Felix Mendelssohn on Music Theory Print

A Midsummer Night's Dream (ballet)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Balanchine’s first completely original full-length ballet, premiered at New York City Ballet on 17 January 1962, with Edward Villella in the role of Oberon, Melissa Hayden in the role of Titania, and Arthur Mitchell in the role of Puck. They were joined by Francisco Moncion in the role of Theseus- Duke of Athens.

Description#

In addition to the incidental music, Balanchine incorporated other Mendelssohn works into the ballet, including the Overtures to Athalie, Son and Stranger, and The Fair Melusine, the “String Symphony No. 9 in C minor” and The First Walpurgis Night. Act I tells Shakespeare’s familiar story of lovers and fairies while Act II presents a strictly classical dance wedding celebration. The ballet dispenses with Shakespeare’s play-within-a-play finale. A Midsummer Night’s Dream opened The New York City Ballet’s first season at the New York State Theater in April, 1964.

A Midsummer Night's Dream (Eugene Ormandy recording)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

The album omits Nos. 4, 10 and 12 from Mendelssohn’s score, replacing the latter with a relocated No. 8, a reprise of part of the Nocturne and a brief violin solo. The vocal numbers use the German texts for which Mendelssohn composed his music, not the English verses from which they were translated. The album is the first of two recordings of the work in which Frederica von Stade took part. In the second, released on CD by Deutsche Grammophon in 1994, she performed a more nearly complete, English-language version of the score with Kathleen Battle, the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Seiji Ozawa and the actor Judi Dench, who contributed passages of narration between Mendelssohn’s musical numbers. For details, see A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Seiji Ozawa recording).

A Midsummer Night's Dream (Mendelssohn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Overture#

The overture in E major, Op. 21, was written by Mendelssohn at 17 years and 6 months old (it was finished on 6 August 1826). The near-contemporary music scholar George Grove called it “the greatest marvel of early maturity that the world has ever seen in music”. It was written as a concert overture, not associated with any performance of the play. The overture was written after Mendelssohn had read a German translation of the play in 1826. The translation was by August Wilhelm Schlegel, with help from Ludwig Tieck. There was a family connection as well: Schlegel’s brother Friedrich married Felix Mendelssohn’s Aunt Dorothea. While a romantic piece in atmosphere, the overture incorporates many classical elements, being cast in sonata form and shaped by regular phrasings and harmonic transitions. The piece is also noted for its striking instrumental effects, such as the emulation of scampering ‘fairy feet’ at the beginning and the braying of Bottom as an ass (effects which were influenced by the aesthetic ideas and suggestions of Mendelssohn’s friend at the time, Adolf Bernhard Marx). Heinrich Eduard Jacob, in his biography of the composer, surmised that Mendelssohn had scribbled the opening chords after hearing an evening breeze rustle the leaves in the garden of the family’s home. at a concert conducted by Carl Loewe. Mendelssohn had turned 18 just over two weeks earlier. He had to travel 80 miles through a raging snowstorm to get to the concert, which was his first public appearance. Loewe and Mendelssohn also appeared as soloists in Mendelssohn’s Concerto in A-flat major for two pianos and orchestra, and Mendelssohn alone was the soloist for Carl Maria von Weber’s Konzertstück in F minor. After the intermission, he joined the first violins for a performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. The first British performance of the overture was conducted by Mendelssohn himself, on 24 June 1829, at the Argyll Rooms in London, at a concert in benefit of the victims of the floods in Silesia, and played by an orchestra that had been assembled by Mendelssohn’s friend Sir George Smart.

A Midsummer Night's Dream (Seiji Ozawa recording)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

The album includes all of Mendelssohn’s incidental music for A Midsummer Night’s Dream except his score’s No. 6, a melodrama. The vocal numbers are sung in Shakespeare’s English rather than in the German translation by August Wilhelm Schlegel and Dorothea Tieck that Mendelssohn set, necessitating a few small deviations from Mendelssohn’s original score. The album is the second of two recordings of the work in which Frederica von Stade took part. In the first, released by RCA Victor Red Seal on LP in 1977 and on CD in 1985, she performed a shorter, reordered German-language version of the score with Judith Blegen and the Philadelphia Orchestra under the direction of Eugene Ormandy. For details, see A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Eugene Ormandy recording).

Antigone (Mendelssohn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

Mendelssohn had been appointed as court composer to Frederick William IV, who had ascended the throne in June the previous year. The king had encountered Donner’s translation of the play and passed it on to Tieck, the (stage reader) of the court. Mendelssohn composed the music quickly. Tieck first mentioned the idea on September 9, 1841, and the first full stage rehearsal was six weeks later. Sophocles’ play includes an initial choral ode and five stasima. Mendelssohn added an additional ode at the end, drawing on the final dialogue between the chorus and Creon for the text. :Overture (C minor) # "" (C major) # "" (A major) # "" (F major) # "" (G major) # "" (E minor) # : “Vielnamiger! Wonn’ und Stolz der Kadmos-Jungfrau” (D major) # "" (E flat major)

Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage (Mendelssohn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

External links#

- New Mendelssohn Discoveries in the Music Division (NYPL, 2013)

Cello Sonata No. 2 (Mendelssohn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Christus (Mendelssohn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Composition history#

Writing in 1848, the musicologist Otto Jahn noted that Felix Mendelssohn had begun to compose a new oratorio while he was still working on Elijah, and surmised that the work that later came to be known as Christus formed part of a complementary whole along with Elijah, emphasising the Incarnation of Christ as the fulfilment of Old Testament prophecies. After Elias, Mendelssohn was searching for a libretto for a new oratorio and consulted a number of scholars for inspiration, among them Julius Schubring, Johann Gustav Droysen and Henry Chorley. A successful collaboration emerged in 1844, when Christian Karl Josias von Bunsen produced a libretto compiled from biblical sources. Composition began in 1846 and continued through Mendelssohn’s last year. It is thought that certain material from Mendelssohn’s embryonic composition was included in his oratorio Erde, Hölle und Himmel, possibly the third number, “Es wird ein Stern aus Jacob aufgeh’n”. Queen Victoria recorded in her diary that Mendelssohn performed this work for her during his visit to Britain in 1847. After Felix Mendelssohn’s death in Leipzig in November 1847, his brother Paul acquired Felix’s untitled autograph. Finding the collection of movements all related to the life of Christ, Paul published the work under the title Christus, with the opus number 97.

