Uploaded August 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Gulbenkian Orchestra conducted by Michel Swierczewski.
I - Allegro. Ferme et moderé: 0:00
II - Andante: 9:31
III - Final. Allegro: 17:22
Méhul's Symphony No.3 was composed in 1809, being the third one of a planned set of six symphonies for concerts at the Conservatoire, which he didn't manage to complete. Its unknown when it was premiered, possibly performed by the Conservatoire Orchestra, but it received a glowing review at the Journal de Paris newspaper. Unlike the first two, Méhul withdrew this symphony from publication, apparently dissatisfied with some material. Its scoring is the largest of Méhul's symphonies, with added trumpets and doubled bassoons and horns.
The French had a great fondness for Haydn and Beethoven, but by then were entirely ignoring the 110 or more symphonies that had been published in France during the ten years before the 1789 Revolution. Cherubini dismissed Méhul's Symphonies as of little interest, François Habeneck refused to revive them, nor did François-Joseph Fétis find much of interest. They are clearly influenced by the Viennese School of Haydn, Mozart and (to a lesser degree) Beethoven. The score was lost for over a century until musicologist David Charlton's discovered a complete set of parts on 1979 in the library of the Orchestre de Paris.
Described as the first romantic, these works serve as bridges between the late classical style and the nascent romantic one. This particular symphony is the only one without a minuet, perhaps an intentional throwback to the old structures of the symphony. Boris Schwarz saw affinities between Méhul and Mendelssohn. Méhul was able to project “a mood which was to become typical of Mendelssohn’s classicistic Romanticism — agitation without much fire, passion without much intensity, but also elfin grace and knightly nobility.”
The first movement is structured in sonata form. It begins with a martial and rhythmic main theme in C major, exposed in forte in a series of call and responses between strings and woodwinds. It seems to evoke the glitter and pomp of life during the Napoleonic Empire. A substantial and passionate transition leads to the more lyrical and intimate second theme in G major, presented in piano by strings. The development is short and contrapuntal in nature, briefly transforming the material while modulating through the keys. The themes are then recapitulated in the home key of C major. Brass flourishes end the allegro with a vigorous coda.
The second movement is written in ternary form. It opens with an expressive and lamenting main theme in A minor, introduced by strings in piano. The music then unfolds with a mixture of classical elegance and restrained passion. The central section features a more bright and optimistic second theme in A major, offering contrast. The main theme is recapitulated with an intensified dramatic spirit. A melancholic coda ends the andante. David Charlton considered it “perhaps Méhul’s best ever symphonic movement, astoundingly Beethovenish in spirit, ingenious and subtle in its growth.”
The third movement is structured as a sonatina. It begins with a rushing and lively main theme in C major, presented in forte as a moto perpetuo using a sixteenth-note motion in ¾ time. A more melodic second theme in G major is then introduced by strings in piano, derived from the main one. We don't find a real development section, but a brief transition that leads to the recapitulation of the themes in the home key of C major. A substantial coda starts with dramatic chords before ending the symphony with a triumphal flourish.
Picture: "The Battle of the Pyramids" (1810) by the French painter Antoine-Jean Gros.
Musical analysis mostly written by myself. Sources: tinyurl.com/2yq2pm2p and tinyurl.com/25afmlhd
Unfortunately, the score is not freely available.
Gulbenkian Orchestra conducted by Michel Swierczewski.
I - Allegro. Ferme et moderé: 0:00
II - Andante: 9:31
III - Final. Allegro: 17:22
Méhul's Symphony No.3 was composed in 1809, being the third one of a planned set of six symphonies for concerts at the Conservatoire, which he didn't manage to complete. Its unknown when it was premiered, possibly performed by the Conservatoire Orchestra, but it received a glowing review at the Journal de Paris newspaper. Unlike the first two, Méhul withdrew this symphony from publication, apparently dissatisfied with some material. Its scoring is the largest of Méhul's symphonies, with added trumpets and doubled bassoons and horns.
The French had a great fondness for Haydn and Beethoven, but by then were entirely ignoring the 110 or more symphonies that had been published in France during the ten years before the 1789 Revolution. Cherubini dismissed Méhul's Symphonies as of little interest, François Habeneck refused to revive them, nor did François-Joseph Fétis find much of interest. They are clearly influenced by the Viennese School of Haydn, Mozart and (to a lesser degree) Beethoven. The score was lost for over a century until musicologist David Charlton's discovered a complete set of parts on 1979 in the library of the Orchestre de Paris.
Described as the first romantic, these works serve as bridges between the late classical style and the nascent romantic one. This particular symphony is the only one without a minuet, perhaps an intentional throwback to the old structures of the symphony. Boris Schwarz saw affinities between Méhul and Mendelssohn. Méhul was able to project “a mood which was to become typical of Mendelssohn’s classicistic Romanticism — agitation without much fire, passion without much intensity, but also elfin grace and knightly nobility.”
The first movement is structured in sonata form. It begins with a martial and rhythmic main theme in C major, exposed in forte in a series of call and responses between strings and woodwinds. It seems to evoke the glitter and pomp of life during the Napoleonic Empire. A substantial and passionate transition leads to the more lyrical and intimate second theme in G major, presented in piano by strings. The development is short and contrapuntal in nature, briefly transforming the material while modulating through the keys. The themes are then recapitulated in the home key of C major. Brass flourishes end the allegro with a vigorous coda.
The second movement is written in ternary form. It opens with an expressive and lamenting main theme in A minor, introduced by strings in piano. The music then unfolds with a mixture of classical elegance and restrained passion. The central section features a more bright and optimistic second theme in A major, offering contrast. The main theme is recapitulated with an intensified dramatic spirit. A melancholic coda ends the andante. David Charlton considered it “perhaps Méhul’s best ever symphonic movement, astoundingly Beethovenish in spirit, ingenious and subtle in its growth.”
The third movement is structured as a sonatina. It begins with a rushing and lively main theme in C major, presented in forte as a moto perpetuo using a sixteenth-note motion in ¾ time. A more melodic second theme in G major is then introduced by strings in piano, derived from the main one. We don't find a real development section, but a brief transition that leads to the recapitulation of the themes in the home key of C major. A substantial coda starts with dramatic chords before ending the symphony with a triumphal flourish.
Picture: "The Battle of the Pyramids" (1810) by the French painter Antoine-Jean Gros.
Musical analysis mostly written by myself. Sources: tinyurl.com/2yq2pm2p and tinyurl.com/25afmlhd
Unfortunately, the score is not freely available.
