142-574: Felix Mendelssohn 's Violin Concerto in E minor , Op. 64, MWV O 14, is his last concerto . Well received at its premiere, it has remained among the most prominent and highly-regarded violin concertos . It holds a central place in the violin repertoire and has developed a reputation as an essential concerto for all aspiring concert violinists to master, and usually one of the first Romantic era concertos they learn. A typical performance lasts just under half an hour. Mendelssohn originally proposed
284-425: A "streamlined" version by Ferdinand David without the contrapuntal complexity of the original. This is the most played version today, although some artists, e.g. Arabella Steinbacher , play Mendelssohn's original. Joshua Bell performs the concerto with his own cadenza. The violin concerto stands out from previous concertos with its connected movements. There is no break between the first and second movements, with
426-453: A bassoon note held between the two. The bridging passage between the last two movements begins almost immediately after the slow movement. The melody is similar to that of the opening, which hints at the cyclic form of the piece. The linking was designed to eliminate applause between movements. This would have come as a surprise to Mendelssohn's audience, who, unlike today's, were used to applauding between movements. The concerto also calls on
568-528: A bastion of this anti-radical outlook. 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 has been re-evaluated. He is now among the most popular composers of the Romantic era. Felix Mendelssohn was born on 3 February 1809, in Hamburg , at the time an independent city-state , in the same house where,
710-600: A close personal friend, Ignaz Moscheles, was of an older generation and equally conservative in outlook. Moscheles preserved this conservative attitude at the Leipzig Conservatory until his own death in 1870. Mendelssohn married Cécile Charlotte Sophie Jeanrenaud (10 October 1817 – 25 September 1853), the daughter of a French Reformed Church clergyman, on 28 March 1837. The couple had five children: Carl, Marie, Paul, Lili and Felix August. The second youngest child, Felix August, contracted measles in 1844 and
852-635: A composer, who both greatly admired his music. Mendelssohn's oratorio Elijah was commissioned by the Birmingham Triennial Music Festival and premiered on 26 August 1846, at the Town Hall, Birmingham . It was composed to a German text translated into English by William Bartholomew , who authored and translated many of Mendelssohn's works during his time in England. On his last visit to Britain in 1847, Mendelssohn
994-404: A flute is also called Pavo. Some people can also play pair of flutes (Jodiyo Pavo) simultaneously. In China there are many varieties of dizi (笛子), or Chinese flute, with different sizes, structures (with or without a resonance membrane) and number of holes (from 6 to 11) and intonations (different keys). Most are made of bamboo, but can come in wood, jade, bone, and iron. One peculiar feature of
1136-482: A flute is from a Sumerian -language cuneiform tablet dated to c. 2600–2700 BC. Flutes are mentioned in a recently translated tablet of the Epic of Gilgamesh , an epic poem whose development spanned the period from about 2100–600 BC. A set of cuneiform tablets knows as the " musical texts " provide precise tuning instructions for seven scales of a stringed instrument (assumed to be a Babylonian lyre ). One of those scales
1278-697: A group of works of his early maturity: the String Octet (1825), the Overture A Midsummer Night's Dream (1826), which in its finished form also owes much to the influence of Adolf Bernhard Marx , at the time a close friend of Mendelssohn, and the two early string quartets : Op. 12 (1829) and Op. 13 (1827), which both show a remarkable grasp of the techniques and ideas of Beethoven's last quartets that Mendelssohn had been closely studying. These four works show an intuitive command of form, harmony, counterpoint , colour, and compositional technique, which in
1420-535: A juvenile cave bear 's femur , with two to four holes, was found at Divje Babe in Slovenia and dated to about 43,000 years ago. It may be the oldest flute discovered, but this has been disputed. In 2008, a flute dated to at least 35,000 years ago was discovered in Hohle Fels cave near Ulm , Germany . It is a five-holed flute with a V-shaped mouthpiece and was made from a vulture wing bone. The discovery
1562-531: A letter dated 30 July 1838, Mendelssohn wrote to David: I should like to write a violin concerto for you next winter. One in E minor runs through my head, the beginning of which gives me no peace. The concerto took another six years to complete. There are many possible reasons for the delay, including self-doubt, his third symphony and an unhappy period in Berlin after a request from King Frederick William IV of Prussia . Nevertheless, Mendelssohn and David kept up
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#17327806853871704-466: A letter to a stranger, as a place "where it is to be hoped there is still music, but no more sorrow or partings." While Mendelssohn was often presented as equable, happy, and placid in temperament, particularly in the detailed family memoirs published by his nephew Sebastian Hensel after the composer's death, this was misleading. The music historian R. Larry Todd notes "the remarkable process of idealization" of Mendelssohn's character "that crystallized in
1846-566: A long history, especially in China and India. Flutes have been discovered in historical records and artworks starting in the Zhou dynasty ( c. 1046–256 BC). The oldest written sources reveal the Chinese were using the kuan (a reed instrument) and hsio (or xiao, an end-blown flute , often of bamboo) in the 12th–11th centuries BC, followed by the chi (or ch'ih) in the 9th century BC and the yüeh in
1988-459: A musical career until it became clear that he was seriously dedicated. Mendelssohn grew up in an intellectual environment. Frequent visitors to the salon organised by his parents at their home in Berlin included artists, musicians and scientists, among them Wilhelm and Alexander von Humboldt , and the mathematician Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet (whom Mendelssohn's sister Rebecka would later marry). The musician Sarah Rothenburg has written of
2130-465: A number of chamber works. His first work, a piano quartet, was published when he was 13. It was probably Abraham Mendelssohn who procured the publication of this quartet by the house of Schlesinger . In 1824 the 15-year-old wrote his first symphony for full orchestra (in C minor, Op. 11). At age 16 Mendelssohn wrote his String Octet in E-flat major , a work which has been regarded as "mark[ing]
2272-602: A particular shape. Acoustic impedance of the embouchure hole appears the most critical parameter. Critical variables affecting this acoustic impedance include: the length of the chimney (the hole between the lip-plate and the head tube), chimney diameter, and radii or curvature of the ends of the chimney and any designed restriction in the "throat" of the instrument, such as that in the Japanese Nohkan flute. A study in which professional flutists were blindfolded could find no significant differences between flutes made from
2414-403: A regular correspondence during this time, with Mendelssohn seeking technical and compositional advice. Indeed, this violin concerto was the first of many to have been composed with the input of a professional violinist, and would influence many future collaborations. The autograph score is dated 16 September 1844, but Mendelssohn was still seeking advice from David until its premiere. The concerto