Clarinet Sonata (Mendelssohn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

What little information is available about the history of the work can be summarized as follows. The only wind instrument for which Felix Mendelssohn wrote any solo works is the clarinet. The famous clarinettist Heinrich Baermann and his son Carl for whom Mendelssohn composed the Konzertstücke opp. 113 and 114 (for clarinet, bassett horn and piano), were two of his close friends. These Konzertstücke are virtuoso concertante works, but the Sonata in E-flat major, written by Mendelssohn in 1824, when he was only 15, is genuine chamber music: the clarinet and the piano are both used equally as a melody and an accompaniment instrument, but the demands on the clarinettist are far more modest than in opp. 113 and 114. Albert Rice describes it as a musically weak student work. The various playing characteristics of the clarinet are not fully exploited; instead, Mendelssohn focuses more on the cantabile character of the instrument – as he does in his orchestral works. There is no specific information about the history of origin of this sonata. For some time, the copy owned by the Deutsche Staatsbibliothek Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz was the only known source of the work, on the title page of which the copyist noted in ink: “Sonate für B Clarinette u. Pianoforte / von Mendelssohn Bartholdi.” The following remarks were added by another hand, also in ink: “NB: Dieser Titel befindet sich nicht darauf Refers to the version used by the copyist – probably the autograph , sondem bloß die Zu-Eignung an mich! / 1824.” NB: This title is not written on it, but only the dedication to me is! / 1824 . Furthermore, “Kaskel in Dresden” was added in pencil. Baron Karl von Kaskel, who was also friends with Giacomo Meyerbeer and Richard Wagner, was a banker and a patron of the arts in Dresden. If the autograph was indeed dedicated to Kaskel, he must have been an amateur clarinettist; judging by the relatively simple clarinet part, the sonata was apparently meant for an amateur and not for a virtuoso. There is no evidence for the presupposition that the work is dedicated to Heinrich Baermann. In any case, the additional comment on the title page of the Berlin copy was definitely not written by Baermann. The dating merely suggests that whomever the autograph was dedicated to, had it copied in 1824 (perhaps at the request of Mendelssohn); the composition was probably written not much earlier. Although the autograph is now available again in the Pierpont Morgan Library, New York (from the Mary Flagler Cary Music Collection), it does not help to solve the problem concerning the Berlin copy. It consists of 10 sheets of 16-stave music paper, 17 pages of which have been written on (the bottom staff of each page was left blank). The pages have been cut to a considerably smaller size: the top of the first page only shows part of Mendelssohn’s fervent prayer “L. e. g. G.” (Lass es gelingen, Gott! – Let it be successful, Lord!) and the lower right hand corner of sheet 9r, below the ornament at the end of the composition, only displays the date “d. 17 April” without the year. A title page (which could have given the dedication) does not exist; merely “Sonata” is written above the first staff.

Concerto for Piano, Violin and Strings (Mendelssohn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Structure#

Several works by different composers influenced Mendelssohn’s composition of this piece. It is likely that Mendelssohn drew this unusual pairing of solo piano and violin from Johann Hummel’s own Concerto for Piano, Violin, and Orchestra in G major, Op. 17, with whom he had briefly studied in 1821. The young Mendelssohn was also influenced by Carl Maria von Weber and frequently performed his Konzertstück in F minor. Mendelssohn’s appreciation for Viotti, Rode, and Kreutzer (master pedagogues developed the French Method of violin technique) is evident in his writing for the solo violin. Techniques used include portato, slurred staccato, and figures that suggest portamento. Mendelssohn’s concerto is similar in structure to Weber’s Piano Concerto No. 2, Op. 32. From Mendelssohn’s own works, the use of just a string section as orchestral accompaniment is reminiscent of his String Symphonies, twelve of which he had written by the end of the year under the influence of C.P.E. Bach’s Sinfonias. There are three movements:

Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra in A-flat major (Mendelssohn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Structure#

There are three movements:

Concerto for Violin and Strings (Mendelssohn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Felix Mendelssohn#

Mendelssohn was considered by many of his time to be a prodigy comparable only to the young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Besides being a brilliant piano virtuoso, his composition took a firm step forward in musical development. In the period when this concerto was composed (from 1821 to 1823 while aged 12 to 14) Mendelssohn composed twelve string symphonies. At the age of eleven, he had written a trio for strings, a violin and piano sonata, two piano sonatas and the beginning of a third, three more for four hands, four for organ, three songs (lieder), and a cantata.

Denn er hat seinen Engeln befohlen

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

Mendelssohn composed the motet in 1844 for the choir of the Berlin Cathedral which he conducted from 1843. He dedicated it to Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia, who had survived an assassination attempt shortly before. It was published by Bösenberg in Leipzig in 1844. Later, Mendelssohn made the motet with orchestral accompaniment part of his oratorio Elijah, as movement 7. It appeared in 1875 in the complete edition of the composer’s works by Breitkopf & Härtel. It was published in a critical edition by Bärenreiter and by Carus-Verlag. Mendelssohn’s autograph is held by the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Preussischer Kulturbesitz.

Die beiden Neffen

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

Die beiden Neffen was written by between May 1822 and 1823, during which time Mendelssohn celebrated his fourteenth birthday. The libretto was by Casper who had provided books for his three previous Singspiels, Die Soldatenliebschaft (Soldier’s Love) (1820), Die beiden Pädagogen (The Two Teachers) (1821) and Die wandernden Komödianten (The Roving Actors) (1822). Die beiden Neffen was the last of their collaborations. These pieces were designed for performance within the family circle at the musical gatherings regularly organised by Felix’s father Abraham Mendelssohn. Die beiden Neffen was performed in the garden house of the Mendelssohn family on Felix’s 15th birthday (3 February 1824). Like Mendelssohn’s other juvenile operas, the work shows the influence of Mozart and Carl Maria von Weber, but without any of the individuality which began to show in the later Die Hochzeit des Camacho. The dialogue for the third act has been lost, but has been reconstructed, enabling the first modern performances; on 3 October 2004 (concert performance in Essen), and on 14 April 2007 (staged performance, Pfalztheater, Kaiserslautern). There is also a CD recording conducted by Helmuth Rilling.

Die Deutsche Liturgie

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

Mendelssohn composed in 1846 for the choir of the Berlin Cathedral which he conducted from 1843. Emperor Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia requested a setting of the regular parts of Protestant church services at the time, defined by the Agende für die evangelische Kirche in den Königlich Preußischen Landen given in Berlin in 1829. It compares to the Catholic mass ordinary, sharing with it the parts Kyrie, Gloria and Sanctus. The work did not become used regularly in church service, as intended. It was published in 1875 in the complete edition of the composer’s works by Breitkopf & Härtel. In 1997, the liturgy was published in a critical edition by Carus-Verlag in 1997, claiming that was the first complete edition in proper liturgical order.

Die erste Walpurgisnacht

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

Goethe wrote this text to be set to music, intending it for his friend Carl Friedrich Zelter, who tried twice, in 1799 and 1812, but did not complete a setting. Mendelssohn, who knew Goethe, first took it up in 1830. The story is about how a prank allows for a local tradition to take place in spite of opposition from an intolerant new regime. The Druids and local heathen would celebrate May Day, but, as a women’s chorus warns, this is now forbidden. The Druid priests counter that those who fear to sacrifice deserve their chains. A comic solution emerges as a Druid watchman suggests a masquerade of the Devil, spirits, and demons to frighten the occupying Christians. The Christians are scared away, and the Druids and heathen are left to celebrate Spring and the Sun. The attractions of this text for Mendelssohn likely were the ghost scene (compare his incidental music to A Midsummer Night’s Dream) and the triumph (by guile) of an oppressed group in an occupied land, an important Enlightenment idea, as well as one perhaps reflecting the composer’s Jewish background: the final verses of the oratorio emphasize an abstract divinity (“dein Licht”) over a threatened earthly ritual (“den alten Brauch”). According to Melvin Berger, Mendelssohn was raised a Protestant but “was never fully accepted as a Christian by his contemporaries, nor was he ever fully cut off from his Judaic heritage.” Consequently,

Die Heimkehr aus der Fremde

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

During his first visit to the British Isles in 1829, bad weather in August forced Mendelssohn to abandon a planned visit to Ireland and instead make an extended stay at the home of a new acquaintance, mining engineer and businessman John Taylor, near Mold, Wales. While there, Mendelssohn penned Die Heimkehr aus der Fremde as a short comic play with music for performance in honor of his parents’ silver wedding anniversary upcoming in December. Mendelssohn himself conducted the first, private production, and all the roles were assumed by family members or associates of the composer, only one of whom, tenor Eduard Mantius, was a professional singer. As a consequence, the score contains a musical peculiarity: the mayor’s part comprises only a few bars of music, sung almost entirely on the single note F, because its creator, Mendelssohn’s brother-in-law Wilhelm Hensel, had no ability as a singer.

