Educated by his father, a music teacher, Carl Reinecke began to composer at the age of seven. The First Symphony was first performed in 1858. Its thematic and harmonic styles recall Schumann, while the orchestration looks to Mendelssohn for inspiration. Overall the Symphony stands as a fine example of the free romantic style, even if it in fact post-dated the high point of this by several years. Reinecke’s opera King Manfred was composed shortly after the Symphony, during 1866. These purely orchestral excerpts from the opera are characterised by melodic fluency and colourful orchestration.