2556-668: A series of strokes. His grandfather Moses, Fanny, and both his parents had all died from similar apoplexies . Although he had been generally meticulous in the management of his affairs, he died intestate . Mendelssohn's funeral was held at the Paulinerkirche , Leipzig, and he was buried at the Dreifaltigkeitsfriedhof I in Berlin- Kreuzberg . The pallbearers included Moscheles, Schumann and Niels Gade . Mendelssohn had once described death, in
2698-477: A side-blown flute uses a hole on the side of the tube to produce a tone, instead of blowing on an end of the tube. End-blown flutes should not be confused with fipple flutes such as the recorder , which are also played vertically but have an internal duct to direct the air flow across the edge of the tone hole. Flutes may be open at one or both ends. The ocarina , xun , pan pipes , police whistle , and bosun's whistle are closed-ended. Open-ended flutes such as
2840-400: A staged performance but to evoke a literary theme in performance on a concert platform; this was a genre which became a popular form in musical Romanticism . In 1824 Mendelssohn studied under the composer and piano virtuoso Ignaz Moscheles , who confessed in his diaries that he had little to teach him. Moscheles and Mendelssohn became close colleagues and lifelong friends. The year 1827 saw
2982-400: A standard orchestra of its period, consisting of two flutes , two oboes , two clarinets in A, two bassoons , two natural horns , two natural trumpets , timpani , and strings . The concerto consists of three movements with the following tempo markings: 12–14 minutes Instead of an orchestral tutti , the concerto opens with the almost immediate entry of the solo violin, playing
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#17327806853873124-609: A strong following, which enabled him to make a good impression on British musical life. He composed and performed, and also edited for British publishers the first critical editions of oratorios of Handel and of the organ music of J. S. Bach. Scotland inspired two of his most famous works: the overture The Hebrides (also known as Fingal's Cave ); and the Scottish Symphony (Symphony No. 3). An English Heritage blue plaque commemorating Mendelssohn's residence in London
3266-459: A time (as is typical with double flutes). Flutes can be played with several different air sources. Conventional flutes are blown with the mouth, although some cultures use nose flutes . The flue pipes of organs , which are acoustically similar to duct flutes, are blown by bellows or fans. Usually in D, wooden transverse flutes were played in European classical music mainly in the period from
3408-430: A variant of the original chromatic transition passage ends the first movement. 7–9 minutes The bassoon sustains its B from the final chord of the first movement before moving up a semitone to middle C . This serves as a key change from the E minor opening movement into the lyrical C major slow movement. The movement is in ternary form and is reminiscent of Mendelssohn's own Songs Without Words . The theme to
3550-540: A variety of metals. In two different sets of blind listening, no flute was correctly identified in a first listening, and in a second, only the silver flute was identified. The study concluded that there was "no evidence that the wall material has any appreciable effect on the sound color or dynamic range". Historically, flutes were most commonly made of reed , bamboo, wood, or other organic materials. They were also made of glass, bone, and nephrite . Most modern flutes are made of metal, primarily silver and nickel . Silver
3692-425: A variety of works by great composers in chronological order, and must explain to him how they contributed to the advance of music." Secondly, it highlights that Mendelssohn was more concerned to reinvigorate the musical legacy which he inherited, rather than to replace it with new forms and styles, or with the use of more exotic orchestration . In these ways he differed significantly from many of his contemporaries in
3834-489: A vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, flutes are edge-blown aerophones . A musician who plays the flute is called a flautist or flutist . Paleolithic flutes with hand-bored holes are the earliest known identifiable musical instruments. A number of flutes dating to about 53,000 to 45,000 years ago have been found in
3976-528: A year later, the dedicatee and first performer of his Violin Concerto, Ferdinand David , would be born. Mendelssohn's father, the banker Abraham Mendelssohn , was the son of the German Jewish philosopher Moses Mendelssohn , whose family was prominent in the German Jewish community. Until his baptism at age seven, Mendelssohn was brought up largely without religion. His mother, Lea Salomon ,
4118-531: Is a chi ( 篪 ) flute discovered in the Tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng at the Suizhou site, Hubei province, China , dating from 433 BC, during the later Zhou dynasty . It is fashioned of lacquered bamboo with closed ends and has five stops on the flute's side instead of the top. Shi Jing , traditionally said to have been compiled and edited by Confucius , mentions chi flutes. The earliest written reference to
4260-407: Is a brief fourteen-bar transitional passage in E minor for solo violin and strings only. This leads into the lively and effervescent finale, the whole of which is in E major and whose opening is marked by a trumpet fanfare . This movement is in sonata rondo form with an opening theme requiring fast passage work from the soloist. The opening exposition leads into a brief second B major theme which
4402-399: Is closed at the top. An embouchure hole is positioned near the top, and the flutist blows across it. The flute has circular tone holes larger than the finger holes of its baroque predecessors. The size and placement of tone holes, key mechanism, and fingering system used to produce the notes in the flute's range were evolved from 1832 to 1847 by Theobald Boehm , who helped greatly improve
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4544-523: Is conveyed in his comments to a correspondent who suggested converting some of the Songs Without Words into lieder by adding texts: "What [the] music I love expresses to me, are not thoughts that are too indefinite for me to put into words, but on the contrary, too definite ." Schumann wrote of Mendelssohn that he was "the Mozart of the nineteenth century, the most brilliant musician,
4686-555: Is depicted with the instrument in Hindu art. In India, the cross flute appeared in reliefs from the 1st century AD at Sanchi and Amaravati from the 2nd–4th centuries AD. According to historian Alexander Buchner, there were flutes in Europe in prehistoric times, but they disappeared from the continent until flutes arrived from Asia by way of "North Africa, Hungary, and Bohemia". The end-blown flute began to be seen in illustration in
4828-423: Is less common than silver alloys. Other materials used for flutes include gold, platinum, grenadilla and copper. In its most basic form, a flute is an open tube which is blown into. After focused study and training, players use controlled air-direction to create an airstream in which the air is aimed downward into the tone hole of the flute's headjoint. There are several broad classes of flutes. With most flutes,
4970-477: Is made of wood or cane, usually with seven finger holes and one thumb hole, producing a diatonic scale. One Armenian musicologist believes the sring to be the most characteristic of national Armenian instruments. The Ọjà // is a traditional musical instrument utilized by the Igbo people , who are indigenous to Nigeria . The ọjà (flute) is used during cultural activities or events where Igbo music
