Mendelssohn (1809-1847)

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“The essence of the beautiful is unity in variety.” – Felix Mendelssohn

During the first half of the 19th century the landscape of classical music was undergoing radical change, with a number of progressive composers including Berlioz, Liszt and Wagner pushing the envelope ever further in terms of scale and aesthetics. Berlioz wrote the groundbreaking Symphonie Fantastique, an epic five movement symphony complete with his own written programme notes, and later his monumental Te Deum for an orchestra of 1,000 musicians; Liszt wrote music of unprecedented extravagance and seemingly unattainable virtuosity, such as his famous Hungarian Rhapsodies and Transcendental Études; Wagner conducted bold experiments in chromaticism, tonality and harmonic suspension, finally culminating in the seminal Tristan und Isolde. Mendelssohn was one of the last of the great composers of his time whose music seemed to look as much backward as it did forward, paying homage to his great predecessors and retaining distinct elements of the Classical style.

Mendelssohn was born in Hamburg to a prominent Jewish family, the second of four children. In 1811 his family moved to Berlin (fearing French reprisal for the role of the family business, the Mendelssohn Bank, in breaking Napoleon’s Continental System), where the Mendelssohn children all received a musical education which included instruction in piano, counterpoint and composition. Talent seemed to run in the family; his older sister Fanny demonstrated exceptional ability, while Mendelssohn himself is generally regarded as one of the greatest (if not the greatest) prodigies in the history of music. Indeed, when the great poet Goethe met the young composer, he remarked to Mendelssohn’s teacher: “Musical prodigies… are no longer so rare; but what this little man can do in extemporizing and playing at sight borders the miraculous, and I could not have believed it possible at so early an age… what your pupil already accomplishes, bears the same relation to the Mozart of that time that the cultivated talk of a grown-up person bears to the prattle of a child.” Unlike Beethoven and Mozart however, whose fathers showed no compunction over trying to extract financial gain from their children, the wealthy Mendelssohns were not initially inclined to allow their children to pursue careers as musicians – least of all Fanny, as it was considered improper for a woman.

At the age of 17, Mendelssohn composed what is often thought of as one of the finest examples of early musical maturity, and one of his first masterpieces, his overture to Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Here it is played by the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra (an orchestra Mendelssohn himself was once the conductor of), conducted by Kurt Masur. In Shakespeare’s play, Puck turns the character Nick Bottom’s head into that of a donkey; you can hear him braying in Mendelssohn’s music several times from 3:05

In later life Mendelssohn spent much of his time as a conductor and was responsible for organizing many concerts. He was a great champion of Bach’s music, which had largely fallen out of favour, and an 1829 performance he organized of the St Matthew Passion, the first since Bach’s death, was instrumental in bringing about a revival of his music. He also renewed interest in the music of Schubert, arranging a performance of his 9th symphony after Schumann discovered the manuscript over a decade after Schubert’s death.

Given his prominence in the musical world, Mendelssohn was beset by a number of his contemporaries to stage works of their own, including Richard Wagner, who gifted him a copy of the score of his first symphony (which Mendelssohn then promptly lost –  or perhaps intentionally discarded). It’s known that Mendelssohn was very wary of some of the more radical compositional practices being adopted by his peers; he decried the works of Liszt in various letters, and made no secret of his distaste for the French school of composers (which included Berlioz); and nowhere is this more evident than in his music, which eschews the ostentatiousness typical of the period. Yet despite his conservative musical tastes putting him at odds with many of his most celebrated contemporaries, he was nonetheless a highly respected musician during his lifetime. The great critic and composer Schumann went as far as to say “Mendelssohn I consider the first musician of the day; I doff my hat to him as my superior. He plays with everything, especially with the grouping of the instruments in the orchestra, but with such ease, delicacy and art, with such mastery throughout.”

Unfortunately, the history of the great music prodigies is littered with early deaths, and, like Schubert and Mozart before him, Mendelssohn didn’t even reach the age of 40. In May 1947 his sister Fanny, a lifelong friend and inspiration, died, and Mendelssohn never recovered from the loss. Six months later he too was dead, leaving behind a legacy of beautiful and enduringly popular music. Here are some of my favourites:

Songs Without Words, Op. 19, No. 1, played by Daniel Gortler

Songs Without Words, Op. 19, Nos. 3-5, played by Alexandra Joan

The Hebrides Overture, Op. 26, played by the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by the late Claudio Abbado

Piano Trio No. 1 in D Minor, Op. 49, played by Trio Solisti

And finally, Mendelssohn’s iconic Wedding March in C Major, from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Op. 61, played by the Berlin Philharmonic, conducted by Claudio Abbado. Mendelssohn wrote this incidental music to Shakespeare’s play in 1842 and added it to his earlier overture, written in 1826.

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Posted in Classical, Romantic

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