Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy

• A Midsummer Night's Dream - Wedding March,
• The Hebrides (Fingal's Cave) - Overture,
• A Midsummer's Night Dream - Scherzo & Song - "You spotted snakes",
• Itzhak Perlman Mendelssohn Violin Concerto andante.
• from the Italian Symphony,

Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, born, and generally known in English-speaking countries, as Felix Mendelssohn (3 February 1809 – 4 November 1847) was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period.

The grandson of the philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, Felix was born into a notable Jewish family, although he himself was brought up initially without religion, and later as a Lutheran Christian. He was recognized early as a musical prodigy, but his parents were cautious and did not seek to capitalise on his abilities. Indeed his father was disinclined to allow Felix to follow a musical career until it became clear that he intended seriously to dedicate himself to it.

Early success in Germany was followed by travel throughout Europe; Mendelssohn was particularly well-received in Britain as a composer, conductor and soloist, and his ten visits there (during which many of his major works were premiered) form an important part of his adult career. His essentially conservative musical tastes however set him apart from many of his more adventurous musical contemporaries such as Franz Liszt, Richard Wagner and Hector Berlioz. The University of Music and Theatre Leipzig, which he founded, became a bastion of this anti-radical outlook.

Mendelssohn's work includes symphonies, concerti, oratorios, piano and chamber music. He also had an important role in the revival of interest in the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. After a long period of relative denigration due to changing musical tastes and antisemitism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, his creative originality is now being recognized and re-evaluated. He is now among the most popular composers of the Romantic era.

Life

Childhood

Mendelssohn was born in Hamburg, one of four children of a banker, Abraham Mendelssohn (who later changed his surname to Mendelssohn Bartholdy, and who was himself the son of the German Jewish philosopher Moses Mendelssohn), and of Lea Salomon, a member of the Itzig family and the sister of Jakob Salomon Bartholdy. Felix was the family's second child: his older sister Fanny was also to display exceptional and precocious musical talent.

Felix grew up in an environment of intense intellectual ferment. The greatest minds of Germany were frequent visitors to his family's later home in Berlin, including Wilhelm von Humboldt and Alexander von Humboldt. His sister Rebecca married the Belgian mathematician Lejeune Dirichlet.

Abraham renounced the Jewish religion; his children were first brought up without religious education, and were baptised as Christians in 1816 (at which time Felix took the additional names Jakob Ludwig – Abraham and his wife were not themselves baptised until 1822.) The name Bartholdy was assumed at the suggestion of Lea's brother, Jakob Salomon Bartholdy, who had inherited a property of this name and adopted it as his own surname. Abraham was later to explain this decision in a letter to Felix as a means of showing a decisive break with the traditions of his father Moses: "There can no more be a Christian Mendelssohn than there can be a Jewish Confucius". Felix did not entirely drop the name Mendelssohn as requested but in deference to his father signed his letters and had his visiting cards printed using the form "Mendelssohn Bartholdy".

The family moved to Berlin in 1811. Abraham and Lea Mendelssohn sought to give their children (Fanny, Felix, Paul and Rebecca) the best education possible. Fanny became a well-known pianist and amateur composer; originally Abraham had thought that she, rather than Felix, would be the more musical. However, at that time, it was not considered proper (by either Abraham or Felix) for a woman to have a career in music, so Fanny remained an amateur musician. Six of her early songs were later published (with her consent) under Felix's name.

Like Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart before him, Mendelssohn was regarded as a child prodigy. He began taking piano lessons from his mother when he was six, and at seven was tutored by Marie Bigot in Paris. From 1817 he studied composition with Carl Friedrich Zelter in Berlin. This was an important influence on his future career. Zelter had almost certainly been recommended as Felix's teacher by his aunt Sarah Levy, who had been a pupil of W. F. Bach and a patron of C. P. E. Bach and was a talented keyboard player in her own right, often playing with Zelter's orchestra at the Berlin Singakademie (of which she and the Mendelssohn family were leading patrons). Sarah had formed an important collection of Bach family manuscripts which she bequeathed to the Singakademie; Zelter, whose tastes in music were conservative, was also an admirer of the Bach tradition. This undoubtedly played a significant part in forming Felix's conservative musical tastes. His works show his study of Baroque and early classical music. His fugues and chorales especially reflect a tonal clarity and use of counterpoint reminiscent of Johann Sebastian Bach, by whose music he was deeply influenced.

Early maturity

Felix probably made his first public concert appearance at age nine, when he participated in a chamber music concert accompanying a horn duo. He was also a prolific composer from an early age. As an adolescent, his works were often performed at home with a private orchestra for the associates of his wealthy parents amongst the intellectual elite of Berlin. Between the ages of 12 and 14, Mendelssohn wrote twelve string symphonies. These works were ignored for over a century, but are now recorded and occasionally played in concerts. He wrote his first published work, a piano quartet, by the time he was thirteen. (It was probably Abraham Mendelssohn who procured the publication of this work by the house of Schlesinger). In 1824, fifteen-year-old Felix wrote his first symphony for full orchestra (in C minor, Op. 11). At age sixteen he wrote his String Octet in E-flat major, the first work which showed the full power of his genius. This Octet and his Overture to Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, which he wrote a year later, are the best-known of his early works. (He wrote incidental music for the play sixteen years later in 1842, including the famous Wedding March.) The Overture is perhaps the earliest example of a 'concert overture', (i.e. a piece not written deliberately to accompany a staged performance, but to evoke a literary theme in performance on a concert platform), a genre which was to become a popular form in musical Romanticism.

In 1824 Felix studied under composer and piano virtuoso Ignaz Moscheles who however confessed in his diaries that he had little to teach Felix. Moscheles became a close colleague and lifelong friend.

1827 saw the premiere—and sole performance in his lifetime—of Mendelssohn's opera, Die Hochzeit des Camacho. The failure of this production left him disinclined to venture into the genre again.

Besides music, Mendelssohn's education included art, literature, languages, and philosophy. He was a skilled artist in pencil and watercolour, he could speak (besides his native German) French English, Italian, and Latin, and he had an interest in classical literature; Felix translated Terence's Andria for his tutor Heyse in 1825 — Heyse was impressed and had it published in 1826 as a work of 'his pupil, F****' [i.e. 'Felix' (asterisks as provided in original text)].

This translation also qualified Mendelssohn to study at the Humboldt University of Berlin, where he attended from 1826 to 1829 lectures on aesthetics by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, on history by Eduard Gans and on geography by Carl Ritter.

Goethe

In 1821 Zelter introduced Mendelssohn to his friend and correspondent, the elderly Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, who was greatly impressed by the child, leading to perhaps the earliest confirmed comparison with Mozart in the following conversation with Zelter:

   "Musical prodigies [%E2%80%A6] are probably 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." "And yet you heard Mozart in his seventh year at Frankfurt?" said Zelter. "Yes", answered Goethe, "[%E2%80%A6] but 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"

Felix was invited to meet Goethe on several later occasions and set a number of Goethe's poems to music; other of his compositions inspired by Goethe include the overtures Meeresstille und glückliche Fahrt (Calm Sea and a Prosperous Voyage, Op. 27, 1828) and the cantata Die erste Walpurgisnacht (The First Walpurgis Night, Op. 60, 1832).

Revival of St Matthew Passion

In 1829, with the backing of Zelter and the assistance of actor Eduard Devrient, Mendelssohn arranged and conducted a performance in Berlin of Bach's St Matthew Passion. The orchestra and choir were provided by the Berlin Singakademie. The success of this performance (the first since Bach's death in 1750) was an important element in the revival of Johann Sebastian Bach's music in Germany and, eventually, throughout Europe. It earned Mendelssohn widespread acclaim at the age of twenty. It also led to one of the few references which Mendelssohn made to his origins: 'To think that it took an actor and a Jew's son (Judensohn) to revive the greatest Christian music for the world!' (cited by Devrient in his memoirs of the composer).