5112-547: Is named " embūbum ", which is an Akkadian word for "flute". The Bible , in Genesis 4:21, cites Jubal as being the "father of all those who play the ugab and the kinnor ". The former Hebrew term is believed by some to refer to a wind instrument, or wind instruments in general, the latter to a stringed instrument, or stringed instruments in general. As such, Jubal is regarded in the Judeo-Christian tradition as
5254-477: Is played by the solo violin itself before a short codetta ends the exposition section of the opening movement. The opening two themes are then combined in the development section, where the music builds up to the innovative cadenza , which Mendelssohn wrote out in full rather than allowing the soloist to improvise. The cadenza builds up speed through rhythmic shifts from quavers to quaver-triplets and finally to semiquavers , which require ricochet bowing from
5396-421: Is played by the soloist and builds to a series of rapidly ascending and descending arpeggios, reminiscent of the cadenza from the first movement. The orchestra then plays a variation of the opening melody, after which the music moves into a short development section in G major . The recapitulation is essentially similar to the exposition, apart from the addition of a counter-melody in the strings. The second theme
5538-411: Is played. It is skillfully carved from wood/bamboo or metal and is played by blowing air into one end while covering and uncovering holes along the body to create different notes. There are several means by which flautists breathe to blow air through the instrument and produce sound. They include diaphragmatic breathing and circular breathing . Diaphragmatic breathing optimizes inhalation, minimizing
5680-493: Is reflected in the violin concerto of Tchaikovsky (where the cadenza is similarly placed) and the violin concerto of Sibelius (where the cadenza serves to extend the development section). Moreover, following this concerto it was very rare for a composer to leave a cadenza unwritten for the soloist to improvise as in the days of Mozart and Beethoven . The linking of the three movements also influenced other concertos, such as Liszt's Second Piano Concerto . The concerto itself
5822-402: Is repeated, this time in the home key of E major. There is almost a small cadenza near the end of the movement when the woodwinds play the main tune against prolonged trills from the solo violin. The concerto then concludes with a frenetic coda. The concerto is innovative in many respects. In the first movement alone, Mendelssohn departs from the typical form of a Classical concerto in many ways,
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5964-510: Is such a frightful muddle [...] that one ought to wash one's hands after handling one of his scores"; and of Meyerbeer's opera Robert le diable "I consider it ignoble", calling its villain Bertram "a poor devil". When his friend the composer Ferdinand Hiller suggested in conversation to Mendelssohn that he looked rather like Meyerbeer – they were actually distant cousins, both descendants of Rabbi Moses Isserles – Mendelssohn
6106-413: Is usually African Blackwood . The standard concert flute is pitched in C and has a range of three octaves starting from middle C or one half step lower when a B foot is attached. This means that the concert flute is one of the highest-pitched common orchestra and concert band instruments. The piccolo plays an octave higher than the regular treble flute. Lower members of the flute family include
6248-727: The Journal of the Royal Musical Association that "The Committee of the Mendelssohn Scholarship Foundation possesses material indicating that Mendelssohn wrote passionate love letters to Jenny Lind entreating her to join him in an adulterous relationship and threatening suicide as a means of exerting pressure upon her, and that these letters were destroyed on being discovered after her death." Mendelssohn met and worked with Lind many times, and started an opera, Lorelei , for her, based on
6390-495: The suling , suggesting the predecessor to the sodina was carried to Madagascar in outrigger canoes by the island's original settlers emigrating from Borneo. An image of the most celebrated contemporary sodina flutist, Rakoto Frah (d. 2001), was featured on the local currency . The sring (also called blul ) is a relatively small, end-blown flute with a nasal tone quality found in the Caucasus region of Eastern Armenia. It
6532-404: The G alto and C bass flutes that are used occasionally, and are pitched a perfect fourth and an octave below the concert flute, respectively. The contra-alto , contrabass , subcontrabass , double contrabass , and hyperbass flutes are other rare forms of the flute pitched up to four octaves below middle C. Other sizes of flutes and piccolos are used from time to time. A rarer instrument of
6674-637: The Jerusalem Church , at which time Felix was given the additional names Jakob Ludwig. Abraham and his wife Lea were baptised in 1822, and formally adopted the surname Mendelssohn Bartholdy (which they had used since 1812) for themselves and for their children. The name Bartholdy was added at the suggestion of Lea's brother, Jakob Salomon Bartholdy, who had inherited a property of this name in Luisenstadt and adopted it as his own surname. In an 1829 letter to Felix, Abraham explained that adopting
6816-602: The St. Matthew Passion . Mendelssohn worked with the 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 everyday duties in Düsseldorf, and the city's provincialism, led him to resign his position at
6958-757: The Swabian Jura region of present-day Germany , indicating a developed musical tradition from the earliest period of modern human presence in Europe . While the oldest flutes currently known were found in Europe, Asia also has a long history with the instrument. A playable bone flute discovered in China is dated to about 9,000 years ago. The Americas also had an ancient flute culture, with instruments found in Caral , Peru , dating back 5,000 years and in Labrador dating back about 7,500 years. The bamboo flute has
7100-653: The Venu or Pullanguzhal, has eight finger holes, and is played predominantly in the Carnatic music of Southern India. Presently, the eight-holed flute with cross-fingering technique is common among many Carnatic flutists. Prior to this, the South Indian flute had only seven finger holes, with the fingering standard developed by Sharaba Shastri, of the Palladam school, at the beginning of the 20th century. The quality of
7242-432: The xiao (簫), which is a different category of wind instrument in China. The Korean flute, called the daegeum , 대금, is a large bamboo transverse flute used in traditional Korean music. It has a buzzing membrane that gives it a unique timbre. The Japanese flute, called the fue , 笛 ( hiragana : ふえ ) , encompasses a large number of musical flutes from Japan, include the end-blown shakuhachi and hotchiku , as well as
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#17327806853877384-780: The 11th century. Transverse flutes entered Europe through Byzantium and were depicted in Greek art about 800 AD. The transverse flute had spread into Europe by way of Germany, and was known as the German flute. The word flute first appeared in the English language during the Middle English period, as floute , flowte , or flo(y)te , possibly from Old French flaute and Old Provençal flaüt , or possibly from Old French fleüte , flaüte , flahute via Middle High German floite or Dutch fluit . The English verb flout has