Die Hochzeit des Camacho

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

Mendelssohn was only 15 when he began to write Camacho, but he had already written other Singspiel for performance within the family circle. The first act was completed in 1824, and he began work on the overture in February 1825. He revised Camacho carefully to make it worthy of public performance. According to Felix’s friend Eduard Devrient, who was to sing the role of Camacho, “motherly fondness yearned to witness the son’s great success”. The music to Camacho indicates that he had carefully studied the operas of Carl Maria von Weber and of Mozart. Despite Mendelssohn’s youth, there are some striking features, including what is in effect a leitmotif played on the brass to characterise Don Quixote, which is also heard in the opening bars of the overture and in the opera’s final cadence. Before the work was accepted for the Berlin stage, it was reviewed by Spontini, who was conductor at the Berlin Court Opera. According to Devrient: The score was criticised with pitying deprecation, winding up with the following admonition – as Spontini led the young man to the window which was opposite to the dome of the Jewish church synagogue – ‘Mon ami, il vous faut des idées grandes, grandes comme cette coupole’. My friend, you should have big ideas, as big as that dome The rehearsals were hampered by the illness of Blume (he contracted jaundice) who was singing Quixote. In the event, Mendelssohn grew impatient during the premiere, and left before the second act. Devrient comments, “the house was crowded with well-wishers, and the applause was profuse and enthusiastic; the music however did not give genuine pleasure”. Some acerbic criticism appeared in the press, some of it apparently taunting Mendelssohn’s Jewish origins. The poet Ludwig Rellstab also criticised the cumbersome libretto. The experience soured Mendelssohn towards both opera and journalism. He cancelled all further performances of Camacho; it remained therefore the only one of his operas to have a public performance in his lifetime. However, a piano score of the opera was published in 1828, probably subsidized by Felix’s father Abraham Mendelssohn. There was a single performance of the opera in Boston in 1885, but the first modern performance of Mendelssohn’s final version of the opera was on 24 February 1987 at the Oxford Playhouse. In 1992 Jos Van Immerseel made a CD-recording of the work (Channel Classics).

Die schöne Melusine

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Inspiration#

The overture is loosely illustrative of aspects of the legend of Melusine, a water-nymph who marries Count Raymond, on the condition that he never enter her room on a Saturday (on which day she takes on the form of a mermaid). In the 19th century, the story was familiar in Germany in the retelling by Ludwig Tieck (Melusina, 1800) and the poetic version of Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué (his Undine of 1811). Mendelssohn denied close musical references to the story which critics, including Robert Schumann, believed they detected. When asked what the piece was about, Mendelssohn replied drily “Hmm … a misalliance”.

Drei Motetten, Op. 39 (Mendelssohn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

Mendelssohn composed three motets for women’s voices inspired by a visit to Trinità dei Monti, the church at the top of the Spanish Steps in Rome, which he visited in 1830. Having heard the nuns sing there, he wrote to his parents on 20 December 1830: He composed Veni Domine, Laudate pueri and O beata et benedicta the same year. In the three motets published together in 1838, he replaced O beata et benedicta with the more substantial Surrexit pastor bonus.

Elijah (oratorio)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Music and its style#

This piece was composed in the spirit of Mendelssohn’s Baroque predecessors Bach and Handel, whose music he greatly admired. In 1829 Mendelssohn had organized the first performance of Bach’s St Matthew Passion since the composer’s death and was instrumental in bringing this and other Bach works to widespread popularity. By contrast, Handel’s oratorios never went out of fashion in England. Mendelssohn prepared a scholarly edition of some of Handel’s oratorios for publication in London. Elijah is modelled on the oratorios of these two Baroque masters; however, in its lyricism and use of orchestral and choral colour the style clearly reflects Mendelssohn’s own skill as an early Romantic composer. The work is scored for eight vocal soloists (two each of bass, tenor, alto, soprano), full symphony orchestra including 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, ophicleide, timpani, organ and strings and a large chorus usually singing in four, but occasionally eight parts. The title role was sung at the premiere by the Austrian bass Josef Staudigl. Mendelssohn had discussed an oratorio based on Elijah in the late 1830s with his friend Karl Klingemann, who had provided him with the libretto for his comic operetta Die Heimkehr aus der Fremde, which resulted in a partial text that Klingemann was unable to finish. Mendelssohn then turned to , the librettist for his earlier oratorio St. Paul, who quickly abandoned Klingemann’s work and produced his own text that combined the story of Elijah as told in the Book of Kings with psalms. In 1845, the Birmingham Festival commissioned an oratorio from Mendelssohn, who worked with Schubring to put the text in final form and in 1845 and 1846 composed his oratorio to the German and English texts in parallel, taking care to change musical phrases to suit the rhythms and stresses of the translation by William Bartholomew, a chemist who was also an experienced amateur poet and composer. The oratorio was first performed on 26 August 1846 at Birmingham Town Hall in its English version, conducted by the composer, and it was immediately acclaimed a classic of the genre. As The Times critic wrote: ‘Never was there a more complete triumph – never a more thorough and speedy recognition of a great work of art’. Notwithstanding the work’s triumph, Mendelssohn revised his oratorio wholesale before another group of performances in London in April 1847 – one (23 April) in the presence of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. The German version was first performed on the composer’s birthday, 3 February 1848, in Leipzig, a few months after Mendelssohn’s death, under the baton of the composer Niels Gade.

Festgesang

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Textual history#

“Hymn for Christmas-Day” first appeared in Hymns and Sacred Poems (1739), compiled by Charles Wesley and his brother John. George Whitefield, who, like the Wesleys, was an early leader of the Methodist movement, subsequently included it in his Collection of Hymns for Social Worship (1753). Whitefield omitted the eighth and tenth verses and made various revisions to the remaining ones, chief of which was the alteration of the opening couplet. Whitefield’s version was included in Martin Madan’s Collection of Psalms and Hymns (1760) with another significant change, namely the alteration of the end of verse two to “With th’ angelic host proclaim / Christ is born in Bethlehem”. The carol made its first appearance in an Anglican publication in 1782, when it was included in a supplement to Tate and Brady’s New Version of the Psalms of David. The New Version and its supplement were bound up with all copies of the Book of Common Prayer, which enabled the carol to diffuse widely, becoming one of the “great four” Anglican hymns. A final change occurred when it was added to Hymns Ancient and Modern (1861), namely the alteration of the end of verse four to “Pleased as man with man to dwell / Jesus, our Emmanuel”.