Early career

On Zelter's death in 1832, Mendelssohn had hopes of becoming the conductor of the Berlin Singakademie. However, at a vote in January 1833 he was defeated for the post by the less distinguished Karl Friedrick Rungenhagen. This may have been because of Mendelssohn's youth, and fear of possible innovations; it was also suspected by some to result from his Jewish ancestry. Following this rebuff, Mendelssohn divided most of his professional time over the next few years between England and Düsseldorf, where he was appointed musical director in 1833. In the spring of that year he directed the Lower Rhenish Music Festival, commencing it with a performance of Handel's oratorio Israel in Egypt prepared from the original score which he had found in London. This may be regarded as the start of a Handel revival in Germany begun by Mendelssohn, much as he had reawakened interest in JS Bach. Mendelssohn worked with dramatist Karl Immermann to improve local theatre standards, and made his first appearance as an opera conductor in Immermann's production of Mozart's Don Giovanni at the end of 1833, where he took umbrage at the audience's protests about the cost of tickets. His frustration at his quotidian duties in Düsseldorf, and its provincialism, led him to resign his position at the end of 1834.

In Britain

In 1829 Mendelssohn paid his first visit to Britain, where his former teacher Moscheles, already settled in London, introduced him to influential musical circles. In the summer he visited Edinburgh where he met composer John Thomson. One of the most significant in terms of his success in Britain was his eighth visit in the summer of 1844. He conducted five of the Philharmonic concerts in London, and wrote of it:

   Never before was anything like this season - we never went to bed before half-past one, every hour of every day was filled with engagements three weeks beforehand, and through more music in two months than in all the rest of the year.

On subsequent visits he met Queen Victoria and her musical husband Prince Albert, who both greatly admired his music.

In the course of ten visits to Britain during his life, totalling about 20 months Mendelssohn won a strong following, sufficient for him to make a deep impression on British musical life. He composed; he performed; he edited for British publishers the first critical editions of oratorios of Handel and of the organ music of JS Bach. Scotland inspired two of his most famous works, the overture Fingal's Cave (also known as the Hebrides Overture) and the Scottish Symphony (Symphony No. 3). His oratorio Elijah was premiered in Birmingham at the Triennial Music Festival on 26 August 1846 using an English translation by William Bartholomew. Bartholomew served as his text author/translator for many of his works during his time in England. On his last visit to England (1847) he was the soloist in Beethoven's Piano Concerto no. 4 and conducted his own Scottish Symphony with the Philharmonic Orchestra before the Royal couple.

He also worked closely with his protegé, composer William Sterndale Bennett both in London and Leipzig.

Leipzig

In 1835 Mendelssohn was named conductor of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. This appointment was extremely important for him; he felt himself to be a German and wished to play a leading part in his country's musical life. In its way it was a redress for his disappointment over the Singakademie appointment. Despite efforts by the king of Prussia to lure him to Berlin, Mendelssohn concentrated on developing the musical life of Leipzig, working with the orchestra, with the opera house, the Choir of St. Thomas Church, Leipzig and the city’s other choral and musical institutions. Mendelssohn's concerts included, apart from many of his own works, three series of ‘historical concerts’ and a number of works by his contemporaries. Mendelssohn was deluged by offers of music from rising composers and would-be composers; amongst these was Richard Wagner who submitted his early Symphony, which (to Wagner’s disgust) Mendelssohn lost or mislaid. Mendelssohn was also able to revive interest in the work of Franz Schubert. Robert Schumann discovered the manuscript of Schubert's Ninth Symphony and sent it to Mendelssohn who promptly premiered it in Leipzig on March 21, 1839, more than a decade after Schubert's death.

A landmark event during Mendelssohn’s Leipzig years was the premiere of his oratorio St. Paul, given at the Lower Rhine Festival in Düsseldorf in 1836, shortly after the death of the composer’s father, which much affected him. St. Paul seemed to many of Mendelssohn’s contemporaries to be his finest work, and set the seal on his European reputation. The sceptics included Heinrich Heine who wrote of the work’s ‘finest, cleverest calculation, sharp intelligence and, finally, complete lack of naïveté. But is there in art any originality of genius without naïveté?’ — anticipating Wagner and many of Mendelssohn’s later critics who attacked the composer’s supposed glibness.

In the Berlin of Friedrich Wilhelm IV

Friedrich Wilhelm IV came to the Prussian throne in 1840 with ambitions to develop Berlin as a cultural centre. This included the establishment of a music school and reform of music for the church. The obvious choice to head these reforms was Mendelssohn, who was however reluctant to undertake the task, a reluctance perhaps associated with earlier disappointments in the city, especially in the light of his existing strong position in Leipzig. Although Mendelssohn did spend some time in Berlin, writing some church music and also, at the King’s request, music for a production of Sophocles’s Antigone, the funds for the school never materialised and various of the court's promises to Mendelssohn (finances, title and concert programming) were broken. He was therefore not displeased to have the excuse to return to Leipzig.

The Leipzig Conservatory

In 1843 Mendelssohn founded a major music school, the Leipzig Conservatory, where he persuaded Ignaz Moscheles and Robert Schumann to join him; other prominent musicians, including string players Ferdinand David and Joseph Joachim, and music theorist Moritz Hauptmann also became staff members. After Mendelssohn's death in 1847, his conservative tradition was carried on when Moscheles succeeded him as head of the Conservatory.

Personal life

Personality

Mendelssohn was an enthusiastic amateur artist, producing drawings, watercolors, and oil paintings. His enormous correspondence shows that he could also be a witty writer in German and English — sometimes accompanied by humorous sketches and cartoons in the text.

Although the image was cultivated, especially after his death, of a man always equable, happy and placid in temperament, he was however often given to alarming fits of temper which occasionally led to collapse. On one occasion in the 1830s, when his wishes had been crossed "his excitement was increased so fearfully [%E2%80%A6] that when the family was assembled [%E2%80%A6] he began to talk incoherently, and in English, to the great terror of them all. The stern voice of his father at last checked the wild torrent of words; they took him to bed, and a profound sleep of twelve hours restored him to his normal state". Such fits may be related to his early death.

Marriage and children

Mendelssohn married Cécile Charlotte Sophie Jeanrenaud (10 October 1817 - 25 September 1853), the daughter of a French Protestant clergyman, on 28 March 1837. The couple had five children: Carl, Marie, Paul, Lilli and Felix. The youngest child, Felix, contracted measles in 1844 and was left with his health impaired; he died in 1851. The eldest, Carl, became a distinguished historian, and professor of history at Heidelberg and Freiburg universities, dying in 1897. Paul Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1841–1880) was a noted chemist and pioneered the manufacture of aniline dye. Marie married Victor Benecke and lived in London. Lili married Adolphe Wach, later Professor of Law at Leipzig University.

Cécile died less than six years after Felix's passing, on 25 September 1853.

Jenny Lind

In general Mendelssohn's personal life seems to have been fairly conventional compared to his contemporaries Wagner, Berlioz, and Schumann — except for his relationship with Swedish soprano Jenny Lind, whom he met in October 1844. An affidavit from Lind's husband, Otto Goldschmidt, which is currently held in the archive of the Mendelssohn Scholarship Foundation at the Royal Academy of Music in London, reportedly describes Mendelssohn's 1847 request for Lind (who was then not married) to elope with him to America. The affidavit, though unsealed, is currently unreleased by the Mendelssohn Scholarship Foundation, despite requests to make it public. Mendelssohn met and worked with Lind many times, and started an opera, Lorelei, for her, based on the legend of the Lorelei Rhine maidens; the opera was unfinished at his death. He is said to have included a high F-sharp in his oratorio Elijah ("Hear Ye Israel") with Lind's voice in mind, although she did not sing this part until after his death, at a concert in December 1848. In 1847 Mendelssohn attended a London performance of Meyerbeer's Robert le diable —an opera which musically he despised— in order to hear Lind's British debut, in the role of Alice. Music critic Chorley, who was with him, wrote "I see as I write the smile with which Mendelssohn, whose enjoyment of Mdlle. Lind's talent was unlimited, turned round and looked at me,as if a load of anxiety had been taken off his mind. His attachment to Mlle. Lind's genius as a singer was unbounded, as was his desire for her success."