7526-485: The 13 early string symphonies . These were written from 1821 to 1823, when he was between the ages of 12 and 14, principally for performance in the Mendelssohn household, and not published or publicly performed until long after his death. His first published works were his three piano quartets (1822–1825; Op. 1 in C minor, Op. 2 in F minor and Op. 3 in B minor); but his capacities are especially revealed in
7668-411: The 8th century BC. Of these, the bamboo chi is the oldest documented transverse flute . Musicologist Curt Sachs called the cross flute (Sanskrit: vāṃśī) "the outstanding wind instrument of ancient India", and said that religious artwork depicting "celestial music" instruments was linked to music with an "aristocratic character". The Indian bamboo cross flute, Bansuri , was sacred to Krishna , who
7810-482: The Bartholdy name was meant to demonstrate 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 ". (Letter to Felix of 8 July 1829). On embarking on his musical career, Felix did not entirely drop the name Mendelssohn as Abraham had requested, but in deference to his father signed his letters and had his visiting cards printed using
7952-408: The Chinese flute is the use of a resonance membrane mounted on one of the holes that vibrates with the air column inside the tube. This membrane is called a di mo , which is usually a thin tissue paper. It gives the flute a bright sound. Commonly seen flutes in the modern Chinese orchestra are the bangdi (梆笛), qudi (曲笛), xindi (新笛), and dadi (大笛). The bamboo flute played vertically is called
8094-467: The King's request, music for productions of Sophocles 's Antigone (1841 – an overture and seven pieces ) and Oedipus at Colonus (1845), A Midsummer Night's Dream (1843) and Racine 's Athalie (1845). But the funds for the school never materialised, and many of the court's promises to Mendelssohn regarding finances, title, and concert programming were broken. He was therefore not displeased to have
8236-564: The Prussian throne in 1840 with ambitions to develop Berlin as a cultural centre (including the establishment of a music school, and reform of music for the church), the obvious choice to head these reforms was Mendelssohn. He was reluctant to undertake the task, especially in the light of his existing strong position in Leipzig. Mendelssohn nonetheless spent some time in Berlin, writing some church music such as Die Deutsche Liturgie , and, at
8378-416: The Romantic era and was influential on many other composers. Although the concerto consists of three movements in a standard fast–slow–fast structure and each movement follows a traditional form , it was innovative and included many novel features for its time. Distinctive aspects include the almost immediate entrance of the violin at the beginning of the work (rather than following an orchestral preview of
8520-614: 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 Mendelssohn's musical tastes, as his works reflect this 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 , whose music influenced him deeply. Mendelssohn probably made his first public concert appearance at
8662-463: The Singakademie; but at a vote in January 1833 he was defeated for the post by Carl Friedrich Rungenhagen . This may have been because of Mendelssohn's youth, and fear of possible innovations; it was also suspected by some to be attributable to his Jewish ancestry. Following this rebuff, Mendelssohn divided most of his professional time over the next few years between Britain and Düsseldorf , where he
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#17327806853878804-613: The Western flute. The Hindu God Lord Krishna is traditionally considered a master of the bamboo flute. The Indian flutes are very simple compared to the Western counterparts; they are made of bamboo and are keyless. Two main varieties of Indian flutes are currently used. The first, the Bansuri (बांसुरी), has six finger holes and one embouchure hole, and is used predominantly in the Hindustani music of Northern India. The second,
8946-402: The age of nine, when he participated in a chamber music concert accompanying a horn duo. He was 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 13 string symphonies for such concerts, and
9088-566: The age of seven years, Mendelssohn was baptised with his brother and sisters in a private domestic ceremony by Johann Jakob Stegemann, Minister of the Evangelical congregation of Berlin's Jerusalem Church and New Church . Although Mendelssohn was a conforming Christian as a member of the Reformed Church, he was both conscious and proud of his Jewish ancestry and notably of his connection with his grandfather, Moses Mendelssohn. He
9230-507: The backing of Zelter and the assistance of the actor Eduard Devrient , Mendelssohn arranged and conducted a performance in Berlin of Bach's St Matthew Passion . Four years previously his grandmother, Bella Salomon , had given him a copy of the manuscript of this (by then all-but-forgotten) masterpiece. The orchestra and choir for the performance were provided by the Berlin Singakademie. The success of this performance, one of
9372-650: The basis of the extensive collection of Mendelssohn manuscripts, including the so-called "Green Books" of his correspondence, now in the Bodleian Library at Oxford University. Cécile Mendelssohn Bartholdy died less than six years after her husband, on 25 September 1853. Mendelssohn became close to the Swedish soprano Jenny Lind , whom he met in October 1844. Papers confirming their relationship had not been made public. In 2013, George Biddlecombe confirmed in
9514-438: The beginning of his maturity as a composer." This Octet and his Overture to Shakespeare 's A Midsummer Night's Dream , which he wrote a year later in 1826, are the best-known of his early works. (Later, in 1843, he also wrote incidental music for the play, including the famous " Wedding March ".) The Overture is perhaps the earliest example of a concert overture – that is, a piece not written deliberately to accompany
9656-410: The best education possible. Fanny became a pianist well known in Berlin musical circles as a composer; originally Abraham had thought that she, rather than Felix, would be the more musical. But it was not considered proper, by either Abraham or Felix, for a woman to pursue a career in music, so she remained an active but non-professional musician. Abraham was initially disinclined to allow Felix to follow
9798-420: The classical tradition had tended to be at the transition from the development section of the movement to the recapitulation; whereas Berlioz and other "modernists" sought to have the emotional climax at the end of a movement, if necessary by adding an extended coda to follow the recapitulation proper. Mendelssohn's solution to this problem was less sensational than Berlioz's approach, but was rooted in changing
9940-404: The concert flute and the recorder have more harmonics, and thus more flexibility for the player, and brighter timbres. An organ pipe may be either open or closed, depending on the sound desired. Flutes may have any number of pipes or tubes, though one is the most common number. Flutes with multiple resonators may be played one resonator at a time (as is typical with pan pipes) or more than one at
10082-414: The contradictions between classical forms and the sentiments of Romanticism. The expressiveness of Romantic music presented a problem in adherence to sonata form ; the final ( recapitulation ) section of a movement could seem, in the context of Romantic style, a bland element without passion or soul. Furthermore, it could be seen as a pedantic delay before reaching the emotional climax of a movement, which in
