Felix Mendelssohn-bartholdy was born in Hamburg, Germany, on February 3,
1809. His grandfather was the famous philosopher, Moses Mendelssohn; his
father, a successful banker. Both were of Jewish origin. When Felix was
still a boy, however, his immediate family was converted to
Protestantism, the occasion upon which they added the name of
“Bartholdy” to their own to distinguish them from the other members of
their family. A pupil of Ludwig Berger and Karl Friedrich Zelter, Felix
was extraordinarily precocious in music. When he was seven and a half he
made a successful appearance as pianist in Berlin; by the time he was
twelve he had already written operas and symphonies; and in his
seventeenth year he produced an unqualified masterwork in the _Overture
to A Midsummer Night’s Dream_. In 1827, one of his operas was produced
in Berlin, but by that time he had already completed thirteen symphonies
and a library of chamber music as well.
In 1829, Mendelssohn conducted in Berlin the first performance of Bach’s
_Passion According to St. Matthew_ to be given since Bach’s own day.
This concert became a powerful influence in reviving interest in Bach’s
music, which at that time had been languishing in both neglect and
obscurity. A few weeks after Mendelssohn had directed a repeat
performance, he made his first trip to England where he led the première
of a new symphony and was made honorary member of the Royal
Philharmonic. A tour of Scotland that followed immediately was the
inspiration for his overture, _Fingal’s Cave_.
In 1833, Mendelssohn served as musical director of the city of
Duesseldorf. He held this post only six months. Much more significant
was his engagement as the principal conductor of the Gewandhaus
Orchestra in Leipzig in 1835 which, during the five years of his
leadership, was elevated to a position of first importance among the
world’s symphony orchestras.
In 1841, Mendelssohn became head of the music department of a projected
Academy of Arts in Berlin. This appointment did not prevent him from
visiting England where he was received with an adulation accorded to no
foreign musician since Handel. Returning to Berlin he found that the
Academy of Arts project had been abandoned. He was now made
Kapellmeister to the King, an honorary post allowing him complete
freedom of activity and movement. During the next few years he conducted
concerts of the Gewandhaus Orchestra, and paid two more highly
successful visits to England. He was also instrumental in helping to
found the Leipzig Conservatory in 1843. Always of delicate health and
sensibilities, Mendelssohn collapsed at the news that his beloved
sister, Fanny, died in 1847. He died in Leipzig soon after that, on
November 4, 1847.
The finest qualities of German Romantic music can be found in
Mendelssohn. He had the Romantic’s partiality for fantasy and the
supernatural, together with the lightness of touch with which to create
such worlds through music. He had the Romantic’s gift for translating
natural scenes, landscapes and lyric poetry into sensitive tone
pictures. He had a most winning lyricism and graceful harmonic and
orchestral gift, and he never lacked the ability to charm and enchant
his listeners with the most tender and lovable musical expression. Other
composers may have written profounder or more emotionally stirring music
than Mendelssohn; but no one could be more ingratiating, sensitive, or
refined. Some of Mendelssohn’s serious symphonic works are so full of
the most wonderful melodies and beguiling moods that they have the
universal appeal of semi-classics.
The concert overture, _Fingal’s Cave_, or as it is also sometimes known,
_Hebrides Overture_, op. 26 (1832) was inspired by the composer’s visit
to the Scottish Highlands in 1830. The opening theme in lower strings
and bassoons suggests the roll of the waves at the mouth of a cave, a
melody that came to the composer while visiting the caves of Staffa.
This idea is developed, then a second beautiful melody unfolds in cellos
and bassoons.
The orchestral suite, _A Midsummer Night’s Dream_, op. 61 is derived
from the incidental music comprising thirteen numbers which Mendelssohn
wrote for a Potsdam production of the Shakespeare comedy in 1843; the
Overture, however, was a fruit of the composer’s youth, having been
written in 1826. The magic world of fairies and elves which Mendelssohn
projected so delicately in his youthful overture is preserved in many of
the numbers he wrote seventeen years later. The Overture, op. 21, is
initiated with four sensitive chords, and proceeds with fleeting,
diaphanous music for strings with which we are suddenly plunged in
fairyland. The main thematic material to follow comprises a haunting
song for horn, a romantic episode for woodwind and strings, and a
sprightly fairy dance for strings.
Three other musical sections from this incidental music, and basic to
the orchestral suite, are famous. The “Nocturne” is a broad, moody song
for horns. The “Scherzo”—like the Overture—is a picture of the world of
fairies, gnomes and elves, though in a more energetic and spirited vein.
The “Wedding March” is now one of the most frequently played pieces of
wedding music, second in popularity only to Wagner’s wedding music from
_Lohengrin_; it first became popular as wedding music at the nuptials of
the English Princess in London in 1858. A trumpet fanfare leads to the
dignified march melody which is twice alternated with melodious trio
sections.
“On Wings of Song” (“_Auf Fluegeln des Gesanges_”), op. 34, no. 2 (1834)
is Mendelssohn’s best-known song, a melody of incomparable loveliness
and serenity. The poem is by Heine. Franz Liszt transcribed it for
piano; Joseph Achron for violin and piano; Lionel Tertis for viola and
piano. It has also enjoyed various orchestral transcriptions.
_Ruy Blas_, op. 95 (1839)—like _Fingal’s Cave_—is a concert overture for
orchestra; here the inspiration is the drama of Victor Hugo. Four solemn
bars for wind instruments lead to the principal subject, first violins
and flutes; clarinets, bassoons, and cellos later offer the second
contrasting staccato theme.
The _Spinning Song_ and the _Spring Song_ are both instrumental
favorites, and both come from the _Songs Without Words_ (_Lieder ohne
Worte_), for solo piano. The form of “song without words” is a creation
of Mendelssohn: a brief composition of such essentially lyric character
that it is virtually a “song” for the piano. Mendelssohn wrote
forty-eight such pieces gathered in eight books. The _Spinning Song_ in
C major appears in op. 67 as the fourth number (1844). This is a tender
melody placed against a rhythmic background suggesting the whirring of a
spinning wheel. The _Spring Song_ in A major is surely one of the most
familiar tonal pictures of the vernal season to be found in the
semi-classical literature; it appears in op. 62 (1842) as the concluding
number. Both the _Spinning Song_ and _Spring Song_ appear in all kinds
and varieties of transcriptions.
The stirring _War March of the Priests_ is a number from the incidental
music for Racine’s drama, _Athalie_, op. 74 (1843); this incidental
music was first performed with the Racine play in Berlin in 1845.