The title of this symphony goes back to the conductor W. J. von Wasielewski, alluding to the Rhenish cheerfulness of Düsseldorf where Robert Schumann had found a new home, although this goes against Schumann's disapproval of programme music. The symphony was created in only a few months, a fact commented on by the composer as being in harmony with Romantic aesthetics in art: 'The faster, the better. The &#64258,ow of ideas and train of thought are more real and more natural than with long re&#64258,ection.' This is the &#64257,rst time that Schumann does not start a symphony with a slow introduction. The rhythmically distinctive &#64257,rst movement, whose sonata form and optimism correspond with the &#64257,fth movement, is followed by three rather slow middle movements, each of them arranged clearly in ABA form.