10224-417: The cross flute. A flute produces sound when a stream of air directed across a hole in the instrument creates a vibration of air at the hole. The airstream creates a Bernoulli or siphon. This excites the air contained in the resonant cavity (usually cylindrical) within the flute. The flutist changes the pitch of the sound produced by opening and closing holes in the body of the instrument, thus changing
10366-399: The darker, middle section in A minor is first introduced by the orchestra before the violin then takes up both the melody and the accompaniment simultaneously. The tremulous accompaniment requires nimble dexterity from the soloist before the music returns to the main lyrical C major theme, this time leading towards a serene conclusion. 6–7 minutes Following the second movement, there
10508-479: The discography of concert violinists, even including those who were only active at the very dawn of recorded sound and of whom very little recorded music exists, such as Eugène Ysaÿe . Even so, it remains technically challenging and is generally considered to be as difficult as many other famous counterparts. Felix Mendelssohn Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 1809 – 4 November 1847), widely known as Felix Mendelssohn ,
10650-449: The discovery, scientists suggested that the "finds demonstrate the presence of a well-established musical tradition at the time when modern humans colonized Europe". Scientists have also suggested that this flute's discovery may help to explain "the probable behavioural and cognitive gulf between" Neanderthals and early modern human . An 18.7 cm flute with three holes, made from a mammoth tusk and dated to 30,000–37,000 years ago,
10792-414: The early 18th century to the early 19th century. As such, the instrument is often indicated as baroque flute . Gradually marginalized by the Western concert flute in the 19th century, baroque flutes were again played from the late 20th century as part of the historically informed performance practice. The Western concert flute , a descendant of the medieval German flute, is a transverse treble flute that
10934-435: The early Romantic period, such as Wagner, Berlioz and Franz Liszt . Whilst Mendelssohn admired Liszt's virtuosity at the keyboard, he found his music jejune. Berlioz said of Mendelssohn that he had "perhaps studied the music of the dead too closely." The musicologist Greg Vitercik considers that, while "Mendelssohn's music only rarely aspires to provoke", the stylistic innovations evident from his earliest works solve some of
11076-496: The effect as "to assimilate the dynamic trajectory of 'external form' to the 'logical' unfolding of the story of the theme". Richard Taruskin wrote that, although Mendelssohn produced works of extraordinary mastery at a very early age, he never outgrew his precocious youthful style. [...] He remained stylistically conservative [...] feeling no need to attract attention with a display of "revolutionary" novelty. Throughout his short career he remained comfortably faithful to
11218-436: The effective length of the resonator and its corresponding resonant frequency . By varying the air pressure, a flutist can also change the pitch by causing the air in the flute to resonate at a harmonic rather than the fundamental frequency without opening or closing any of the holes. Head joint geometry appears particularly critical to acoustic performance and tone, but there is no clear consensus among manufacturers on
11360-605: The end of 1834. He had offers from both Munich and Leipzig for important musical posts, namely, direction of the Munich Opera , the editorship of the prestigious Leipzig music journal the Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung , and direction of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra ; he accepted the latter in 1835. In Leipzig, Mendelssohn concentrated on developing the town's musical life by working with
11502-554: The excuse to return to Leipzig. In 1843 Mendelssohn founded a major music school – the Leipzig Conservatory, now the Hochschule für Musik und Theater "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy" . where he persuaded Ignaz Moscheles and Robert Schumann to join him. Other prominent musicians, including the string players Ferdinand David and Joseph Joachim and the music theorist Moritz Hauptmann , also became staff members. After Mendelssohn's death in 1847, his musically conservative tradition
11644-623: The family was assembled ... he began to talk incoherently in English. 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. Mendelssohn was an enthusiastic visual artist who worked in pencil and watercolour , a skill which he enjoyed throughout his life. His correspondence indicates that he could write with considerable wit in German and English – his letters were sometimes accompanied by humorous sketches and cartoons. On 21 March 1816, at
11786-479: The first movement's major themes, as was typical in Classical -era concertos) and the through-composed form of the concerto as a whole, in which the three movements are melodically and harmonically connected and played attacca (each movement immediately following the previous one without any pauses). Many violinists have recorded the concerto and it is performed in concerts and classical music competitions . It
11928-766: The flute family can be called a flutist, flautist, or flute player. Flutist dates back to at least 1603, the earliest quotation cited by the Oxford English Dictionary . Flautist was used in 1860 by Nathaniel Hawthorne in The Marble Faun , after being adopted during the 18th century from Italy ( flautista , itself from flauto ), like many musical terms in England since the Italian Renaissance . Other English terms, now virtually obsolete, are fluter (15th–19th centuries) and flutenist (17th and 18th centuries). A fragment of
12070-551: The flute's sound depends somewhat on the specific bamboo used to make it, and it is generally agreed that the best bamboo grows in the Nagercoil area of South India. In 1998 Bharata Natya Shastra Sarana Chatushtai , Avinash Balkrishna Patwardhan developed a methodology to produce perfectly tuned flutes for the ten 'thatas' currently present in Indian Classical Music. In a regional dialect of Gujarati,
12212-602: The form 'Mendelssohn Bartholdy'. In 1829, his sister Fanny wrote to him of "Bartholdy [...] this name that we all dislike". Mendelssohn began taking piano lessons from his mother when he was six, and at seven was tutored by Marie Bigot in Paris. Later in Berlin, all four Mendelssohn children studied piano with Ludwig Berger , who was himself a former student of Muzio Clementi . From at least May 1819 Mendelssohn (initially with his sister Fanny) studied counterpoint and composition with Carl Friedrich Zelter in Berlin. This
12354-527: The household that "Europe came to their living room". Abraham Mendelssohn renounced the Jewish religion prior to Felix's birth and he and his wife decided against having Felix circumcised . Felix and his siblings were at first brought up without religious education; on 21 March 1816, they were baptized in a private ceremony in the family's Berlin apartment by the Reformed Protestant minister of
12496-409: The idea of the violin concerto to Ferdinand David , a close friend and then concertmaster of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra . Although conceived in 1838, the work took another six years to complete and was not premiered until 1845. During this time, Mendelssohn maintained a regular correspondence with David, who gave him many suggestions. The work itself was one of the foremost violin concertos of
