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The Early Romantics Felix Mendelssohn: the Classicist About Mendelssohn

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The Early Romantics Felix Mendelssohn: the Classicist About Mendelssohn The Early Romantics Felix Mendelssohn: The Classicist About Mendelssohn • 1809-1847 • Child prodigy of confounding abilities • Wealthy family that could give him the best Study • Studied with Carl Friedrich Zelter, a great pedagogue and thorough teacher • He also had lessons with Antonio Salieri, who had taught Beethoven and Schubert • Felix wound up one of the most polished craftsmen in music history Adulthood • A quintuple threat: pianist, organist, conductor, composer, and administrator • He made the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra into one of the great ones of all time—and it is still a leading orchestra • Was a staunch Classicist throughout his career • Was a perfectionist who revised incessantly • Happily married, with five children • Probably worked himself to death, dying from a cerebral aneurysm at the age of 38 String Symphonies ❖ Written while studying with Zelter. ❖ Ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny ❖ Earliest are mostly Baroque in nature ❖ Classicism begins to seep in ❖ Romanticism with the C Minor (No. 13, a.k.a. Symphony No. 1) String Symphony No. 2 ❖ Written by a 12-year old! ❖ More like a Baroque concerto grosso Symphony No. 1 ❖ Originally String Symphony No. 13 ❖ Mendelssohn decided to “promote” it as his first true symphony. ❖ The symphony may have been heard as early as 1824 at the Mendelssohn home in Berlin; without a doubt it was performed at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig on February 1, 1827, eliciting a warmly favorable review. For London 1829, Mendelssohn replaced the original third movement with the Scherzo from his 1825 Octet, but afterwards restored his original movement for the work’s 1834 publication. Symphony No. 1 ❖ The (original) Minuet & Trio is in the standard form of the Classical Era, but it is dramatic rather than courtly. A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Overture Claudio Abbado / London Symphony Orchestra Mendelssohn’s MSN ❖ In two parts: ❖ Overture, Op. 21 (in 1826, at the age of 17) ❖ Incidental Music, Op. 61 (1842) Overture ❖ Sir George Grove: “...the greatest marvel of early maturity that the world has ever seen in music.” ❖ Cast in classical sonata form—perfectly made and executed. P 1T 2T S 3T 1K 2K w a a b a a b c c a a a b a b b a a a b c a b a w b a w b P S T Retransition a a a a b b s w R Sa P 1T S 3T 1K S 1T 2K w a a b a b a b a b a a b c b a a The Primary Theme describes the fairies. The Transitional Theme describes the Athenian court. The Secondary Theme describes the quartet of lovers. The Closing Theme describes Bottom as an ass. Claudio Abbado Hebrides Overture, Op. 26 London Symphony Orchestra The Outer and Inner Hebrides, Scotland Fingal’s Cave, Staffa, Inner Hebrides The Hebrides viewed from the coast of Scotland Hebrides Overture ❖ Mendelssohn’s 1829 tour of Scotland. ❖ He claimed to be overcome with inspiration when he visited Fingal’s Cave in the Inner Hebrides, and jotted down the theme of the Overture. ❖ However, eyewitnesses report that he was actually overcome with seasickness... The Materials ❖ A primary “water” theme that is used throughout the entire piece. The Materials ❖ There’s also a more lyrical secondary theme. ❖ Some commentators have wondered if the secondary theme is a human viewer amidst the land- and sea-scape. The Materials ❖ There’s also a properly heraldic closing theme. The Form ❖ The Hebrides Overture is structured in classical sonata form. Exposition P 1T S 2T K Development Recapitulation P 1T S 2T K Anne-Sophie Mutter / Bernard Haitink / Violin Concerto in E Minor: I Concertgebouw Orchestra Primary Theme a b 2 ™ # ™ œ ˙ œ œ œ œ ™ ˙ & C Ó œ œ ˙ œ œ œ ˙ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ p J 10 a b’ ™ œ ™ ##˙ œ œ ˙ œ ˙ œ œ œ œ œ ˙ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ & J œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ 18 . # œ œ œ œ. ˙ œ œ œ & ˙ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ #œ œ œ œ œ ˙ ™ j . œ œ ˙ Secondary Theme a b tranq. # ... ˙ ™ ™ C Œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ...œ œ ˙ œ œ œ....œ œ œ ˙ œ ˙ œ œ œ œ & J J œ œ #œ ppc 9 ™ ™ ™ ™ . ™ r ™ ™ ™ . œ œ. œ œ # ...nœ œ œ . œ œ œ. ˙ œ œ œ œ œ #œ œ #œ œ œ œ J & œ œ œ œ J œ œ. œ J J œ J p cresc. sf J J J sf 16 ™ œ œ œ œ ™ # ˙ œ œ w œ œ J ˙ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ & J œ œ œ U cresc. 23 œ œ w œ ˙ # œ œ œ œ œ #œ œ & œ œ œ œ ˙ œ œ œ œ ˙ œ œ ˙ Ó pp Closing Theme a # œ #œ œ & C Ó œ #œ œ œ œ nœ œ œ œ œ œ œ 5 a’ œ # #œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ & œ œ œ #œ œ œ œ nœ œ œ Exposition Primary Orch P figs figs P exp K Transition Secondary figs figs S S P Transition to Development Development K P Retrans Cadenza Recapitulation Primary P K K Secondary S S mod P Conclusion K faster Presto Conclusion Elijah, Op. 70 Paul McCreesh / Gabrieli Consort From the very first you have taken such a friendly interest in my “Elijah”, and thereby so stimulated my desire and courage to complete it, that I must write and tell you of its first performance yesterday. No work of mine ever went so admirably at its first performance, nor was received with such enthusiasm by both the musicians and the audience, as this oratorio. It was quite evident at the very first rehearsal in London that they liked it, and liked to sing and play it; but I confess, I was far from anticipating that it would have such vigour and attraction at the first performance. —Felix Mendelssohn to his brother Paul, August 26, 1846 Elijah is not only the sacred work of our time, but it is a work for our children and for our children’s children. —Henry F. Chorley, 1847 There is no falling off in the great popularity of Elijah. This need not be regretted so long as it is understood that our pet oratorio, as a work of religious art, stands together with...the poems of Longfellow and Tennyson, sensuously beautiful in the most refined and fastidiously decorous way, but thoughtless. That is to say, it is not really religious music at all. — George Bernard Shaw, from a review of May 11, 1892 Mendelssohn is the inventor of religious kitsch in music. —Charles Rosen, The Romantic Generation Mendelssohn’s Oratorios ❖ St. Paul, Op. 36 (1836) ❖ Elijah, Op. 70 (1846) ❖ Christus, Op. Posth. (fragments) About Elijah ❖ Written for the 1846 Birmingham Festival ❖ Premiered alongside performances of ❖ Haydn’s The Creation ❖ Handel’s Messiah ❖ Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis About Elijah ❖ A series of scenes from the Elijah texts (mostly 1st and 2nd Kings) ❖ No narrator ❖ Fewer fugues than in St. Paul ❖ Has a certain operatic quality throughout Elijah was written for gigantic forces: over 300 singers in the chorus, an expanded orchestra including a number of exotic brass instruments, and a magnificent, earth- shaking pipe organ. In 2012 the period-instrument specialist Paul McCreesh performed Elijah with as close to those original forces as he could get, and rattled the roof of Royal Albert Hall with the results. Fortunately, it was recorded—even if a mere recording couldn’t possibly capture the full grandeur. The final chorus, Lord Our Creator, gives us the full Mendelssohnian monty. A grandiose choral opening is followed by a massive, Handelian fugue. .
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