Mercer-Taylor writes that although there is no currently available hard evidence of a physical affair between the two, "absence of evidence is not evidence of absence." Clive Brown writes that "it has been rumoured that the [affidavit] papers tend to substantiate the notion of an affair between Mendelssohn and Lind, though with what degree of reliability must remain highly questionable." The evidence for such an affair is contested by Cecile and Jens Jorgensen, but also without any hard evidence.

Upon Mendelssohn's death Lind wrote, "[He was] the only person who brought fulfillment to my spirit, and almost as soon as I found him I lost him again." In 1869 Lind erected a plaque in Mendelssohn's memory at his birthplace in Hamburg; in 1849 she established the Mendelssohn Scholarship Foundation, which makes an award to a British resident young composer every two years in Mendelssohn's memory. The first winner of the scholarship (in 1856), was Arthur Sullivan, then aged 14.

Death

Mendelssohn suffered from bad health in the final years of his life, probably aggravated by nervous problems and overwork. The death of his sister Fanny on 14 May 1847 caused him great distress. Less than six months later, on 4 November, Felix himself died in Leipzig after a series of strokes. He was 38. His grandfather Moses, his sister Fanny and both his parents had died from similar apoplexies. His funeral was held at the Paulinerkirche, Leipzig, and he was buried in the Trinity Cemetery in Berlin-Kreuzberg.

Contemporaries

Throughout his life Mendelssohn was wary of the more radical musical developments undertaken by some of his contemporaries. He was generally on friendly, if somewhat cool, terms with the likes of Hector Berlioz, Franz Liszt, and Giacomo Meyerbeer, but in his letters expresses his frank disapproval of their works.

In particular, he seems to have regarded Paris and its music with the greatest of suspicion and an almost puritanical distaste. Attempts made during his visit there to interest him in Saint-Simonianism ended in embarrassing scenes. He thought the Paris style of opera vulgar, and the works of Meyerbeer insincere. When Ferdinand Hiller suggested in conversation to Felix that he looked rather like Meyerbeer (they were distant cousins, both descendants of Rabbi Moses Isserlis), Mendelssohn was so upset that he immediately went to get a haircut to differentiate himself. It is significant that the only musician with whom he was a close personal friend, Moscheles, was of an older generation and equally conservative in outlook. Moscheles preserved this outlook at the Leipzig Conservatory until his own death in 1870.

Reputation

In the immediate wake of Mendelssohn's death, he was mourned both in Germany and England. Eduard Devrient writes in his diary in Dresden on 3 February 1848 'I met Kapellmeister [i.e. Richard] Wagner; went with him to the theatre, where Mendelssohn's birthday was being celebrated with a prologue, in which Fr. Bayer crowned his recently completed bust. I was in a daze - that I should live to see [him] so sadly honoured'.

However the conservative strain in Mendelssohn, which set him apart from some of his more flamboyant contemporaries, bred a corollary condescension amongst some of them toward his music. His success, his popularity and his Jewish origins irked Richard Wagner sufficiently to damn Mendelssohn with faint praise, three years after his death, in an anti-Jewish pamphlet Das Judenthum in der Musik. This was the start of a movement to denigrate Mendelssohn's achievements which lasted almost a century, the remnants of which can still be discerned today among some writers. The Nazi regime was to cite Mendelssohn's Jewish origin in banning performance and publication of his works. The monument dedicated to Mendelssohn erected in Leipzig in 1892 was removed by the regime in 1936 - its fate is unknown. A new statue of the composer was erected to replace it in 2008.

Mendelssohn's reputation in England remained high for a long time, as evidenced by Prince Albert's note of appreciation (in German) in his programme for the choral work Elijah in 1847,

   To the noble artist who, surrounded by the Baal-worship of debased art, has been able by his genius and science to preserve faithfully, like another Elijah, the worship of true art.

The adulatory (and today scarcely readable) novel Charles Auchester by the teenaged Sarah Sheppard, published in 1851, which features Mendelssohn as the "Chevalier Seraphael", remained in print for nearly eighty years. Queen Victoria demonstrated her enthusiasm by requesting, when The Crystal Palace was being re-built in 1854, that it include a statue of Mendelssohn. Mendelssohn's Wedding March from A Midsummer Night's Dream was played at the wedding of Queen Victoria's daughter, Princess Victoria, The Princess Royal, to Crown Prince Frederick of Prussia in 1858 and it is still popular today at marriage ceremonies. His sacred choral music, particularly the smaller-scale works, remains popular in the choral tradition of the Church of England. However many critics, including Bernard Shaw, began to condemn Mendelssohn's music for its association with Victorian cultural insularity; Shaw in particular complained of the composer's "kid-glove gentility, his conventional sentimentality, and his despicable oratorio-mongering".

According to Andrew Porter, Ferruccio Busoni considered Mendelssohn "a master of undisputed greatness" and "an heir of Mozart", which can be contrasted with his views on composers such as Franz Schubert ("a gifted amateur") and Ludwig van Beethoven ("he lacked the technique to express his emotions").

A more nuanced appreciation of Mendelssohn's work has developed over the last fifty years, which takes into account not only the popular 'war horses', such as the E minor Violin Concerto and the Italian Symphony, but has been able to remove the Victorian varnish from the oratorio Elijah, and has explored the frequently intense and dramatic world of the chamber works. Virtually all of Mendelssohn's published works are now available on CD. On a postage stamp, (Deutsche Post), 200th anniversary

Charles Rosen both praises and criticizes Mendelssohn in his 1998 book The Romantic Generation, calling him a "genius" [as a composer] with a "profound" comprehension of Beethoven and "the greatest child prodigy the history of Western music has ever known." Although Rosen feels that in his later years, without losing his craft or "genius" the composer "renounced...his daring," he calls his (relatively) late Violin Concerto in E minor "the most successful synthesis of the Classical concerto tradition and the Romantic virtuoso form." Rosen calls his adolescent "Fugue in E minor" (later included in his Op. 35 for piano) a "masterpiece" but in the same paragraph calls Mendelssohn "the inventor of religious kitsch in music," of which he writes: "It does not comfort, but only makes us more comfortable." On the one hand, Rosen writes "The decline of Mendelssohn's reputation may appear inexplicable when we consider [his] achievements", but he also comments (rather ambiguously) regarding his popular Songs without Words: "It is not true that they are insipid but they might as well be."

Works

Early works

The young Mendelssohn was greatly influenced in his childhood by the music of Bach, Beethoven and Mozart and traces of these can all be seen in the twelve early string symphonies, mainly written for performance in the Mendelssohn household and not published or publicly performed until long after his death. He wrote these from 1821 to 1823, when he was between the ages of 12 and 14 years old.

Mendelssohn's first published works were his three piano quartets, (1822-5; op. 1 in C minor, op. 2 in F minor and op. 3 in B minor). His astounding capacities are especially revealed in a clutch of works of his early maturity: the String Octet (1825), the Overture A Midsummer Night's Dream (1826) (which in its finished form owes much to the influence of Adolf Bernhard Marx, at the time a close friend of Mendelssohn), and the two early quartets (op. 12 written in 1829, and op.13 in fact written earlier, in 1827) which show a remarkable grasp of the techniques and ideas of Beethoven's last quartets, which Felix had been closely studying. These show an intuitive grasp of form, harmony, counterpoint, colour and the compositional technique, which justify claims frequently made that Mendelssohn's precocity exceeded even that of Mozart in its intellectual grasp.

