preview

Felix Mendelssohn Research Paper

Decent Essays

Outline the musical contribution of Mendelssohn discussing his musical output, characteristics of his musical style and any biographical details relevant to his musical achievements.

Felix Mendelssohn was a prolific composer who contributed much to the musical literature in spite of his short life. Born into a wealthy family, the thorough education and opportunities he received revealed his precocious talent. Between the ages of 11 and 15, the child prodigy composed 13 string symphonies, 5 concertos, 4 operas, chamber music, piano and organ pieces, solo songs and choral pieces. Many biographers agree that Mendelssohn peaked at a very young age. The brilliant String Octet in E-flat Major was written when he was only 16, and the following …show more content…

Much of Mendelssohn’s musical output can be viewed as reconciling these disparate influences through his conservatism. As a student, he was encouraged to emulate the models of Bach, Handel, Haydn and Mozart, leading to his love of counterpoint and part writing. His early mature works, such as the String Octet and Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream showed his intuitive grasp of form, harmony and counterpoint underneath the strong streak of Romanticism, better classifying him as a neo-classicist. Nevertheless, Mendelssohn facilitated the Romantic movement as a natural melodist and composer of program music. His travel-inspired pieces such as the Hebrides Overture and Italian and Scottish Symphonies, albeit without explicit programs, are still in the ethos of Romanticism. He ultimately incorporated diverse elements from both Classical and Romantic sources into his highly original compositions, forging a musical language that was distinctly his own. Mendelssohn led a conventional and happy life, which led to criticisms of his musical charm as lacking the depth of other composers who have suffered through poverty, disappointment or bad health. By being antithetical, Mendelssohn indirectly reinforced the Romantic myth of the “tortured …show more content…

He was appointed as the conductor of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and later, upon the urging of the King of Prussia, music director of the Academy of Arts in Berlin. His establishment of the Leipzig Conservatory, where he successfully persuaded many significant figures to join him, including Moscheles, Schumann and Joseph Joachim, was momentous to the musical development of Leipzig. During his engagement at the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, he adopted the novel idea of the conductor as the interpreter and demanded precise obedience of the score. His example set the pace for conductors throughout Europe and subsequently created a new branch in the art of music. Furthermore, he helped codify the modern classical concert by programming complete movements of large pieces sequentially rather than interspersing them with unrelated arias or chamber pieces. Mendelssohn also played an important role in reviving forgotten works from the earlier centuries, most notably directing the first performance of J. S. Bach’s St. Matthew Passion since the composer’s death and rescuing him from obscurity. Even Schubert and Beethoven, amongst others, are indebted to Mendelssohn for reintroducing their symphonies into the standard repertoire through his series of “historical

Get Access