Hear my prayer

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Jauchzet dem Herrn, alle Welt (Mendelssohn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

Mendelssohn was ready to set music for different denominations. He had received an invitation to set three psalms for the new reformed Jewish Hamburg Temple, Psalm 24, Psalm 84 and Psalm 100, but only correspondence has survived, including disputes about the text and the scoring, and no music. The setting of Psalm 100 in Martin Luther’s translation was probably intended for the Berlin Cathedral. Frederick William IV of Prussia had appointed Mendelssohn as director of church music in Berlin where he had to promote a new liturgy. He completed the setting on 1 January 1844. It was published posthumously in 1855.

Lauda Sion (Mendelssohn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

Mendelssohn was ready to set music for different denominations. He received a commission for a setting of the Lauda Sion sequence from a Belgian church musician, to be performed at the church St. Martin in Liège in 1846, commemorating the feast’s 600th anniversary. Mendelssohn began the work in 1845, at the same time as his oratorio Elijah, and completed it in 1846. It was published after his death, in 1848. Carus published it in a critical edition in 1996. <!–

Lobgesang

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

It was composed in 1840, along with the less-known Festgesang “Gutenberg Cantata”, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the invention of Johannes Gutenberg’s movable type printing system. In 1842 Mendelssohn had published his Scottish Symphony as “Symphony No. 3”, however a “Symphony No. 2” had never been published during Mendelssohn’s lifetime. Possibly the composer’s intention was to spare this number for his earlier Italian Symphony, which he premiered in 1833, but afterwards withheld for a revision that was never completed. The Italian Symphony was published posthumously as “Symphony No. 4”. Decades after Mendelssohn’s death, the editors of the old Mendelssohn complete edition entered Lobgesang as “No. 2” in the sequence of the symphonies for editorial reasons.

Lord, have mercy upon us (Mendelssohn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

Mendelssohn composed the motet in 1833 for use in the Anglican Church. The first line in English is “Lord, have mercy upon us”, an anonymous response to the Commandments from the Book of Common Prayer. The motet was published by Ewer in London c. 1842 as Lord Have Mercy upon Us / Responses to the Commandments. In German, the first line is “Herr, sei gnädig unserm Flehn” (Lord, be merciful to our plea). It was published by Bösenberg in Leipzig in an Album für Gesang as Zum Abendsegen (For the evening blessing), which was erroneously translated as To the Evening Service. The motet was published by Breitkopf & Härtel in 1875 in their complete edition of the composer’s works.

Marilyn Horne & Frederica von Stade: Lieder & Duets

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Recording#

The album was digitally recorded on 8, 10 and 17 July 1992 in the Lehmann Hall of the Music Academy of the West in Montecito, California.

Packaging#

The cover of the album was designed under the art direction of J. J. Stelmach, and features a photograph of Horne, von Stade and Katz taken by Christian Steiner.

Critical reception#

J. B. Steane reviewed the album in Gramophone in March 1994. At first glance, he wrote, with von Stade and Horne equally prominent on its cover, it looked like an anthology of duets. In fact, most of it was sung by Horne alone, and, despite the sensitive support of Martin Katz at the piano, not entirely successfully. Yes, her singing was compelling and sometimes rewarding. Yes, in her Dvořák group, her “Gypsy Melodies had some panache”. Yes, she was scrupulously restrained in her Schumann group. Yes, she was “careful over her German”, enunciating clearly. And yes, she was spine-tingling in the last of the Frauenliebe songs, portraying “a woman in whom the change wrought by catastrophe was total and shocking”. But her Schumann was a little monotonous, and her performance of both sets of Lieder suffered from the vocal deterioration entailed by her advancing years. Her voice was uneven, no longer as firm or as fresh as it needed to be, and afflicted by “a wide and persistent vibrato”. When she sang her Mendelssohn duets with von Stade, on the other hand, the results were happier: her vibrato was less obtrusive, and her voice blended well with that of her younger friend. And that the two mezzos’ “nuance and phrasing were unanimous and well judged” was evidence of conscientious preparation. Brigitte Fassbaender, Steane observed, had developed vocal difficulties comparable to Horne’s. and yet remained a magnetic performer because her gifts as an artist were so extraordinary. But Horne’s communicative powers were not great enough to compensate for her voice’s decline. She could no longer be relied upon to give pleasure when singing Lieder on disc. A second review of the album can be found in Fanfares subscriber-only archive.

Mendelssohn Violin Concerto (Nathan Milstein album)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Mitten wir im Leben sind (Mendelssohn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Music#

Mendelssohn wrote to his sister Fanny on November 22, 1830 that the motet was one of the best church pieces that he had ever written, and that it “growls angrily, or whistles, dark blue.” For the first and second verses, the tenors and basses begin by contemplating a question, the sopranos and altos answering, and the tenors and basses finishing the answer. The tempo then speeds up, with a plea for mercy as the choir builds into a repeated “Kyrie eleison” sung at fortissimo. The third verse is structured differently, having all the parts sing throughout the verse. There is also no tempo change, but a few dynamic changes.

Octet (Mendelssohn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

Mendelssohn wrote his octet and gave a signed score to his friend and violin teacher as a birthday present. Rietz copied parts from the score to use for the premiere. The string octet was a fairly new genre of chamber music at the time, the most widely known genre of chamber music still being the string quartet. The genre was rapidly gaining popularity among other composers. When Mendelssohn composed his octet, it was a rather new genre, and he may have been inspired by Louis Spohr’s Double Quartet in D minor, Op. 65. But Spohr’s double quartet was written with the two quartets playing apart from each other; Mendelssohn’s octet is an undivided ensemble. In the score, Mendelssohn wrote that the piece should “be played by all the instruments in the style of a symphony.”

Organ Sonatas (Mendelssohn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

Mendelssohn was a skilled organist, and during his visits to Britain gave a number of well-received organ recitals. These often included the improvisations for which he was famous (e.g., at his recitals during his 1842 tour in London and Oxford). In an article in the magazine Musical World of 1838, the English organist Henry John Gauntlett noted: His execution of Bach’s music is transcendently great … His extempore playing is very diversified – the soft movements full of tenderness and expression, exquisitely beautiful and impassioned … In his loud preludes there are an endless variety of new ideas …. and the pedal passages so novel and independent … as to take his auditor quite by surprise. These qualities are evident in the organ sonatas, which were commissioned as a “set of voluntaries” by the English publishers Coventry and Hollier in 1844 (who also commissioned at the same time an edition by him of the organ chorales of J. S. Bach), and were published in 1845. Correspondence between Mendelssohn and Coventry relating to the Sonatas took place between August 1844 and May 1845. Mendelssohn suggested that Gauntlett undertake the proof reading, but this was in fact probably carried out by Vincent Novello. The publisher’s original announcement referred to the work as “Mendelssohn’s School of Organ-Playing” (see illustration), but this title was rescinded at the composer’s request. One-hundred ninety subscribers to the publication produced a sales income of £199/10/-. Mendelssohn himself received £60 from the publisher, . On this calculation, therefore, the price paid by each of the subscribers for the publication was equivalent in 2019 to £105.