Symphonies

The numbering of his mature symphonies is approximately in order of publishing, rather than of composition. The order of composition is: 1, 5, 4, 2, 3. (Because he worked on it for over a decade, the placement of No. 3 in this sequence is problematic; he started sketches for it soon after the No. 5, but completed it following both Nos. 5 and 4.)

The Symphony No. 1 in C minor for full-scale orchestra was written in 1824, when Mendelssohn was aged 15. This work is experimental, showing the influence of Bach, Beethoven and Mozart. Mendelssohn conducted this symphony on his first visit to London in 1829 with the orchestra of the Royal Philharmonic Society. For the third movement he substituted an orchestration of the Scherzo from his Octet. In this form the piece was an outstanding success and laid the foundations of his British reputation.

During 1829 and 1830 Mendelssohn wrote his Symphony No. 5, known as the Reformation. It celebrated the 300th anniversary of the Lutheran Church. Mendelssohn remained dissatisfied with the work and did not allow publication of the score.

The Scottish Symphony (Symphony No. 3 in A minor), was written and revised intermittently between 1830 and 1842. This piece evokes Scotland's atmosphere in the ethos of Romanticism, but does not employ any identified Scottish folk melodies. Mendelssohn published the score of the symphony in 1842 in an arrangement for piano duet, and as a full orchestral score in 1843.

Mendelssohn's travels in Italy inspired him to write the Symphony No. 4 in A major, known as the Italian. Mendelssohn conducted the premiere in 1833, but he did not allow this score to be published during his lifetime as he continually sought to rewrite it.

In 1840 Mendelssohn wrote the choral Symphony No. 2 in B-flat major, entitled Lobgesang (Hymn of Praise), and this score was published in 1841.

Other orchestral music

Mendelssohn wrote the concert overture The Hebrides (Fingal's Cave) in 1830, inspired by visits he made to Scotland around the end of the 1820s. He visited the cave, on the Hebridean isle of Staffa, as part of his Grand Tour of Europe, and was so impressed that he scribbled the opening theme of the overture on the spot, including it in a letter he wrote home the same evening.

Throughout his career he wrote a number of other concert overtures. Those most frequently played today include an overture to Ruy Blas (commissioned for a charity performance of Victor Hugo's drama, which Mendelssohn hated), Meerestille und Glückliche Fahrt (Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage, inspired by a pair of poems by Goethe), and The Fair Melusine.

The incidental music to A Midsummer Night's Dream (Op. 61), including the well-known Wedding March, was written in 1843, seventeen years after the overture.

Opera

Mendelssohn wrote some Singspiels for family performance in his youth. His opera Die beiden Neffen was rehearsed for him on his fifteenth birthday. In 1827 he wrote a more sophisticated work, Die Hochzeit des Camacho, based on an episode in Don Quixote, for public consumption. It was produced in Berlin in 1827. Mendelssohn left the theatre before the conclusion of the first performance, and subsequent performances were cancelled.

Although he never abandoned the idea of composing a full opera, and considered many subjects —including that of the Nibelung saga later adapted by Wagner— he never wrote more than a few pages of sketches for any project. In his last years opera manager Benjamin Lumley tried to contract him to write an opera on The Tempest on a libretto by Eugène Scribe, and even announced it as forthcoming in the year of Mendelssohn's death. The libretto was eventually set by Fromental Halévy. At his death Mendelssohn left some sketches for an opera on the story of Lorelei.

Concertos

Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64 (1844), written for Ferdinand David, has become one of the most popular of all of Mendelssohn's compositions. David, who had worked closely with Mendelssohn during the piece's preparation, gave the premiere of the concerto on his Guarneri violin.

Mendelssohn also wrote two piano concertos, a lesser-known, early, violin concerto (D minor), two concertos for two pianos and orchestra when he was 15 and 17 years old, and a double concerto for piano and violin. In addition, there are several works for soloist and orchestra in one movement. Those for piano are the Rondo Brillante, Op. 29, of 1834; the Capriccio Brillante, Op. 22, of 1832; and the Serenade and Allegro Giocoso Op. 43, of 1838. Opp. 113 and 114 are Konzertstücke (concerto movements, originally for clarinet, basset horn and piano, that were orchestrated and performed in that form in Mendelssohn's lifetime.)

Chamber music

Mendelssohn's mature output contains many chamber works, many of which display an emotional intensity lacking in some of his larger works. In particular his String Quartet No. 6, his last string quartet and major work, written following the death of his sister Fanny, is both powerful and eloquent. Other mature works include two string quintets, sonatas for the clarinet, cello, viola and violin, and two piano trios. For the Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor, Mendelssohn unusually took the advice of a fellow-composer (Ferdinand Hiller) and rewrote the piano part in a more romantic, 'Schumannesque' style, considerably heightening its effect.

Choral works

The two large biblical oratorios, St Paul in 1836 and Elijah in 1846, are greatly influenced by Bach. From the unfinished oratorio, Christus, the chorus "There Shall a Star Come out of Jacob" (which together with the preceding recitative and male trio comprises all of the existing material from that work) is sometimes performed.

Strikingly different is the more overtly 'romantic' Die erste Walpurgisnacht (The First Walpurgis Night), a setting for chorus and orchestra of a ballad by Goethe describing pagan rituals of the Druids in the Harz mountains in the early days of Christianity. This remarkable score has been seen by the scholar Heinz-Klaus Metzger as a "Jewish protest against the domination of Christianity".

Mendelssohn also wrote many smaller-scale sacred works for unaccompanied choir and for choir with organ. Some were written, and most have been translated into English, and remain highly popular. Perhaps the most famous is Hear My Prayer, with its second half containing 'O for the Wings of a Dove', which became extremely popular as a separate item. The piece is written for full choir, organ, and a treble or soprano soloist who has many challenging and extended solo passages. As such, it is a particular favourite for choirboys in churches and cathedrals, and has perhaps been recorded more than any other treble solo.

The hymn tune Mendelssohn—an adaptation by William Hayman Cummings of a melody from Mendelssohn's cantata Festgesang—is the standard tune for Charles Wesley's popular hymn Hark! The Herald Angels Sing. This extract from an originally secular 1840s composition, which Mendelssohn felt unsuited to sacred music, is thus ubiquitous at Christmas.

Songs

Mendelssohn wrote many songs, both for solo voice and for duet, with piano. Many of these are simple, or slightly modified, strophic settings. Such songs as Auf Flügeln des Gesanges ("On Wings of Song") became popular. Seven of Mendelssohn's songs, including Auf Flügeln des Gesanges and Neue Liebe (to a poem of Heine) were transcribed for piano solo, in a virtuoso style, by Franz Liszt.

A number of songs written by Mendelssohn's sister Fanny originally appeared under her brother's name; this was partly due to the prejudice of the family, and partly to her own diffidence.

Piano music

Mendelssohn's Lieder ohne Worte (Songs without Words), eight cycles each containing six lyric pieces (2 published posthumously), remain his most famous solo piano compositions. They became standard parlour recital items, and their overwhelming popularity has caused many critics to under-rate their musical value. Other composers who were inspired to produce similar pieces of their own included Charles-Valentin Alkan (the five sets of Chants, each ending with a barcarolle), Anton Rubinstein, Ignaz Moscheles and Edvard Grieg.

Other notable piano pieces by Mendelssohn include his Variations sérieuses, Op. 54 (1841), the Rondo Capriccioso, the set of six Preludes and Fugues, Op. 35 (written between 1832 and 1837), and the Seven Characteristic Pieces, Op. 7 (1827).

Organ music

Mendelssohn played the organ and composed for it from the age of 11 to his death. His primary organ works are the Three Preludes and Fugues, Op. 37 (1837), and the Six Sonatas, Op. 65 (1845).

_________________________________________________________

Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, born and generally known as Felix Mendelssohn. (February 3, 1809 – November 4, 1847) was a German composer, pianist and conductor of the early Romantic period.