12638-440: The instrument a distinct timbre which is different from non-fipple flutes and makes the instrument easier to play, but takes a degree of control away from the musician. Another division is between side-blown (or transverse ) flutes, such as the Western concert flute, piccolo , fife , dizi and bansuri ; and end-blown flutes , such as the ney , xiao , kaval , danso , shakuhachi , Anasazi flute and quena . The player of
12780-621: The instrument's dynamic range and intonation over its predecessors. With some refinements (and the rare exception of the Kingma system and other custom adapted fingering systems), Western concert flutes typically conform to Boehm's design, known as the Boehm system . Beginner's flutes are made of nickel, silver, or brass that is silver-plated, while professionals use solid silver, gold, and sometimes even platinum flutes. There are also modern wooden-bodied flutes usually with silver or gold keywork. The wood
12922-630: The inventor of the flute (a word used in some translations of this biblical passage). In other sections of the Bible (1 Samuel 10:5, 1 Kings 1:40, Isaiah 5:12 and 30:29, and Jeremiah 48:36) the flute is referred to as " chalil ", from the root word for "hollow". Archeological digs in the Holy Land have discovered flutes from the Bronze Age ( c. 4000–1200 BC) and the Iron Age (1200–586 BC),
13064-507: The latter era "witness[ing] the creation of the Israelite kingdom and its separation into the two kingdoms of Israel and Judea." Some early flutes were made out of tibias (shin bones). The flute has also always been an essential part of Indian culture , and the cross flute believed by several accounts to originate in India as Indian literature from 1500 BC has made vague references to
13206-566: The legend of the Lorelei Rhine maidens; the opera was unfinished at his death. He is said to have tailored the aria "Hear Ye Israel", in his oratorio Elijah , to Lind's voice, although she did not sing the 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 that musically he despised – in order to hear Lind's British debut, in
13348-429: The memoirs of the composer's circle", including Hensel's. The nickname "discontented Polish count" was given to Mendelssohn on account of his aloofness, and he referred to the epithet in his letters. He was frequently given to fits of temper which occasionally led to collapse. Devrient mentions that on one occasion in the 1830s, when his wishes had been crossed, "his excitement was increased so fearfully ... that when
13490-453: The modern pitching system is the G treble flute . Instruments made according to an older pitch standard, used principally in wind-band music, include D ♭ piccolo, E ♭ soprano flute (Keyed a minor 3rd above the standard C flute), F alto flute, and B ♭ bass flute. The bamboo flute is an important instrument in Indian classical music , and developed independently of
13632-422: The most immediate being the entry of the soloist almost from the outset, which also occurs in his First Piano Concerto . Although the first movement is mostly in the conventional sonata form , Mendelssohn has the first theme played by the solo violin and then by the orchestra. Classical concertos typically opened with an orchestral introduction followed by a version of essentially the same material that incorporates
13774-485: The musical status quo – that is, the "classical" forms, as they were already thought of by his time. His version of romanticism, already evident in his earliest works, consisted in musical "pictorialism" of a fairly conventional, objective nature (though exquisitely wrought). The young Mendelssohn was greatly influenced in his childhood by the music of both J. S. Bach and C. P. E. Bach , and of Beethoven, Joseph Haydn and Mozart; traces of these composers can be seen in
13916-401: The musician blows directly across the edge of the mouthpiece, with 1/4 of their bottom lip covering the embouchure hole. However, some flutes, such as the whistle , gemshorn , flageolet , recorder , tin whistle , tonette , fujara , and ocarina have a duct that directs the air onto the edge (an arrangement that is termed a " fipple "). These are known as fipple flutes . The fipple gives
14058-423: The one who most clearly sees through the contradictions of the age and for the first time reconciles them." This appreciation brings to the fore two features that characterized Mendelssohn's compositions and his compositional process. First, that his inspiration for musical style was rooted in his technical mastery and his interpretation of the style of previous masters, although he certainly recognized and developed
14200-578: The only person who brought fulfillment to my spirit, and almost as soon as I found him I lost him again." In 1849, she established the Mendelssohn Scholarship Foundation, which makes an award to a young resident British composer every two years in Mendelssohn's memory. The first winner of the scholarship, in 1856, was Arthur Sullivan , then aged 14. In 1869, Lind erected a plaque in Mendelssohn's memory at his birthplace in Hamburg. Something of Mendelssohn's intense attachment to his personal vision of music
14342-526: The opinion of R. Larry Todd justifies claims frequently made that Mendelssohn's precocity exceeded even that of Mozart in its intellectual grasp. A 2009 survey by the BBC of 16 music critics opined that Mendelssohn was the greatest composing prodigy in the history of Western classical music. Flute Plucked The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones , producing sound with
14484-465: The oratorio Elijah , the overture The Hebrides , the mature Violin Concerto , the String Octet , and the melody used in the Christmas carol " Hark! The Herald Angels Sing ". Mendelssohn's Songs Without Words are his most famous solo piano compositions. Mendelssohn's grandfather was the renowned Jewish philosopher Moses Mendelssohn , but Felix was initially raised without religion until he
14626-481: The orchestra, the opera house, the Thomanerchor (of which Bach had been a director), and the city's other choral and musical institutions. Mendelssohn's concerts included, in addition to many of his own works, three series of "historical concerts" featuring music of the eighteenth century, and a number of works by his contemporaries. He was deluged by offers of music from rising and would-be composers; among these
14768-425: 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 had a particular interest in classical literature and translated Terence 's Andria for his tutor Heyse in 1825; Heyse
14910-421: The role of Alice. The music critic Henry 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 Mdlle. Lind's genius as a singer was unbounded, as was his desire for her success." Upon Mendelssohn's death, Lind wrote: "[He was]
15052-578: The same linguistic root, and the modern Dutch verb fluiten still shares the two meanings. Attempts to trace the word back to the Latin flare (to blow, inflate) have been called "phonologically impossible" or "inadmissable". The first known use of the word flute was in the 14th century. According to the Oxford English Dictionary , this was in Geoffrey Chaucer 's The Hous of Fame , c. 1380 . A musician who plays any instrument in
15194-460: 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." Mendelssohn was invited to meet Goethe on several later occasions, and set a number of Goethe's poems to music. His other compositions inspired by Goethe include the overture Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage (Op. 27, 1828), and the cantata Die erste Walpurgisnacht ( The First Walpurgis Night , Op. 60, 1832). In 1829, with
15336-419: The slightest and most humorous allusions". Thus for example in a letter to his sister Rebecka, Mendelssohn rebukes her complaint about an unpleasant relative: "What do you mean by saying you are not hostile to Jews? I hope this was a joke [...] It is really sweet of you that you do not despise your family, isn't it?" Some modern scholars have devoted considerable energy to demonstrate either that Mendelssohn
15478-414: The soloist to function as an accompanist to the orchestra for extended periods, such as the ricochet arpeggios at the start of the recapitulation. This too was novel for a violin concerto of its time. Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto influenced the concertos of many other composers, who adopted aspects of it in their own concertos. For example, the unusual placement of the cadenza before the recapitulation
15620-415: The soloist. The cadenza is also novel in that it is written out as part of the concerto and located before the recapitulation. In a typical Classical concerto, the cadenza is improvised by the performing soloist and occurs at the end of a movement, after the recapitulation and just before the final coda. Mendelssohn's written cadenza was not included in the first published version of the concerto, but instead
15762-419: The soloist. This serves as a link to the recapitulation , where the opening melody is played by the orchestra, accompanied by the continuing ricochet arpeggios by the soloist. During the recapitulation, the opening themes are repeated with the second theme being played in the E major before returning to E minor for the closing of the movement. The music gathers speed into the coda, which is marked "Presto", before
15904-450: The strains of early Romanticism in the music of Beethoven and Weber. The historian James Garratt writes that from his early career, "the view emerged that Mendelssohn's engagement with early music was a defining aspect of his creativity." This approach was recognized by Mendelssohn himself, who wrote that, in his meetings with Goethe, he gave the poet "historical exhibitions" at the keyboard; "every morning, for about an hour, I have to play
16046-401: The structural balance of the formal components of the movement. Thus typically in a Mendelssohnian movement, the development-recapitulation transition might not be strongly marked, and the recapitulation section would be harmonically or melodically varied so as not to be a direct copy of the opening, exposition , section; this allowed a logical movement towards a final climax. Vitercik summarizes
16188-559: The summer of 1844, he conducted five of the Philharmonic concerts in London, and wrote: "[N]ever 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 I got through more music in two months than in all the rest of the year." (Letter to Rebecka Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Soden, 22 July 1844). On subsequent visits Mendelssohn met Queen Victoria and her husband Prince Albert , himself
16330-526: The transverse gakubue , komabue , ryūteki , nōkan , shinobue , kagurabue and minteki . The sodina is an end-blown flute found throughout the island state of Madagascar , located in the Indian Ocean off southeastern Africa. One of the oldest instruments on the island, it bears close resemblance to end-blown flutes found in Southeast Asia and particularly Indonesia, where it is known as
16472-409: The veracity of Breitkopf & Härtel 's 1862 edition of the published score. Some notable differences include the tempo character of the first movement being handwritten as " Allegro con fuoco " (meaning: with fire) rather than the published " Allegro molto appassionato " (very impassioned) as well as significant differences in the solo violin's passage-work. The concerto is scored for solo violin and
16614-468: The very few since Bach's death and the first ever outside of Leipzig , was the central event in the revival of Bach's music in Germany and, eventually, throughout Europe. It earned Mendelssohn widespread acclaim at the age of 20. It also led to one of the few explicit references which Mendelssohn made to his origins: "To think that it took an actor and a Jew's son to revive the greatest Christian music for
16756-428: The very tune in E minor that gave Mendelssohn no peace. Following a bravura of rapidly ascending notes, the opening theme is then restated by the orchestra. There is then a frenetic chromatic transition passage as the music subsides and modulates into a tranquil second subject theme in G major . The melody is initially played by the woodwinds with the soloist providing a pedal note on an open G string . The tune
16898-635: The world!" Over the next few years Mendelssohn travelled widely. His first visit to England was in 1829; other places visited during the 1830s included Vienna, Florence, Milan, Rome and Naples, in all of which he met with local and visiting musicians and artists. These years proved to be the germination for some of his most famous works, including the Hebrides Overture and the Scottish and Italian symphonies. On Zelter's death in 1832, Mendelssohn had hopes of succeeding him as conductor of
17040-603: The writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (then in his seventies), who was greatly impressed by the child, leading to perhaps the earliest confirmed comparison with Mozart in the following conversation between Goethe and Zelter: "Musical prodigies ... 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, "... but what your pupil already accomplishes, bears
17182-525: The year before his death, the celebrated violinist Joseph Joachim told the guests at his 75th birthday party: The Germans have four violin concertos. The greatest, most uncompromising is Beethoven's . The one by Brahms vies with it in seriousness. The richest, the most seductive, was written by Max Bruch . But the most inward, the heart's jewel, is Mendelssohn's. The work has developed a reputation as an essential one for aspiring violin virtuosi to conquer. This has led to its becoming virtually ubiquitous in
17324-452: Was Richard Wagner , who submitted his early Symphony , the score of which, to Wagner's disgust, Mendelssohn lost or mislaid. Mendelssohn also revived interest in the music 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 21 March 1839, more than a decade after Schubert's death. A landmark event during Mendelssohn's Leipzig years
17466-480: Was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions include symphonies , concertos, piano music, organ music and chamber music . His best-known works include the overture and incidental music for A Midsummer Night's Dream (which includes his " Wedding March "), the Italian Symphony , the Scottish Symphony , the oratorio St. Paul ,
17608-608: Was a member of the Itzig family and a sister of Jakob Salomon Bartholdy . Mendelssohn was the second of four children; his older sister Fanny also displayed exceptional and precocious musical talent. The family moved to Berlin in 1811, leaving Hamburg in disguise in fear of French reprisal for the Mendelssohn bank 's role in breaking Napoleon 's Continental System blockade. Abraham and Lea Mendelssohn sought to give their children – Fanny, Felix, Paul and Rebecka –
17750-558: Was an important influence on his future career. Zelter had almost certainly been recommended as a teacher by his aunt Sarah Levy , who had been a pupil of W. F. Bach and a patron of C. P. E. Bach . Sarah Levy displayed some talent as a keyboard player, and often played with Zelter's orchestra at the Berliner Singakademie ; she and the Mendelssohn family were among its leading patrons. Sarah had formed an important collection of Bach family manuscripts, which she bequeathed to
