ABSTRACT
The criteria required for a new symphony to impress an audience enough to demand repetition became more crucial as its very direction drifted aimlessly through the central decade of the nineteenth century. By the mid-1840s Mendelssohn had shown the way with object lessons in orchestration, while by the same point a decade later Schumann had made some innovative moves in symphonic construction. Together these two represented the best of the active German symphonists of the day, but neither composer did much more than stirs the ingredients of the symphonic pot on their culinary journey. Leipzig's musical infrastructure was in turmoil during the 1850s. Its leaders were becoming more and more obsessed with their struggle against the New German School, in particular Liszt, three of whose symphonic poems were first played during the second half of the decade.