The grandson of the philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, he was born to a notable Jewish family which later converted to Christianity.

His work includes symphonies, concerti, oratorios, piano and chamber music. After a long period of relative denigration due to changing musical tastes and antisemitism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, his creative originality is now being recognised and re-evaluated. He is now among the most popular composers of the Romantic era.

http://www.felixmendelssohn.com/

http://w3.rz-berlin.mpg.de/cmp/mendelssohn.html

______________________________________________________________

Né en 1809 à Hambourg, fils du banquier Abraham MENDELSSOHN, petit-fils du philosophe Moses MENDELSSOHN, il entra à l'âge de dix ans à la Singakademie de Berlin. Il composa à cet âge sa première cantate.Sa première oeuvre jouée en public fut son "Ouverture pour le songe d'une nuit d'été (1827)". Converti au catholicisme, il quitta Berlin en 1829 pour Londres où ses oeuvres commencèrent à obtenir du succès et il revint en Allemagne en 1833.

______________________________________________________________

http://www.lagis-hessen.de/de/subjects/idrec/sn/bio/id/4919

• 3.2.1809 Hamburg, † 4.11.1847 Leipzig, jüdisch; evangelisch Dr. phil. h.c. – Komponist, Dirigent, Pianist

Werdegang:

• Schüler von Friedrich Zelter in Berlin, „Wunderkind“
• 1816 in Berlin evangelisch getauft
• 1822 erstes Konzert in Frankfurt am Main im Cäcilienverein zusammen mit seiner Schwester Fanny Mendelssohn widmet dem Cäcilienverein in Frankfurt am Main ein „Jube Domine“, ein achtstimmiges „Kyrie“ und später das Oratorium „Paulus“, Freundschaft mit dem Gründer und Leiter des Cäcilienvereins Johann Nepomuk Schelble
• 1827 Rheinreise, u.a. in Horchheim bei Koblenz, dem Wohnsitz des Onkels
• 1829 als Klaviervirtuose in England gefeiert
• 1829 zum 100. Jahrestag der Erstaufführung Wiederaufführung der Matthäus-Passion von Johann Sebastian Bach und „Pfingstwunder der Bach-Rezeption“
• 1833 Musikdirektor in Düsseldorf
• 1835 fünfter Kapellmeister des Gewandhausorchesters in Leipzig
• 1836 in Frankfurt am Main und im Rheingau
• 1839 posthume Uraufführung von Schuberts C-Dur-Sinfonie in Leipzig
• 1839 Dr.phil. h.c. der Universität Leipzig
• 1842 und in den Sommermonaten 1844, 1846 und 1847 in Soden i.Ts., Zusammentreffen mit Nikolaus Lenau, Hoffmann von Fallersleben und Freiligrath
• 1843 zugleich Leiter des neu gegründeten Konservatoriums in Leipzig
• 1843 Kgl. Preuß. Generalmusikdirektor

Familie ↑

• Vater: Mendelssohn, Abraham* Moses (Ernst), 1776-1822, PND 116881011, seit 1812 „Mendelssohn Bartholdy“, Mitgründer des Bankhauses Mendelssohn & Co., Bankier in der Firma seines Bruders Joseph, Stadtrat in Berlin, ließ sich 1822 taufen, Sohn des Moses Mendessohn, 1729-1786, Philosoph, und der Fromet Gugenheim, 1737-1812, Tochter des Abraham Gugenheim, gest. 1766, Kaufmann in Hamburg, und der Miriam Glückel Cleve, gest. 1738
• Mutter: Salomon, Lea* Felicia Pauline (seit 1822), 1777-1842, Tochter des Levin Jacob Salomon, 1738-1783, Bankier in Berlin, und der Bella Itzig, 1749-1824, seit 1812 „Bartholdy“
• Partner: Jeanrenaud, Cécile* Sophie Charlotte, (Frankfurt am Main 28.3.1837), 1817-1853
• Verwandte:
• Carl <Sohn>, 1838-1897, PND 116881100, Historiker in Freiburg i.Br.
• Marie <Tochter>, 1839-1897
• Paul <Sohn>, 1841-1880, PND 137996330, Chemiker
• Felix* August Eduard (Felix d. jüngere) <Sohn>, 1843-1851, PND 133468380,
• Wach, Lili, geb. Mendelssohn Bartholdy <Tochter>, 1845-1910, verheiratet mit Adolph Wach, 1843-1926, Professor der Rechte
• Hensel, Fanny* Zippora Cäcilia, geb. Mendelssohn <Schwester>, 1805-1847, PND 118580736, Pianistin, Komponistin, verheiratet mit Wilhelm Hensel, 1794-1861, Maler _______
• Lejeune-Dirichlet, Rebecca (Henriette), geb. Mendelssohn <Schwester>, 1811-1859, verheiratet mit Peter Gustav Lejeune-Dirichlet, 1805-1859, Mathematiker
• Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Paul (Hermann) <Bruder>, 1812-1874
• Schlegel, Dorothea, geb. Mendelssohn <Tante>, 1764-1839, 1804 evangelisch getauft, 1808 katholisch verheiratet I. 1779-1794 (geschieden) mit Simon Veit, 1754-1819, verheiratet II. 1804 mit Friedrich Schlegel, 1772-1829, Philosoph
• Bartholdy, Jacob Ludwig Salomon <Großonkel>, 1779-1825, Diplomat

Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy

• A Midsummer Night's Dream - Wedding March,
• The Hebrides (Fingal's Cave) - Overture,
• A Midsummer's Night Dream - Scherzo & Song - "You spotted snakes",
• Itzhak Perlman Mendelssohn Violin Concerto andante.
• from the Italian Symphony,

______________________________________________________________

http://www.lagis-hessen.de/de/subjects/idrec/sn/bio/id/4919

• 3.2.1809 Hamburg, † 4.11.1847 Leipzig, jüdisch; evangelisch Dr. phil. h.c. – Komponist, Dirigent, Pianist

Werdegang:

• Schüler von Friedrich Zelter in Berlin, „Wunderkind“
• 1816 in Berlin evangelisch getauft
• 1822 erstes Konzert in Frankfurt am Main im Cäcilienverein zusammen mit seiner Schwester Fanny Mendelssohn widmet dem Cäcilienverein in Frankfurt am Main ein „Jube Domine“, ein achtstimmiges „Kyrie“ und später das Oratorium „Paulus“, Freundschaft mit dem Gründer und Leiter des Cäcilienvereins Johann Nepomuk Schelble
• 1827 Rheinreise, u.a. in Horchheim bei Koblenz, dem Wohnsitz des Onkels
• 1829 als Klaviervirtuose in England gefeiert
• 1829 zum 100. Jahrestag der Erstaufführung Wiederaufführung der Matthäus-Passion von Johann Sebastian Bach und „Pfingstwunder der Bach-Rezeption“
• 1833 Musikdirektor in Düsseldorf
• 1835 fünfter Kapellmeister des Gewandhausorchesters in Leipzig
• 1836 in Frankfurt am Main und im Rheingau
• 1839 posthume Uraufführung von Schuberts C-Dur-Sinfonie in Leipzig
• 1839 Dr.phil. h.c. der Universität Leipzig
• 1842 und in den Sommermonaten 1844, 1846 und 1847 in Soden i.Ts., Zusammentreffen mit Nikolaus Lenau, Hoffmann von Fallersleben und Freiligrath
• 1843 zugleich Leiter des neu gegründeten Konservatoriums in Leipzig
• 1843 Kgl. Preuß. Generalmusikdirektor