17892-399: Was an instant success, warmly received at its premiere and well received by contemporary critics. By the end of the nineteenth century, the piece was already considered one of the greatest violin concertos in the repertoire. It would become one of Mendelssohn's most popular pieces, and was still regularly performed even when interest in his music declined in the early twentieth century. In 1906,
18034-587: Was appointed musical director (his first paid post as a musician) in 1833. In the spring of that year Mendelssohn directed the Lower Rhenish Music Festival in Düsseldorf, beginning with a performance of George Frideric Handel 's oratorio Israel in Egypt prepared from the original score, which he had found in London. This precipitated a Handel revival in Germany, similar to the reawakened interest in J. S. Bach following his performance of
18176-467: Was baptised aged seven into the Reformed Christian church. He was recognised early as a musical prodigy , but his parents were cautious and did not seek to capitalise on his talent. His sister Fanny Mendelssohn received a similar musical education and was a talented composer and pianist in her own right; some of her early songs were published under her brother's name and her Easter Sonata
18318-534: Was carried on when Moscheles succeeded him as head of the Conservatory. Mendelssohn first visited Britain in 1829, where Moscheles, who had already settled in London, introduced him to influential musical circles. In the summer he visited Edinburgh , where he met among others the composer John Thomson , whom he later recommended for the post of professor of music at Edinburgh University . He made ten visits to Britain, lasting altogether about 20 months; he won
18460-634: Was deeply sympathetic to his ancestors' Jewish beliefs, or that he was hostile to this and sincere in his Christian beliefs. Throughout his life Mendelssohn was wary of the more radical musical developments undertaken by some of his contemporaries. He was generally on friendly, if sometimes somewhat cool, terms with Hector Berlioz , Franz Liszt , and Giacomo Meyerbeer , but in his letters expresses his frank disapproval of their works, for example writing of Liszt that his compositions were "inferior to his playing, and […] only calculated for virtuosos"; of Berlioz's overture Les francs-juges "[T]he orchestration
18602-679: Was first performed in Leipzig on 13 March 1845 with Ferdinand David as soloist. Mendelssohn was unable to conduct due to illness and the premiere was conducted by the Danish composer Niels Gade . Mendelssohn first conducted the concerto on 23 October 1845 again with Ferdinand David as soloist. An autograph manuscript of the concerto re-emerged in 1989 in the Biblioteka Jagiellonska in Kraków , leading to some scholarly scepticism of
18744-865: Was for a time mistakenly attributed to him after being lost and rediscovered in the 1970s. Mendelssohn enjoyed early success in Germany, and revived interest in the music of Johann Sebastian Bach , notably with his performance of the St Matthew Passion in 1829. He became well received in his travels throughout Europe as a composer, conductor and soloist; his ten visits to Britain – during which many of his major works were premiered – form an important part of his adult career. His essentially conservative musical tastes set him apart from more adventurous musical contemporaries, such as Franz Liszt , Richard Wagner , Charles-Valentin Alkan and Hector Berlioz . The Leipzig Conservatory , which he founded, became
18886-610: Was found in 2004 in the Geißenklösterle cave near Ulm, in the southern German Swabian Alb . Two flutes made from swan bones were excavated a decade earlier from the same cave and dated to about 36,000 years ago. A playable 9,000-year-old Chinese Gudi (literally, "bone flute") was excavated from a tomb in Jiahu along with 29 similar specimens. They were made from the wing bones of red-crowned cranes and each has five to eight holes. The earliest extant Chinese transverse flute
19028-508: 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 University of Berlin , where from 1826 to 1829 he attended lectures on aesthetics by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel , on history by Eduard Gans , and on geography by Carl Ritter . In 1821 Zelter introduced Mendelssohn to his friend and correspondent,
19170-636: Was left with impaired health; he died in 1851. The eldest, Carl Mendelssohn Bartholdy (7 February 1838 – 23 February 1897), became a historian, and professor of history at Heidelberg and Freiburg universities; he died in a psychiatric institution in Freiburg aged 59. 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 Adolf Wach , later professor of law at Leipzig University . The family papers inherited by Marie's and Lili's children form
19312-524: Was placed at 4 Hobart Place in Belgravia , London, in 2013. His protégé, the British composer and pianist William Sterndale Bennett , worked closely with Mendelssohn during this period, both in London and Leipzig. He first heard Bennett perform in London in 1833 aged 17. Bennett appeared with Mendelssohn in concerts in Leipzig throughout the 1836/1837 season. On Mendelssohn's eighth British visit in
19454-518: Was published in the journal Nature , in August 2009. This was the oldest confirmed musical instrument ever found, until a redating of flutes found in Geißenklösterle cave revealed them to be older, at 42,000 to 43,000 years. The Hohle Fels flute is one of several found in the Hohle Fels cavern next to the Venus of Hohle Fels and a short distance from the oldest known human carving. On announcing
19596-490: Was recorded by Nathan Milstein and the New York Philharmonic as an album and released as the first LP record upon the format's introduction in 1948. Following his appointment in 1835 as principal conductor of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra , Mendelssohn named his childhood friend Ferdinand David as the orchestra's concertmaster . The work's origins derive from this professional collaboration. In
19738-466: Was so upset that he immediately went to get a haircut to differentiate himself. In particular, Mendelssohn 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. It is significant that the only musician with whom Mendelssohn remained
19880-586: Was the premiere of his oratorio Paulus , (the English version of this is known as St. Paul ), given at the Lower Rhenish Festival in Düsseldorf in 1836, shortly after the death of the composer's father, which affected him greatly; Felix wrote that he would "never cease to endeavour to gain his approval ... although I can no longer enjoy it". St. Paul seemed to many of Mendelssohn's contemporaries to be his finest work, and sealed his European reputation. When Friedrich Wilhelm IV came to
20022-457: Was the prime mover in proposing to the publisher Heinrich Brockhaus a complete edition of Moses' works, which continued with the support of his uncle, Joseph Mendelssohn . Felix was notably reluctant, either in his letters or conversation, to comment on his innermost beliefs; his friend Devrient wrote that "[his] deep convictions were never uttered in intercourse with the world; only in rare and intimate moments did they ever appear, and then only in
20164-694: Was the soloist in Beethoven 's Piano Concerto No. 4 and conducted his own Scottish Symphony with the Philharmonic Orchestra before the Queen and Prince Albert. Mendelssohn suffered from poor health in the final years of his life, probably aggravated by nervous problems and overwork. A final tour of England left him exhausted and ill, and the death of his sister, Fanny, on 14 May 1847, caused him further distress. Less than six months later, on 4 November, aged 38, Mendelssohn died in Leipzig after
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