Symphony No.3 in E-flat & Symphony No. 4 in D minor

During the 1840s, a quarter of a century after Beethoven’s last purely instrumental symphony and the subsequent local developments by lesser masters (which in themselves are not without interest), a new era dawned in the symphonic genre. Thanks to the works of Felix Mendelssohn (the completion of his Scottish Symphony) and Robert Schumann (B-flat major and D-minor symphonies), the dominant central idea and perspective again were allotted greater significance in the symphony. And the first symphonic work by Niels Gade also saw the light of the musical world: it was greeted wildly with thunderous applause. During this epoch, the romantic element in the music gradually broke away from the classical.