Piano Concerto No. 1 (Mendelssohn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Structure#

The three connected movements use several relatively new formal techniques in their brief span — for example, the piano enters very soon after the opening of the first movement, with little of an orchestral tutti to contrast with. The concerto quickly obtained popularity, and contains many sections of improvisation, one of Mendelssohn’s specialities. It is scored for two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani, and strings.

Piano Concerto No. 2 (Mendelssohn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

Unusually for Mendelssohn, who often produced his compositions quickly, the Second Piano Concerto took him a great deal of effort. Its genesis dates to the period shortly after his marriage and is first mentioned in a letter to his friend while on honeymoon: “aber ein Konzert machte ich mir so gern für England, und kann immer noch nicht dazu kommen. Ich möchte wissen, warum mir das so schwer wird.” but I would like to write a concerto for England, and I can’t manage it. I want to know why this is so difficult for me." Mendelssohn’s difficulties probably stemmed from a desire to excel in the new work, written expressly for the Birmingham Music Festival, and thereby impress English audiences. The arduousness of the task is attested to by the fact that more autograph sources for the concerto exist than for any other composition he wrote for piano and orchestra. Work on the piece lasted from April through to early September 1837, although his progress was significant enough that he felt confident enough to mention the work to his publisher, Breitkopf & Härtel in early August, having shortly before completed an autograph copy of both the piano part and orchestral score. However, it was not until six weeks after the Birmingham premiere and a second performance at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, in early November, that Mendelssohn began actively to negotiate publication. He continued to work on the score through that month, delivering a final score to his publishers on December 12. The publisher sent Mendelssohn the proofs of the score on 11 May 1838, which the composer promised to return a copied version of shortly thereafter. The work was published later that summer, although Mendelssohn was unhappy with the result, complaining, among other matters, that the title page was in French rather than German.

Piano Quartet No. 2 (Mendelssohn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Historical Context#

When Mendelssohn was eight years old, his parents got him a music tutor, Carl Friedrich Zelter. Zelter was Mendelssohn’s composition and music theory tutor and he was always described as “rough-tongued, " coarse,” and conservative but always kept his mindset neutral when he would teach Felix. He was so impressed by Felix that he would write letters to Goethe about him and he would end up taking Felix on a trip to Weimar, the first time in 1820, to meet Goethe. In one of Zelter’s letters to Goethe, he mentioned how it was extremely rare for a Jewish person to go into music professionally. But, this did not change his views on Mendelssohn as a student, if anything, it encouraged him to get Mendelssohn out in the world because of how impressive it would be. When Felix went to Weimar, he played the piano for Goethe for two hours, performing works by composers such as Bach, improvisations, and some of Felix’s own compositions. Once Goethe saw for himself what Zelter was talking about, he kept Felix there for 16 days to work with him and Felix would end up taking more trips to see Goethe, with Zelter, throughout his teen-hood. Overall, the relationship between Mendelssohn and Zelter was very strong because of the type of influence that Zelter had on him and Mendelssohn would later create his own beginning works. Thus Mendelssohn dedicated the Piano Quartet No. 2 in F minor to Zelter.

Piano Sextet (Mendelssohn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Structure#

The work has four movements: A typical performance of the work takes around 30–32 minutes.

Piano Trio No. 1 (Mendelssohn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Historical Background#

On January 21, 1832, while Mendelssohn was in Paris, he wrote a letter to his sister, Fanny Mendelssohn, about writing a work in which the piano takes a more active role in relation to the violin and cello. The trio was premiered on February 1, 1840, at the Leipzig Gewandhaus by violinist Ferdinand David, cellist Franz Karl Witmann, and Mendelssohn at the piano. Robert Schumann praised the trio as “the master-trio of our time, even as Beethoven’s B and D and Schubert’s E at their time; it is an exceedingly fine composition that, years hence, will still delight our grandchildren and greatgrandchildren.” In 1898, The Musical Times had an interview with the violinist, Joseph Joachim, who recalled the performance in London in 1844, in which the composer was the pianist once again. At the time, only the violinist and cellists had their parts. Mendelssohn said, “never mind, just put a book on the piano and a person can turn from time to time, so I don’t need to look as though I played by heart.”

Piano Trio No. 2 (Mendelssohn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

In 1845, Mendelssohn began his composition of the second piano trio in Frankfurt. Knowing of his stay in Frankfurt, many visitors would seek out Mendelssohn, including an English student named W. S. Rockstro. Presented with this young student, Mendelssohn invited him, along with violinist Ferdinand David, to read through parts of his new piano trio. Dedicated to Louis Spohr and presented to Fanny Mendelssohn on her birthday, the trio was finished in on April 30, 1846. The trio offered inspiration to Johannes Brahms, with the opening theme of the finale being referenced in the scherzo of his Piano Sonata No. 3, Op. 5, as well as the opening of the first movement of this trio being the basis for the piano line in the finale of his Piano Quartet No. 3 in C minor, Op. 60.

Psalm 42 (Mendelssohn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

Mendelssohn set the music to Luther’s German translation of Psalm 42. At the work’s first performance, in Leipzig on 1 January 1838, Mendelssohn conducted the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, with Clara Novello as soprano. He was the orchestra’s musical director from 1835 until his death in 1847. Schumann opined in 1837 that Mendelssohn’s setting of Psalm 42 was the “highest point that he Mendelssohn reached as a composer for the church. Indeed the highest point recent church music has reached at all.” Mendelssohn himself described it as “my best sacred piece… the best thing I have composed in this manner”, a work “I hold in greater regard than most of my other compositions.”

Rondo capriccioso (Mendelssohn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

The “Rondo capriccioso” was composed during a period when Mendelssohn was reluctant to write for solo piano. In 1825, he confessed to Hans Georg Nägeli that he had “never yet written anything for my instrument alone”, and in 1838 he wrote that he composed piano pieces “not with the greatest pleasure”. After his three early piano sonatas – the Piano Sonata in G minor (1821), the Piano Sonata in E major, Op. 6 (1826), and the Sonata in B-flat major (1827) — Mendelssohn largely abandoned the sonata form for solo piano. Only Op. 6 was published during his lifetime, while the other two appeared posthumously as Op. 105 and Op. 106. He then explored various alternatives, including fantasy-type works such as the Fantasy on “The Last Rose of Summer”, Op. 15 (1827) and the Fantasie in F-sharp minor, Op. 28 (1833), as well as compressed, more sharply profiled forms such as this “Rondo capriccioso” and the Trois Fantaisies ou caprices, Op. 16 (1829). The “Rondo capriccioso” was first composed on 4 January 1828 as an étude in E minor, which shared only the rondo theme with the later published work. An incomplete autograph of this original version, consisting only of the Presto, survives. This initial version was dedicated to pianist J. Kohlreif, whom the Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung described in 1834 as “a most educated friend of music, and a gifted pianoforte player”. Mendelssohn had first met Delphine von Schauroth in Paris in 1825 when she was twelve years old. By 1830, she had become an “attractive young woman of seventeen, of a noble but impecunious family”. Mendelssohn respected her as an excellent pianist – he later dedicated his first Piano Concerto, Op. 25, to her. The publication process proved difficult. Mendelssohn initially offered the work to Leipzig publisher Friedrich Hofmeister on 28 July 1830, who accepted but then withdrew on 21 August for unknown reasons. Subsequently, Mendelssohn offered the work to Breitkopf & Härtel on 1 September 1830, who agreed to publish on 6 September, but Mendelssohn withdrew due to disagreement over financial conditions. He then negotiated with Vienna publisher Pietro Mechetti, who signed a contract on 17 September 1830 and published the “Rondo capriccioso” in early 1831. Mendelssohn frequently performed the piece himself, and it quickly became a popular virtuoso show-piece in the piano repertoire.