Familie ↑

• Vater: Mendelssohn, Abraham* Moses (Ernst), 1776-1822, PND 116881011, seit 1812 „Mendelssohn Bartholdy“, Mitgründer des Bankhauses Mendelssohn & Co., Bankier in der Firma seines Bruders Joseph, Stadtrat in Berlin, ließ sich 1822 taufen, Sohn des Moses Mendessohn, 1729-1786, Philosoph, und der Fromet Gugenheim, 1737-1812, Tochter des Abraham Gugenheim, gest. 1766, Kaufmann in Hamburg, und der Miriam Glückel Cleve, gest. 1738
• Mutter: Salomon, Lea* Felicia Pauline (seit 1822), 1777-1842, Tochter des Levin Jacob Salomon, 1738-1783, Bankier in Berlin, und der Bella Itzig, 1749-1824, seit 1812 „Bartholdy“
• Partner: Jeanrenaud, Cécile* Sophie Charlotte, (Frankfurt am Main 28.3.1837), 1817-1853
• Verwandte:
• Carl <Sohn>, 1838-1897, PND 116881100, Historiker in Freiburg i.Br.
• Marie <Tochter>, 1839-1897
• Paul <Sohn>, 1841-1880, PND 137996330, Chemiker
• Felix* August Eduard (Felix d. jüngere) <Sohn>, 1843-1851, PND 133468380,
• Wach, Lili, geb. Mendelssohn Bartholdy <Tochter>, 1845-1910, verheiratet mit Adolph Wach, 1843-1926, Professor der Rechte
• Hensel, Fanny* Zippora Cäcilia, geb. Mendelssohn <Schwester>, 1805-1847, PND 118580736, Pianistin, Komponistin, verheiratet mit Wilhelm Hensel, 1794-1861, Maler _______
• Lejeune-Dirichlet, Rebecca (Henriette), geb. Mendelssohn <Schwester>, 1811-1859, verheiratet mit Peter Gustav Lejeune-Dirichlet, 1805-1859, Mathematiker
• Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Paul (Hermann) <Bruder>, 1812-1874
• Schlegel, Dorothea, geb. Mendelssohn <Tante>, 1764-1839, 1804 evangelisch getauft, 1808 katholisch verheiratet I. 1779-1794 (geschieden) mit Simon Veit, 1754-1819, verheiratet II. 1804 mit Friedrich Schlegel, 1772-1829, Philosoph
• Bartholdy, Jacob Ludwig Salomon <Großonkel>, 1779-1825, Diplomat

Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy

• A Midsummer Night's Dream - Wedding March,
• The Hebrides (Fingal's Cave) - Overture,
• A Midsummer's Night Dream - Scherzo & Song - "You spotted snakes",
• Itzhak Perlman Mendelssohn Violin Concerto andante.
• from the Italian Symphony,

Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, plus couramment appelé Felix Mendelssohn (parfois Félix avec accent), né le 3 février 1809 à Hambourg et mort le 4 novembre 1847 à Leipzig, est un compositeur, chef d'orchestre et pianiste allemand du début de la période romantique. Il est le petit-fils du philosophe Moses Mendelssohn, le fils du banquier et philanthrope Abraham Mendelssohn Bartholdy et le frère de la compositrice Fanny Mendelssohn.

Après des succès précoces en Allemagne, il voyage dans l'Europe entière et est particulièrement bien accueilli en Grande-Bretagne, où, au cours de ses dix visites, sont créées plusieurs de ses œuvres majeures. Contemporain de Liszt, Wagner et Berlioz, il laisse une œuvre très féconde pour sa courte vie de 38 ans (symphonies, concerti, oratorios, ouvertures, musique de scène, œuvres pour piano seul, œuvres pour orgue seul et musique de chambre). Sa notoriété repose sur quelques-uns de ses plus grands chefs-d'œuvre : l'ouverture et la musique de scène pour « Le Songe d’une nuit d’été », l'ouverture « Les Hébrides », les symphonies « italienne » et « écossaise », les oratorios « Paulus » et « Elias », le second Concerto pour violon en mi mineur, op. 64, l'Octuor à cordes et le Trio no 1 en ré mineur, op. 49.

Il a participé à la redécouverte de la musique baroque et surtout de Jean-Sébastien Bach et Georges-Frédéric Haendel. Il est notamment l'un des premiers compositeurs de son temps à renouveler l'art du contrepoint, ce qui lui vaut parfois d'être considéré comme « le classique des romantiques ». Après une longue période de dénigrement relatif due à l'évolution des goûts musicaux, à l'antisémitisme du xixe siècle et du xxe siècle et à l'interdiction par les nazis de jouer sa musique, il est redécouvert dans la deuxième moitié du xxe siècle et reconnu comme un compositeur majeur de l'ère romantique.

À l'issue de la première représentation de l’Écossaise, il est considéré par Wagner, compositeur antisémite pourtant habituellement porté aux critiques virulentes à son encontre, comme un « paysagiste de première classe »

Biographie

Le grand-père, Moses Mendelssohn, célèbre philosophe et rabbin, inspirateur (sans en être fondateur) du judaïsme réformé a acquis, par lettre royale, pour lui et sa famille, des droits civiques, auxquels les juifs n'avaient normalement pas accès. Cela lui permet de s'allier, par mariage, au milieu des affaires. Abraham, le père de Felix, est un banquier berlinois prospère, qui finit par convertir sa famille au luthéranisme.

La maison des Mendelssohn à Berlin est un lieu de rencontre pour l'élite intellectuelle que fréquentent, entre autres Hegel, Heine, et son premier maître de musique, Carl Friedrich Zelter. Felix et sa sœur Fanny se révèlent des enfants prodiges en musique. À douze ans, en 1821, pour l'anniversaire de son père, il compose son premier opéra, les Deux Précepteurs, pièce qui ironise sur l'éducation rigoureuse qu'il reçoit. Pour autant, Mendelssohn ne se distingue pas par ses opéras, mais plutôt par sa musique symphonique, son œuvre pour piano, ses pièces religieuses et sa musique de chambre. Cette même année 1821, il rencontre Goethe, qui lui porte une grande admiration, déclarant notamment que ses facultés « tenaient du prodige »2.

À seize ans, il a déjà composé ses douze symphonies pour orchestre à cordes, sa première symphonie, un octuor à cordes, ainsi que cinq concertos pour violon ou pour piano. Il joue avec sa sœur aînée Fanny Mendelssohn, également virtuose du piano, dont il reste très proche pendant toute sa vie.

Mendelssohn ne fréquente pas le gymnasium, mais il reçoit une éducation complète avec des précepteurs comme Karl Wilhelm Ludwig Heyse (de) qui lui enseigne la philologie. Felix traduit et publie en 1825 une comédie de Térence. Il s'inscrit à l'université de Berlin en 1827. Il suit les cours de Hegel (Esthétique ou philosophie de l'art), d'Eduard Gans (droit et histoire contemporaine), Carl Ritter (géographie), Leopold von Ranke (histoire), Paul Erman et Martin Lichtenstein (zoologie). Il termine ses études au printemps 18293. Il dirige au même moment une exécution de la Passion selon saint Matthieu de Johann Sebastian Bach, qui fait époque dans le mouvement de redécouverte de la musique ancienne. Puis, toujours en 1829, il part pour un voyage en Angleterre et en Écosse. L'année suivante, il séjourne longuement en Italie et rencontre Hector Berlioz à Rome. Ces différents voyages lui inspirent plusieurs partitions : no 3 « Écossaise », ouverture les Hébrides, no 4 « Italienne ».

Directeur musical du Gewandhaus de Leipzig dès 1835, il est appelé dans les années 1840 à Berlin par le roi de Prusse Frédéric-Guillaume IV afin de réorganiser la vie musicale de la cité. Il devient alors le compositeur européen le plus célèbre de son époque, notamment en Angleterre. À Leipzig, dans les années 1840, il se lie d'amitié avec le compositeur Robert Schumann qui voit en lui le « Mozart du xixe siècle ». Il encourage d'autres compositeurs, tels Joseph Joachim Raff ou Niels Wilhelm Gade.

En 1837, il épouse Cécile Jeanrenaud, la fille d'un pasteur originaire de Môtiers dans le canton de Neuchâtel (Suisse). Ils ont quatre enfants.

