[2] His father, a teacher, had fled there from Württemberg in 1810 to escape forced recruitment into the military of that southwestern German state that had to fight for Napoleon in Russia.

They were published in 1844 and received a favourable review in Robert Schumann's journal, the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik, which prompted Raff to go to Zürich and take up composition full-time.

In 1851, Raff's opera König Alfred was staged in Weimar, and five years later he moved to Wiesbaden where he largely devoted himself to composition.

There he employed Clara Schumann and a number of other eminent musicians as teachers, and established a class specifically for female composers.

He drew influence from a variety of sources - his eleven symphonies, for example, combine the Classical symphonic form, with the Romantic penchant for program music and contrapuntal orchestral writing which harks back to the Baroque.

3 "In the Forest" was enthusiastically received by the audience at that time, spread quickly to England and America and was one of the most played orchestral pieces in the world at the end of the 19th century.

The world premiere recording of Lenore was made in 1970 by the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Bernard Herrmann, who championed Raff's orchestral music.

[4] Raff also composed in most other genres, including concertos, opera, chamber music and works for solo piano.