Scotch Symphony

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Choreography#

The program for Scotch Symphony stated, Balanchine like Mendelssohn wishes to evoke the sweep and freshness, the brilliance and strength inherent in the Highland landscape. He has invented a classic ballet based on atmosphere and music, with an affectionate nod to the romantic tradition that made the hero of La Sylphide a Highlander. The ballet is set to Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 3, “Scottish”. Dance critic Richard Buckle described Scotch Symphony as “one of those Balanchine ballets … that hover between romance and comedy or pastiche.” Author Nancy Reynolds wrote, “Choreographically, the ballet contains many steps, gestures and poses allusive of the romantic era.” She also noted the lead ballerina role “requires a high level of technique tempered by lightness, grace, and the quality of an otherworldly vision.” Dancer Patricia Wilde noted that Balanchine asked the dancers to be on their toes to emulate Scottish highland dancing. The first movement features a girl and boys, all in kilts, along with a pas de trois and a solo for the girl. The second movement is an adagio danced by a ballerina and her partner. Though it is plotless, Balanchine wrote that it “represents … the general mood and atmosphere of the romantic ballet as epitomized in such ballets as La Sylphide.” The third and final movement features the lead couple and the ensemble, in which the two lead dancers perform a pas de deux and variations, before the soloists and corps de ballet join them for the finale.

Sechs Lieder, Op. 59 (Mendelssohn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

When Mendelssohn studied in Berlin with Carl Friedrich Zelter, he was introduced to the lieder of Zelter, Ludwig Berger, Johann Friedrich Reichardt and Bernhard Klein, who have become known to musicologists as the Zweite Berliner Liederschule (“Second Berlin Song School”). Their concepts included simple strophic form and singable melodies, trying to convey the characteristic moods of the poems which they set. Mendelssohn followed these ideas, which were also promoted by Goethe, in his songs. Mendelssohn composed his songs for four mixed voices during the summer months which he spent with his family in Frankfurt or on his uncle’s winery in Horchheim. He composed three sets “lm Freien zu singen” of six songs each, Op. 41 in 1834, Op. 48 in 1839, and Op. 59 in 1837 to 1843. Ten further songs were published as Op. 88 and Op. 100. All appeared as part of his complete works by Breitkopf & Härtel in 1882–84. The third of the songs, Abschied vom Walde (Farewell to the Forest), beginning “O Täler weit, o Höhen” (O valleys wide, o height) became especially popular, and has been regarded as a Volkslied.

Songs Without Words

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Music#

The eight volumes of Songs Without Words, each consisting of six songs (), were written at various points throughout Mendelssohn’s life and published separately. The piano became increasingly popular in Europe during the early nineteenth century, when it became a standard item in many middle-class households. The pieces are within the grasp of pianists of various abilities and this undoubtedly contributed to their popularity. This great popularity has caused many critics to under-rate their musical value. The first volume was published by Novello in London (1832) as Original Melodies for the Pianoforte, but the later volumes used the title Songs Without Words. Mendelssohn himself resisted attempts to interpret the songs too literally, and objected when his friend Marc-André Souchay sought to put words to them to make them literal: “What the music I love expresses to me, is not thought too indefinite to put into words, but on the contrary, too definite”. (Mendelssohn’s own italics) Mendelssohn also wrote other Songs Without Words not collected in volumes, and published only in recent years. Furthermore, original drafts exist for many of the ‘Songs’ many of which differ quite substantially from the eventually published versions. In 2008, the Italian pianist Roberto Prosseda recorded a collection of Mendelssohn’s Songs Without Words for Decca Records totalling 56 , some of them never recorded before.

St. Paul (oratorio)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

The libretto “after words of holy scripture” was begun in 1832. The composer with pastor Julius Schubring, a childhood friend, compiled passages from the New Testament, chiefly the Acts of the Apostles, and the Old, as well as the texts of chorales and hymns, in a polyglot manner after Bach’s model. Composition of the music started in 1834 and was complete in early 1836.

Performances#

The work was premiered on 22 May 1836 (having been completed in April of that year ) at the Lower Rhenish Music Festival in Düsseldorf. The English premiere was in Liverpool on 3 October 1836 in a translation by Mendelssohn’s friend, Karl Klingermann. Contralto Mary Shaw was one of the soloists at the English premiere. The first performance in the United States was in Boston on March 14, 1837. Mendelssohn himself conducted the first performance in Leipzig in the Paulinerkirche on 16 March 1837. Numerous performances followed in Europe and in the United States. It was performed for inauguration of the Academy of Music (then known as Music Hall) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on January 31, 1865. During Mendelssohn’s lifetime, St. Paul was a popular and frequently performed work. Today it is regularly performed in Germany and well disseminated in both of its original languages through an array of complete recordings.

String Quartet No. 2 (Mendelssohn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Movements#

This work has four movements: A typical performance lasts roughly 28 minutes.

Composition#

Though Mendelssohn was still a teenager when he wrote this quartet, he was already an experienced composer of chamber music. He had already written the String Quintet, Op. 18, the Octet for Strings, Op. 20, and three piano quartets, besides several youthful string quartets which remained unpublished. A few months beforehand he had produced his opera Die Hochzeit des Camacho, which was not a success. (His quartet Opus 12, though it bears an earlier opus number, was actually written two years later.) Mendelssohn wrote the quartet a few months after the death of Ludwig van Beethoven, and the influence of Beethoven’s late string quartets (written only shortly before and some of which had not even been published when Mendelssohn started his composition) is evident in this work. Beethoven’s late works received a lukewarm reception at best, and many – including Mendelssohn’s own father Abraham – agreed with composer Louis Spohr that they were an “indecipherable, uncorrected horror”. Mendelssohn, however, was fascinated by them: he studied all the scores he could obtain and included several allusions to Beethoven’s quartets in Opus 13. But more than being simply a homage to his great predecessor, Mendelssohn’s quartet takes the implications of Beethoven’s late quartets – above all their suggestions of cyclic formal organization – and develops them in radically new directions. As Benedict Taylor writes in a very detailed analysis, this quartet “is the most thorough-going essay in cyclic form, both by Mendelssohn and by any composer to that time, until the late works of Franck at the very least”. As a unifying motif, Mendelssohn included a quotation from his song “Ist es wahr?” (‘Is it true?’, Op. 9, no. 1) – “Is it true that you wait for me in the arbour by the vineyard wall?” – composed a few months earlier. Mendelssohn includes the title of the song in the score of the quartet, recalling the title Beethoven wrote on the last movement of his Op. 135 string quartet “Muss es sein?” (Must it be?). But, unlike the introspective, existential quality of Beethoven’s quartet, Mendelssohn’s work is passionate and richly romantic. “…This quartet, relying heavily on compositional techniques of late Beethoven, links Classical form to Romantic expression,” writes Lucy Miller.

String Quartet No. 3 (Mendelssohn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Movements#

Like all of Mendelssohn’s string quartets, this work has four movements: A typical performance lasts about 29-31 minutes.

Evaluation#

Frederick Corder, professor of composition at the Royal Academy of Music, used it as an example of unsuccessful quartet-writing:

String symphonies (Mendelssohn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Instrumentation#

The symphonies are written for a string orchestra. String Symphony No. 11 also contains percussion (timpani, triangle, cymbals) in the second movement. No. 8 exists in two forms: the original for string orchestra, and an arrangement that Mendelssohn wrote that added woodwinds, brass, and timpani. The work is scored for two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani in D and A, and strings. (A typical performance lasts half an hour). Symphonies 1 to 7 are the less “symphonic” and more relatable to the classical Divertimento (in the model of Mozart’s KV 136, 137 and 138). From n.º 8 on, we find a more sophisticated writing, probably influenced by Mendelssohn’s study on the organistic repertoire. The whole of Symphonies 9, 10 and 13 and some movements in n.º 8, 11 and 12 ask for two viola sections, a forgotten feature since the baroque period.

Symphony No. 1 (Mendelssohn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

The work premièred at a private gathering on 14 November 1824 to honor his sister Fanny Mendelssohn’s 19th birthday. Its public première occurred on 1 February 1827, with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra performing.

London première#

The symphony was dedicated to the Philharmonic Society, who performed the London première on May 25, 1829 with Mendelssohn conducting. Mendelssohn orchestrated the scherzo from his Octet Op. 20 as an alternative third movement for this performance, which is occasionally played alongside or in place of the Menuetto. The London première was reviewed in The Harmonicon: … though only about one or two-and-twenty years of age, he has already produced several works of magnitude, which, if at all to be compared with the present, ought, without such additional claim, to rank him among the first composers of the age…. Fertility of invention and novelty of effect, are what first strike the hearers of M. Mendelssohn’s symphony; but at the same time, the melodiousness of its subjects, the vigour with which these are supported, the gracefulness of the slow movement, the playfulness of some parts, and the energy of others, are all felt…. The author conducted it in person, and it was received with acclamations….

Symphony No. 3 (Mendelssohn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Composition#

Mendelssohn was initially inspired to compose this symphony during his first visit to Britain in 1829. After a series of successful performances in London, Mendelssohn embarked on a walking tour of Scotland with his friend Karl Klingemann. On 30 July, Mendelssohn visited the ruins of Holyrood Chapel at Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh, where, as he related to his family in a letter, he received his initial inspiration for the piece: Alongside this description, Mendelssohn enclosed in his letter a scrap of paper with the opening bars of what would become the symphony’s opening theme. A few days later Mendelssohn and his companion visited the western coast of Scotland and the island of Staffa, which in turn inspired the composer to start the Hebrides. After completing the first version of the Hebrides, Mendelssohn continued to work on his initial sketches of what would become Symphony No. 3 while touring Italy. It was slightly revised after early performances, excising 111 bars of material in total, and the revised version is the one almost universally performed. Although it was the fifth and final of Mendelssohn’s symphonies to be completed, it was the third to be published, and has subsequently been known as Symphony No. 3. Ever since the Scottish provenance became known following the composer’s death, however, audiences have found it hard not to hear the piece as evoking the wild Romantic landscapes of the north – even if such picturesque associations have caused audiences to overlook the many other musical qualities of this symphony.

Symphony No. 4 (Mendelssohn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

The work has its origins, as had the composer’s Scottish 3rd Symphony and The Hebrides overture, in the tour of Europe which occupied Mendelssohn from 1829 to 1831. Its inspiration is the colour and atmosphere of Italy, where Mendelssohn made sketches but left the work incomplete. Below is a snippet of a letter he wrote to his father: This is Italy! And now has begun what I have always thought … to be the supreme joy in life. And I am loving it. Today was so rich that now, in the evening, I must collect myself a little, and so I am writing to you to thank you, dear parents, for having given me all this happiness. In February he wrote from Rome to his sister Fanny, The Italian symphony is making great progress. It will be the jolliest piece I have ever done, especially the last movement. I have not found anything for the slow movement yet, and I think that I will save that for Naples. Mendelssohn completed the symphony in Berlin on 13 March 1833, in response to an invitation for a symphony from the London (now Royal) Philharmonic Society. He conducted the first performance himself in London on 13 May 1833 at a London Philharmonic Society concert. The symphony was first performed in the United States by the Germania Musical Society, Carl Bergmann conducting, at Boston on 1 November 1851. The scholar John Cooper has investigated in detail the history of Mendelssohn’s revisions to the symphony. Christopher Hogwood has edited a critical edition, published by Bärenreiter, of the symphony that includes the original standard version and Mendelssohn’s revisions to the last 3 movements. The published 1851 version is the standard edition performed generally by symphony orchestras. The revised version received its first commercial recording from Sir John Eliot Gardiner and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra in 1999, and has received occasional live performances. Edward Greenfield has commented on Mendelssohn’s changes between the two editions, in relation to the reasons for continuing performances of the standard edition: Surprisingly for so perceptive a composer he undermined the original’s freshness, smoothing over melodic lines (as in the Pilgrim’s March) and extending linking passages. A fascinating comment on the danger of second thoughts after white-hot inspiration."

Symphony No. 5 (Mendelssohn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

In December 1829, a year before the King of Prussia Frederick William III had even announced the tercentennial Augsburg celebrations, Mendelssohn began work on the Reformation Symphony. Mendelssohn hoped to have it performed at the festivities in Berlin which took place on 25 June 1830. He had intended to finish the composition by January 1830 and tour for four months before the celebrations began in June. However, his ill health caused the Reformation Symphony to take longer to compose than he had initially expected. In late March the symphony was still in a state of fabrication, and in an inauspicious turn of events Mendelssohn caught measles from his sister Rebecka. With a further delay of the composing and touring, Mendelssohn eventually completed the symphony in May. Unfortunately, it was too late for the Augsburg commission to recognize the symphony for the celebrations. Some authorities have suggested that antisemitism may have played a role in the symphony’s absence from Augsburg. But the successful competitor, Eduard Grell, had already established himself as a competent and successful composer who was gaining considerable popularity in Berlin. Grell was extremely conservative in his compositions; his piece for male chorus perhaps matched what the Augsburg celebrations demanded, in contrast to Mendelssohn’s extensive symphony, which may have been thought inappropriate at the time. Mendelssohn resumed his touring immediately after he had completed the Reformation Symphony. In Paris, in 1832, François Antoine Habeneck’s orchestra turned the work down as ’too learned’; the music historian Larry Todd suggests that perhaps they also felt it to be too Protestant. He did not offer the symphony for performance at London. During the summer of 1832, Mendelssohn returned to Berlin where he revised the symphony. Later that year a performance of the Reformation Symphony finally took place. By 1838 however Mendelssohn regarded the symphony as ‘a piece of juvenilia’, and he never performed it again. It was not performed again until 1868, more than 20 years after the composer’s death.

