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The Rotterdam Student Orchestra presents three musical highlights from the 19th century. 

• Giuseppe Verdi – Overture ‘La forza del destino’
• Franz Schubert – Symphony in B minor (‘Unfinished Symphony’)
• Johannes Brahms – Symphony no. 3 

Conductor: Coen Huisman 

Often considered Italy’s national composer, Giuseppe Verdi (1813–1901) penned some of the most famous operas of all times. In 1860, he was offered a commission for an opera from the Imperial Theatre in Saint Petersburg. Verdi chose a Spanish melodrama as source material and continued his collaboration with librettist Francesco Maria Piave to write La forza del destino (‘The Power of Fate’). The opera of wide-ranging dramatic ambience tells the story of the ill-fated romance between Don Álvaro and Doña Leonora, which causes a series of events that lead to the deaths of Leonora’s father, brother and ultimately herself. The overture is a mix of the opera’s most memorable melodies, beginning with the majestic three-note ‘fate’ motif and then a driving string theme as the dominant idea.

Austrian composer Franz Schubert (1797–1828) stood at the very beginning of Romanticism in music. During his short life, he was able to complete seven symphonies, leaving behind a similar number of symphonic drafts and fragments. In 1822, he started working on his Symphony in B minor, of which he only completed two movements. The symphony, first performed in Vienna in 1865, opens with a bass theme that rises and falls, conveying a sense of deep sorrow, and is further characterised by towering climaxes, a subjective tone and extreme contrasts between violence and lyrical pathos. Commonly known as the ‘Unfinished Symphony’, it is unclear why Schubert did not complete it. Nonetheless, it arguably marks one of the composer’s greatest achievements in the symphonic realm.

Johannes Brahms (1833–1897) was one of the most influential composers of the High Romantic period, strongly influenced by the Classical tradition, but certainly innovative in his own way. He completed his Symphony no. 3 in 1883, and it was first performed in Vienna in the same year. Absolute music at its finest, the symphony is devoid of programmatic ‘meaning’ or narrative character, leaving ample room for individual interpretations. The four movements build up fascinating layers of harmonic tension, set to evoke intense emotions. Particularly famous is the lyrical third movement, where Brahms introduces a tender pastoral melody that turns into a bittersweet waltz. The final movement unexpectedly ends quietly – as a critic put it, “the whole thing fades strangely and mysteriously, but with magnificent beauty”.

More information about RSO: 

The RSO is a symphonic orchestra for students and young professionals from Rotterdam and its vicinity. See for more information: