Mendelssohn Octet Op.20
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mendelssohn octet op.20 eroica quartet 1 0 1 0 1 S E R Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) Octet, Op.20 world premiere recording of the original 1825 version Octet, Op.20 (1825 version) 1. Allegro molto e vivace [15:57] [8:42] Eroica Quartet 2. Andante Peter Hanson violin 1 3. Scherzo [4:46] Julia Hanson violin 2 4. Molto allegro e vivace [6:46] Vicci Wardman viola 1 David Watkin cello 1 Total playing time [36:15] with Ken Aiso violin 3 Original tempi and movement titles from 1825 version Marcus Barcham-Stevens violin 4 Oliver Wilson viola 2 Robin Michael cello 2 ‘… refreshingly impetuous’ The New York Times ‘… heroic, questing, unsettling and magnificent performances’ BBC Music magazine, February 2001, Chamber disc of the month Felix Mendelssohn: Octet, Op.20 The Octet was first published some years following its composition in 1832, at which 'He whom the gods love dies young' point Mendelssohn made substantial revisions, cutting out many passages and rewriting Mozart, Schubert and Mendelssohn are others. However, some of the most examples par excellence of this aphorism: extraordinary and radical music was cut by the the God-given gift burning so brightly but slightly older composer. The published version eclipsed before its time. It can be argued that of 1832 is somewhat leaner (over 100 bars Mendelssohn’s powers were on the wane by are cut overall) and in some ways appears the time of his death at thirty-eight, whereas more professional, but is it the better overall Mozart and Schubert were still developing for these changes? The conclusion to that when they were taken prematurely. In the question is, of course, for the listener to earlier part of the lives of these composers, decide but it seems important given its iconic however, Mendelssohn reigned supreme. status that people can finally hear this earliest There is no work in the oeuvres of Mozart version of the Octet written by this precocious or Schubert, by the age of sixteen, to match sixteen-year old. Mendelssohn’s Octet Op.20. In the entire canon of western music the Octet stands The young Felix was brought up in a out as a unique creation. It is in this context comfortable environment where, in common that this recording first is so important. This with most Jewish middle-class families of the substantial work by the teenage prodigy is time, learning and the arts were of vital both well and widely known – or so people importance. He showed himself to be may think. However, this first opportunity prodigiously talented, not only in music, but to hear the original version of the Octet gives is also in drawing, painting and languages. valuable insight into the more extensive Mendelssohn received an all-round high gestation period of the ultimate version of quality education in which all his talents the work in its most commonly-known guise. were carefully nurtured, providing a fertile ground in which the seed of his genius was Mendelssohn’s autograph manuscript of the planted. His first teacher for musical composition original version is dated 15 October 1825 in was Carl Friedrich Zelter and it was through Facsimile of the opening page of the 1825 version of the Mendelssohn’s Octet, Op.20 Berlin. It is clearly a fair copy, beautifully Zelter that he was first introduced to the (manuscript held at the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.) written, and is currently housed in the USA’s eminent writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. Having previously met Mozart some years earlier at the age of seven, Goethe was also numbers start with three piano quartets is immediately half the number of bars and cutting some thirty-eight bars (i.e. nineteen to meet the seven-year old Mendelssohn and Op.1-3 from 1822 to 1825, and in 1824 he with further cuts of eighty-seven bars (forty- in the new notation) and supplying eleven bars remarked on the different levels of had written a sextet for violin, two violas, three and a half in the new notation), the of new material. The original is much more sophistication between the two young cello, double bass and piano Op.111. It was movement is reduced from 733 to 323 bars. interesting in this respect as the usual course composers in a conversation with Zelter: though, apart from his early string quartet One might speculate that this was done for of composition would be a development of in E flat of 1823 (Op. posth.), his first for practical purposes; certainly finding suitable the first subject. In fact, the original never “Musical prodigies [...] are probably no longer so rare; but what this little man can do in strings without piano. places for page-turns in the new edition of develops the first subject and the revision extemporizing and playing at sight borders the the Octet proved problematic. Also, of course, has another cut of sixty-one bars (thirty and miraculous, and I could not have believed it possible The basic structure of the Octet is so well the publisher would have saved a significant a half in the new notation) of further at so early an age." known it hardly needs introduction. The amount of paper in every copy of a score along development of the second subject group. "And yet you heard Mozart in his seventh year massive first movement with its changes with a set of eight separate parts. The original The original rather seems to have an at Frankfurt?" said Zelter. from an almost orchestral texture to the has a feeling of unity between the notation obsession with the second subject but "Yes", answered Goethe,” [...] but what your pupil already accomplishes, bears the same relation most intimate chamber music is wonderfully of the first and last movements where, in Mendelssohn’s later revisions balances to the Mozart of that time that the cultivated talk of engaging throughout, whilst the second both, the shortest value notes are notated matters out, making the whole development a grown-up person bears to the prattle of a child." movement introduces real pathos into what, as quavers. This may be only psychological much more ‘conventional’. up to that point, is a entirely optimistic work. but it is a loss nevertheless. A further aspect Mendelssohn’s earliest extant composition The scherzo, which has much affinity with is that the ‘con fuoco’ in the new speed There is also a significant change to be found dates from 1820 and, in the succeeding five his score to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, indication doesn't quite convey the urgency in the second movement, which alters the years leading up to the Octet, his composing is the epitome of fleetness and is inspired of the original ‘Allegro molto e vivace’ whole balance of the structure. In both skills saw some meteoric improvements. by the ‘Walpurgisnacht’ episode in Goethe’s potentially resulting in a rather different kind versions the overall sense is of a sonata form Before he was sixteen his considerable Faust. The finale is a tour de force, starting of interpretation. Interpreters of the revised movement, although there is not any output consisted of singspiels, thirteen as a frantic fugato in eight parts and version might well play the opening theme development as such. There is, however, a symphonies for string orchestra, chamber keeping its momentum up to the very end. in quite a lyrical manner, reserving their fuoco recognizable second subject in the relative music, songs, motets, anthems and his first for the loud passages, whereas the original major, which is recapitulated in the tonic symphony for full orchestra. So the Octet The first change Mendelssohn made to his tempo indication encourages a more urgent minor. What is so extraordinary in the revision masterpiece was not exactly born out of original version was in the notation of the approach from the start. is that the first subject is omitted in the the blue but was rather the crowning first movement. In the original the shortest recapitulation. There is a cut of twenty-two achievement of a most extraordinary and value notes were notated as quavers with The most radical change from Mendelssohn’s bars and three newly written to take the rapid development. a speed indication of ‘Allegro molto e vivace’. original version occurs at the start of the music straight into recapitulation of the The revision has the shortest value notes development in the first movement. Here, second subject. Here Mendelssohn appears Neither was the Octet Mendelssohn's first notated as semiquavers with a speed indication the original starts by developing the material to be renewing his predilection for the attempt at chamber music for strings. Apart of ‘Allegro moderato ma con fuoco’. This has that concluded the exposition, while the second subject, which he had expunged from from some early ‘practice’ pieces his opus several ramifications. Firstly, of course, there revision starts by developing the first subject, the first movement. It is certainly a radical move and produces quite an unusual result. However, the greater balance of the original and the fact that the first subject is so deeply moving means that it is definitely worth hearing for a second time in the recapitulation providing, as a whole, a more satisfying and affecting movement. The third movement of the original, ‘Scherzo’, is virtually identical with the revision apart from a number of different phrase markings and some altered notes towards the end of the movement in the first cello part. Overall, in the original, the phrasing is much longer over many bars, whereas the slurs in the revision are appreciably shorter, appearing to refer more to particular bowings for the players.