The Dream (ballet)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

The ballet was presented to mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s birth. Ashton drastically trimmed Shakespeare’s plot, discarding Theseus and Hippolyta and the play-within-a-play, Pyramus and Thisbe. The focus of the ballet is on the fairies and the four lovers from Athens lost in the wood. Lanchbery adapted the overture and incidental music Mendelssohn had written for the play in 1826 and 1842. Ashton and his designers, Henry Bardon and David Walker, set the action in or about the 1840s.

The Hebrides (overture)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

Mendelssohn first visited England in 1829 following invitations from Sir George Smart and the Philharmonic Society. Following his tour of England, Mendelssohn proceeded to Scotland, where he began work on his Symphony No. 3, Scottish. He was engaged on a tour of Scotland with his travelling companion Karl Klingemann when he sent a letter to his family with the opening phrase of the overture written on it. In a note to his sister Fanny, he said: “In order to make you understand how extraordinarily the Hebrides affected me, I send you the following, which came into my head there.” The work was completed on 16 December 1830 and was originally entitled Die einsame Insel (The Lonely Island). However, Mendelssohn later revised the score and renamed the piece Die Hebriden (The Hebrides). Despite this, the title of Fingal’s Cave was also used: on the orchestral parts he labelled the music The Hebrides, but on the score Mendelssohn labelled the music Fingal’s Cave.

Variations sérieuses

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Structure#

Theme: Andante sostenuto # Variation 1 # Variation 2: Un poco più animato # Variation 3: Più animato # Variation 4 # Variation 5: Agitato # Variation 6: A tempo # Variation 7: Con fuoco # Variation 8: Allegro vivace # Variation 9 # Variation 10: Moderato # Variation 11: Cantabile # Variation 12: Tempo del Tema # Variation 13: Sempre assai leggiero # Variation 14: Adagio # Variation 15: Poco a poco più agitato # Variation 16: Allegro vivace # Variation 17 # Coda: Presto#

External links#

„Andante sostenuto” op 54: Mendelssohn’s autograph manuscript in the Jagiellonian Library
Scorevideo on Youtube: Christoph Herndler: variations sérieuses variation after Mendelssohn Op. 54 (2009)

Verleih uns Frieden (Mendelssohn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

The text is Martin Luther’s “”, a paraphrase of Da pacem Domine, a Latin prayer for peace from the 6th or 7th century based on biblical verses , and . It was a regular close of church services in Luther’s time. Mendelssohn was exposed to Lutheran hymns during his studies with Carl Friedrich Zelter, and when he revived Bach’s St Matthew Passion in 1829, which was at the time thought to be the centenary of its first performance. He composed in 1831 as one of eight chorale cantatas based on Lutheran hymns which he wrote as studies. He later chose only for publication. The composition was published (edited by Julius Rietz) by Breitkopf & Härtel as part of Mendelssohn’s complete works in 1875. Carus-Verlag published it in 1980, edited by Günter Graulich, including an organ version. It has the text in German and Latin, which Mendelssohn had added, “Dona nobis pacem, Domine”, and an English translation “In thy mercy grant us peace”.

Violin Concerto (Mendelssohn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

Following his appointment in 1835 as principal conductor of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Mendelssohn named his childhood friend Ferdinand David as the orchestra’s concertmaster. The work’s origins derive from this professional collaboration. In a letter dated 30 July 1838, Mendelssohn wrote to David: The concerto took another six years to complete. and an unhappy period in Berlin after a request from King Frederick William IV of Prussia. Nevertheless, Mendelssohn and David kept up a regular correspondence during this time, This violin concerto was the first of many to have been composed with the input of a professional violinist, and this choice would influence many future collaborations between violinists and composers. Mendelssohn first conducted the concerto on 23 October 1845 again with Ferdinand David as soloist.

Violin Sonata in F major (Mendelssohn, 1838)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

Mendelssohn began work on the Violin Sonata in 1838, the same year he started work on the Violin Concerto in E minor. By the 15th of June 1838 he had completed the composition in draft form, but rejected the work as a “wretched sonata”. It was not until 1839 that Mendelssohn began work on revising the sonata by rewriting the first movement. However the task remained uncompleted at his death in 1847 and it was not until 1953, that violinist Yehudi Menuhin revived the work and prepared it for publication by revising the first movement based on Mendelssohn’s incomplete revision.

Vom Himmel hoch (Mendelssohn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background and history#

Mendelssohn had been introduced to the art of chorale arrangement when studying with Carl Friedrich Zelter, especially focused on the works by Johann Sebastian Bach. In 1829, he conducted Bach’s St Matthew Passion on the occasion of its centenary. He composed eight chorale cantatas between 1827 and 1832, following the model of Bach’s chorale cantatas in “fluent understanding of Baroque forms and styles”, but also adding elements of the Romantic period. He composed the chorale cantata in 1831 in Rome on an extended trip to Italy. His friend Franz Krause had provided him with a booklet of hymns by Luther for this trip. It included the hymn for Christmas, “Vom Himmel hoch, da komm ich her”, that Luther wrote in 1534 for use in his family, possibly intended to be performed as a nativity play it was published in 1535 with a secular melody and in 1539 with a melody by Luther. In a letter from Milan, Mendelsohn reported his intention to compose a lot. He wrote the chorale cantata in 1831 in Rome, staying in a monastery where Luther had also resided on a trip. In a letter from Rome to his friend he noted that Luther’s text calls for music, with every stanza a new piece, with progress, movement and growth (“Wie da jedes Wort nach Musik ruft, wie jede Strophe ein anderes Stück ist, wie überall ein Fortschritt, eine Bewegung, ein Wachsen …”). Mendelssohn’s autograph manuscript of the score is held by the Berlin State Library. The manuscript shows signs of wear, and is numbered as if prepared for publication, but wasn’t printed during the composer’s lifetime. The cantata was first published by Carus-Verlag in 1983, with an English version From heav’n on high.

Wedding March (Mendelssohn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Wer bis an das Ende beharrt

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

Mendelssohn composed the motet with orchestral accompaniment as part of his oratorio Elijah, as movement 32, published in 1847. It was published in a critical edition by Carus-Verlag.

Text and music#

In the oratorio, the motet is placed like a chorale as a point of rest and reflection. Elijah is in the desert and has given up, reviewing his mission as a failure, but an angel requests him to arise. The text of the motet occurs twice in the Gospel of Matthew, in Matthew 10:22 and Matthew 24:13. Mendelssohn used the translation by Martin Luther. The English translation is from the King James Version of the Bible. The music is in one movement in F major and common time, marked Andante sostenuto. The instruments play colla parte with the voices. It has been described as “delicate”.