La mort de Fanny, le 14 mai 1847, lui cause un profond chagrin et lui inspire son dernier quatuor. Cinq mois plus tard, le 28 octobre 1847, à Leipzig, il est pris de maux de tête très violents. Quelques jours plus tard, il est victime d’une nouvelle attaque et meurt le 4 novembre 1847, âgé seulement de 38 ans. Il est enterré à Berlin (cimetière de Mehringdamm).

Par deux de ses sœurs, Felix est lié aux mathématiques allemandes du xixe siècle. Fanny est la grand-mère de Kurt Hensel, tandis que Rebecka (en) a épousé Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet.

Patronyme

Abraham Mendelssohn, le père de Felix, a abandonné la religion juive ; sa femme Lea et lui ont délibérément choisi de ne pas faire circoncire leur fils, contrairement à la tradition. Les enfants du couple sont d'abord élevés sans éducation religieuse, avant d'être baptisés par un pasteur réformé en 1816, moment où Felix reçoit les prénoms supplémentaires de Jakob et Ludwig. En 1822, Abraham et sa femme se font baptiser à leur tour et prennent officiellement le nom de Mendelssohn Bartholdy (qu'ils utilisaient depuis 1812) pour eux et leurs enfants. L'ajout de Bartholdy a été suggéré par le frère de Lea, Jakob Salomon Bartholdy, qui a hérité d'un domaine de ce nom à Luisenstadt et l'a adopté pour lui-même. Dans une lettre de 1829 à Felix, Abraham présente ce choix comme un moyen de marquer une rupture décisive avec les traditions de son père Moses : « Il ne peut pas plus y avoir de Mendelssohn chrétien que de Confucius juif. » Alors au début de sa carrière musicale, Felix ne renonce pas au nom de Mendelssohn, comme le lui demande Abraham, mais, par respect pour son père, signe ses lettres et fait imprimer sur ses cartes de visite « Mendelssohn Bartholdy ». La même année, sa sœur Fanny lui écrit à propos de « Bartholdy [...] ce nom que nous détestons tous ».

Musique

Parmi ses œuvres les plus célèbres, on peut citer le Songe d'une nuit d'été, le Concerto pour violon en mi mineur op. 64, les Symphonies no 1, no 3 « Écossaise » (en fait la 5e dans l'ordre de composition), et no 4 « Italienne » (3e dans l'ordre de composition), ainsi que quelques-unes de ses 64 romances sans paroles pour piano. Cependant la connaissance de Mendelssohn se limite bien souvent à ces œuvres, alors qu'il a composé nombre d'autres chefs-d'œuvre. Parmi ceux-ci, on trouve les variations sérieuses pour piano op. 54, véritable chef-d'œuvre de la composition pianistique du xixe siècle. D’autres œuvres maîtresses de Mendelssohn sont les deux trios avec piano Op. 49 en ré mineur et Op. 66 en ut mineur. Si la réputation du premier trio n'est plus à faire, en revanche le deuxième trio reste assez méconnu du grand public, alors qu'il est aussi beau, si ce n'est plus que l'opus 49, avec son premier mouvement d'une grande intensité dramatique, son scherzo endiablé typiquement mendelssohnien, et son final incluant un choral, à l'instar de la 5e symphonie, « Réformation ». Ces deux trios pour piano s'inscrivent entre ceux de Franz Schubert (notamment l'op. 100) et ceux de Johannes Brahms, on y retrouve les mêmes sonorités que dans le concerto pour violon, celles d'un Mendelssohn au sommet de son art, plus profond, plus romantique, synthèse des acquis classiques et du romantisme allemand. Enfin, on peut aussi citer l'octuor à cordes op. 20, œuvre qu'il a composée à l'âge de seize ans, et qui reflète déjà une grande maturité, les sept quatuors à cordes, et plus particulièrement les quatuor op. 44 (trois quatuors) et op. 80, les deux concertos pour piano et grand orchestre op. 25 et op. 40, les sonates pour violon et violoncelle. Bien qu'il n'ait pas eu de succès avec ses opéras de jeunesse, Mendelssohn excelle également dans la musique vocale, ce qui est particulièrement sensible dans le Songe, dans les Psaumes (le Psaume 42, Op. 42), la 2e symphonie, « Chant de louange » et les oratorios Paulus et Elias.

Mendelssohn était considéré de son vivant comme l’un des plus grands compositeurs européens, son ami Robert Schumann lui vouait une grande admiration. Il est sans aucun doute l'un des plus grands génies musicaux du xixe siècle, aussi bien en tant que compositeur, pianiste (il est souvent décrit comme un enfant prodige, à l'égal de Mozart et de Saint-Saëns) et chef d'orchestre.

Le style musical de Mendelssohn, à la fois lyrique et très travaillé sur le plan formel (avec l'utilisation fréquente de l'ostinato), cédant plus tard la place à l'emploi de dissonances et de contrastes incisifs, fait de lui l'un des compositeurs essentiels du xixe siècle. Ses sonorités orchestrales sont raffinées et très colorées, et il était devenu le maître du scherzo, auquel il donnait toujours une grande vivacité (octuor, quatuors, trios, Songe d'une nuit d'été, la Première Nuit de Walpurgis, final des concertos…).

On lui doit les redécouvertes de la Passion selon saint Matthieu de Jean-Sébastien Bach, de Georg Friedrich Haendel et de la 9e symphonie (dite « La Grande ») de Franz Schubert dont il dirigea la première exécution au Gewandhaus de Leipzig en 1839. Ses détracteurs lui reprochent parfois d'écrire une musique parfaitement correcte et policée, visant avant tout à rester dans le domaine du convenable, en évitant toute prise de risque. Son exemple n'en atteint pas moins cependant une rare élégance, tant dans la reconnaissance des talents d'autrui, que dans l'extrême finesse de son style, obtenue par des moyens d'une grande sobriété.

Point de mire de l'agitation antisémite

Après sa mort, Mendelssohn fut l'objet de la propagande antijuive. Cela commença avec Das Judenthum in der Musik, pamphlet de Richard Wagner, lequel avait pourtant été fortement influencé par ses compositions. L'ouvrage fut publié en 1850 par son auteur sous un pseudonyme, mais en 1869 parut une édition augmentée sous le vrai nom de l'auteur. À la date de la deuxième publication Wagner était déjà un compositeur influent, si bien que son point de vue contribua à faire mépriser l'œuvre de Mendelssohn dans la seconde moitié du xixe siècle.

En 1933, après la prise du pouvoir par le régime nazi, Joseph Goebbels interdit (en sa qualité de président de la « Chambre de la culture du Reich ») l'exécution des œuvres de Mendelssohn. Il y en eut néanmoins quelques-unes, par exemple Songe d'une Nuit d'Été conduit par Wilhelm Furtwängler en février 1934 (à l'occasion du 125e anniversaire de Mendelssohn). Des compositeurs allemands, parmi lesquels on compte le prestigieux Carl Orff, furent invités à écrire des alternatives musicales à la musique de Mendelssohn pour le Songe d'une nuit d'été. Bustes et plaques commémoratives de Mendelssohn furent retirés (par exemple, en novembre 1936, le monument de Mendelssohn devant le Gewandhaus de Leipzig, ce qui entraîna la protestation publique de Furtwängler). Le maire Carl Friedrich Goerdeler démissionna de son poste en raison de la suppression en son absence du monument de Mendelssohn et il fut par la suite un des personnages importants de la Résistance allemande.

Le démontage d'une statue du compositeur à Prague a servi de prétexte au roman Mendelssohn est sur le toit de Jiří Weil, dont la déportation des juifs de Bohême-Moravie sous et après la gouvernance de Reinhard Heydrich constitue le thème.

