After he established himself as a notable composer, following a difficult climb from poverty and teaching himself composition, Karl Goldmark became known as one of the most genial of composers based in Vienna. This made him very popular, and his music was welcomed when it appeared on programs, through few commentators ranked him as among the most significant "serious" composers. He really established himself with an unnumbered symphony called The Rustic Wedding, a happy reminiscence of the events of a wedding day in his native Hungary. (He had written an "official" first symphony, which was not popular and whose failure sent him back for more study.)

The Rustic Wedding Symphony retained its popularity, even when most of Goldmark's music faded from the repertory in the twentieth century. In the later years of that century, the compact disc era happily coincided with a time when the virtues of dozens of less "serious" or innovative figures began to be appreciated again, and Goldmark's music began a come-back. Coming back into attention is this symphony, written in 1887 (ten years after the "Rustic") and similarly pastoral and happy in spirits.

The symphony is in four movements, adding up to about thirty minutes. It opens softly with pulsating colors and a lyrical tune. The two main subjects of the first movement are stated more strongly, although they are still good-natured in mood. Rather than throw these themes into the traditional drama of a typical development section, Goldmark makes his musical argument in terms of brilliant shifts of orchestral color.

The second movement is a bit more serious. Its two themes are, respectively, nostalgic and nationalistic in a bellicose, even threatening, way. The scherzo, however, returns to a happy mood. It sounds like it wants to dance but is comically overweight. Perhaps this is an outdoor festival of some sort, for the scherzo's trio section slows down for a chorale of mock importance. Someone speaking a general prayer for the village before the chow line opens? The finale is a stirring dance following a brief attempt at seriousness.

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