations on one of the most famous arias from Don Giovanni between 1827 and 1828, performing them in Vienna to enormous success. It was of this work — an introduction, five variations and a finale, with the orchestra entering almost as a refrain between one variation and the next — that Robert Schumann pronounced his famous verdict: «Hats off, gentlemen, a genius! An opus 2! Chopin, I have never heard this name; in any case he is a genius».
Symphony no. 5 in D major, «Reformation» op. 107

In 1830, for the third centenary of the Augsburg Confession, the twenty-one-year-old Felix Mendelssohn composed a symphony which he hoped to have performed at the celebrations planned in Berlin for 25 June 1830. The project dragged on longer than expected, and Mendelssohn was able to perform it only in 1832, never publishing it in his lifetime. It was first printed in 1868, 21 years after his death. And since the four earlier symphonies had already been printed, the «Reformation» Symphony was given the number 5, though it was in fact the second in order of composition. From the first movement of this symphony Richard Wagner took a theme that he placed among the principal leitmotifs of Parsifal.
PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA OF TEATRO COMUNALE DI BOLOGNA