Wikipedia

• A Midsummer Night's Dream - Wedding March,
• The Hebrides (Fingal's Cave) - Overture,
• A Midsummer's Night Dream - Scherzo & Song - "You spotted snakes",
• Itzhak Perlman Mendelssohn Violin Concerto andante.
• from the Italian Symphony,

מויקיפדיה:

יעקב לודוויג פליקס מנדלסון-ברתולדי ( 3 בפברואר 1809 – 4 בנובמבר 1847) היה מלחין גרמני, יהודי מומר.

קורות חיים

פליקס מנדלסון נולד בהמבורג (אז עיר חופשית בקונפדרציה של הריין, כיום בגרמניה) למשפחה יהודית מתבוללת. סבו היה הפילוסוף היהודי הנודע משה מנדלסון. אביו אברהם היה בנקאי, ואמו לאה לבית זאלומון (Salomon) הייתה מוזיקאית חובבת ברמה גבוהה, והיא שלימדה אותו לראשונה מוזיקה. בניגוד למוזיקאים רבים בני תקופתו, גדל מנדלסון במשפחה אמידה למדי. הוריו האמינו שכדי להשתלב בחברה הגרמנית יהא עליהם להמיר את דתם. הוריו לא ערכו לו ברית מילה ובגיל שש הוטבל עם שלושת אחיו והיה לנוצרי פרוטסטנטי. כעבור כמה שנים הוטבלו גם הוריו לנצרות. האב החליט לשנות גם את שם המשפחה ובחר להשתמש בשם ברתולדי, כפי שבחר לעצמו גיסו (אחי אשתו), כמה שנים קודם לכן כשהוטבל לנצרות. למרות הלחץ שהפעיל עליו אביו ואף על פי שהיה נוצרי אדוק, סירב פליקס עד סוף ימיו לוותר על השם מנדלסון.

כבר בילדותו ניכרה בו גאונות מוזיקלית. בגיל 9 ניגן מנדלסון לראשונה בקונצרט פומבי, ובגיל 11 התחיל לחבר מוזיקה. גם אחיו ואחיותיו גילו כישרון מוזיקלי. פאני אחותו נהגה אף היא להלחין מוזיקה ושניהם הרבו לנגן את יצירותיהם על פסנתר, כאשר רבקה אחותו הייתה מזמרת ופאול אחיו ניגן בצ'לו. בגיל 15 חיבר מנדלסון את הסימפוניה הראשונה שלו, ובגיל 17 חיבר את אחת היצירות הנודעות ביותר שלו: "הפתיחה לחלום ליל קיץ" על פי מחזהו של ויליאם שייקספיר. ו-17 שנה אחרי כן חיבר את הפרקים הנוספים ל"חלום ליל קיץ", לרבות "מארש החתונה" המפורסם.

מגיל 20 סייר מנדלסון בארצות אירופה ובמהרה כבש את המרכזים המוזיקליים ביבשת וקנה לו שם של מנצח מזהיר. ביקורו באיטליה ובסקוטלנד העניק לו השראה לחיבור כמה מהיצירות הידועות שלו: את הפתיחה "מערת פינגאל" כתב בגרסתה הראשונה כבר בשנת 1830, ואז החל לחבר את הסימפוניה השלישית "הסקוטית" אך סיימה רק תריסר שנים מאוחר יותר. את הסימפוניה הרביעית "האיטלקית" חיבר עד 1833. בנוסעו לאנגליה התוודע למוזיקה של גאורג פרידריך הנדל וברוח זו כתב את האורטוריה אליה, שהיא מהחשובות ביצירות על רקע מקראי.

בשנת 1833 מונה מנדלסון למנהל התזמורת של דיסלדורף. מ-1835 היה במשך כמה שנים מנצחה של תזמורת הגוונדהאוס בלייפציג, אחת מן המעולות בגרמניה באותם ימים. הוא היה מנצח מהולל והרבה להשמיע לקהל המוקסם יצירות מעולות, ובהן השמעות ראשונות של יצירות מופת, בהן הסימפוניה התשיעית מאת פרנץ שוברט, שרק כעבור עשר שנים לאחר חיבורה, בוצעה נגינת הבכורה שלה על ידי תזמורתו של מנדלסון. כמו כן החזיר לתודעת העולם את יוהאן סבסטיאן באך שבלעדיו היה נשכח כליל, ובעיקר נודע בביצוע המתאוס פסיון של באך. בשנת 1843 ייסד מנדלסון את בית הספר הגבוה למוזיקה ולתיאטרון בלייפציג והמשיך לפעול בו עד יום מותו. שם נפטר כעבור ארבע שנים בגיל 38. בשנת 2009, לרגל 200 שנה להולדתו, הוציא הדואר הגרמני בול לזכרו.

סגנון מוזיקלי

מנדלסון היה מלחין פורה וקל כתיבה. סגנונו מצטיין בקלילות נעימה והמוזיקה שלו קולחת ומענגת את מאזיניה. מקום חשוב ביצירותיו לפסנתר תופסים "הוואריאציות הרציניות" ו"השירים ללא מילים" – אלה הן פיסות זעירות ופיוטיות המנוגנות תכופות על ידי פסנתרנים מתחילים. מנדלסון נמנה עם חוג מקורביהם של מספר מלחינים והיה ידידו הקרוב של רוברט שומאן, יחדיו עיצבו את הסגנון הרומאנטי המוקדם בגרמניה. כתבי ידו נשמרים בספרייה הממלכתית של ברלין.

תגובות אנטישמיות

בחיבורו האנטישמי "היהדות במוזיקה", כתב המלחין הגרמני ריכרד וגנר כי המוזיקה המופקת על ידי מלחינים בעלי רקע יהודי כדוגמת פליקס מנדלסון וג'אקומו מאיירבר היא "מתוקה ומצלצלת ללא עומק", רדודה ומלאכותית שיש בה סממנים של מוזיקה דתית הניזונה מהפולחן היהודי בבית הכנסת, המחקה באופן שטחי את המוזיקה האמיתית ששורשיה ב"רוח האמיתית של הפולק (העם)". צ'ייקובסקי הגיב במאמר תגובה אירוני על דברי ואגנר: "האם זה לא מביש שהיהודי הכשרוני ביותר הזה מצליח בערמומיות חתרנית לגרום הנאה לאנושות ביצירותיו היפות עם הכלים המוזיקליים במקום שהוא ירדים את האנושות בכנות הגרמנית כמו ואגנר - באופרות הארוכות והקשות, רבות הרעש ולעיתים המשעממות לגמרי". בהשפעת ואגנר ובהתאם לחוקי הגזע שלה, החרימה המפלגה הנאצית את מנדלסון והכריזה עליו מלחמת חורמה, בניסיון למחוק לו כל סימן וזכר. את ה"שירים ללא מילים" המפורסמים שלו אמנם הדפיסו, כי היו אלה מנגינות פופולריות ומוכרות מדי, אך רשמו ש"מחבר היצירות אינו ידוע". הנאצים גם החרימו את יצירתו "חלום ליל קיץ", והמלחין קרל אורף קיבל על עצמו להלחין מוזיקה חלופית למחזה. הם הרסו בשנת 1936 את האנדרטה לזכר מנדלסון, שהוקמה בחזית הגוונדהאוס, מקום משכנה של תזמורת הגוונדהאוס בלייפציג, בשנת 1900. בשנת 2008 נחנכה אנדרטה משוחזרת של מנדלסון, ליד כנסיית סנט תומאס.

Я́коб Лю́двиг Фе́ликс Мендельсо́н Барто́льди (нем. Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy; 3 февраля 1809, Гамбург, Рейнский союз[4] — 4 ноября 1847, Лейпциг, Королевство Саксония, Германский союз) — немецкий композитор, пианист, дирижёр, педагог еврейского происхождения.

Один из крупнейших представителей романтизма в музыке. Глава Лейпцигской школы в немецкой музыке, основатель Лейпцигской консерватории, внук философа Мозеса Мендельсона.

https://cont.ws/@wayfarervak/2370214