As impetuous and hotheaded as he could be, Robert Schumann took his time with some things. Although he made the initial sketches for orchestral works very early and completed at least the solo part of a planned piano concerto in 1830-31, his symphonic breakthrough was a long time coming. As a 19 year old, Schumann had written to his piano teacher – “I feel so entirely in my element with a full orchestra”. The genesis of Robert Schumann’s symphonies extends over a period of approximately ten years, and the various creative periods differ from those of his great role model, and shadow, Beethoven.